Historical Allotment Gardens in Wrocław - The Need to Protection

Urban Farm DB summary

This paper traces the history of allotment gardens in Wrocław, Poland, alongside changing socio-economic conditions from the mid-nineteenth century onward. They began as rented plots for the poor and factory workers, then in the early twentieth century expanded to include school gardens and Schreber gardens with shared common areas as part of Dr. Schreber's educational health program; "war" vegetable gardens were widely cultivated from 1914 to 1918; allotments were systematically integrated into the city plan as permanent urban greenery elements in the 1920s; and during the 1930s economic crisis, allotments with garden houses were adapted as housing for the unemployed and homeless. The paper describes Wrocław's allotment gardens as cultural heritage with historical, social, recreational, economic and compositional value, noting that while Western Europe is seeing a renaissance of the allotment idea, Poland shows a tendency to eliminate them from urban landscapes.