Clever Mobile Gardens for City with Too Little Green

With just six square meters of green space -- not all of it usable -- available to each resident of Istanbul, people seeking an escape from the city's concrete jungle may have to start carrying their own little patch of green around on their backs. That's just one of the not-entirely-tongue-in-cheek concepts proposed by a local designer for "mobile gardens" -- an idea he says dates back to the Ottoman Empire.

Alarmed by the lack of planning for green areas and parks as the city develops at a rapid pace, Gürsan Ergil set up a tiny "garden bench" -- a bench planted with grass and a small tree -- and hung a "swinging garden" at last fall's Istanbul Design Week to draw attention to the issue. He also conducted a "Create Your Own Garden" workshop during the event where participants sketched plans for pocket green space.

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