A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #351 - Allotment gardens: a way of life at stake in the face of pointless projects (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In Strasbourg, the news of the permanent closure of 26 additional 
allotment gardens in Glacis Park, announced only a few days before the 
municipal decree in question, highlighted the fragility of maintaining 
these gardens in an urban context; water and soil pollution permanently 
condemns these vibrant social spaces. This will mark the centenary of 
the Strasbourg West Allotment Gardens Association, to which the 
municipality had entrusted management of the western suburbs. Tensions 
have arisen between these long-standing players in the promotion of 
urban vegetable gardens and the environmentally conscious municipality, 
which intends to pursue its land-use planning policy, even if it means 
straying from its social mission.

Indeed, the policy it pursues regarding allotment gardens no longer 
seems particularly favorable to the creation of new sectors, as in the 
1960s, but proposes abandoning their management or reducing their size 
to give the impression of new creations-due to budgetary constraints. 
The goal is instead to focus its policy on communication and 
"micro-implantations," while leaving room for unsuitable urban projects 
with the ambition of "setting a model." Behind this gradual abandonment, 
how can we not see a desire to destroy a culture born of the working 
class, by literally preventing its expression? There exists a long 
tradition of market gardening: islets, stream banks, and fortification 
ditches are suitable for cultivation, while glacis are not intended to 
be built upon. Situated between a motorway and a fortification dating 
back to 1870, one might have thought they were protected, especially 
since the law protecting the former glacis of the German fortification 
of Strasbourg, from which the concept of a "green belt" emerged, has 
been enshrined since 1922. Article 3 stipulated that non-aedificandi 
land would continue to be so and would be developed into open spaces, 
parks, and gardens, with the exception of the construction of social 
housing or public interest facilities (1).
The users of these spaces were therefore surprised by the decision to 
dismantle them, especially since it was impossible to find common ground 
with elected officials on March 5, 2025, during an information meeting. 
Only three soil and water samples were taken by ANTEA in 2023, resulting 
in an 800% report. The presence of arsenic and lead in the soil and H2O 
in the water were reportedly detected at levels above the standard due 
to the use of fill land from the former dry cleaning and metal 
degreasing industries.
Sceptical participants were chased away without being involved in this 
issue or offered an alternative solution; the decontamination solution 
was ruled out. This is seen as a tactic to stifle any protest, but the 
gardeners are not giving in. The association is demanding that the rural 
code regulations stipulating the replacement of all these lands by the 
municipality be respected. A petition (2) launched by an anonymous 
collective, with a poster and articles in the newspaper (DNA 21/03 and 
18/04/2025), helped to disseminate users' incomprehension and the 
importance of memory associated with these places. One might obviously 
think of a municipality concerned about public health, but at the same 
time, there is an urban transformation project behind the station along 
the fortifications, decided on since May 2023. In articles (Rue 89 
Strasbourg 26/05/23, 29/04/24), it expresses its firm intention to 
transform the rear of the station into a multi-storey car park, with a 
bus station and hotel. The existing infrastructure at the station 
functions very well, however, and according to their own survey, 90% of 
users arrive by alternative means to cars, rendering this project of a 
parking lot connected to the highway by 2027 completely unnecessary. 
Despite these inconsistencies, this month the project's main 
stakeholders, the City, SNCF, and Region, are meeting to mark the start 
of construction and likely the establishment of new industrial 
activities. Other projects are underway, as in other gardens, the 
gardeners refuse to allow ANTEA personnel to enter-foreshadowing the 
closure of their land and possible conversion.
The municipality's goal is to take control of these spaces, which the 
working classes had appropriated in one way or another; these spaces 
remain a valuable source of food aid and a place of leisure. This seems 
disturbing. Linked to this poverty-stricken vision, "the family garden 
serves as a foil in the urban planners' discourse" (3). This type of 
garden does not correspond to their vision of ecology, which is on the 
one hand focused on landscaping (with "new standards of aesthetic 
appreciation" applied by a single service provider), and on the other 
hand, focused on urban agriculture ("collective garden" that residents 
can never appropriate - only by membership and not allowing for any real 
food supplement, "shared garden" under supervision or "micro-garden") 
(4). In these new forms of gardens, those who would simply like to 
cultivate to ensure a subsistence find themselves alienated; or even 
exploited for social reintegration.
On an ecological level, no inventory of the fauna and flora has been 
carried out, even though the area could be of ecological interest due to 
its very age; memory, in any case, speaks of "reeds everywhere and 
fishermen, owls and fireflies." The absurd idea of landscapers is to 
replace it with hay meadows to give it a "natural" character while also 
offsetting carbon emissions... greenwashing required.
Gardening remains a way of expressing something of a working-class 
culture that has endured. However, urban agriculture will not allow "the 
expression of genuine gardening practices, which are difficult to 
achieve due to their small size"; the alternative remains groupings (5) 
and free-for-all gardening!

L.G.

Notes:
1. The Green Belt of Strasbourg - The Origins 1700-1935, Notebook 
7-2021, Dir. Urban Planning, Strasbourg
2. leslignesbougent.org/petitions/sauvez-les-jardins-du-glacis-21140
3. Revue-espaces-et-societes, 2014, "Urban Vegetable Gardens vs. Family 
Gardens?" Urban Reform and Controversies Surrounding the Beautiful 
Garden and Its Legitimate Use" by A. Frauenfelder, C. Delay, and L. 
Scalambrin,
4. geoconfluences.ens-lyon.fr/glossaire/jardin-ouvrier-familial-partage
5. see the conference of popular gardens in struggle

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4466
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