scholarly journals Roots, Tendrils, Sprouts and Shoots: A Case Study of Parkallen’s Community Garden, a permaculture project

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Wurfel
Keyword(s):  
Community Gardens ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
First Year ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
The City

The first growing season of Edmonton’s Parkallen Community Garden began in Spring 2012. We transformed an unused strip of lawn bordering our hockey rink into a loamy, thriving “edible food forest” of corn, beans, squash, kale, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, apple trees, and mammoth sunflowers. It is unlike most community gardens in that individual plots are not tended by individual gardeners; rather, the PCG is tended communally, by the community. The garden is open and accessible to the community, always, and all are welcome there, from the toddler whose only contribution is to chomp on a snowpea and water a dandelion, to the senior who wants to plant a tree in his community that he knows will outlive him. Hundreds of Parkallen residents have planted something, admired something, or munched on something there. In its first year Parkallen’s garden won The City of Edmonton’s top community gardening award from Communities in Bloom. This article is a case study of the Parkallen Community Garden. Through the lenses and observations of the author, it details how Parkallen’s permaculture design came, literally, to fruition and how permaculture has been interpreted and how it informs our garden and our gardening community.

scholarly journals Impact of community gardening on lifestyles' sustainability: quantitative & qualitative evaluation of a natural experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Tharrey ◽  
Ashby Sachs ◽  
Marlène Perignon ◽  
Chantal Simon ◽  
Caroline Mejean ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Independent Effect ◽  
First Year ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Despite the increasing number of studies on gardening and health, evidence of health benefits of community gardening is limited by cross-sectional design. The “JArDinS” quasi-experimental study aimed to assess the impact of community garden participation on the adoption of more sustainable lifestyles in French adults. Methods: Individuals starting gardening in community gardens in Montpellier (France) in 2018 (N=66) were compared to pairwise matched individuals with no experience in community gardening (N=66). Monthly household food supplies, physical activity measured by accelerometers and questionnaires on physical, mental and social well-being, sensitivity to food waste, and connection with nature were used to explore sustainability of lifestyles in social/health, environmental and economic dimensions. Data were collected at baseline (t0) and 12 months later (t1). Linear mixed models were used to determine the independent effect of community gardening on investigated lifestyles components. In-depth interviews were conducted at t1 with 15 gardeners to better understand changes that may have occurred in gardeners’ lives during the first year of gardening.Results: At t0, gardeners had lower education level, lower BMI and reported lower percentage of meals consumed outside of the home in total household meals compared to non-gardeners (p<0.05). At t1, the mean weight of fruit and vegetables harvested from the garden was 19.5g/d/p. Participating in the community garden had no significant impact on any of the social/health, environmental and economic lifestyle components investigated. Qualitative interviews suggested the existence of pre-established health and environmental consciousness in some gardeners and revealed several barriers to the participation such as lack of time, lack of gardening knowledge, difficulty of gardening, health problems and conflicts with other gardeners. Conclusions: Using a longitudinal design allowing causality assessment, no impact was observed of the first year of community gardening on lifestyle sustainability. The pre-established sensitivity to sustainability and the various barriers encountered by new gardeners might explain the absence of community gardening impact. Further rigorous longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether or not community gardening is a relevant public health tool.Trial registration: The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03694782. Date of registration: 3rd October 2018, retrospectively registered.

scholarly journals A Place to Breathe in the Dense City: Community Gardening and Participatory Urbanism in Paris

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Carrie Ann Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
City Community ◽  
The City

Community gardens have emerged in Paris as a way to create green spacesin the city’s densely populated working-class neighbourhoods. One such garden is the Goutte Verte,a temporary, nomadic community garden that, with the agreement of the city and its developers, occupiesvacant lots awaiting the construction of new-build social housing. The continued existence of the GoutteVerte is placed in opposition to much-needed housing in the city, with poor, unemployed, and middle-classgardeners alike caught between a desire for green space and a demand for comfortable housing. Drawingon participant observation and interviews conducted in 2013–14 and 2019, I demonstrate how communitygardens act as a material alternative to urban planning and governance that often fail to account for a rightto a “place to breathe” in the city – a situation that is increasingly fraught as city planners treat newconstruction as the primary solution for affordable housing in Paris.

