Allotment (gardening)
Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundred parcels that are assigned to individuals or families, contrary to a community garden where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people.
The individual size of a parcel typically suits the needs of a family, and often the plots include a shed for tools and shelter, and sometimes a hut for seasonal or weekend accommodation.
It gave people from suburban prefab apartment blocks – called paneláky in Czech – a chance to escape from city chaos, pollution, and concrete architecture.
These plots, most often allocated to vegetable gardening, were initially intended to improve the living conditions of the workers by providing them with social balance and food self-sufficiency.
Today, they are enjoying renewed interest by helping to create “green oases” near cities, which are useful in the face of the threat of global warming.
They also respond to current concerns to produce vegetables locally by low-income categories of the population and participate in creating "social ties" in urbanized areas.
The history of the allotment gardens in Germany is closely connected with the period of industrialization and urbanization in Europe during the 19th century, when a large number of people migrated from the rural areas to the cities to find employment and a better life.
To improve their overall situation and to allow them to grow their own food, the city administrations, the churches or their employers provided open spaces for garden purposes.
[citation needed] The idea of organised allotment gardening reached a first peak after 1864, when the so-called "Schreber Movement" started in the city of Leipzig in Saxony.
[22] Located just above the Abbatija Tad-Dejr catacombs in Rabat, the new allotment plots were issued with several restrictions in an effort to protect the sensitivity of the archaeological site.
[citation needed] In 2003, the first allotment garden of the Philippines was established in Cagayan de Oro, Northern Mindanao as part of a European Union funded project.
Further four allotment gardens, two of them within the premises of public elementary schools are presently being set up for additional 36 families using the asset-based community development approach.
[30][31] Former peasants were encouraged to reproduce their rural subsistence patterns in a new environment to increase social stability through additional food provision, creation of green spaces, and exercise.
[38] Allotment gardeners, who cultivate publicly owned urban space, constitute the largest group of city land managers in the country.
[citation needed] During the Age of Enlightenment, Russian aristocracy used their allotments for social and cultural gatherings, which were usually accompanied by masquerade balls and fireworks displays.
Some were converted into vacation homes for the working class, while others, usually of better quality, were distributed among the prominent functionaries of the Communist Party and the newly emerged cultural and scientific elite.
This practice of squatting was spurred by the desire of urban dwellers, all living in multi-story apartment buildings, to spend some time close to nature, and also to grow their own fruits and vegetables.
The gardeners' partnerships received the right to permanent use of land exclusively for agricultural purposes and permission to connect to public electrical and water supply networks.
In 1958, yet another form of organization was introduced, a "cooperative for dacha construction (DSK)" (дачно-строительный кооператив), which recognized the right of an individual to build a small house on the land leased from the government.
[citation needed] The growth of living standards in recent years allowed many dacha owners to spend their discretionary income on improvements.
The market-oriented economy transformed the dacha into an asset, which generally reflects the prosperity of its owner and can be freely traded in the real estate market.
The local authorities were inspired by Anna Lindhagen, a social-democratic leader and a woman in the upper ranks of society, who visited allotment gardens in Copenhagen and was delighted by them.
Hobby gardens, which are mostly prepared by municipalities and put into service by charging annual rental fees, are now used by many people to grow vegetables and fruits and to be in touch with nature.
In February 2012 the UK's first Green-controlled council, Brighton and Hove, caused controversy when they stated their intention to raise the rent for a standard 250 m2 plot to £110 per year, with many people suggesting that this was contrary to the environmental agenda on which they were elected.
[55] The popular 1970s British television programme The Good Life, about a couple seeking to "escape the rat race" by becoming "totally self-sufficient" in a suburban setting, utilised an allotment to achieve their aims.
[56] In 2006, a report commissioned by the London Assembly[57] identified that whilst demand was at an all-time high across the capital, the pressure caused by high-density building was further decreasing the amount of allotment land.
The issue was given further publicity when The Guardian newspaper reported on the community campaign against the potential impact of the development for the 2012 Summer Olympics on the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments, Hackney Wick.
"[56] The Local Government Association has issued guidance asking councils to consider requiring developers to set land aside to make up for the shortfalls in allotment plots.
[59] Against the falling trend of land set aside for allotments is an increasing awareness of the need for cities to counter issues of food security and climate change through greater self-sufficiency.
[60] The gendered origins of allotment spaces has been the subject of research, with findings including that a lack of toilets and sanitation can be a barrier to women, with some even miscarrying on their plots.
