Les Jardins de la Gare

Together with children and neighborhood residents (around Alice Sauvin Park), we want to transform unused spaces in the pedestrian zone near the Nyon train station into participatory vegetable and flower gardens, benefiting biodiversity and the hundreds of people who pass through the area every day.

We have three main objectives: • To revitalize currently unused spaces into lush gardens and promote local biodiversity (nectar-producing plants, pollinating insects, small wildlife) in the heart of a highly urbanized area. • To make daily life more enjoyable for station users and neighborhood residents, spark their curiosity, and foster interactions with children that would not otherwise occur. • To design, create, and maintain these gardens over the long term with the children and residents of the neighborhood (near Alice Sauvin Park), through an intergenerational and educational approach.

a. The Idea and Impact The “Les Jardins de la Gare” project aims to transform two small, unused, hard-surfaced areas in the pedestrian zone of the Nyon train station into participatory vegetable and flower gardens. These spaces, currently unused and devoid of vegetation, will become green oases visible to the thousands of people who pass through the station every day. The expected impact is threefold: • Intergenerational and educational: designing and maintaining these gardens with children and motivated residents who use this space daily. We hope this space will serve as a hands-on outdoor learning environment and foster spontaneous interactions between children, passersby, and station users. We have already received very positive feedback from the after-school care centers (UAPEs) that accompany children in this area of the station. • Environmental: Introducing nectar- and food-producing plants promotes local biodiversity (pollinating insects, small wildlife) in the heart of a particularly concrete-dominated urban area. The gardens will help absorb heat in the summer, making the pedestrian area more pleasant, and will capture stormwater that is currently wasted. • Social: to make daily life more enjoyable for station users and neighborhood residents, spark their curiosity about the plant world, and foster encounters that would not otherwise take place. b. Implementation Implementation will take place in several short phases during the winter and spring: 1. Preparing the sites (cleaning, marking boundaries, leveling if necessary) 1 weekend; 2. Installing raised vegetable garden beds made of untreated wood, suitable for mineral soil and a pedestrian zone ~ 2 weekends; 3. Installation of a small wooden fence (such as a picket fence) to visually demarcate the gardens and protect them from accidental trampling ~ 1 weekend; 4. Addition of topsoil and compost + addition of wood chips in the pathways between the beds ~ 1 weekend; 5. Planting the first crops and sowing seeds (simple vegetables, herbs, and honey-producing flowers). Sowing: February–March / Planting: March–April ~ 1 weekend. Estimated setup time: 1.5 to 2 months. c. Important details • The area in front of the Roulotte is used for posting campaign signs during elections. The anchors for securing the signposts will remain accessible, as will the posts for hanging the signs. • Watering: There is a water source connected to La Roulotte. We already have their permission to use it. • The planters will be 40 cm high, and the boards used to build them will be 3 cm thick. The boards and posts will be purchased from Scierie de la Rippe SARL (www.scierie-larippe.ch) and will be made from locally sourced wood. • Dimensions used for the budget estimate: d. Long-term maintenance Daily maintenance (watering, weeding, harvesting, observations), as well as any necessary repairs, will be handled by the project organizers (we visit these locations several times a day). We warmly welcome any spontaneous participation.

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Esplanade de la Gare, across from La Roulotte

• Guilhem Lacaze • Vanessia Wu • Malindi Lacaze (age 8) • Elios Lacaze (age 6) • Kestin Metzler • Melodie Metzler (age 8)