Parco Troisi, Viale 2 Giugno, Napoli
Description of the space
The project will take place within the Troisi park, located in highly populated district within the City of Naples. It extends over an area of 12 hectares, and accounts for built infrastructures and open fields, currently hosting Mediterranean plant species, some greenhouses and an artificial pond collecting rainwater. It is embedded into the urban fabric of the eastern metropolitan area of Naples. It is very close to two railways stations and directly connected by main arterial roads to the city center.
Existing urban farming activities
Several plastic and steel greenhouses are already in place, although currently not in use and needing a renovation of the cover materials and integration with at least an irrigation system. Structures of the greenhouses are embedded in the attached plans.
Vision
Student teams are expected to develop a project that will cover an agricultural area of about 0.5 hectares (5252 m2), where greenhouses are already in place although with need for requalification. Greenhouse facilities have the following features:
G1: 1023 m2 (33 m lenght x 31 m width);
G2: 726 m2 (22.2 m length x 33 m width);
G3: 1813 m2 (74 m length x 24.5 m width);
G4: 799 m2 (34 m length x 23.5 m width);
Furthermore, two greened areas (each of 13.5 m length x 33 m width, for a total of 891 m2) are also available for redesign.
Beside the farmed land, the project should include the design of a farmer’s market area where mobile structures may be used by vendors or for the organization of workshops/dissemination activities, to be located within the Troisi park and that will sell local products (from the urban agriculture project itself and from local farmers/fisheries). Students should also identify a management model that fosters social, environmental and economic functionalities of the proposed activities. The inclusion in the project of vegetable gardens to be jointly managed with schools for educational activities will also be a strength of the proposals.
The park is located in a very crowded area of the municipality with elevate population density. This will make the challenge to create an agricultural park related to food as difficult as intriguing. Among main weaknesses is the risk of vandalisms that can be counteracted partially by involving and engaging local inhabitants through training and dissemination events. The project has to be strongly designed to involve as much as possible local inhabitants in an active way. Another crucial point is that none of the buildings or infrastructures can be removed or modified at all due to urban planning issues.
The place is not fully vacant. It is used as recreational park by local citizens. The greenhouses are on the other hand not in use and they need to be renewed to become the core production area of the agricultural park. Local citizens appeared to be interested in the development of a farmer’s market in a recently developed survey. This part of the city is a crowded suburb with an elevate rate of unemployed young people and several families with low income that could find support by being involved in the economic and social activities. The local inhabitants should also be targeted by awareness creation and training activities enabling to develop a correct and healthy food culture.
Resources
The funding that already exists and is dedicated to the project accounts for about 70’000€, which may be integrated with further funding through fundraising campaigns. Strategies for raising additional funding should also be identified by student teams.
Main objectives
Social, economic and employment, recreational, touristic functionalities. All these objectives are important, but a particular relevance needs to be given to social aspects and job creation, production of local food for local market following environmental sustainability concepts and enabling awareness creation and knowledge sharing.
Keywords
Local food production and market; Creativity; Citizens and Farmers engagement; Education; Innovations.
Opportunities for the participating teams
The winning team may be involved in the executive design of the project.
Further information
The proposals should match the needs of growing local horticultural products by defining sustainable cultivation protocols and involving local organizations and citizens to increase awareness of food production and security; establishing a market for home-grown and local farm and fishery products.
