Difference between revisions of "Vrtičkarstvo (Slovenia)"

The type of land-use analogous to ''vrtiček'' is called an ''allotment'' in the UK, a ''Schrebergarten'' or ''Kleingarten'' in Germany, a ''community garden'' in the USA, a ''działka'' in Poland (Sulima 2000), a ''hobby kert'' in Hungary (Czegledy 2002), a ''bašta'' in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a [[dacha]] in Russia and Belarus (Caldwell 2011, Hervouet 2003, Lovell 2003). The forms of this seemingly universal human activity are locally specific. The practice is contingent upon a number of factors: geographical givens, land-tenure systems and agricultural traditions, rates of rural-urban migration and immigration, formal housing provisions, and economic climates. Urban gardening is contextual and highly adaptive.  

The type of land-use analogous to ''vrtiček'' is called an ''allotment'' in the UK, a ''Schrebergarten'' or ''Kleingarten'' in Germany, a ''community garden'' in the USA, a ''działka'' in Poland (Sulima 2000), a ''hobby kert'' in Hungary (Czegledy 2002), a ''bašta'' in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a [[dacha]] in Russia and Belarus (Caldwell 2011, Hervouet 2003, Lovell 2003). The forms of this seemingly universal human activity are locally specific. The practice is contingent upon a number of factors: geographical givens, land-tenure systems and agricultural traditions, rates of rural-urban migration and immigration, formal housing provisions, and economic climates. Urban gardening is contextual and highly adaptive.  

In contrast to the out-of-town Russian ''dachas'' used as second homes, hundreds of small and dispersed vegetable ''vrtički'' sites can be found within walking distance of housing estates in both the inner city and the outskirts of Ljubljana. The geographic and environmental protection regimes have curbed the rate of urbanisation in Ljubljana and kept farmland within reach of residential zones. In contrast to allotments or ''Schrebergärten, vrtički'' are less likely to be organised by a formally recognised institution. ''Vrtičkarji'' most often cultivate land on the basis of an oral or assumed owner’s consent (Jamnik ''et al.'' 2009).

In contrast to the out-of-town Russian ''dachas'' used as second homes, hundreds of small and dispersed vegetable ''vrtički'' sites can be found within walking distance of housing estates in both the inner city and the outskirts of Ljubljana. The geographic and environmental protection regimes have curbed the rate of urbanisation in Ljubljana and kept farmland within reach of residential zones. In contrast to allotments or ''Schrebergärten, vrtički'' are less likely to be organised by a formally recognised institution. ''Vrtičkarji'' most often cultivate land on the basis of an oral or assumed owner’s consent (Jamnik ''et al.'' 2009).

''Vrtički'' in Ljubljana can range from a miniature vegetable garden on the side of a railway track to an enclosed plot that houses a second-home cabin. At times, they will serve as temporary first homes for homeless or immigrant urbanites. The majority of garden-sites contain dozens of intensively cultivated horticultural plots, accommodating a small shed, a canopy or a polytunnel. The tight proximity of plots encourages an internal system of governance, associated with supervision by an informal gatekeeper, commitment to hard work, the tidy appearance of the plot, a sense of accountability to your immediate neighbours, and the use of gossip as social bond and corrective (Matijevic 2018: 128-59).

''Vrtički'' in Ljubljana can range from a miniature vegetable garden on the side of a railway track to an enclosed plot that houses a second-home cabin. At times, they will serve as temporary first homes for homeless or immigrant urbanites. The majority of garden-sites contain dozens of intensively cultivated horticultural plots, accommodating a small shed, a canopy or a polytunnel. The tight proximity of plots encourages an internal system of governance, associated with supervision by an informal gatekeeper, commitment to hard work, the tidy appearance of the plot, a sense of accountability to your immediate neighbours, and the use of gossip as social bond and corrective (Matijevic 2018: 128-59).