Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2026·Australia (Melbourne)

Whose fruits, whose labour? Negotiating community and care-work in urban orchards and food forests

Anastasia Luise Gramatakos, Catherine Phillips, Andrea Rawluk

Local Environment

Urban Farm DB summary

This ethnographic fieldwork, conducted across three community-led urban food forest sites in Naarm/Melbourne, examined the everyday labors, relations, and tensions involved in caring for urban food-producing trees. The study found that participants grapple with significant tensions, particularly in open-access sites lacking fences, gates, or formal membership, highlighting the evolving and imperfect nature of commoning practices rather than a fixed ideal.