Beyond a Construction Site
2010 - 2022
Community garden
Obrat Culture and Art Association (Stefan Doepner, Urška Jurman, Polonca Lovšin, Apolonija Šušteršič)
In collaboration with local residents and other interested parties, we transformed a long fenced-off plot of municipal land near Resljeva Street in Ljubljana into a community space intended for gardening, socializing, play, education, and culture. Here we examined and demonstrated the potential of abandoned urban areas and the possibility of their acquiring new value through temporary use and community-based actions. The project both enhanced and communicated possibilities for urban gardening and publicly accessible green areas in the city, as well as the more active inclusion of inhabitants in decision making regarding the planning, development, and management of city spaces.
Over the 12 years of the project, more than 200 participants gardened and cared for the common space at Beyond a Construction Site; we organized and hosted numerous public events and programs, and the community garden was also open to the public through weekly “open hours”.
In spring 2021, the municipality informed us that this would be the last season of the project.
In June 2021, as part of the submission of comments on the new draft of the municipal spatial plan, we urged the municipality to keep the ownership of the land and ensure that the site remained a public green area. Our proposal also included an alternative option: if the municipality would not allow a public park on the site, it should ensure the construction of public non-profit apartments.
Currently, the city’s Public Housing Fund is preparing a project for the construction of 33 non-profit apartments and one unit for the elderly at this location.
The project concluded in October 2022. As part of our farewell action, we dug up the plants that had been growing in the community garden and distributed them among the participants and other interested people. Moreover, with the help of experts we transplanted nine trees to the green area along Linhartova Street in Ljubljana and to the garden of the public kindergarten in Sneberje, as all the trees on the site will be cut down during the construction work.
Duration: 2010–22
Location: The fenced-off construction site, Resljeva Street, Ljubljana
Plot owner: The Municipality of Ljubljana
Co-producers: Obrat Association, Bunker Institute (2010–11)
Support: numerous volunteers, Bunker Institute/Interreg Euro-MED – European Regional Development Fund, Municipality of Ljubljana, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia,Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities, Semenarna Ljubljana, JP Voka Snaga, Mreža za prostor/ECO Fund and Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning
Project’s website: https://onkrajgradbisca.wordpress.com/
Photographs above: KUD Obrat archive, Drago Kos
Photographs below: KUD Obrat archive, Gregor Gobec (Bunker)
