The governance of community gardens as commons and its role in the socio-ecological outcomes of gardening in Austin, Texas, USA

Urban Farm DB summary

A 2022 study of community gardens in Austin, Texas, USA, examining the approaches used to govern them and the socio-ecological outcomes associated with each model. Using Ostrom's socio-ecological systems framework, the author combined key-informant interviews with garden managers (yielding both qualitative and quantitative data) with remote-sensing estimates of net primary productivity — a proxy for carbon sequestration — derived from ECOSTRESS imagery on the International Space Station and Planet Inc. data. Social outcomes were measured as gardeners' satisfaction and perceived success; ecological outcomes as green-space ecosystem services. The highest social and ecological performance was found in gardens with 'bottom-up' governance structures, where community members hold decision-making and management authority. The author argues the two kinds of outcome are codependent and that the governance approach determines the form that codependence takes. The study covers gardens in a single city, so generalisation elsewhere remains to be tested.