scholarly journals The Work of Community Gardens: Reclaiming Place for Community in the City

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Cumbers ◽  
Deirdre Shaw ◽  
John Crossan ◽  
Robert McMaster
Keyword(s):  
Community Gardens ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Working Community ◽  
The City ◽  
Academic Debate

The growth of community gardens has become the source of much academic debate regarding their role in community empowerment in the contemporary city. In this article, we focus upon the work being done in community gardens, using gardening in Glasgow as a case study. We argue that while community gardening cannot be divorced from more regressive underlying economic and social processes accompanying neoliberal austerity policies, it does provide space for important forms of work that address social needs and advance community empowerment. In developing this argument we use recent geographical scholarship concerning the generative role of place in bringing together individuals and communities in new collective forms of working. Community gardens are places that facilitate the recovery of individual agency, construction of new forms of knowledge and participation, and renewal of reflexive and proactive communities that provide broader lessons for building more progressive forms of work in cities.

The Implementation of Biological Phosphorus and Nitrogen Removal with the Bio-Denipho Process on a 265,000 PE Treatment Plant

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 161-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Einfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
First Year ◽  
In Series ◽  
Design Loads ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
The City ◽  
Biological Phosphorus

A process, called Bio-Denipho, for combined biological phosphorus and nitrogen removal in a combination of an anaerobic tank and two oxidation ditches is described. In this process the anaerobic tank consisting of three sections working in series is followed by two oxidation ditches. These too are working in series, but with both inlet to and outlet from the tanks changing in a cycle. The Bio-Denipho process is described specifically for the process itself and as a case study for the implementation of the process on a 265,000 pe wastewater treatment plant for the city of Aalborg in Denmark. The plant was designed and erected in two stages and the last stage was inaugurated October 31,1989. Lay-out and functions for the plant is described and design loads, plan lay-out and tank volumes are given in this paper together with performance data for the first year in operation.

3. Intervening with Agriculture: A Case Study of Guerrilla Gardening in Kingston, Ontario

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Crane
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

The purpose of this study was to analyze guerrilla gardening’s relationship to urban space and contemporary notions of sustainability. To achieve this two case studies of urban agriculture, one of guerrilla gardening and one of community gardening were developed. Through this comparison, guerrilla gardening was framed as a method of spatial intervention, drawing in notions of spatial justice and the right to the city as initially theorized by Henri Lefebvre. The guerrilla gardening case study focuses on Dig Kingston, a project started by the researcher in June of 2010, and the community gardening case study will use the Oak Street Garden, the longest standing community garden in Kingston. The community gardening case study used content analysis and semi-structured long format interviews with relevant actors. The guerrilla gardening case study consisted primarily of action based research as well as content analysis and semi-structured long format interviews. By contributing to the small, but growing, number of accounts and research on guerrilla gardening this study can be used as a starting point to look into other forms of spatial intervention and how they relate to urban space and social relations. Furthermore, through the discussion of guerrilla gardening in an academic manner more legitimacy and weight will be given to it as a method of urban agriculture and interventionist tactic. On a wider scale, perhaps it could even contribute to answering the question of how we (as a society) can transform our cities and reengage in urban space.

scholarly journals Response of Micropropagated Apple Trees to Field Establishment Procedures

HortScience ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 1364-1365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Cold Storage ◽  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
First Year ◽  
Sectional Area ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Terminal Shoot

Growth, flowering, and fruiting of micropropagated `Jonathan' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) transferred in Spring 1983 to the field from either a nursery, cold storage, or greenhouse were compared. First-year shoot and trunk growth was greatest for trees transplanted from the nursery and least for trees that were held in the greenhouse before being transferred to the field. Trees pruned low (35 cm) at planting time had more terminal shoot growth and less trunk cross-sectional area after the first growing season than those pruned high (90 cm). The effect of preplanting cultural practices on vegetative growth diminished in the 2nd year and disappeared by the end of the 3rd year in the orchard. Flowering began in 1985 and was only slightly affected by preplanting cultural practices and pruning treatments. Fruiting was not affected by the treatments.

scholarly journals Impact of community gardens on the sustainability of lifestyles: baseline data of the JArDinS study

