The City of Oslo joined the “Food System Change Online Congress” in March to present Oslo as a city assuming responsibility for food production. Watch the video here:
Oslo has a long history of growing food in the city and is particularly known for its development of school gardens and allotment gardens in the early 20th century, which helped feed the citizens during WWI and especially WWII. While agricultural industrialization has led to a decline of food production in the city duringthe second half of the 20th century and the focus has shifted from growing food as a necessity to growing food for social and educational purposes, more and more people are again getting interested in urban gardening. Since 2017 the municipality has supported over 300 urban gardening projects through its grant scheme of 200.000 Euros annually.
Kindergardens, housing cooperation, nursing homes, volunteer groups, social and green entrepreneurs and many more have received support to start their projects. In 2019 Oslo municipality adopted the strategy “Sprouting Oslo – Room for everyone in the city’s green spaces” to support a green city development, strengthen local food production, create more green social places and activities, build up school garden teaching, and promote collaboration, knowledge transfer and innovation in urban agriculture. Through the participation in EdiCitNet, Oslo municipality has gained a deeper insight into engagement of citizens in urban agriculture projects, how to reach disadvantaged groups and provide valuable work experiences, and thus support the city reach its strategic goals. EdiCitNet has also enabled the municipality to help new entrepreneurs to kick-start their ideas while receiving guidance through a difficult first year as a farm-entrepreneur.
