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Ulia Garden, Spain

Explore some of the New European Bauhaus Prize Winner 2022 projects related to the theme of regaining a sense of belonging.
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.

This is an additional video, hosted on YouTube.

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.

Ulia gardens planting and kids drawing

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.

various photos form Ulia gardens

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.

Poster for Ulia Gardens event

© RMIT Europe, EIT Community and New European Bauhaus
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