Story

About us 

The Urban Gardens Association was founded in 2011 with the aim of establishing the culture and practice of urban community gardens in Hungary, particularly in Budapest. Our mission is to create community gardens on underutilised municipal land, promoting self-sufficiency, community cooperation, and an environmentally conscious approach. 

Over the past decade or more, we have become a key player in the Hungarian community garden movement. To date, we have established nine community gardens and have provided professional support to help launch numerous other initiatives.

Community Garden Establishment in Collaboration with Local Governments

Our community gardens are established exclusively in collaboration with local governments, on land owned by local governments, and as part of local government-funded projects. This model represents a unique, community-based approach to green space management.

Over the years, we have developed a well-established system of cooperation with local governments covering the entire process of garden establishment, community building, and operation and management. The experiences of our nine successfully operating gardens demonstrate that we have succeeded in creating a community and operational model that is sustainable in the long term.

Establishing a community garden is a complex process that goes far beyond the physical construction of the garden. We handle municipal consultations and ensure the necessary legal framework, coordinate garden design, recruit members, organize external and internal communications, and provide 12–18 months of community-building and gardening mentorship, as well as garden management tasks. In our experience, conscious and practice-oriented garden management is a fundamental prerequisite for long-term success, especially during the first season.

The result of this process is a functioning urban community garden and a sustainable, collaborative community capable of maintaining and developing the garden over the long term.

The Role and Social Benefits of Community Gardens

The primary goal of urban community gardens is to strengthen community life and local connections; they also contribute to small-scale self-sufficiency, greening the urban environment, and fostering an ecological mindset. These gardens create genuine community and environmental value while serving as oases in densely built-up urban environments.

Community gardening has a significant impact on improving quality of life. It offers numerous social, mental health, educational, and urban development benefits, while also serving as a powerful tool for communication and raising awareness. The long waiting lists clearly demonstrate the significant public interest in these gardens.

For garden members, the most important benefits are often not directly measurable in monetary terms: quality of life and health improve, the sense of belonging to a community is strengthened, new relationships are formed, and a sense of accomplishment, responsibility, and the joy of creation emerge.

Community gardens also play an important role in shaping attitudes: they encourage sustainability, frugality, and an environmentally conscious lifestyle. They have a positive impact not only on the lives of garden members but also on the surrounding urban environment.

Food Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability

Community gardens also offer the opportunity to take the first steps toward food self-sufficiency. Although complete self-sufficiency is not a realistic goal in an urban environment, locally grown fruits and vegetables offer a healthier, more sustainable alternative to food transported over long distances.

Even a small garden bed measuring 7–8 square meters can yield a significant amount of produce, which is particularly valuable during periods of rising food prices. Growing and using one’s own produce also fosters a more conscious approach to consumption and environmental issues.

The Significance of Community Development and the Importance of the Planned First Season

One of the most important functions of community gardens is the development of neighborhood communities. Through working together, garden meetings, community programs, and everyday interactions, norms of cooperation and neighborly relationships develop naturally.

In our experience, it is particularly important that garden members come from the garden’s immediate vicinity, as proximity strengthens participation and long-term commitment.

Duties of the Garden Coordinator:

When launching community gardens, the garden coordinator plays a key role during the first season by organizing and coordinating the community’s operations. Their duties include, among other things:

• Managing the season, coordinating garden events, and organizing the garden’s operations,
• Maintaining contact with the local government and other stakeholders.
• Keeping records of the garden’s equipment, gardeners, membership lists, and contact information
• Enforcing garden rules and helping to establish garden standards.
• Communication, both internal and external
• Announcing garden meetings, drafting agendas, and facilitating community decision-making, such as voting.
• Organizing projects, planting days, building garden furniture, hosting garden parties and open houses, and coordinating visits by school groups to the garden.
• Seeking out grants and sponsors, and managing the process.
• The garden manager does not carry out these tasks alone; rather, these are the main tasks that must be addressed collectively at the community level.

The garden manager does not carry out these tasks alone; rather, these are the main tasks that must be addressed collectively at the community level.

At the end of the incubation period, the community developer—garden manager leaves the garden and hands over responsibilities to the new garden manager chosen by the community. Experience has shown that the garden should not be managed by just one person; it’s quite a lot of work. In most gardens, a garden coordination group is formed, with 2–3 people handling these tasks. It’s important that as many garden members as possible take on voluntary roles, such as compost master, tending the herb garden and flower beds, etc.

Legal and Organizational Framework

The establishment and operation of community gardens can only be ensured in the long term with an appropriate legal framework. Based on the experiences of the past decade and a half, we have developed a contractual and operational system that provides a transparent framework for both local governments and garden communities.

The foundation for the continued existence of community gardens lies in a cooperative, mutually beneficial model of operation: gardeners, local residents, and the municipality all benefit from the social, environmental, and community values of these gardens.

Why Do Community Gardens Fail?

Budapest is full of failed community gardens, or gardens that are visibly dying and no longer functioning. What mistakes lead to a garden’s failure?

• Lack of an incubation period; education and community development were neglected.
• There is no garden management; everyone just takes care of their own garden bed.
• Lack of rules; gardening standards do not develop.
• No community activities, community events, or culture of cooperation.
• Organizational problems (e.g., association, foundation, civil society organization, umbrella organization).
• No plant health checks or horticultural education. Neglect of the garden.
• The founding municipality no longer manages the garden after the handover. (Depreciation, green space management, media relations, etc.)
• The garden’s design is unsuitable for fostering a sense of community.