Dorotea is an 82 years old woman who loves to share the vegetables she harvests from her neighborhoods orchard with her family. This project aims to collaboratively design and construct improvements and educational spaces according to the needs of the communities in the urban orchards "Ayllu 1-9," "Ayni 1ro de junio," and "La Ternura," all located in the south side of the city of Lima, Peru. These places, managed by older adults, are the result of reclaiming abandoned public spaces.
These orchards were established between 2018-2020 in the south side of Lima. This vulnerable sector has only 1.28m2 of public green areas per inhabitant, meaning a majorcdeficit. Despite these conditions, nearly 60 older adults from 3 communities organized to implement agroecological urban orchards in the abandoned public spaces of their neighborhoods. However, they lack an adequate learning and socialization space where they can share their experiences with other communities and organizations.
The project works toward the enhancement of the community orchards through collective design and construction of meeting zones, cultivation, storage, composting and seeding production areas. This will enhance working conditions and sustainability of the orchards, which serves as a vital public space for the communities. Also, they act as tools for raising awareness about agroecological production and climate change and as important socialization spaces for the elderly in these communities.
These improvements will contribute to diversifying the use of public space in the neighborhoods,mainly used as football fields, as well as the increase and maintenance of one of the few productive green areas.This will also contribute to its long term sustainability and enhance their food security. Also, these experience sharing spaces will engage other communities to replicate these initiatives in their neighborhoods and promote the construction of a local network of agroecological orchards.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
