Questions/Answers

The Rooftop Garden project is an inspirational experience where a non-used public space such as the rooftop of municipal buildings and facilities become a garden full of herbs and vegetables, where people with disabilities get empowered and create value with their volunteering. The aim of the project is to foster the social inclusion of people with disabilities and the advancement of their autonomy and learning. To do so, several urban allotments have been installed on the non-used rooftops of municipal buildings, and their operation has been entrusted to organisations working with and for people with disabilities. The general objectives are the improvement of the physical, social and emotional health of people with disabilities and the increase of the number of green areas in the city. The experience has also some innovative objectives, aimed at creating synergies between the local city administration, organisations specialised in urban agriculture and organisations that work with people with disabilities. In the end, the experience fosters urban agriculture and locally-sourced cultivation and provides innovative ways of managing water and the soil, to guarantee a more sustainable and quality production, offering locally-grown produce to organisations that work with people at risk of exclusion

The Rooftop Garden project is linked to the category “Delivering inclusive and equitable services for all”. By opening-up new spaces, the experience invites people with different types of disabilities to use public facilities on a daily basis: they become regular users and visitors of office buildings, and thus the project offers the opportunity to bring join public servants who work in the city administration, high-specialized researchers, organisations of people with disabilities and people with disabilities themselves. In short, it has proved to be an empowering tool for people with disabilities, a way to encourage a greener city and a boost to social inclusion

This is a multidimensional project, which make it unique and replicable at the same time. It is relevant to the following targets and SGD: - Educational dimension for people with disabilities, who have the opportunity to experience growing vegetables in the centre of the city, and who even become trainers for newcomers to the project. (SDG4: target 4.7 and 4.A) - Empowering tool: people with disabilities, frequently in the role of passive beneficiaries, become active actors, trainers and donors of surplus to other people of their communities such as ONG and food banks. an environmental approach of reuse and making the most of available space (SDG 10: target 10.2) - Participation of people with disabilities. Opening an inclusive space for the regular use of citizens with disabilities means that no-one is left behind; therefore, many actors have been involved to remove barriers and find accessible solutions for everyone regardless of personal abilities (SDG 11: target 11.3 and 11.7). - Encouraging greener cities and mainstreaming sustainability: by means of a pioneering practice, the project shows that rooftop allotments are feasible for all, also for persons with mental health disorders, physical disabilities or intellectual disabilities (SDG 12: target 12.8).

Sustainability is a recurrent theme in the initiative: not only does it promote social inclusion through normalization and therapeutical activity, but also it provides practical learning and an invaluable contribution to the empowerment of people with disabilities, as active participants in the community. At the same time, it encourages a greener city and fosters the idea of locally-sourced consumption. Regarding economic concerns, rooftop gardens enable to skip the shortage of available land in a city as dense as Barcelona. Besides, surplus produce, initially earmarked for the participants’ own consumption, Is delivered to vulnerable group, closing the social return on investment

The project has raised a challenge of coordinating a human and organization chain that involves the four stakeholders: - City administration (both the leader of the project and other departments hosting the gardens). With the aim that rooftop allotments become a space for coexistence, both public servants and the organization have welcomed changes in their daily functioning and have adopted several adaptations, such as the removal of pre-existing architectonical barriers for wheelchair users. - Occupational Centres for people with disabilities: the gardening activity has changed their daily routines (they attend the allotment 3 days a week). An open procedure for accessing the gardens has been established, in order to favour those organisations closer to the gardens and those who can present a specific project that guarantees the their involvement. - The Institute of Techno-Agro-Food Research and Technology (IRTA), a research institute owned by the regional government. It is a key stakeholder in the sector of agronomic innovation, whose mission is to contribute to modernising, improving, boosting competitiveness, and fostering sustainable development in the sectors of agriculture and food. - Community organisations, such as soup kitchens or food banks, recipients of the surplus. These ONG have welcomed fresh food and volunteering.

The rooftop garden project is a “leave-no-one-behind” initiative, respectful and inclusive to the human diversity. In fact, during the implementation of the project, some growing tables had to be redesigned for some users (mainly wheelchair users). But some participants could not reach yet the tables because of mobility impairments, so they were assigned other tasks related to the project, such as taking photographs and other chores linked to dissemination

