Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
6 results
On the irrelevance of (peat-free) substrates - Qualitative insights into the social practices of hobby gardeners in Germany
2024Holger Braun, Dorothee Apfel, Benedikt Rilling, Carsten Herbes · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · Germany
A study with 44 hobby gardeners in Germany found that substrates are not a major part of gardeners' social interactions, and price is the dominant purchase criterion for substrates, with sustainability not playing an important role. Although basic knowledge about peat is widespread, purchasing substrates is a utility-driven process with mostly passive information behavior.
Limited or null effectCommunityClimate changeDIYOrganic cycleGuerrilla gardening as normalised law-breaking: Challenges to land ownership and aesthetic order
2022Andrew Millie · Crime Media Culture An International Journal · United Kingdom
This article considered guerrilla gardening, which involves taking on other people’s land without permission. A qualitative study of guerrilla gardeners from the North West of England found that guerrilla gardening is a normalised form of law-breaking. Despite not necessarily being to everyone’s taste and gardeners having an autocratic view of property, it is broadly accepted and welcomed, even by those who enforce the law.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyDIYExercise, Urban Food Production, Preparation and Consumption: Implications, Benefits and Risks to Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Gardeners
2022Jonathan Stubberfield, Mads Troldborg, E. Louise Ander, N.M.J. Crout, Scott D. Young, Rupert Hough · Agronomy · United Kingdom
This study investigated the influence of gardening routines on health benefits and risks among 120 urban gardeners in the UK. Participants showed a correlation between autumn/winter gardening activity and fruit/vegetable consumption, with higher physical activity levels and lower BMI than average. However, while gardening offers health benefits, the health risks from gardening on soils mildly contaminated with cadmium and lead may outweigh these benefits, requiring formal consideration within a risk management framework.
Contamination & food safetyHealthDIYBiodiversityKent Hakkı ve Katılımcılık Bağlamında Kendin Yap Kentleşme: Roma Bostanı Örneği
2019gökçe öcal · Journal of Planning · Turkey (Istanbul)
This study focuses on the Roma Garden, one of Istanbul's last remaining urban gardens, within the context of "DIY urbanism." In Istanbul, historical gardens are threatened by municipal policies favoring urban development, leading to the formation of "DIY" urban gardens on public land since 2013. These gardens operate without legal ties to the local state, and the destruction of urban public space over the last decade is noted as having paved the way for DIY public gardens as spaces of solidarity and shared knowledge.
Governance failureDIYCommunityPolicyBiodiversityContesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow's Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship
2016John Crossan, Andrew Cumbers, Robert McMaster, Deirdre Shaw · Antipode · United Kingdom (Glasgow)
This paper examines community gardens in Glasgow, acknowledging their vulnerability to neoliberal cooptation where citizen work may alleviate state service provision. However, it argues that even with neoliberal practices, these gardens cultivate collective practices that suggest a progressively transformative polity. This form of citizen participation, termed "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY) Citizenship, encourages reconsideration of relationships and effective political practice.
Governance failureCommunityDIYPolicyFood sovereignty & justice‘Plants Are Fashioned by Cultivation, Man by Education’
2014Robert Mattock · · United Kingdom
This article discusses the decline in horticultural skills and work ethic in the United Kingdom over the last century, attributing it to the welfare state's de-incentivization of the workforce. The diverse plant vocabulary and cultivation skills once common among Victorian gardeners and landscape designers are now largely lost, impacting the conservation of designed landscapes. While efforts are being made to revive school gardens and promote apprenticeships and craft skills, the article concludes that more work is needed to re-establish a traditional work ethic in apprenticeships.
Limited or null effectFood educationDIY