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Tharrey ◽  
M Perignon ◽  
P Scheromm ◽  
C Mejean ◽  
N Darmon
Keyword(s):  
Food Supply ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Sustainable Lifestyles ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction Despite growing evidence for the multiple health benefits of community gardening, longitudinal studies based on quantitative data are needed. JArDinS is a quasi-experimental study aimed at assessing the impact of community garden participation in the adoption of more sustainable lifestyles. Materials and Methods Gardeners starting gardening in a community garden in Montpellier (France) were recruited in 2018. Volunteers with no experience in community gardening and matched for age range, gender, household income and household composition were recruited in a control group. A recruitment goal of 80 participants per group was determined to detect a 30% increase in F&V supply in the gardeners group. Participant were issued with three tools: a Food Supply Dairy to collect data on monthly household’s food supply, a triaxial accelerometer to measure physical activity and an online questionnaire on mental and social health, sensitivity to food waste, and connection with nature. Measures have been collected at baseline and will be repeated 12 months later. Data collected are examined conjointly to assess the sustainability of lifestyles in its social/health, environmental and economic dimensions. Change of outcomes after 1 year will be compared between the natural experiment and the control groups, to evaluate the effect of access to a community garden on the sustainability of lifestyles. Results A final number of 77 participants per group were enrolled at baseline, which is 4% less the original recruitment goal. Baseline data for the natural experiment group and the control group are currently being analysed and will be presented. Discussion This study will provide valuable information about the potential of community gardens to favor sustainable lifestyles, based on a robust quasi-experimental design allowing causality evaluation. Findings could help developing policies toward more sustainable urban planning favoring both human and environmental health. Key messages For the first time, the JArDinS study will allow testing, the impact of community gardens on the sustainability of lifestyles. Results will help orient urban planning decisions towards healthier options.

Growing Gardens Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Strategic Expansion of Anchorage, Alaska’s Community Garden System

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Shannon Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Parks And Recreation ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
Outreach Programs ◽  
Strategic Model ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

Anchorage’s community gardening program is administered by the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation program and part of their mission is to provide “a food system where locally produced, affordable, and nutritious food is available to all”. The demand for access to community gardens far outweighs the supply raising the question, how can the city of Anchorage strategically and sustainably expand their community garden system? To explore this question, the Municipality of Anchorage partnered with the University of Alaska Anchorage to better understand how expanding community gardens can bridge a gap in the local food system and increase access to fresh foods by the city’s most vulnerable and diverse individuals. To do this, we developed a multi-faceted needs assessment that included a community survey, stakeholder workshop, and key informant interviews. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of expanding Anchorage’s community gardens and offers expansion strategies that balance the needs of the community’s diverse populations with the city’s community gardening mission. The findings of this study show that to sustainably meet the needs of diverse audiences, community garden expansion efforts should focus on 1) making new gardens accessible by identifying safe, convenient, and functional locations; 2) building gardener capacity through education and outreach programs; and 3) strengthening partnerships with other community organizations to share resources and capabilities. The methods used and the associated findings revealed through this study can be adapted and applied in other cities looking to develop a sustainable and strategic model for community gardening.

scholarly journals Growing the community – a case study of community gardens in Lincoln's Abbey Ward

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 530-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Natural Capital ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Bridging Social Capital ◽  
Relationship Of

AbstractCommunity gardens, as previous research has found are as much about growing the community and the individuals involved, as gardening itself. The study of Green Synergy's community garden initiatives within Lincoln's relatively deprived Abbey Ward provided an exceptional case study in which to review the inter-relationship of impact both at a community and individual level. The social element of community gardening in building connections between social and natural capital is explored, and how community gardens can provide a ‘counter-narrative’ to perceptions of place and individual well-being.The qualitative research approach which included observation, interviews, a focus group and workshop was designed to reflect the wide scope of the projects and generate both individual and communal reflection on the projects. The themes that emerged open up a further understanding of the multiple dynamics arising from the collaborative creation of ‘green spaces’ in providing bonding and bridging social capital within communities, together with challenging narratives of individual and community capacity. In so doing, it adds to existing research evidence on the diverse community connections, spaces and products that community gardening engenders.

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