Alex Linder
October 16th, 2009, 11:26 PM
10/15/2009
Urban Farming Under Threat
Popular Mini-Gardens in Berlin May Soon Be Paved Over
By Christian Schwägerl
Tiny urban gardens are everywhere in Berlin and they have been for decades. But now, the city government is threatening to level many of them to make way for new construction. A battle is looming.
Berlin prides itself on being in the vanguard of a number of trends -- and it might have found itself another one. In this case, it's what climate experts and city planners call "urban farming." Many see the drive to produce foodstuffs within cities -- rather than carting them in from far away -- as the farming of the future.
In the United States, Great Britain and several other countries, having a garden right in the middle of a city is being re-discovered. And in March, first lady Michelle Obama picked up a shovel and began to transform a plot of land in front of the White House into an organic vegetable garden. Her goal is to lure her hamburger-addicted fellow countrymen and women off their couches and into the yard -- and to show them how they can save money in these hard economic times by growing their own vegetables. Even Queen Elizabeth II has had an organic vegetable patch set up on the grounds of Buckingham Palace for the first time since the end of World War II.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,655343,00.html
Urban Farming Under Threat
Popular Mini-Gardens in Berlin May Soon Be Paved Over
By Christian Schwägerl
Tiny urban gardens are everywhere in Berlin and they have been for decades. But now, the city government is threatening to level many of them to make way for new construction. A battle is looming.
Berlin prides itself on being in the vanguard of a number of trends -- and it might have found itself another one. In this case, it's what climate experts and city planners call "urban farming." Many see the drive to produce foodstuffs within cities -- rather than carting them in from far away -- as the farming of the future.
In the United States, Great Britain and several other countries, having a garden right in the middle of a city is being re-discovered. And in March, first lady Michelle Obama picked up a shovel and began to transform a plot of land in front of the White House into an organic vegetable garden. Her goal is to lure her hamburger-addicted fellow countrymen and women off their couches and into the yard -- and to show them how they can save money in these hard economic times by growing their own vegetables. Even Queen Elizabeth II has had an organic vegetable patch set up on the grounds of Buckingham Palace for the first time since the end of World War II.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,655343,00.html