Community gardening
The most recent wave of community garden development happened in the 1970s during the OPEC crisis, results of grassroots movement in quest for available land to combat against food insecurity.
[5] They are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access, and management,[6] as well as typically owned in trust by local governments or not for profit associations.
Non-profits in many major cities offer assistance to low-income families, children's groups, and community organizations by helping them develop and grow their own gardens.
In the UK and the rest of Europe, the similar "allotment gardens" can have dozens of plots, each measuring hundreds of square meters and rented by the same family for generations.
Some Black, Indigenous, and people of color have supported self-sustaining community gardens, with the understanding that their liberation requires access to land and to healthy food.
[8][9] Community gardens may help alleviate one effect of climate change, which is expected to cause a global decline in agricultural output, making fresh produce increasingly unaffordable.
[10] Community gardens are also an increasingly popular method of changing the built environment in order to promote health and wellness in the face of urbanization.
The built environment has a wide range of positive and negative effects on the people who work, live, and play in a given area, including a person's chance of developing obesity.
[13] Community gardens improve users’ health through increased fresh vegetable consumption and providing a venue for exercise.
[18] Because of their health and recreational benefits, community gardens may be included in public parks, similar to ball fields or playgrounds.
Historically, community gardens have also served to provide food during wartime or periods of economic depression.
Individual plots can be used as "virtual" backyards, each highly diverse, creating a "quilt" of flowers, vegetables and folk art.
Some community gardens “self-support” through membership dues, and others require a sponsor for tools, seeds, or money donations.
In Santa Clara, California a non-profit by the name of Appleseeds[32] offers free assistance in starting up new community gardens around the world.
[citation needed] Community gardens have been shown to have positive health effects on those who participate in the programs, particularly in the areas of decreasing body mass index and lower rates of obesity.
A study found that community gardeners in Utah had a lower body mass index than their non-gardening siblings and unrelated neighbors.
[37] Administrative records were used to compare body mass indexes of community gardeners to that of unrelated neighbors, siblings, and spouses.
Participation in a community garden has been shown to increase both availability and consumption of fruits and vegetables in households.
A study showed an average increase in availability of 2.55 fruits and 4.3 vegetables with participation in a community garden.
Participation in gardening activities has been associated with reduced stress, enhanced mood, and improved overall mental health.
[39] Studies show that engaging in community gardening fosters a sense of belonging and social connectedness, which can mitigate feelings of loneliness and isolation, particularly in urban environments.
[40] For instance, community gardens provide safe, communal spaces where individuals can form social bonds, build relationships, and support each other through shared activities.
These interactions can help create resilient communities by improving both individual mental health and broader social networks.
In particular, zoning laws--which incentivize or deincentivize land development--strongly impact the possibility of community gardens.
For example, New York State reached a settlement in 2002 which protected hundreds of community gardens which had been established by the Parks and Recreation Department GreenThumb Program from future development.
The city of Detroit created agricultural zones in 2013 in the middle of urban areas to legitimize the over 355 “illegal” community gardens.
Strong family ties often keep them from retiring to the countryside, and so urban community gardens are in great demand.
Flood-prone river banks and other areas unsuitable for urban construction often become legal or illegal community gardens.
It is also likely to perform a dual function as an open space or play area (in which role it may also be known as a 'city park') and—while it may offer plots to individual cultivators—the organization that administers the garden will normally have a great deal of the responsibility for its planting, landscaping and upkeep.
