Zagreb is a city rich in natural and cultural heritage with a strong agricultural history. Residents of Zagreb love to spend time outdoors and opt for locally grown food. The area surrounding the city, the “Zagreb ring”, is home to many farms that provide food for the city through markets and temporary selling points. As part of its neutrality journey, as well as health and livelihood improvement plans, Zagreb aims to promote a “closing the circularity loop” logic when it comes to urban food systems. The City of Zagreb has extended its green infrastructure network within the city. Through the H2020 proGIreg project, Zagreb - a frontrunner city within the project - developed an urban farming with therapeutic gardening in the neighbourhood of Sesvete. These gardens have been designed to target disabled users and have offered the added value to other already existing urban gardens in the city.The city wants to build on this experience and further extend urban agriculture within school communities across the city. To date, some schools in the city have gardens and orchards which produce food, however, these activities have not been seen from a neutrality nor circularity point of view.
In the context of UP2030, Zagreb will redefine urban agriculture by creating and closing the loop from School Farming - Food Production - Food Consumption - Food Waste - Composting, and back to School Farming. The project will:
- Shape healthy diet choices of students, away from red meat and high embodied CO2 towards poultry or plant-protein foods.
- Offer climate educational opportunities.
- Increase food resilience.
In parallel, given that some schools have limited space for green, a prototype of a modular indoor system will also be developed in one of these schools to secure inclusive participation and offer opportunities for greening and STEM activities. The project will actively engage the students, their teachers and their families as well as the local communities surrounding the schools. Lastly, the planned school green will also contribute to the city’s goal of cooling down the city and 22 mitigating heat impacts.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This project has received funding from the Horizon Innovation Actions under the grant agreement n° 101096405.