Guerilla gardening, winter cycling and vacancy tax
Mar 28, 2024
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Gardening as a tool for healing and community building post-tragedy. Winter cycling in Olu and challenges faced in maintaining bike lanes. Austria's proposed vacancy tax to address housing stock utilization
Gardening can heal communities post-tragedy, inspiring positive change and unity.
Austria's vacancy tax targets unused properties to address housing supply and affordability issues.
Deep dives
Tayshan Hayden Smith's Gardening Journey and Community Healing
Tayshan Hayden Smith shares his journey from a football career to gardening and activism inspired by his mother's love for nature. Growing up near Grenfell Tower, he witnessed the tragedy and found solace in gardening to heal and unite the community.
Grow to Know Project and Bringing Change
After personal loss and reflecting on his mother's values, Tayshan created the Grow to Know project to transform negative energy into positive change. This project aimed to provide access to nature, especially during the pandemic, and give voice to underprivileged communities.
Austria's Vacancy Tax on Empty Properties
Austria plans to introduce a nationwide vacancy tax to bring back 650,000 unused properties into use, aiming to address housing supply issues. Vienna leads in affordable housing policies but struggles with accessibility, prompting the vacancy tax to ensure property utilization and affordability.
Green thumbs can help to transform communities. We speak to an activist and horticulturist about how gardening has had a positive effect on his neighbourhood – and helped it to heal after tragedy. Then: we find out how two wintery countries encourage their citizens to take to two wheels, as well as what similarities they share. Plus: a look at a proposed tax designed to ensure that housing stock in Austria is utilised to its fullest.