Growing edible plants in public parks and green spaces makes this town's community, in front of the Gates of Paris, more enjoyable, sustainable, and connected.
MAKING A GROWING TOWN MORE SUSTAINABLE
The town of Arcueil is located 2 km south of Paris, and has a growing population of more than 20,000 inhabitants. In 2014, the newly elected local government decided to take action to improve the town’s sustainability and provide the people with a better living environment. The Edible City is part of this vision.
CITIZENS GROW FOOD IN PUBLIC SPACE
The idea of the Edible City is to make public parks more useful by planting edible plants, encouraging citizens to grow food in public and private spaces (streets, courtyards, roofs, balconies, etc.), and turning vacant lots into community and allotment gardens.
HEALTHY NUTRITION AND MORE BIODIVERSITY
The Edible City concept addresses social and environmental issues, such as healthy nutrition for all; social ties, bringing together different generations and cultures through gardening; climate change mitigation and adaptation, producing local food and reducing the urban heat island effect; education through increasing environmental sensitivity and knowledge of nature; and last but not least, biodiversity protection for local varieties of fruits and vegetables, insects, birds, hedgehogs, frogs, etc.