The pilot project came to light in 2016, when the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities placed an urban allotment on its headquarters building rooftop, in the centre of Barcelona. Three years after this beginning, there are five urban allotments in operation on the rooftops of various municipal buildings, run completely by organisations of people with disabilities. About 120 people from six organisations in 2019 are participating in the project: people with intellectual disabilities, people with physical disabilities and people with mental health disorders. A sociological study conducted in 2018 assessed the impacts of the project on participants, taking inclusion, health, and wellbeing into consideration through surveys and interviews of participants, families, and social workers. The goal was to understand the benefits gained by participants from being in regular contact with urban nature and gardening, participating in different stages of food production, developing new relationships with one another and with the surrounding community of municipal workers and residents, building ties in the neighbourhood, and being involved in new social and learning opportunities. The research highlighted that the participation in the project is bringing significant benefits to their quality of life and personal development, allowing them to discover new urban environments, breaking the daily routine of occupational workshops, being in the open air, working as a team, boosting their self‑esteem and expanding their levels of responsibility. It was also observed that it helps reduce anxiety in some people

Gardens are allocated to organisations of people with disabilities (mainly Occupational Centres) by means of a request for tender. Eligibility criteria are the promotion of people with disabilities, support in horticultural learning, the proximity of the centre to the building where the garden is located, group dynamics that enrich the experience in the garden and improvement of the social and relational life of people with disabilities or the donation of the product. By establishing a short procedure for the entering applications and awarding the gardens, stakeholders’ involvement has improved and the delivering of results is better. The farmers receive training in horticulture from IRTA when they attend the garden about all the processes of growing vegetables: planting, fertilisation, watering, pruning, harvesting and pest control. The allotments use raised growing tables with a pioneering outdoor hydroponic system, which favours lightweight plantation with a greater yield. The yield allows 5-6 harvests per year and the drip irrigation systems controls water consumption, with all the necessary nutrients for the plants (in 2019 they produce lettuce, endive, spinach, chard, tomatoes, peas, zucchinis, cucumbers, peppers and aromatic herbs. The initial destination of the crop was the consumption of the participants themselves. However, organisations cannot take up the whole production, and so the project now has incorporated the donation to organisations with social aims. Thus, the farmers themselves carry out most of the harvest to a range of facilities (such as social canteens or food banks, where fresh food is unusual. These facilities are located near the gardens and do not have frequently fresh food. The donation of vegetables implies a change of role for people with disabilities, used to be a recipient of social benefits and frequently stigmatized: participation in this project changes this role up by putting our farmers in an active role

A key point of the project is to achieve the economic sustainability of the project. At present, the economic difficulties of the project do not focus on the initial costs of setting up the allotment, but on the maintenance costs. While it is feasible to obtain the initial investment to build the garden, the difficulty is to raise funds for maintenance and easing the extension to other areas of the city. For this reason, the project will focus on rethinking costs as well as on searching new financing means (which might include selling a part of the crop)

The project has involved a range of stakeholders and so it has implied building a human and organization chain that involves different areas of public administration, professionals and about 120 persons with disabilities from six occupational centres and several NGO who receive the garden products. The initiative has enriched the local community by creating networks between the occupational centres managing the rooftop gardens, local food banks and associations in the vicinity as receivers of fresh food. The experience has a high potential for replication and adaptation. The model of using urban farming as a tool for social inclusion can easily be extended to other socially disadvantaged groups and can be replicated in other places

The experience has aroused interest from the press (La Vanguardia, El Periódico, Diari Ara, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Dutch digital…) and from televisions and radio channels (TV3, TV2, Betevé, RAC1, Cadena Ser, Catalunya Ràdio). Also, more than 15 groups including researchers and PhD students have reviewed the experience in situ. Finally, the project has been presented at two international conferences: Greencities (Bologna, 2017) and AICE-Educating cities (Cascais, 2018), as well as in various sessions of the Fertilecity project (funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the universities UAB and UPC

The environmental and welfare benefits of increasing green areas of large cities have been widely contrasted and so it has become a common element in municipal public policies. This project incorporates this central element, but also uses agronomy for a social dimension project with people with disabilities. The project has already been replicated within the city of Barcelona and there will be 7 rooftop gardens managed by people with disabilities in the end of 2019. Also, during 2019 a spin-off initiative of the project has begun, to test vertical gardens in a 100% ecological process also managed by people with disabilities

The project requires low technical complexity in its operation, so that it is open to a wide audience of organisations of people with disabilities, either as a leisure, therapeutical or work objective. It might be interesting to replicate the project in other areas, outside the scope of the municipal administration, such as private buildings used by organisations of people with disabilities, for example. Made the initial investment (for which there are several subsidies), the operation is easily assumable by the same entities. The project is easily replicable to other public administrations in any city. Many cities want to increase their agriculture projects and have the common problem of who takes care of these gardens. This might be solved by the incorporation of people with disabilities in the day-to-day management of allotments. There are similar projects of allotments that need to commission workers. In the case of the rooftop allotment, while it clearly benefits a vulnerable group of population, they put themselves in the centre of the action with their being responsible for the care of the harvest, an essential element for success. The project could also widen to other profiles of people and organisations

Human resources: • The IRTA team: 1 coordinator and 2 professionals • Occupational centres: 1 coordinator/educator of each of centre • Coordination: 2 public officers of the city administration (IMPD) Material resources: • Consumable material like cultivation tables, seedlings for the production of edible species such as tomato, lettuce, pea, spinach or spinach. Finally, some gardening utensils have also been acquired. • Resources of infrastructures: design and setting up of a suitable system, based on hydroponic technology, drip irrigation, fertirrigation and automatic programmer for irrigation. Greens and herbs are placed on metal tables, designed specifically to allow the access of people in wheelchairs.

