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Community garden in Somalia helping to feed needy people funded by the Columbus Foundation

Community Gardens

 * What are they?**

Community gardens are plots of land which local citizens can rent (sometimes for free) to use for the cultivation of plants, either for food, or for other purposes. They are growing in prevalence in cities in the United States and around the world, though they are not a new concept. Community gardens are often said to have originated in the allotment tradition of England in the early 1800’s where rural workers displaced to the cities were given plots of land to cultivate for personal consumption. In the 1890’s and in every economically weak period in the U.S. since (such as the Great Depression) there has been a wave of growth in community gardens [Irvine]. To get a better sense of what a community garden is, in context, picture a vacant plot of land in a city. The city or an organization may clean this plot up and offer sub-plots to people who can then cultivate plants in that space, right in the middle of a city (though community gardens do not necessarily have to be in a city). They may charge a small fee or offer the plots for free. This is particularly useful to low income families as will be described later. To get a beter sense of what a community garden is, visit one or more of the following links:

-American Community gardening Association:  -Wikipedia:  -Washington Municipal Research and Service Center:  (Contains many other links!)


 * Why are community gardens a sustainability solution?**

Community gardens address three different sustainability areas: social, economic, and environmental.

SOCIAL: Community gardens address sustainability from a social perspective. When different members of the community of every race and class share a common space, it builds community and a sense of belonging. People feel a greater attachment to one another and it encourages education between cultures and generations as people help each other with their plots or simply chat while they share a common space. In fact a study led by Leigh Holland indicated that of the people in a particular community garden, 63% claimed education as the, or one of the, original goals of the garden with the number increasing to 70% considering to now be one of the goals [Holland]. This building of community helps to wear away the selfishness that is built into our modern consumer society. With a strong sense of community people will consider one another when they make decisions in the community and when they are lobbying local government to make changes. Additionally it builds up networks among citizens who can help each other out in ways not related to the gardens. With people helping each other, this leads to the next aspect of community gardens, economic considerations.

ECONOMIC: It has been observed throughout history that in urban settings the gap between rich and poor often grows. This creates a great need among the poorest people in a city. Community gardens are able to meet some of the needs of many of these poor citizens. The gardens provide a source of food to these people, which not only feeds them, but frees up the funds they would have had to spend on that food for other needs. In many communities, it is also possible for people to generate and sell surplus food allowing them to boost their incomes. This phenomenon is not present only in the U.S. and in fact is much more prevalent in some other nations. For example, in Kenya, in a single growing season, urban gardens produced $4 million in surplus food providing much needed income to the impoverished there [Irvine]. Also, in many cases extra produce grown in these gardens is given to food banks and other charitable organizations. It is also worthy of note that some of the best places for these gardens are in areas of low property value where pressure against the garden from developers will be minimal or non-existent and the cost to create them will be small as well as not depriving the municipality of tax revenue. Better still, it so happens that these places are often in close proximity to the people who need the gardens most, the poor. It has also been observed in some cases that when a garden project starts up, the property value will increase, helping the poor residents further [Irvine]. The cleaning up of vacant lots has economic effects, but it also has environmental effects.

ENVIRONMENTAL: There is a plethora of ways that community gardens can help the environment and it will change slightly from case to case. However there are some traits that most have in common. Many community gardens are organic, either by choice, or for economic reasons. As such, this reduces the environmental impact from food per capita in the cities as fewer pesticides, herbicides, etc. are used to produce the sum total of food for the city. Additionally, these gardens serve as partial air and water filters improving air quality and water quality where they are located. In more specific cases the impact can be even more direct. There is a garden in Jakarta built on a race track that uses the manure from the track to fertilize the garden reducing the economic and environmental impact of the race track. In Zambia there is a garden around a sewage lagoon in which squatters grow produce for their own consumption and sugar cane and bananas for profit. The garden helps to decompose the sewage and in return the people there are sustaining themselves and earning a living [Irvine]. Part of the problem with modern day food is that it often travels many thousands of miles to get from producer to consumer. This wastes fuel and pollutes the environment. Additionally, this travel requires that the food be heavily pacjkaged which is also wasteful, especially considering the plastic content of most packaging today. Local gardens reduce both of these where in many cases absolutely no fossil fuels go into the production of the food or into travel to the consumer. Also, even in cases where the food is sold, it requires less packaging overall [Howe].


 * So it’s all butterflies and rainbow’s right?**

There are yet more benefits to community gardens including increased exercise of those who participate and even an overall increase in psycholigical health has been observed [Howe]. However, there is a downside that must be considered, because there are more people with a stake in the gardens than just the gardeners and there are many factors to consider when placing a garden in the middle of a city. For one thing, developers have a natural opposition to the gardens because they cannot develop on them. On that note, the city does not collect much tax revenue from the gardens if any at all, so this “undeveloped” land might be considered a loss to them as well. However, just as the gardens have multidimensional benefits they have many kinds of problems. In cities with pollution problems, gardens can actually be risky. As mentioned, they can help clean up the air, but that said, they do so by cycling the air. That means that it is possible for pollution to build up in the plants being grown which people will then eat [Howe]. The problem is clear. Whether the benefits outweigh the risks and problems is up to each community to determine for themselves. For information on how some U.S. cities have handled community gardens visit  and click on some of the community garden links for different cities.

Related Material: - Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs)  (Also has information on farmers markets, organic farming, etc.) - Farmer’s Markets  (Quick list of benefits) - City Farms  (Chicago’s city famr, gives a good notion of what city farms are)


 * Sources:**

Holland, Leigh. "Diversity and connections in community gardens: a contribution to local sustainability." //Local Environment// 9.3 (2004): 285-305. //Academic Search Premier//. EBSCO. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.

Howe, Joe. "Planning for Urban Food: The Experience of Two UK Cities." //Planning Practice & Research// 17.2 (2002): 125-144. //Business Source Premier//. EBSCO. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.

Irvine, Seana. "Community gardens and sustainable land use planning: A case-study of the Alex Wilson Community Garden." //Local Environment// 4.1 (1999): 33. //Academic Search Premier//. EBSCO. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.