In Strasbourg, the news of the permanent closure of 26 additional
allotment gardens in Glacis Park, announced only a few days before themunicipal decree in question, highlighted the fragility of maintaining
these gardens in an urban context; water and soil pollution permanently
condemns these vibrant social spaces. This will mark the centenary of
the Strasbourg West Allotment Gardens Association, to which the
municipality had entrusted management of the western suburbs. Tensions
have arisen between these long-standing players in the promotion of
urban vegetable gardens and the environmentally conscious municipality,
which intends to pursue its land-use planning policy, even if it means
straying from its social mission.
Indeed, the policy it pursues regarding allotment gardens no longer
seems particularly favorable to the creation of new sectors, as in the
1960s, but proposes abandoning their management or reducing their size
to give the impression of new creations-due to budgetary constraints.
The goal is instead to focus its policy on communication and
"micro-implantations," while leaving room for unsuitable urban projects
with the ambition of "setting a model." Behind this gradual abandonment,
how can we not see a desire to destroy a culture born of the working
class, by literally preventing its expression? There exists a long
tradition of market gardening: islets, stream banks, and fortification
ditches are suitable for cultivation, while glacis are not intended to
be built upon. Situated between a motorway and a fortification dating
back to 1870, one might have thought they were protected, especially
since the law protecting the former glacis of the German fortification
of Strasbourg, from which the concept of a "green belt" emerged, has
been enshrined since 1922. Article 3 stipulated that non-aedificandi
land would continue to be so and would be developed into open spaces,
parks, and gardens, with the exception of the construction of social
housing or public interest facilities (1).
The users of these spaces were therefore surprised by the decision to
dismantle them, especially since it was impossible to find common ground
with elected officials on March 5, 2025, during an information meeting.
Only three soil and water samples were taken by ANTEA in 2023, resulting
in an 800% report. The presence of arsenic and lead in the soil and H2O
in the water were reportedly detected at levels above the standard due
to the use of fill land from the former dry cleaning and metal
degreasing industries.
Sceptical participants were chased away without being involved in this
issue or offered an alternative solution; the decontamination solution
was ruled out. This is seen as a tactic to stifle any protest, but the
gardeners are not giving in. The association is demanding that the rural
code regulations stipulating the replacement of all these lands by the
municipality be respected. A petition (2) launched by an anonymous
collective, with a poster and articles in the newspaper (DNA 21/03 and
18/04/2025), helped to disseminate users' incomprehension and the
importance of memory associated with these places. One might obviously
think of a municipality concerned about public health, but at the same
time, there is an urban transformation project behind the station along
the fortifications, decided on since May 2023. In articles (Rue 89
Strasbourg 26/05/23, 29/04/24), it expresses its firm intention to
transform the rear of the station into a multi-storey car park, with a
bus station and hotel. The existing infrastructure at the station
functions very well, however, and according to their own survey, 90% of
users arrive by alternative means to cars, rendering this project of a
parking lot connected to the highway by 2027 completely unnecessary.
Despite these inconsistencies, this month the project's main
stakeholders, the City, SNCF, and Region, are meeting to mark the start
of construction and likely the establishment of new industrial
activities. Other projects are underway, as in other gardens, the
gardeners refuse to allow ANTEA personnel to enter-foreshadowing the
closure of their land and possible conversion.
The municipality's goal is to take control of these spaces, which the
working classes had appropriated in one way or another; these spaces
remain a valuable source of food aid and a place of leisure. This seems
disturbing. Linked to this poverty-stricken vision, "the family garden
serves as a foil in the urban planners' discourse" (3). This type of
garden does not correspond to their vision of ecology, which is on the
one hand focused on landscaping (with "new standards of aesthetic
appreciation" applied by a single service provider), and on the other
hand, focused on urban agriculture ("collective garden" that residents
can never appropriate - only by membership and not allowing for any real
food supplement, "shared garden" under supervision or "micro-garden")
(4). In these new forms of gardens, those who would simply like to
cultivate to ensure a subsistence find themselves alienated; or even
exploited for social reintegration.
On an ecological level, no inventory of the fauna and flora has been
carried out, even though the area could be of ecological interest due to
its very age; memory, in any case, speaks of "reeds everywhere and
fishermen, owls and fireflies." The absurd idea of landscapers is to
replace it with hay meadows to give it a "natural" character while also
offsetting carbon emissions... greenwashing required.
Gardening remains a way of expressing something of a working-class
culture that has endured. However, urban agriculture will not allow "the
expression of genuine gardening practices, which are difficult to
achieve due to their small size"; the alternative remains groupings (5)
and free-for-all gardening!
L.G.
Notes:
1. The Green Belt of Strasbourg - The Origins 1700-1935, Notebook
7-2021, Dir. Urban Planning, Strasbourg
2. leslignesbougent.org/petitions/sauvez-les-jardins-du-glacis-21140
3. Revue-espaces-et-societes, 2014, "Urban Vegetable Gardens vs. Family
Gardens?" Urban Reform and Controversies Surrounding the Beautiful
Garden and Its Legitimate Use" by A. Frauenfelder, C. Delay, and L.
Scalambrin,
4. geoconfluences.ens-lyon.fr/glossaire/jardin-ouvrier-familial-partage
5. see the conference of popular gardens in struggle
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4466
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