Small urban gardens for the elderly in Italy

With ongoing world-wide urbanization, small urban gardens (SUGs) have become an important reality for a wide range of purposes including a source of food and ornamentals as well as recreation, with the main users represented by the elderly. Different from home gardens, these are community gardens not attached to the home and may be found on a land of few to hundreds square meters that belongs to public bodies or to private landowners. Politicians, professionals and others engaged in urban land use need to consider such reality. The aim of this research was to study the situation of SUGs in Italy. In 2001, we carried out a survey throughout Italy by sending a questionnaire to all municipal administrations of Province towns and some other municipalities. Data from the questionnaire were also supported by interviews with municipality technicians and representatives of elderly associations. Among the municipalities that answered our questionnaire, 111 have SUGs, but the most (100) are in Northern Italy, above all in the Emilia Romagna Region. Most of gardens were developed starting from 1975 with an increasing rate in the following 3 decades: indeed, in many regions SUGs exist from less than 10 years. The number of gardens per town (from few to thousands) and the size (from few to hundreds square meters, in most cases 30-70 m2) vary with the town, independent of the region and seem to be mainly affected by the municipality guidance, which in turn is the result of size and arrangement of urban areas, land availability, governors’ sensitiveness, presence of complementary/alternative services and facilities for citizens, water availability/saving aspects (water is often scarce in Southern Italy). Anyway, more and more town-planning schemes provide for small garden areas to meet the increasing citizens’ demand. Each garden is generally allotted to one person, so the higher the number of gardens the higher the people involved. Generally, there is a list with the highest ranking for elderly resident in the surroundings and non-landowner, but other economical and social aspects can be taken into account (yearly income, disability, loneliness, etc.). In most municipalities the allotment and use of a garden follows a regulation for administrative aspects (ranking in the list of applicants, contract conditions, duration, lease rate, consumption rates, insurance) and technical aspects (way of use, keeping, fencing, use of chemicals and water), while agronomical aspects (rotation, use of crop residues, rational fertilisation, etc.) are often neglected.