About the project
From grey to green! Nabolagshager has been commissioned by the District of St.Hanshaugen in the City of Oslo to develop a community garden in a public park.
Applying learnings from permaculture and placemaking we explore ways to engage the community, explore sustainable living, and create a year-round outdoor social space that also generates employment for local youth.
About Stensparken Community Garden
Stensparken Community Garden is a publicly owned 800m2 fenced-in section of a popular park in a residential district of Oslo.
The space is open to the public 24-7, and your contribution in the garden or as a guest at one of our community events is most welcome. Feel free to have a small nibble at our crops, all we want in return is a big smile!
For updated information about our activities and upcoming events, please visit us on facebook or instagram.
Project background
Up until around year 2000, the space was used as an informal community kindergarden. This was followed by a long period of underuse of the space, albeit with some temporary experiments by various community groups, including beekeeping and a short-lived community garden. Gradually the fenced-in space became a popular spot for local dog owners, leading to noise complaints from neighbors. This lead to a decision by local politicians to reinvigorate the space by developing it into a community garden, and funding was granted by the municipality to kick-start this transformation.
Project objectives
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Key activities 2021
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Key activities 2022
We started in January with exploring outdoor winter placemaking, at the tail end of covid. At this new years festival we encouraged neighbors to share their dreams and wishes for the year ahead – post pandemic, resulting in more than a hundred wonderful statements written on fabric ribbons tied up on a clothes line which crossed the entire community garden and remained a local attraction until well into spring. In February we invited neighbors to join a weekend scavenger hunt around in the park. By March we started planning the garden season and sowed and cared for 200 tomato plants These tomato plants were later donated to community members – in exchange for post cards with positive thoughts for the garden season ahead. All the events were planned and executed by local youth staff aged 15-18, having this as a part time job after school, thereby also facilitating job experience for youth while allowing them to explore various skill sets and types of jobs.
Project partners:
The main project partner of Stensparken Community Garden is the municipal district of Bydel St.Hanshaugen of the City of Oslo.
Stensparken Community Garden and the activities we execute have received funding from a variety of sources, including the Municipality of Oslo, the Directorate of Health, and the Directorate of Children and Families.
Nabolagshager role
Nabolagshager work as experts in:
- Developing the garden into a permaculture space where resources are circular and regenerative, output is edible and bountiful, and where we make a positive impact on local biodiversity.
- Acting as placemakers, developing attractive and inclusive community activities based on needs and wishes of local stakeholders.
- Mentoring local youth as they develop skills in urban agriculture, event management, research and community outreach.
Contact:
For questions about this project, contact:
helene@nabolagsahger.no
emma@nabolagsahger.no
If you have questions regarding the role of Bydel St.Hanshaugen, please contact postmottak@bsh.oslo.kommune.no and your concerns will be forwarded to the right person in the District Administration.
NABOLAGSHAGER 