Growing pains : dealing with excess demand and the conflicting benefits of community gardens in Cambridge, Massachusetts

[摘要] Community gardens are one of the most popular uses of vacant space in the United States; there are likely over 6,000 operating in the country today. Although only a tiny portion of the population has ever participated in one, people applaud them for a range of benefits including community connectedness, physical activity, entrepreneurship, food production, and improved urban environments; the list of perceived benefits is effectively endless. Unfortunately, no community garden has an infinite amount of space and therefore it;;s likely that every garden won;;t provide every benefit that is attributed to community gardens broadly. This possible tension between different benefits was the impetus for this client-based thesis project. By first analyzing the history of community gardens, I identify that certain benefits are primarily associated with a particular time period in community garden history. Then, I give an overview of these benefits as they are addressed in the community garden and urban agriculture literature, categorizing them under four themes: social, physical/health, economic, and environmental. After reviewing and analyzing the literature addressing the history and potential benefits of community gardens, I offer a categorical framework through which conflicts between the benefits can be viewed. Next, I describe my primary research, a potluck focus group of community gardeners in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and discuss my findings. All parts of my research coalesce into a set of recommendations for expanding and improving community gardening (and urban agricultural practices in general) in the city of Cambridge.

[发布机构] Massachusetts Institute of Technology