City-making through Urban Gardening

Public Space and Civic Engagement in 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