Onkraj gradbišča (Beyond a Construction Site, Ljubljana)
Ljubljana (Resljeva cesta, Tabor), Slovenia · Operator: KUD Obrat（文化芸術協会オブラト）／近隣住民の自主運営委員会
Overview
A landmark 'meanwhile use' project: from 2010 to 2022 an unbuilt, municipally owned construction site on Resljeva cesta in central Ljubljana served as a community garden. Some 40 plots on 650 m² supported not only growing but public talks, cultural events and ecological learning. It wound up in 2022 when the city began building non-profit housing on the site.
Citizen participation
Started in 2010 as part of the Mladi levi (Young Lions) festival, the project worked with neighbours and other interested people to turn a long-fenced-off piece of municipal land into a space for gardening, socialising, education and culture. Participants were mostly residents of nearby apartment blocks by the central station; each tended one of roughly 40 plots while joining public events and shared work. From 2015 a self-organised coordinating committee of residents took over management.
Operating model
The City of Ljubljana first granted a month-long permission, then a free land-use contract renewed annually. Running the garden fell to KUD Obrat and the residents' own committee, sustained by shared work and events rather than plot rents.
Impact
Internationally cited as evidence that meanwhile use of idle land can run for twelve years on a mechanism as light as an annually renewed municipal permit; the city itself featured the garden on its European Green Capital pages. Its ending — displaced by non-profit housing — is equally instructive: meanwhile use is temporary by design, and needs to be run with that horizon in mind. The project is documented in the book Onkraj vrtičkov.
Land tenure
Free use of municipal land under an annually renewed contract — meanwhile use rather than permanent tenure; the land was returned in 2022 for municipal housing.
Crops
- 野菜
- ハーブ
- 花
Scale
650 m² — 650平方メートルの旧工事予定地に、住民が管理する約40の小区画。2016年時点で約100人が関わっていた。
In the media（1）
Web articles and features that cover this case.
Sources（2）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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