Cultivating Civic Ecology

Urban Farm DB summary

This study used a Photovoice methodology with an association of urban gardeners in Lisbon, Portugal, to examine their attempt to transform informal or clandestine garden spaces into an "urban agricultural park." Presenting initial findings, it describes how a coalition of gardeners from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds used a participatory design process to reclaim land and create a shared space, and how residents conceptualized their use of urban space, built civic identities through gardening, and made political claims to access and control vacant land.