Shanghai Community Garden Movement (SEEDING / Clover Nature School)
Shanghai, China · Operator: Shanghai Clover Nature School / Tongji University Community Garden & Community Creation Lab (Liu Yuelai)
Overview
A citywide movement begun in 2014 to spread resident-participatory community gardens across Shanghai. Led by the non-profit Clover Nature School, co-founded by Tongji University's Liu Yuelai, it turns neglected spaces into citizen-built edible green areas.
Citizen participation
Residents plan and self-build 'mini-gardens' in their own neighbourhoods and join composting, rainwater-harvesting and permaculture workshops. A 30-plus-person team runs trainings and design support nationwide, spreading a model in which residents act as 'owners'; during COVID, the at-home SEEDING (sowing) plan drew 200+ participants within a week.
Operating model
A non-profit model led by Clover Nature School and a Tongji University lab, working with government, enterprise and social organisations and funded through commissioned design/operation, workshops, and research/education. The SEEDING plan was featured in UN-Habitat's 'Shanghai Manual'.
Impact
Created 200+ community gardens and 900+ resident mini-gardens between 2014 and 2022, drawing national and international attention as a model of resident self-governance, neighbourhood regeneration, food education and biodiversity, with the goal of a citywide green network.
Land tenure
Individual gardens use public green spaces or vacant lots in neighbourhoods under government/neighbourhood-committee permission; tenure varies case by case.
Crops
- vegetables
- herbs
- fruit
Scale
Citywide movement: 200+ community gardens and 900+ resident-run mini-gardens built 2014–2022; team has assisted 260+ gardens and 1,200+ mini-gardens, aiming for 2,040 gardens covering ~70% of neighbourhoods
Sources（2）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
- ArticleChina's Latest Push for Community Gardens Amidst Fast Urbanization (The World of Chinese) ↗theworldofchinese.com
- PaperParticipatory Action Research on the Impact of Community Gardening in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating the Seeding Plan in Shanghai (PMC) ↗pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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