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the project
The Hort del Mercat is a vegetable garden built on the roof of the Mercat de la Vall d'Hebron and Teixonera. With a 38cm substrate formed by a mixture of volcanic soil, clay and organic matter, it rests on a drainage layer and a waterproofing layer.
The garden has 1,750 m2 of cultivation space. It is watered with drip irrigation systems and fertilized with organic fertilizers, most of which are produced on the roof itself through composting thanks to the #Revolta machine, a pre-composter that stabilizes and sanitizes the waste.
The mission of the urban garden of the Mercat de la Vall d'Hebron is to promote ecological and environmental awareness and sustainability, promoting therapeutic, educational, socio-labor insertion actions and improving the living conditions and health of people who participate, with special attention to vulnerable groups.
The values of the project are therefore:
– Ecological justice with the promotion of agroecology, the mitigation of climate change and the promotion of health.
– Inclusion and social justice, through the promotion of egalitarian, plural and democratic spaces.
– Participatory democracy to promote participation and co-responsibility.
The Hort del Mercat is managed in an open and participatory manner. Any person or group from the neighborhood and, also, from the rest of the city, can participate in the activities that take place there: workshops, cultivation groups, projects, guided tours... consult our activities agenda.

Context
Urban agriculture has evolved exponentially in the city of Barcelona. The famous garden on the roof of Joan Carulla, started in the mid-70s in the neighborhood of Navàs, the beginning of the network of municipal urban gardens in the 90s or the boom in balcony gardens in 2005 are some of the milestones of this love story between the city and horticulture.
As a result of this reality, the City Council has defined, with the participation of other entities, the Urban Agriculture Strategy of Barcelona which has taken into account the city's 129 urban gardens and the 40 entities linked to the network of orchards This strategy is also complemented by other related strategic plans such as the Food Policy Promotion Strategy, the Social and Solidarity Economy Promotion Plan, the Climate Plan and the Zero Waste Strategy. Urban agriculture is therefore able to provide synergies and elements included in all these areas of action that are framed in the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN and adapted by the EC and all the member states as strategic objectives of public policies in the coming years.
In this context, the Vall d'Hebron Market garden is a unique proposal. It is the first covered urban garden of these dimensions in Spain, oriented towards the participation and collaborative management of crops, with a technical proposal for a natural cultivation substrate and, above all, with resources to be able to carry out a revitalization and Tracking.
A garden rooted in the neighborhood, open to all citizens, participatory, inclusive, which enhances and complements the activity of existing entities, especially in the attention to vulnerable groups. The garden also serves the city, offering training resources, technical resources and being a meeting point for the urban agriculture network of Barcelona and the entire metropolitan area.