Ulia Garden, Spain

Caring for the environment is a key aspect of building belonging.

Ulia Garden was an awarded project of the NEB Prizes 2021 in the category ‘Reinvented places to meet and share’. It is an example of a community planning project where the opportunity to care for, and belong to place, emerges through attention to caring for the land.

Ulia Garden is a former plant nursery in San Sebastian, Spain, turned into a community garden. It is an intergenerational project led by women. It is focused on transforming a former plant nursery and symbol of the city’s heritage, into a community garden managed by local citizens. It addresses the triangle of NEB values, beautiful, sustainable and together, and is driven by urban regeneration and agro-ecological community action.

A former plant nursery becomes community garden in San Sebastien, Spain. Image Copyright European Union

Volunteers take care of the whole 14,400 m2 park. The project encourages and practices community work known as ‘auzolan’ in Basque. It aims to recover this ancestral practice that empowers communities by boosting collectivity and interdependence.

Ulia garden integrates vulnerable groups such as people with severe mental illnesses, homeless people, migrants and refugees, as well as people obliged to carry out community work. It organises cultural activities and co-creation workshops, with a philosophy of learning by doing.

Ulia Garden in San Sebastien, Spain helps everyone feel belonging. Image Copyright European Union.

The positive impact of Ulia Garden has increased since the covid-19 pandemic, as covid reinforced people’s need to feel part of a community and to belong to an ecosystem.

Ulia Garden enabled human connection during COVID-19. Image Copyright European Union.