Sakanoen (Nakashinmachi, Nagasaki)
Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan · Operator: 長崎都市・景観研究所／null
Overview
A civic project by Nagasaki Urban Landscape Institute / null turning vacant lots on Nagasaki’s sloping streets into allotment gardens. Since Base opened in 2020 it has grown to five sites by 2025, including Japan’s Kyushu first civic entrustment of idle national land (The View). It eases owners’ vacant-lot upkeep while drawing younger residents, schools and welfare partners into the hillside neighbourhood.
Citizen participation
Residents rent small plots on sloping vacant lots as allotment gardens. Nearby Kaisei High School uses sites for classes and clubs; a welfare provider gardens traditional Nagasaki vegetables; a yoga studio runs a plot; harvest barbecues and open days build exchange. Users are told in advance that gardens will close if the land sells.
Operating model
The civic group null takes free management entrustment from owners, neighbourhood associations and national land (Ministry of Finance), clears sites and rents plots to residents. Owners shed mowing costs; gardens are interim use until sale. The View site was prepared with ~¥900,000 via hometown-tax crowdfunding.
Impact
Improves vacant-lot landscapes and local safety/exchange, reduces neighbourhood weeding burden, supports traditional vegetables and agri-welfare products, and is watched as a precedent for interim use of national land.
Land tenure
Free management entrustment from owners, jichikai and national land; for-sale signs remain and gardens withdraw promptly on sale
Crops
- vegetables
- potatoes
- tomatoes
- eggplants
- taro
- yuko
- traditional-vegetables
Scale
中新町ベース・ヒルズ・パティオ・テラス・ザ・ビューの5拠点。ヒルズは約150㎡規模、一般貸出は約5〜6㎡区画を月500円程度で提供（拠点により区画数は異なる）
In the media（5）
Web articles and features that cover this case.
- Article斜面の空き地を農園に。空き地管理の救世主「さかのうえん」とは？ 長崎県長崎市 | SUUMOジャーナル ↗suumo.jp
- Article長崎・中新町に市民農園「さかのうえん」 5カ所目の新拠点お披露目 | 長崎経済新聞 ↗nagasaki.keizai.biz
- Article坂×農園で地域に人 長崎の空き地活用（長崎新聞） ↗nagasaki-np.co.jp
- Article空き家跡地をまちの未来に繋げる「さかのうえん」（LIFULL HOME'S PRESS） ↗homes.co.jp
- Article「さかのうえん」で体験イベント（長崎経済新聞） ↗nagasaki.keizai.biz
Sources（2）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
Related cases
Suginami Agriculture-Welfare Farm (Suginoko Farm)
JPSuginami, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo's first municipally run agriculture-welfare farm, opened April 2021 in Igusa, Suginami, on a barrier-free 3,200 m2 site giving people with disabilities and seniors a place to engage in farming.
city.suginami.tokyo.jp+1
Chayamadai Danchi 'Hibikiau Danchi Life' (DIY, lemon cultivation, community gardening)
JPSakai, Osaka, Japan
At the public-corporation rental complex Chayamadai Danchi in Senboku New Town, Sakai, Osaka, the Osaka Prefectural Housing Supply Corporation runs the 'Hibikiau Danchi Life' regeneration project. In an aging complex with rising vacancies, it revives residents' lives and community through a DIY workshop, library, deli, mobile vegetable sales and lemon cultivation in vacant spaces.
danchi-renovation.com+2
Daegu School Garden & Urban Agriculture Program
KRDaegu, South Korea
Daegu's urban-agriculture support program centred on school gardens. The city subsidises school gardens at 45 schools plus box, rooftop and balcony gardens and senior healing gardens, advancing food education and cross-generational citizen participation.
cityfarm.daegu.go.kr+1
Potager Chayama (Shimonoseki national-land share farm)
JPShimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
ARCH turns national land on Shimonoseki’s sloping dense streets into a share farm—cutting state upkeep on hard-to-sell plots while creating food-education and exchange near the station. A regional spread of Sakanoen-style national-land interim gardening.
arch-shimonoseki.com+3