My name is Felix, I come from Germany originally, but for the last 6 years I have been living in a formerly abandoned village in the Spanish Pyrenees to explore a lifestyle more connected to the Earth and her rhythms.
I am here with you because I am now working on a project that aims to build a bridge from where we are today to a radically better world - and I need help with that. I have mapped out a promising plan but now I need people who are smarter and wiser than I am to help me develop it further. And after reading through the Second Renaissance website, I am hopeful to find such people here.
The most nutshell-y version of what I have in mind would be: to found an organization that develops a blueprint for community gardens in order to help towns and cities everywhere to build such a garden and begin producing food locally and organically. These gardens will all be connected and form a large network; and importantly, they will be much more than places to produce food but small versions of a future economy. Therefore, they are operated without money or private ownership and instead run on cooperation and community. The plan is to expand them in several steps to build real-world structures that will allow us to eventually let the current model of competition and exploitation go.
The feedback I’m getting so far is highly encouraging. But I am keenly aware of my own limitations and I think the most important thing to do now is find the best people possible who’ve been thinking about capitalism, ecology, the commons, democracy etc. for a long time and can advice me, help me, to improve this plan before we build the first garden.
If this resonates with you, here you can take a look at what I have to offer so far (audio & transcript): www.gardenarchipelago.eu
Warmest greetings to you all from a little stone house in the mountains
Felix
Hi Felix, I share your interest in community gardens, but not your geography. But I was curious if there were organizations for this purpose in Spain. I rain a quick search on that. Results are below, for what it’s worth.
Spain’s community garden network (Red de Huertos Urbanos) features dozens of citizen-led and municipal projects focused on organic agriculture, social inclusion, and sustainability. These dynamic spaces, operating locally in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, allow neighbors to cultivate shared plots, exchange resources, and promote local food sovereignty.
Major Regional Networks
Madrid (Rehdmad): The Red de Huertos Urbanos Comunitarios de Madrid was formed by citizens to manage unused public plots. They operate on agroecological principles to share knowledge and promote inclusive green spaces. The city council also supports numerous other municipal plots.
Barcelona: Barcelona’s network is an initiative largely led by the City Council. It consists of dozens of urban gardens spanning almost all districts. These spaces emphasize community greening and frequently partner with schools.
Valencia: Supported by research initiatives like U-GARDEN, Valencia’s community gardens act as social hubs that collaborate with local associations (such as Per l’Horta) to foster urban sustainability and community building.
How to Get Involved
Requirements and application processes vary by municipality and garden:
Citizen-led spaces: Many autonomous, grassroots community gardens (like those in Madrid) operate as self-governing associations. To join, you generally just need to visit the garden during open hours, speak with the coordinators, and agree to organic farming and community maintenance practices.
Municipal spaces: Many of Barcelona’s public allotment gardens target specific demographics (e.g., retirees over 65, or those at risk of social exclusion). To apply for a plot, residents must register at local Citizen Service Offices (Oficinas de Atención Ciudadana).
For more specific information on finding a garden in your specific municipality, you can explore the The Local Spain guide on urban gardens or reach out to your local town hall (Ayuntamiento).
Hi Robert! Thanks a lot for all this information! I have been busy contacting garden/projects in Germany lately but I had in mind to continue with Spain after that and I will use the information you shared to go about that
I like your idea. I did something similar myself a while back and also got to know a few orgs. This was in UK.
However I later reached the conclusion that cities and urban areas generally are unsalvageable in a climate collapse scenario. Other 2R members are generally more positive.
Where I’m more interested is in rural communities that can be more resilient. It sounds like you have a nice place in the Pyrenees. It’s that kind of area that may endure.
I am a director and smallholder at Lammas Eco Village in West Wales. There are many successful models for regernartive farming of the land. Many modern intentional communities have problems on the human side, and collapse, even good ones, and this is a topic of interest for everyone here.
I am beginning to think of stable “mosaic” villages and independent friends and family farms of the past, hopefully avoiding the unpleasant dynamics of kings, local lords and barons, and with modern communications and science.
I’m convinced passing land stewardship through the female line where possible will stabilise land relationships with family lineages rather than as a commodity or power structure, and reduce the abuse of the vulnerable.
There is quite a lot of thinking around here about modern monasteries, but I’m a bit avoidant of any bunker mentality. Guess I tend toward solar punk rather than medieval hippy.
Thank you all for your comments! I am happy to hear there are quite some discussions here on that platform surrounding the issues I am working on. It’s always encouraging to see and hear that we are not alone
@RobertBunge currently, our project is just being born and the most important thing right now is finding people who love to think big, who feel passionate about a future beyond capitalism and who want to help shape our plan before we start working. If you live on the other side of the planet, you can still join us in that effort, if you want to.
