A New Top-Down Governance Approach to Community Gardens: A Case Study of the “We Garden” Community Experiment in Shenzhen, China

Urban Farm DB summary

This paper clarifies the governance structure and operation mechanism of Shenzhen's "We Garden" community garden program, introduced in 2020 to transform idle public lands into green spaces. Fieldwork, including direct observation and interviews, revealed that this experiment is driven by urban environmental public governance rather than individual needs. The "We Garden" approach represents a new top-down governance structure, emphasizing the key role of nonprofit organizations in promoting sustainable public participation in urban environmental protection.