The 'edible city' concept: Urban farming in India & Germany

DW (English)

From rooftops in Chennai to new orchards in Lübeck, residents are reclaiming urban spaces for climate resilience, food security, and a greener future.

Transcript

00:00The German city of Lübeck spruced itself up for the summer.

00:07Here in the heart of its centuries-old centre, a temporary garden is blooming,

00:12with an array of flowers, herbs and vegetables accessible to all.

00:17A special project has given little-used areas a new, edible lease of life.

00:23We have tarragon, thyme, chives, parsley and lovage.

00:30It really is a green living room.

00:33You get people passing through or stopping to sit down and look what there is here.

00:38And it's all down to local residents.

00:42Today there's special reason to celebrate.

00:45They've created an urban oasis where there were once plans to build a car dealership.

00:50It's just one of over 50 schemes constituting the Edible City project.

00:55It was set up ten years ago by Ingrid Bauer.

00:58Supported by local companies, associations and hobby gardeners,

01:02Edible City or Esbare Stadt took shape.

01:05Edible City is a platform for people who want to make a positive change in their city

01:12and develop vacant spaces.

01:15The goal is to have a city that's friendly to people, insects and wildlife.

01:21Seven and a half thousand kilometers away in the Indian megacity of Chennai,

01:28green spaces have become a rare and precious commodity.

01:32The Chennai Urban Farming Initiative aims to change that,

01:35hoping to turn the sprawling metropolis into a city that can feed its residents.

01:41Our vision for this is to help spread this across the city.

01:47To have every rooftop in Chennai covered by a vegetable green garden.

01:54And we believe that the way of doing this is to give residents in localities like the one we are in,

02:02more encouragement and motivation to help grow these gardens.

02:07Just like in Chennai, the aims of the Edible City project in Lübeck go beyond food.

02:14In this kitchen garden on the edge of town, children are learning about sustainable farming or solidarity farming.

02:22How to grow healthy vegetables and in the process protect nature and the climate.

02:27Children are the generation of tomorrow.

02:31When I can no longer do this, ideally a hundred kids or maybe two or five hundred kids will continue.

02:37Or even all children.

02:39And then we'd have the CO2 in the ground and not in the atmosphere.

02:43The young students also care for the farm's chickens.

02:49A local non-profit sells the eggs and homegrown vegetables to supporters of the project.

02:55One option is to order a weekly box of farm products.

02:59So far children from ten Lübeck schools are involved.

03:03The hope is that one day all the city's schools will participate in Edible City projects.

03:09Let's look at the other children.

03:11Let's look at the other children.

03:12Here.

03:13Lübeck is a modestly sized and relatively wealthy city where food security is not really an issue.

03:21Unlike in Chennai, where several hundred thousand live in poverty, the Chennai Urban Farming Initiative aims to help them.

03:29Here too, the younger generation are helping to green the city.

03:32Since vacant land is scarce, the initiative has gardens growing on school rooftops.

03:38There are nearly a hundred and seventy so far, helping low income families.

03:43For those with limited space, starter kits come in the form of small vegetable gardens in a sack.

03:49Climate change is felt far more keenly here in Chennai than in Germany.

03:54The initiative aims to make the city more resilient.

03:57Chennai faces two very important challenges.

04:01One is of heat and heat island effect.

04:05Chennai has been fluctuating between floods on one hand and drought on the other.

04:10So we don't really manage our water situation very well.

04:14And one of the main reasons for this is the amount of concrete space that has developed in Chennai over the years.

04:22Which is why greening rooftops and terraces is a cornerstone of the Urban Garden Initiative.

04:29Some time ago, Padma Ravi started her own rooftop garden using a starter kit.

04:35The heat that is coming into my house is a lot.

04:41So I thought it can reduce by having plants.

04:45And I have floral plants.

04:48I have greens also, which I use for my kitchen.

04:51The whole thing is green and it's beautiful.

04:54That happiness, right, that's a lot.

04:58The green rooftop gardens provide a measurable improvement in the quality of life.

05:03While at the same time, increasing Chennai's resilience to climate change.

05:08Heat studies have shown that in the rooms directly below,

05:12if you put up a rooftop vegetable garden, temperatures can be lower by as much as seven degrees.

05:18Also, it forms a very important aspect of holding the rain as it falls

05:25and then releasing it slowly into the ground.

05:28So more number of terraces in Chennai that we can convert to green spaces.

05:33It will address two of the most important climate change challenges that Chennai faces.

05:39Back in Lübeck, one of the co-founders of the Edible City project shows visitors his auction

05:46that preserves old regional fruit trees.

05:49This is a Lübeck marzipan apple tree, which was the last of its kind.

05:56It's a super delicious little apple. All the kids love it.

06:01Let's pick one.

06:03We've been replanting it and you'll now find the tree practically all over Germany again.

06:12The fruit enthusiast has already planted several hundred traditional fruit trees in and around Lübeck.

06:19An achievement that wouldn't have been possible without the many supporters of Edible City.

06:26I'm loving it, also as a father of seven children and twelve grandchildren.

06:32We're doing this for the next generation.

06:35A lot of people are saying we finally need to take action after destroying so much in nature.

06:40We can feel climate change coming.

06:43So we're finding everywhere people are interested.

06:47The network makes a difference.

06:52From Edible City Lübeck to urban gardening on the roofs of Chennai,

06:58the commitment of ordinary individuals is making urban areas more climate resilient and more liveable.

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