Logos Circle Lisbon: July
Date: 1 July
Location: Xenon Domus
Registered on Luma: 12
Attended: 8 attendees (7 returning attendees)
Languages: English, Portuguese
Circle Meeting Notes – Micro Rewilding Parklets Project (Graça, Lisbon)
Our circle met to discuss the Micro Rewilding Parklets project in Graça, Lisbon. Thanks to winning the Plural Events Bounty, we have a €600 budget to build our first prototype and explore ideas for creating portable, community-owned green spaces.
Project Ideas
The main concept is to build a modular “portable garden” that can temporarily transform a parking space into a small public park.
Some of the ideas discussed included:
-
Modular hexagon-shaped units on wheels that can be easily moved and rearranged.
-
Units designed to stack vertically when not in use, making storage simple.
-
Different modules with different functions, such as:
-
a water feature,
-
seedling beds,
-
a small tree,
-
edible plants,
-
and possibly a compost bin.
-
-
Once a week, the garden could be wheeled into a parking space, creating a temporary parklet for the day.
Community Activities
The portable garden could become a focal point for neighbourhood events, including:
-
Cooking together using edible plants grown in the garden.
-
Learning to identify local edible and useful plants that already grow around Lisbon.
-
Sharing knowledge about planting, foraging, and urban biodiversity.
-
Using a local group chat to let neighbours know when the garden will be set up so people can gather and participate.
Practical Considerations
We discussed how to legally occupy parking spaces for temporary events.
One idea was to purchase a dedicated licence plate so the modular garden could qualify for daily parking permits (approximately €2 per day at reduced parking rates). This needs further research.
We also explored the possibility of creating a sustainable funding model:
-
Renting out the portable garden for community events.
-
Offering a “garden delivery” service.
-
Using any income generated to build additional modular gardens over time.
Another opportunity is that the municipality may provide a free compost bin if requested, so one of the modules could potentially serve this purpose.
Other Ideas
We also discussed activating the small leftover spaces between the street and parked cars by planting flowers and edible species that thrive naturally in Lisbon.
These tiny interventions could include small signs or messages that invite people to notice urban nature and learn about edible plants growing around them.
Next Steps
-
Each circle member will prepare an individual design proposal for a 12–14 m² modular parklet.
-
We will compare sketches, discuss materials, and decide what to build first.
Next Meeting
Monday, 20 July
2:00 pm
Xenon Domus
Agenda:
-
Share individual sketches.
-
Decide on the final design.
-
Plan purchases.
-
Organise the build.