Models of governance in community gardening: administrative support fosters project longevity

Urban Farm DB summary

This study of community gardens in Toronto, Canada, examines a governance model in which community members plan, implement, and manage a garden with political and/or administrative support from government or non-governmental organizations, using participatory observation and interviews with gardeners, garden coordinators, NGO representatives, and government members across neighborhoods with diverse economic, social, and cultural characteristics. From the participants' own perspective, governance structures with administrative support appeared to benefit the longevity of community gardens, particularly in low-income areas, and land access, funding, human resource support, and educational opportunities were identified as typical needs across the projects studied. The authors note that tradeoffs between bottom-up and top-down governance models remain to be examined in future research.