Implementation of a community garden on a university campus: social inclusion and quality of life
Bianca Jacqueline Silva, André de Carvalho Bandeira Mendes
LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Urban Farm DB summary
A report on a project to implement a community garden on the Itabira campus of the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) in Brazil. The proposal originated in dialogue with campus workers, and aims through extension actions to engage both the university community and the local population across social, cultural, and environmental dimensions in the garden's management, implementation, and maintenance. Planning stages include awareness-raising and mobilization, a survey of human and material resources, and exchange of experience among participants, with particular attention to including elderly residents in cultivation activities to transmit cultural knowledge and strengthen group bonds. A management team was formed to prepare the physical space and coordinate maintenance, with the garden planned as a space for observation, cultivation, and leisure.