In the heart of the Cypriot capital city lies a peaceful community garden. The story goes that in October 2019, an energetic team called Gardens of the Future presented their project and won the Climathon Nicosia Concours. This award kickstarted the project to makegarden reality. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, the derelict space soon became a flourishing sustainable garden.
Through gardening, the project not only takes care of plants but has an extensive socio-economical ambition. The garden promotes a sense of Community, a Circular Economy, zero waste thinking, and the share of urban spaces. This collective experience is also open to the city by educating local youth on open source technology, communicating on environmental issues, and helping city dwellers, especially women refugees, to become agro-entrepreneurs.
But this unique garden is only the first step, “Gardens of the future” plan to spread all over Cyprus to create a network of shared urban spaces. The young team is supported in this task by various public and private institutions such as the Nicosia Municipality and local shops. Even if COVID slowed down the ambitions, the garden is still vivid today as the activities proposed next Sunday 15th of May, in the framework of the Nicosia Spring festival show. The initiative is even back into the competition! The project has recently been shortlisted for the EU-official New European Bauhaus Awards under the ‘Regaining a sense of belonging’ category.