@rufuspollock, thank you for sharing the link to the Farmhouse Hub! I am thrilled to see what you’re doing there and I felt very much at home reading through the website. Is there a way to send our project to the people within the Farmhouse Hub and ask for feedback? I’m sure your people have a lot of ideas that could help us!
Justin, I agree with you, generally, that cities are “unsalvageable” and I believe they will become something very different in the future. I imagine them being a bit more like amusements parks: you go there for some time to experience something special, meet other people, or enjoy the buzz - but most people wouldn’t live there all their lives. But what I am working on doesn’t focus on cities but rather on smaller towns where you still have space (literally and mentally) to build gardens.
But more importantly: I don’t think of it in the sense of what Gen called “bunker mentality”. I don’t want to build little safety zones and wait for the flood - I’d rather work towards a general evolution of our society. And I think many people are more than ready for that today.
If any of you have feedback on our current plan or parts of it, I would be happy to hear it!
Have a great weekend everybody! And talk to you soon
Felix
Is there a way to send our project to the people within the Farmhouse Hub and ask for feedback? I’m sure your people have a lot of ideas that could help us!
Yes and the others. What exactly do you want in terms of feedback. What we lack at the moment are folks who want to do any significant gardening or land work.
What I need more than gardeners (at that stage of the project) are system thinkers, philosophers, and lovers of (big) ideas. I want to invite people who enjoy thinking about capitalism, democracy, the meta-crisis, social evolution, and ecology to take a look at our concept and share their ideas and concerns. The plan is to build the first gardens in 2027 and since they are supposed to be little versions of a future economy and society, we need to make sure that the underlying vision of such is fully worked out before we begin building. Thank you!
You’ll find the entire plan/strategy laid out on our website: www.gardenarchipelago.eu
There, you can choose if you want to read it (35 pages) or listen to me reading it out in a little podcast. You will find a lot of food for thought there, I believe, and I would love to hear what you make of it. Feel free to share the link with people who might be interested in such a project
Rather that address your theories from a theoretical angle, I’d rather focus on practicalities. To show you where I am coming from, two data points below. First, the farm I work at (as a volunteer). Second, the farmers’ market where we sell our produce. From doing this kind of work, I’m learned a lot practically about what gardening involves and what sort of economics come with that.
You said “theorizing is far easier than turning soil” for you but then you say rather than addressing my theories “from a theoretical angle”, you’d rather focus on “practicalities”. I’m getting a bit confused, I’m afraid
What I am laying out on our website is not at all theoretical but deeply practical. It isn’t a lofty vision of some utopia but a concrete plan how to build a better society, starting with gardens. Please feel free to focus on “practicalities” and let me know where you have ideas and suggestions
Simple. My theory about theorizing is that people who theorize from the standpoint of practice and experience have more interesting perspectives than those who just theorize in the abstract! So below, I’ll take just one sentence from your website and examine it theoretically, but also through the lens of practice. From the website:
“The basic idea is to replace competition as the guiding principle of our society with cooperation.”
The community of L’Arche is very much based on cooperation. It was founded by Jesuits, with a religious mission to serve the developmentally disabled. So it’s quasi-monastic in some ways. Because of the community’s spiritual and charitable mission, it gets a large amount of volunteer labor and charitable donations. That’s a good thing, because our vegetable sales at market would not come close to paying for the operation! We go to market one day per month all summer, and on a typical day bring in about $500. That would be about $3,000-$4,000 for a full season, which is not a living wage for a single person, let alone a full community.
Cooperative as L’Arche is internally, it exists in a larger competitive economy. The Farmers’ Market where it sells is very near two commercial grocery stores. Also, there are other vendor stalls at the market. All the vendors get along, but if you price your lettuce 2x higher that another stall a few feet away, customers will notice. The general point of this is any island of cooperation in a sea of competition, still has to compete. Getting this garden coooperative model to the level of a new “guiding principle of our society” is going to need quite a bit more than an archipelago cooperative gardens. The archipelago is a nice start, though!
My response to the example you chose would be that as long as you enter the market, you will compete - and you will have to deal with the same requirements as the others in the arena. If the goal is to overcome competition as a principle, you cannot enter the market in the first place. Accordingly, our gardens are not designed to sell anything but rather to produce what the people who work in them need. The trick is to build structures outside of the market and its forces, and avoid entering it all together.
Makes perfect sense - as long as you can source everything from your own property. Will you be needing fuel? Equipment? Building materials? Medicines? Food types you cannot grow? Telecommunications services? Etc. Unless your community is 100% off the grid, you will be needing cash for something. How will you obtain that cash? Will it be from markets? Or will everyone need to bring their own financial supply when joining the community?
