The Application of Sustainability Assessment: A Community Garden Assessment tool

Urban Farm DB summary

A methods paper (D-Scholarship@Pitt, University of Pittsburgh, 2010) proposes applying the Sustainability Assessment Modeling (SAM) framework—which quantifies stakeholder values, perceptions, and economic and environmental costs—to develop an assessment tool for community garden longevity and sustainability, motivated by evidence that community gardens often struggle with discontinuation. The paper reviews SAM-related literature and its methods, strengths and limitations, and proposes a participatory assessment process using indicators of organizational strengths, weaknesses, and success such as longevity, without presenting empirical test results of the tool itself.