Urban gardens in Carabanchel (Madrid)

Are you looking for urban gardens in Carabanchel? Well, today we are going to show them to you.Carabanchel is one of the historic districts of the city of Madrid. Its population is over 270,000 inhabitants, being the most populous district of the capital of Spain. It is located between the M-30, the M-40, the A-42 and the Carpetana road, very close to the city center. It limits to the north with the Manzanares river and with the district of Arganzuela; to the south, with the town of Leganés; to the east, with the district of Usera; and to the west, with the district of Latina.

Carabanchel is administratively organized into seven neighborhoods: Comillas, Opañel, San Isidro, Vista Alegre, Puerta Bonita, Buenavista (which includes the new PAU neighborhood of Carabanchel) and Abrantes. If a few days ago we talked about the orchards in Villaverde and the orchards in Fuenlabrada, today in Agrohuerto we will talk about the urban orchards that we can find in the Carabanchel District.

Urban gardens in Carabanchel

THE TOBOSO GARDEN

The General Ricardos Neighborhood Association promoted the creation of the urban garden to recover a degraded area of ​​the neighborhood through the community participation of the neighbors, planning and building this garden, taking advantage of the experience of the elderly people of the neighborhood.

Since October 2011, the plot began to be transformed into a beautiful urban garden. The plot of about 800 m2, located on Calle Toboso, is municipal property and is classified as a «green zone», although until the recovery by the association it was in a state of abandonment. The garden is conceived as a first order pedagogical tool, as a practical model, on a reduced scale, of organization and relationships between human beings and Nature. This initiative reminds me of the Orchard-Aula de Cantarranas, in the university city of Madrid.

CARABANCHEL ACTIVE GARDEN

This urban garden was born at the initiative of the Carabanchel Alto Community Plan Association, with the aim of offering an alternative to occupying time for unemployed people. From the entity’s Employment and Social Services Area, the emotional deterioration of unemployed people had been observed for some time, due to the fact that their situation was beginning to make a dent in their personal and social relationships, since in most cases the period without work activity exceeds 2 years. With this initiative, unemployed people are offered «activity», a learning process in new subjects, the possibility of «creating», reconnect, have a work structure and motivation. The IES Antonio Machado offered a space within the institute’s grounds that was in disuse and the orchard was started.

THE PLOT OF MATILDE

This community garden project arises from the recovery of a space abandoned for more than 30 years. This site belongs to the City Council since 1977, having been inhabited by a family until the demolition of the house after a neighborhood complaint. The neighbors had the idea that these plots constitute a danger and a greater cause of risk than a space that is cared for and maintained in good condition, and they decided to set up an urban garden.

ALISEDA 18

The Aliseda 18 urban garden is conceived as a meeting place in the public space, where people can interact, exchange opinions and think critically and constructively. The Aliseda 18 urban garden wants to be social with an educational impact, because it is intended to encourage the active and conscious participation of residents in the management of public spaces in the neighborhood, to strengthen community ties, favoring the relationship between different generations and cultures., that all participants are involved in the transformation of reality, making an empty and neglected space habitable, improving the quality of life of the environment and especially of the most vulnerable people and generating learning about healthy habits, appreciation of the environment and knowledge of the medium.

ROBERT’S GARDEN

It is an urban garden in which different prevention and health promotion projects are developed, to favor the recovery process of people with mental illness and other groups of the Carabanchel Occupational Rehabilitation Center (a center belonging to the Public Health Care Network). Social to people with mental illness), managed by the El Buen Samaritano Foundation. It is located in the Finca Vistalegre and is a space provided by the Gran Residencia for the elderly.

From the Project different activities are carried out such as guided tours in the garden, workshops and talks on healthy living habits, creation of urban gardens, volunteering, leisure and free time, etc. Its technical team is made up of 67% people diagnosed with a mental disorder.

GARDEN AND ORCHARD OF MEMORY

The Environment and Natural Environment Commission of the 15-M Assembly of Carabanchel, collaborated in an Act encouraged by the «Platform for the recovery of the historical memory of the Carabanchel prison», remembering the 3 years since the demolition of the emblematic building of prison, where generations of victims of Franco’s repression had been imprisoned, erecting a model of the historic building and a meaningful and elegant garden, in addition to the creation of the «15-M Garden», initiated by said Commission and with the collaboration and the support of the Assembly of Aluche, for the knowledge and encouragement of those who want another way of consuming, knowing where food comes from, having contact with the Earth and Nature and interacting with their neighbors.

SCHOOL ORCHARDS

In Carabanchel we also find several schools belonging to the Network of School Gardens of Madrid, where it is intended to teach agriculture from a very early age. These schools are:

• Arctic College
• Santa Rita School
• Holy Cross College
• CEIP Republic of Uruguay
• CEIP Master Padilla
• CEIP Hermitage of the Saint
• CEIP Antonio Machado

I hope that this article has been helpful to you, and that if you know of any other orchard in Carabanchel, do not hesitate to comment!