Geotema 56_2 – Orti urbani tra partecipazione e retorica. Il caso del Comun’Orto di Rovereto

Citizen participation is becoming a widespread practice in several urban areas, by means of collaborative governance experiences. Are these processes the result of real participation or just rhetorical expedients aimed at institutional goals? I will try to address this question by reflecting on the case of urban community gardens, and particularly on the experience of Comun’Orto, a community project developed in the Brione district of Rovereto as the result of the joint work of eight urban organizations that joined forces to nurture both social sharing and cohesion, as well as the products of the earth.
In this intervention, by reconstructing the map of the actors at stake, the organizational and territorial history that led to this outcome, the peculiar characteristics of the neighbourhood, I will try to understand whether Comun’Orto succeeds in its participatory intentions, what are the dynamics of power between the actors involved and the actual territorial effects of the project.

Keywords: urban community gardens, citizen participation, Comun’Orto, neighbourhood.