Urban Gardens and Open Space Management
Exploration 2

Urban development may negatively impact food security and biodiversity.
Present the guiding questions to students. Ask students to consider what they would need to know to answer the questions. Ask students to frame their need to know in the form of a question.
 

Students will read Exploration 2: Part 1 – Urban Garden and Open Space Management from the Companion Reader below.
 

Watch the video about Prinzessinnengarten by the Transatlantic Outreach Program. Ask students to open Google Earth. Have them search for Prinzessinnengarten, Berlin. They can drag the street view icon to any of the blue 360º view spheres to visit the garden. They should use Google Earth to observe locations mentioned in the reading passages.

Discussion
Ask students to describe what they see in the garden.
What questions do they have?
Have students read Exploration 2: Part 2 – More about the Prinzessinnengarten from the Companion Reader below. Evaluate
Students should identify examples of sustainable practices used in the garden.

They will explain why their examples represent sustainable practices.
Ask them to add the examples of sustainability actions that they have identified to the Chart of Berlin’s Sustainability Goals.

Continue by having students read Exploration 2: Part 3 – Berlin brings Bees Back from the Companion Reader below.
 

Students will design a garden for their school. They should:

• Describe the problem they are solving with the garden.
• Identify the benefits of their garden including who will benefit from its use.
• Identify any possible drawbacks (intended or unintended) of their garden.
• State their design criteria and constraints.

Optional:
For further inspiration, have students investigate the following:

• Use Google Earth or Google Maps to explore land use in your community.
• Identify examples of green spaces. How much of your town or city is green space?
• Evaluate biodiversity in your community.
• How could urban farming and/or beekeeping be implemented in your community?

• Students will provide specifications for their garden, including materials and dimensions in inches and meters/centimeters.
• They will state the instructions for assembling, planting, and maintaining their garden.
• They should redesign based on feedback from experts or peers.
• They will develop a pitch to present their design. Determine how they should present their plans:
  • Poster
  • Video
  • Slideshow with live or recorded narration
• Students should include the following:
  • Print or digital image of the proposed site
  • Problem the garden solves
  • Ideas they considered and why they chose the plan they are presenting
  • Planting diagram (sketch or use a 3D sketching tool)
  • Reasons why their garden plan solves the problem
  • Steps needed to implement their plan, including cost, equipment, and labor needed
• Finally, have them present their design to their class.

As a class, evaluate garden proposals. Ask a local garden club member, local gardener, landscape architect, and/or agricultural extension agent to provide garden design feedback. Collaboratively develop a final garden design. Engage students in fundraising to implement installation of the garden. Use Prinzessinnengarten container strategies to create the garden. Students will also need to consider water access. Food grown in the garden can be donated to a food pantry or consumed by students.

• Create groups with diverse talents (e.g., artist, writer, researcher, manager)
• Provide examples from Prinzessinnengarten.
• Use voice dictation for writing the elevator speech.
• Use mixed-ability grouping.
• Read-aloud strategies can be used for the information sections.
• Show examples as needed for the assigned task.
• Provide sentence starters for writing and speaking activities. 

• Describe urban garden practices used at the Prinzessinnengarten.
• Compare and contrast land management strategies used in Berlin with land management strategies in the student’s community.
• Analyze land management strategies used in Berlin to minimize the impact of urbanization on biodiversity.
• Identify examples of sustainable practices used by the Prinzessinnengarten and beekeepers.