Urban Gardening – Sofia — a citizen-run network of community gardens (Bulgaria)
Sofia, Bulgaria · Operator: 市民イニシアチブ「Градско градинарство – София（Urban Gardening – Sofia）」
Overview
A pioneering citizens' gardening project in Bulgaria, started in 2012 by a handful of enthusiasts, with its first communal garden in the Nadezhda district. The garden it opened in 2015, Градина заДружба, is now the longest-running community garden in Sofia. Today the initiative carries the city's largest network of community gardens — some 6,000 m² in total, with around 100 gardeners.
Citizen participation
The initiative calls itself "an idea" rather than an organisation, and deliberately has no leaders or coordinators; every decision, including how plots are allocated and how shared work is organised, is taken by a vote of those taking part. Since 2018 part of the plots at the заДружба garden have been set aside as solidarity gardens, where co-operators and volunteers grow fruit and vegetables for the solidarity kitchen of Food Not Bombs Sofia, which feeds people in need.
Operating model
The gardens run without external financing, on the gardeners' own resources and labour, and present themselves as an anti-consumerist project built around shared space and community self-determination. Named partners include the Adelante social centre, the Hrankoop food co-op and Slow Food Bulgaria.
Impact
Bulgaria had no entry at all in this database until now. What stands out is that the network has lasted more than a decade without public subsidy or a legal framework, deciding everything by a vote of the gardeners — a working example of how far citizen gardens can go without institutional backing. The solidarity-garden arrangement, in which part of the plots is turned over to feeding people in need, is a transferable idea.
Crops
- 野菜
- ハーブ
- 果物
Scale
6,000 m² — ソフィア市内の複数の菜園を合わせて約6,000m²、耕作者は約100人。最初期からの拠点「Градина заДружба（ドゥルジュバのための庭、2015年開設）」には大きさの異なる32区画があり、直接の耕作者は約50人。
Sources（2）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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