Kilowatt started the regeneration of Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita- the former greenhouses of Giardini Margherita park- in 2015. The space was given to Kilowatt by Bologna’s Municipality through a 15 years concession of use.
As the garden area wasn’t part of the space given to Kilowatt for the regeneration, the first step was to sign a pact of collaboration with the municipality.
What is a pact of collaboration? It’s an agreement in which one or more active citizens and a public subject define the terms of a collaboration for the communal care-taking of material and immaterial goods.
This pact of collaboration ensured the possibility for Kilowatt to start a participatory process for the individuation and experimentation of a communal model for the management of the green area based on the principles of intergenerationality, sustainability and education.
The aim was to create a garden which was first of all a platform to bring people together. To create a community around this place, which becomes a stage where to share skills and a common vision.
To reach this goal, Kilowatt decided to launch a public call to engage citizens in the participatory process that would have led to the regeneration of the green area. A lot of citizens responded to the public call: from students to elderlies, a wide range of different people from very different ages and backgrounds wanted to take part in the project.
Kilowatt facilitated the co-design and community making process that accompanied the group in the creation of a community with the purpose of regenerating a piece of land, to empower people and create new unexpected relations and promote nature-related and organizational skills.
The aimAim of the community garden is also to create an inclusive space for some fragile categories, to create a safe space where these people could be empowered while learning new skills.
During the years, Kilowatt activated several programs with migrants, people with mental illness and physical disadvantage, ex-convicts, kids from school.
In order to create these opportunities, Kilowatt works in direct contact with different territorial entities and the municipality itself. In this way, the community garden has become an open platform for different actors and realities.
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