Danisinni Garden

Summary of the project

The idea is to create a green space in the Danisinni neighbourhood in Palermo, usable by all citizens and managed by the local community in a participatory manner. In the area, now there are a social vegetable garden, an educational farm and a social circus tent and a lot of activities and workshops that involve the entire community of the neighbourhood are carried out.
The designed idea is based on the firm will to create the garden, through open meetings during which the exchange of skills, the sharing of experiences and experiential training will be the central elements of the work and its methodological basis. The intent is to spread awareness of the importance of the role of active citizenship in the management of common spaces and to enhance the local community capacities to manage the nascent garden in a shared way. The creation of the garden is also a way to produce a social change for the community, because through both direct participation to all stages of creation and daily management it becomes part of the individual and of the community. The objectives therefore are: to increase the sensitivity towards shared and participatory management of the common goods, to enhance the urban green spaces for the protection of the environment and of the human health and to spread sustainable practices.

Beneficiaries

• 5.000 Italian citizens
• 5.000 foreigners

Overall achievements

The neighbourhood community, especially young people and children, actively participated in the implementation of all the phases of the project. Participants were involved in weeding, planting, sowing and furnishing of the garden area. Furthermore, educational activities have been carried out to provide the tools for the management of the green space, to raise awareness of respect and protection of the environment and to make creative experiments with natural materials (50 students and 20 adults). The area in front of the circus Chapito, previously uncultivated and abandoned, has been strongly transformed and the perception and use of space has changed. The project made a “twinning” with another Palermo-based association, Laboratorio Zen Inseme, which created an urban garden and participated in NOPLANETB. The project ended with a final party attended by 300 people.