DOI - Mendel University Press

DOI identifiers

DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7509-963-1-0163

HOW CAN BOTTOM UP ACTIVISM CREATE A PUBLIC PARK: CASE STUDY OF EVOLUTION GARDEN IN ČEBOVCE (SLOVAKIA)

Katarína Mikláąová1, Anna Mária Mitrová2, Ladislav Bakay1
1 Institute of Landscape Architecture,Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovak Republic
2 Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

The following case study describes the ongoing process (since 2014) of creating a 1,1 ha public park via bottom-up activism in cooperation with local municipality in Čebovce (Slovakia). Čebovce is a small village with 1021 inhabitants in the south of Slovakia close to the Hungarian border surrounded by oak forests and vineyards. It has a typical valley climate, dry or moderately wet, with an annual average temperature 8.5°C and precipitation of 620 mm. The contribution describes the workflow, activities, fundraising and voluntary work during the period 2014-2024, also identifies the main formal and non-formal groups involved in the process. The selected plot, which was transformed to a public park was an illegal waste dump with a black locust stand in the central part of the village. The data were obtained from project reports of the leading NGO, which was the leader of the activities. The main function of this public park was to create an outside classroom for the local elementary school and place for relax and short-term recreation. The paper describes the strategy which was used to create and maintain this public space via bottom-up activism.

Keywords: Grassroot, low cost, NGO, public space, volunteering

pages: 163-167, Published: 2024, online: 2024



References

  1. Bell, S. et al., (2009). European Forest Recreation and Tourism. A handbook, Great Britain: Taylor and Francis Group, 2009. 237p. ISBN 978-0-415-44363-0 Go to original source...
  2. Dale, A. G., & Frank, S. D. (2017). Warming and drought combine to increase pest insect fitness on urban trees. PloS one, 12(3), e0173844. Go to original source...
  3. Fal»an,Ą. (2010). Verejný priestor ako priestor sociálny. In Urbanita [online]. Dostupné na: https://www.uzemneplany.sk/clanok/verejny-priestor-ako-priestor-socialny
  4. Jarolímek, I., Zaliberová, M., Mucina, L. & Mochnacký, S. 1997. Rastlinné spoločenstvá Slovenska. 2, Synantropná vegetácia. Veda, Bratislava. 416 pp.
  5. Stebbins, R.A. (2009). Would You Volunteer?. Soc 46, 155-159 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-008-9186-1 Go to original source...
  6. Morgenroth, J., Santos, B., & Cadwallader, B. (2015). Conflicts between landscape trees and lawn maintenance equipment-The first look at an urban epidemic. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 14(4), 1054-1058. Go to original source...
  7. Pastakia, A. (1998), "Grassroots ecopreneurs: change agents for a sustainable society", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 157-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534819810212142 Go to original source...
  8. Slobodníková, K., Tóth, A. (2022). Hands on the Local Green: Community-Based Projects of Green Space Co-Design in Slovakia. Public recreation and landscape protection-with sense hand in hand, 157-161. Go to original source...
  9. Tarábek, K., (1980) Klimageografické typy. In. Atlas Slovenskej socialistickej republiky. Slovenská akadémiavied, Slovenský úrad geodézie a kartografie, Bratislava, 64. st (PDF) Phenological garden of the Sorbus domestica L. at ÚKSUP Dolné Plachtince.
  10. Tóth,A. et al, (2014). Interactions of recreation and landscape protection in Slovakia. In Journal of landscape Management, vol.5, no.1, pp. 51-55. ISSN 1804-2821.
  11. Wang, L. L., Mook, L., & Handy, F. (2017). An empirical examination of formal and informal volunteering in Canada. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 28(1), 139-161. Go to original source...
  12. Xu, Y. (2014). Volunteer participation and the development of civil society in China: A case study of Jinan. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 5(1), 139-168. Go to original source...