Understanding the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations Associated with Community Gardening to Improve Environmental Public Health Prevention and Intervention

Urban Farm DB summary

Through semi-structured interviews with 17 community gardeners in the Boston area, this study characterized gardeners' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, their perceptions of soil quality and environmental responsibility, awareness of past land use, and gardening behavior. Gardeners reported knowledge of their garden's historical past and concerns about soil quality, theft, trash maintenance, animal waste, and produce loss to foraging animals. The findings are reported as directly informing environmental health exposure assessment by documenting gardening duration, activities that can lead to incidental soil ingestion, and consumption patterns of locally grown produce.