Peace of Land
Author: Elena Ferrari
Published on: 15 March 2020
Categories: Berlin, Community Garden
Peace of Land is a community garden founded in 2017 on an East Berlin wasteland, between the S-Bahn Station Landsberger Allee and Greifswalder Straße in Prenzlauer Berg.
The garden has been designed according to the Permaculture principles, based on three main ethical fundaments: care for the earth, care for the people, fair share (Mollison and Holmgren, 1987). Even if most of the people in charge of the garden are certified and experts in Permaculture, Peace of Land is a place where a varied milieu of people is invited to experiment, support and share knowledge on urban agriculture practices. Different kinds of activities are carried out thanks to the effort of a core garden team composed by circa twelve volunteers.
The areas dedicated to permaculture include a bio-intensive vegetable cultivation, a forest garden, a water basin for growing water plants, greenhouses and different places in which mushrooms and musk spontaneously grow. The food production activities are supported by water and soil recycling techniques - carefully built and maintained by the garden’s team.
The permaculture garden has been designed respecting the former wasteland natural attributes. Some areas of wild vegetation have been preserved in order to maintain biodiversity and habitat for insects and animals.
The land occupied by the garden is owned by BIM Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH and the project for a school gym has been proposed for the upcoming area development. The future perspectives of Peace of Land are the same as of other community gardens in Berlin and they shade light on the important matter that the city’s urban development policies have to address: how to control land consumption on urban green areas in order to ensure the survival of community-based social activities?
References
- Mollison, B. and Holmgren, D. (1987). Permaculture one : a perennial agriculture for human settlements. Stanley: Tagari.