Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15176/vol55no109
City-making through Urban Gardening: Public Space and Civic Engagement in Zagreb
Valentina Gulin Zrnić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3078-8033
; Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb
Tihana Rubić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2744-8852
; Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Abstract
This paper focuses on four examples of Zagreb urban gardening communities: their actors, their structures, and the aims of the established gardens. The article begins by introducing the practice and perception of the illegal (“wild”) gardens that have existed in Zagreb on vacant and derelict plots for decades. A discussion of the changing contexts of urban gardening within the last few years follows. Further ethnographic examples of new, alternative, and hybrid gardens indicate the variety of organizational methods and actors involved, types of communality and solidarity, and the negotiation and debate regarding discursive, structural, and governance issues. The analysis aims to examine the heterogeneity of gardening communities in Zagreb and to illuminate the dynamics (changes and modifications) of various relationships that are constituent to the phenomenon. The article concludes by considering the politics of space, particularly the transformation of urban public spaces, and the potential of gardening initiatives in the sphere of contemporary urban governance strategies.
Keywords
urban gardening; transition movement; politics of public space; community building; post-socialist city; Zagreb
Hrčak ID:
203054
URI
Publication date:
21.6.2018.
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