Project wants to transform Tavira and its parishes into Food Gardens 

The Food Gardens project, the winning proposal for the 2020/21 Participatory Budget, was presented yesterday, September 4th, at Jardim do Alto de São Brás, in Tavira, one of the 16 locations where this proposal will be implemented.

The project, with an estimated value of 33.500 euros, whose proponent was organic farmer Ângela Rosa, is part of, according to the City Council, «the motivation to transform the city of Tavira and the localities in the municipality into a food garden».

The initiative aims to “transform public space into an interpretative space with food utility in urban centers, while at the same time providing residents with the possibility of learning how to grow healthy and seasonal foods, beautifying places and promoting food security and adequate consumption of food", explains the municipality.

The Food Gardens, at the invitation of the Associação Oficina de Planomento e Participação (responsible for the design, development and evaluation of the participatory process that will support the execution of the project), are part of the group of 11 pilot projects of PHOENIX (Participation in Holistic Environmental / Ecological Innovations) that will implement and test effective participatory methodologies in seven European countries.

During the participatory sessions scheduled for all parishes (see below), the Territorial Co-Design Commission will be created (a body composed of citizens, stakeholders and local representatives) who will discuss the suggestion and, eventually, decide on the specific methodology that will be applied to your reality, in this case to the territory of our municipality.

PHOENIX aims to show that “participatory processes must consider aspects related to the context and that people must be involved not only in the discussion of specific issues, but also in deliberating the participatory methodology that could be applied, in a joint effort for co-creation and co-implementation of the processes”.

This first presentation session of the Food Gardens was attended by Sónia Pires, councilor for Administration, Environment and Legal Affairs at Tavira City Council, Nelson Dias, leader of the Oficina association, the proponent Ângela Rosa, and the president of the Parish Council de Alvalade, José Amaral Lopes, who presented the example of this location.