Jninet El Hafsia community garden (Medina of Tunis, Tunisia)

In the Hafsia quarter of the Medina of Tunis, a corner that had been an underused parking area and an informal dumping ground was turned into a public garden and has since grown into a community-managed urban-agriculture initiative. It relies on agroecological methods inspired by traditional practices from southern Tunisia — palm fronds, for instance, are used to shade young plants from extreme heat. What makes the case notable is that it is still running four years after the original intervention ended.

Seven local families hold individual plots. A small coordination team handles day-to-day logistics, but major decisions — what to plant, which activities to run — are taken collectively at regular community meetings. In the first months plants were repeatedly stolen and participation stayed low; organisers responded by establishing weekly activities and asking residents to take an active role in managing the space, after which participation grew and local businesses began helping to look after the garden. Project partners describe residents, and especially children, as the garden's fiercest guardians and the catalysts who drew their families in.

The site was rehabilitated in 2021 under the Femmedina programme of public-space improvements in the Medina, as a garden for women, families and the wider community. In 2022 agronomic engineer Firas Khelifi, working with Cities Alliance, BlueFish, the Municipality of Tunis and local partners, launched an urban-agriculture project on top of it. Produce supports household consumption and surplus vegetables are sold locally. The garden runs under a community charter drawn up jointly by residents and civil-society organisations, which promotes agroecological practice, prioritises local seeds and environmental education, and limits commercial branding inside the garden.

The garden has hosted more than 60 planting and seeding workshops and around 50 community events, from film screenings to neighbourhood gatherings. The bas-relief mural "1001 Bricks", made by more than 550 participants — students, residents, children and people with disabilities — under artist Anne Francey, remains on site. Educational activities launched in early 2026 introduce school students to urban agriculture, and a vocational programme in Mellassine supports young people setting up rooftop gardens.

Web articles and features that cover this case.

• ArticleJninet El Hafsia: A Community Garden Takes Root in Tunis (Cities Alliance, 2026-06-02) ↗citiesalliance.org

This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.

• OfficialJninet El Hafsia - Community Garden（プロジェクト公式サイト） ↗jninetelhafsia.bluefish.me