Urban Gardening Peace Project
The world requires transformation towards a culture of peace, which consist of values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect and inspire social interaction and sharing based on the principles of freedom , justice and democracy, all human rights , tolerance and solidarity , that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation and that guarantee the full exercise of all rights and the means to participate fully in the development process of their society.' https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d94ec670c5b607d9c896795/t/5ef0c35f16217c2827e84d65/1592836959623/For+Peace_UN+Resolution_Establishment+of+Ministries+and+Departments+for+Peace.pdf For such a constructive change the world needs to work together and should start a “peace process” which invites all parties for an international cooperation.Without such a process it may be difficult to strengthen individual and societal freedoms for flourishing, to curb climate change and biodiversity loss, reduce inequalities in income and wealth, end armed conflicts and avoid out-bursts of violence, strengthen the rule of law and accountable and effective public institutions, and shape digitalisation.In this regard, peace science can contribute the world’s transformation process by proving that micro-meso-macro level peacebuilding methods adequately can tackle injustice and help transformers to find solutions by sharing their knowledge with each other during the dialogue process in an urban just and sustainable transition process.
Creating Peace Gardens in the Urban Realm: Urban Gardening Peace Project Wuppertal https://urban-peace.org/peace-garden-eng/
The Urban Gardening Peace Project is located on the grounds of the Alevi community of Wuppertal (AKM) and works closely with several actors in the hearth of the city.As an Avantgardenist thinkers and volunteer transformers we want to be part of collective search for paradigms and pathways towards a world that is sustainable, equitable and just. The community garden invites different cultures and actors to establish a peaceful relationship with each other and at the same time to resume the dialogue with nature. The vision of this scientific project is to create in the sacred place a nature-based conflict transformation model while facilitating intercultural knowledge exchange processes.This space aims to create dialogue in the nature to find sustainable solutions and opens spaces for people to share their needs and hopes. Thus, this creative "Peacebuilding" project has a cultural and social dimension as well as a scientific approach to reduce the power of the drivers of injustice in the context of sustainable urban development.Peacebuilding with its new definition has been implemented in an urban transformation project for taking alternative actions on social inequality and ecological unsustainability in order to create more just and sustainable spaces.As a study it has been realized in Wuppertal in order to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in a real-life laboratory context. It was not only set up to analyse root-cause problems but also sought to propose culturally sensitive solutions.
It is an important intervention for preventing violence, it works with inclusiveness to help enable emergence of a common understanding in three main ways:
First, it can support inclusive processes of just urban transition that respect diversity of cultural backgrounds and ethnicity.
Second, it can promote more environmentally friendly behaviour and attitudes among participants.
Third, it can convey new meanings of “collective struggle for a common future” in different languages, cultures and sacred places.
First evidence-based Policy Brief in the World:
How we started to activate Communities: https://medium.com/urban-arenas-for-sustainable-and-just-cities/an-avantgardenist-approach-creating-peace-gardens-in-the-urban-realm-17f8aaddaa9f
Additionally, sharing resources and knowledge with the communities and inviting them into process to find solutions for their own communities by themselves about sustainable consumption behaviour and attitudes for human-wellbeing or finding local just solutions to address the growing issue of food waste, food affordability and its impact on the climate. Learning from one another and coming into contact with one another are clearly in the foreground, whereby the peace garden should not only be a utensil for social purposes, but also a place for communicating sustainable consumer behaviour.
✌️🌱☮️We are a group of peace thinkers..
Inclusivity
We cordially invite everyone to participate in our peace project, regardless of age, gender, political views or origin. Previous knowledge of gardening or peace work is not required.
Strengthening of Women+ and Diverse Groups
We would like to encourage women in particular to participate in peacebuilding and further strengthen their social significance. It is important to us to include their creativity and their great collective knowledge about plants and seeds, medicinal properties etc.