The project has an annual maintenance budget to cover costs of planting, purchase of plant protection products, nutrients for vegetables, and follow‑up by IRTA professionals (training and monitoring of the incidences of inclemency, pests, etc.). This budget amounts to 7,000‑9,000 €/year when starting up the garden, mainly for technical support. However, the need of assistance reduces about a 50% because users learn the techniques and basic knowledge. Besides, the project is now exploring how to be given the opportunity to commercialize a part of the harvest, so the initiative is increasingly sustainable over time

Yes

An external study evaluated in 2018 the impacts of the project on participants, taking inclusion, health, and wellbeing into consideration through surveys and interviews of farmers, families, and social workers. It was carried out by the Barcelona Laboratory for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability, in collaboration with the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). It evaluated the benefits gained by participants from being in regular contact with urban nature and gardening in different stages of food production, developing new relationships with one another and with the community, building ties in the neighbourhood, and being involved in new social and learning opportunities

The initiative has entailed the development of 3 studies: • The sociological evaluation, aimed at approaching the improvement of quality of life, increased +3.73 after 3 months, and +5.58 after 7 months among the participants. A group of participants and a control group were compared regarding issues like self-determination, well-being (emotional, physical, material), social inclusion, personal development and interpersonal relationships. • An environmental research measured the low presence of pollutants (as cadmium or lead). • An agronomic research, related to meet the level of work with the production (i.e. in 2018, one garden provided 2,711 kg of lettuce, tomatoes (578 kg) , chard (430kg)…)

The research highlighted that the participation of people with various disabilities in the project is bringing significant benefits to their quality of life and personal development, allowing them to discover new urban environments, breaking the daily routine of occupational workshops, being in the open air, working as a team, boosting their self-esteem and expanding their levels of responsibility. It was also observed that it helps reduce anxiety in some people

In the case of two rooftop gardens, the experience has been integrated into wider environmental initiatives: in the case of the garden of Avinyó-7, the building has a Guaranteed Environmental Quality Label for Offices, awarded by the Regional Government (Generalitat de Catalunya). As a result of having the garden, the eligibility criteria for awarding the Label will from now on, include the feature of incorporate green areas. The two buildings with gardens in Avinyó street participate in an annual “energy saving marathon”; also as a result of disseminating the gardens experience, next year savings of the marathon will be allocated to build new rooftop gardens, thus helping the financial sustainability of the project. The Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD, leader of the project), works horizontally and vertically across all the city administration areas and levels, promoting inclusion and accessibility throughout the spaces, services and activities of the city and boosting participation of people with disabilities in first person. The rooftop garden is an example of the work done by the IMPD to achieve a more inclusive city for all, breaking barriers and easing the exercise of rights to people with disabilities

The experience relies on the ability to involve several actors even if adaptations are needed. For example, in the beginning the crops were basically aromatic herbs, but the specialists in agronomy had to identify other crops that provided more learning processes and variation of chores to people with disabilities, given that their time availability and capacities were higher than expected. Since the rooftops are accessed by external persons, the whole organization has adapted its rules to allow seamless visits of the farmers. This involves from appointing persons responsible for practical issues like opening/closing, to coordinating other events like harvesting and products donation. The first harvests of every garden include presentations and even voluntary donation of products to the people who work in the building, allowing everyone to get closer to the project and to know its benefits directly. This has proved to be a moment of discoveries and synergies. Even some of the families of the farmers have visited the gardens, after expressing their surprise of the work done

The development of the project has overcome the original barriers thought by its own designers: although the first thought was to work only with organizations with intellectual disabilities, we have opened up to other profiles of people with disabilities because the experience offers many and unexpected benefits for them too. The same goes to the social return of the project: a part from giving the food to people in need, the participants are taking a positive new role as volunteers. From the agronomic point of view, new vegetable varieties are grown and the production is increasing every season in all the rooftop gardens. It is also remarkable that all the stakeholders participate not only in the ruling of the allotments but also in the design of the project itself. In this way, most of the improvements came from the proposals done by the different agents participating. Finally, we have tested different types of hydroponic allotments and now we are testing vertical allotments that will give the chance of having gardens in smaller rooftops, terraces or even balconies. This new system is also more efficient in the use of water and more ecologic because of the use of compostable materials