While in Hungary in the context of the final conference on 19th March 2019, the AgriGo4Cities team experienced a study visit in the city of Székesfehérvár, where we got to know three great examples of urban agriculture in the area.

One partner from AgriGo4Cities, the Institute for Environmental Planning and Spatial Development (Ifuplan), wrote a very interesting report about this study visit which we will summarize in this article.

As mentioned, the study visit included three gardens, specifically the Szárazrét garden, the Palotaváros garden and the educational garden of the Arany János Special School. Finally, we concluded the day with an evaluation of the study visit.

The community garden of Szárazrét was established in 2014 with the goal of social rehabilitation of the Feketehegy-Szárazrét neighborhood. The garden is managed by the local Garden-friendly Association which holds its monthly meetings in the community center next to the garden. Since 2018 the complex is equipped with a roofed event hall and administrative buildings as well as a playground and soccer field. The community garden is a relevant place for socializing, with family programmes during the weekends and a wide range of cultural and social events taking place. Thus, it reaches more people than the ones who are involved as active gardeners.

The second community garden we visited, the Palotaváros garden, was established in 2013 as the first one in the area and it was initiated by the locals and supported by the municipality as well as by the local councilor. The target group of the garden are people living in the high-rise housing neighborhood. At the moment most gardeners are already retired. The garden offers the possibility to meet and build a close community. The community aspect is so distinct, that they are a lot of group activities beyond gardening.

The educational garden of the Arany János Special School was established in 2018 in the framework of the AgriGo4Cities project. It is state-owned, but the school is responsible for its administration and maintenance. Students learn about the whole gardening process from seeds to harvesting and even cooking. Gardening is part of the curriculum and is even included in exams. The social aspects are dominant in this practice: children with special needs aged 14-18 learn gardening skills and are empowered for jobs after school. Currently, an extension of the garden is being planned.

Concerning the study visit evaluation, we conducted a SWOT analysis, focusing on the role that those community gardens could play related to other pilot regions and the recommendations that the group could give to the visited gardens.

The positive aspects of the first garden included the community area, which can be used for many social events involving different target groups. However, one of the problems is represented by the lack of space to expand and the difficulty in finding new gardeners. The second garden positively impressed the group because of its warm atmosphere and good equipment, while it could result in being too small to satisfy the high demand of people wanting to join the garden. The third and last garden’s strength lies in its location: it serves educational purposes inside the school, boosting students’ skills. Weaknesses included the absence of people taking care of the plots during summer and the lack of a rainwater reservoir (drinkable water is currently used to water the plots).

To conclude, this study visit revealed itself to be very instructive for the whole group, as those community gardens provide a very good example of participatory urban agriculture and social inclusion and cohesion.