Peace
We believe that demilitarization and decarbonization are connected, and we are determined to create and maintain peace. The framework we have created should be understood as a protected space. We do not tolerate defamation or violence towards other people, neither in language nor in behavior.
Climate Justice
In our peace approach, we feel obliged to contribute to more climate justice in an urban environment. We would like to contribute to the reflection on a more sustainable and just life and to a more conscious behavior.
Biodiversity
The Peace Garden is intended to contribute to the greatest possible biodiversity in urban areas. Nature is a network of the most diverse forms of life, everything is connected with everything else. With the Peace Garden, we respect the dependence of humans on nature as part of nature.
Feedback from a teacher after their school visit:
“It is a nice idea to come again with our class or with a part of the class to your garden(s) in spring, when the weather is suitable, to build something and / or to plant something. We could also very well imagine coming on other dates with other classes. We would also be very happy to plan such a visit together beforehand in terms of methods and activities. Peace Garden's works and ideas are very impressive and have also given me personally new impulses, for example on the transformation of spaces and old objects. The idea of intercultural and interreligious cooperation in such very concrete joint projects like the “Peace Garden” is very nice anyway.” Gesamtschule Barmen Teacher
The group members – mainly women – began to be part of change for a constructive future and the community they live in. New spaces can encourage the young generation, especially women, to be part of a positive change.
A comment:
"I think the loss of identity and being out of touch with nature is an increasing issue, especially for people around my age and the following generations. I feel like people lose their awareness for how this world was developed and what we as humans need to do, to keep this planet safe for any living creature. Being caught up in the busy city life makes you forget what the essentials for a functioning and healthy world are. Being out of touch with nature makes you disconnected to the most natural thing you can actually experience".
Mehtap Çıplak’s quote, one of the culture and religious centre’s director where Peace Garden created, may serve as another constructive example:
“We (Alevi women) have to explain and open ourselves to the society and take more responsibilities where we live. We have a collective centre of faith and culture, yes that is true, but there are conflicts between nature and us. We need to share and teach our nature-based literature and culture, as well as our nature-based art background with the next generation. We have noticed that many other actors and artists in our city have begun to inspire themselves on the work of the Peace Garden, we are happy to be a pioneer community while hosting them in our culture center and peace garden”.
About our publications and peace works we recieved many good reputations:
"Great article! I found your perspective on this topic both enlightening and thought-provoking. The way you break down complex ideas into understandable insights is truly commendable. It’s interesting to see how these developments could shape our future. I’m particularly intrigued by your point about potential challenges and would love to dive deeper into that." Starlight Herot
Web-site:www.urban-peace.org
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/groups/491783505092197 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/urbangardening_friedensprojekt/ An Avantgardenist Approach: https://medium.com/urban-arenas-for-sustainable-and-just-cities/an-avantgardenist-approach-creating-peace-gardens-in-the-urban-realm-17f8aaddaa9f Art and Peacebuilding: https://under-construction-wuppertal.de/media?fbclid=IwAR0nxzedr8MXJrOokd8SWWTcd8TQyB21rMSMvIXT9_YdKANg_QX8_CKlfig#type,archiv-der-traeume,1 (Here you can find how we contributed to the art scene for Pina Bausch centre’s under construction work with our creativity.. Pls follow the link on: “Büro für künstlerische Praxis” - Archiv der Träume Mansa Sabaghian (0:10:12) und Burcu Eke-Schneider (0:54:15)..) Essay by Burcu Eke-Schneider 'Der Sand' Vielleicht - page 11 https://die-wueste-lebt.org/der-sand/ Micro-level Peacebuilding Methods for a Just and Sustainable Urban Transformation https://think7.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Cohesion_Micro-Level-Peacebuilding-Methods-for-a-Just-and-Sustainable-Urban-Transformation-Process_Burcu-Eke-Schneider.pdf
A micro-meso-macro-level Transformative Peacebuilding Method: Peace Garden
Contact Info: wuppertalforpeace@gmail.com