Urban food cultivation in the United Kingdom: Quantifying loss of allotment land and identifying potential for restoration

Dobson, Miriam C.; Edmondson, Jill L.; Warren, Philip H.

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103803

Cited by 29 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…One resource unquantified by our study is the amount of money that gardeners spend on their allotments beyond the price of their rent. An investigation into this could provide an important insight into whether there are financial barriers that may prevent those from lower incomes from participating in UH, especially in light of recent research demonstrating that low-income areas have disproportionately suffered from allotment site closures over the past half century [27]. Our results demonstrate a huge variation in rent costs across the country, with the highest rates standing at £280 per year, compared to a lowest cost of £0.…”

Section: Human Resources: Time Money and Travelmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…One case study analysis found that it could provide fruit and vegetables for 3% of a city's population despite allotments covering less than 1.5% of the city's area [26]. Demand for allotments is rising [27], with an average of 52 people on waiting lists for every 100 plots in the UK [25], and evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic is further increasing demand for growing space [28]. It is therefore timely to develop our understanding of what the associated resource costs of allotment gardening are.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the Direct Resource Requirements of Urban Horticulture in the United Kingdom: A Citizen Science Approach

2021

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Interest in urban food production is growing; recent research has highlighted its potential to increase food security and reduce the environmental impact of food production. However, resource demands of urban horticulture are poorly understood. Here, we use allotment gardens in the United Kingdom to investigate resource demands of urban horticultural production across the country. We conducted a nationwide citizen science project using year-long allotment ‘diaries’ with allotment gardeners (n = 163). We analysed a variety of resources: transportation; time; water use; inputs of compost, manure and topsoil; and inputs of fertilisers, pest control and weed control. We found that, overall, an allotment demands 87 annual visits, travelling 139 km to and from the plot; 7 fertiliser additions; 4 pest control additions; and 2 weed control additions. On average, each kilogram of food produced used 0.4 hours’ labour, 16.9 L of water, 0.2 L of topsoil, 2.2 L of manure, and 1.9 L of compost. As interest in urban horticultural production grows, and policy makers build urban horticultural spaces into future sustainable cities, it is of key importance that this is carried out in a way that minimises resource requirements, and we demonstrate here that avenues exist for the diversion of municipal compostable waste and household-level city food waste for this purpose.

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Section: Human Resources: Time Money and Travelmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Direct Resource Requirements of Urban Horticulture in the United Kingdom: A Citizen Science Approach

2021

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“…Nonetheless, other forms of UA are becoming increasingly popular. For example, own-growing is enjoying a recent resurgence of interest in the UK, where higher participation is hindered by dwindling allotment supply [44,77,78].…”

Section: Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urban development patterns in many parts of the global North have led to uneven distribution of green space, often favouring more affluent areas, making equitable access to growing space a major issue, especially in urban centres and for low-income or racially segregated communities [13,38,39,62,65,66,75,77,79,[81][82][83][84][85][86]. In addition, the success of UA projects is often dependent on networking, social work, and business skills in addition to horticultural knowledge [13,39,87].…”

Section: Inclusivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing City Resilience through Urban Agriculture: Challenges and Solutions in the Global North

Gulyas

Edmondson

2021

Sustainability

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Cities, which now host the majority of the global population, are vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic disturbances, which are likely to increase in number and severity in the near future. Urban agriculture (UA) could help increase the resilience of cities to a range of pressures and acute shocks by improving food security and public health, building social capital, and promoting circular economies. However, comprehensive assessments of its potential are still lacking. Here, we use a systematic review of the literature on UA in the global North to identify factors that determine its success in providing resilience benefits, explore challenges that can limit this, and develop a conceptual model to highlight the ways in which it could be enhanced through research, policy, and practice. We define the success of UA in increasing city resilience as determined by five factors, which in turn depend on the amount of institutional and public support for UA, the presence of a sufficient knowledge base, communication and collaboration among different actors, and resourcefulness in finding alternative ways to use space and other resources efficiently. We close with a discussion of specific directions for research and practice based on the conceptual model developed here.

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“…Overall negative comments about organisation-related activities such as local council involvement with allotments, combined with the positive comments regarding prizewinning at allotment shows, demonstrate that a strong sense of personal ownership is prevalent amongst allotment gardeners.Allotment gardens clearly provide a multiplicity of benefits for their tenants. However, the number of allotments in the UK has declined by almost two-thirds since the 1950s, with the most deprived urban areas experiencing eight times the level of closures as the least deprived(Dobson et al, 2020). Research has demonstrated that gardening can be an important way for deprived communities to improve mental and physical health as well as create stronger, more resilient community networks(Travaline and Hunnold, 2010;Milbourne, 2012;Poulsen et…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“My little piece of the planet”: the multiplicity of well-being benefits from allotment gardening

Dobson

Reynolds

Warren

et al. 2020

BFJ

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PurposeParticipation in urban horticulture (UH) is increasing in popularity, and evidence is emerging about the wide range of social and environmental benefits “grow your own” can also provide. UH can increase mental and physical well-being, as well as improve nature connectedness, social capital and community cohesion.Design/methodology/approachThis study focusses on allotments, which is one of the dominant forms of UH that takes place in the United Kingdom. 163 volunteers in England and Wales participated in keeping a year-long allotment diary as part of a citizen science project investigating activities on allotment gardens. This study examines the unprompted comments that 96 of these gardeners offered as observations when visiting their allotment plots.FindingsParticipants recorded high levels of social and community activities including the sharing of surplus food produce, knowledge exchange, awareness and interaction with wildlife, emotional connection to their allotment, appreciation of time spent outside and aesthetic delight in the natural world around them.Originality/valueAt a time when waiting lists for allotment plots in the United Kingdom are on the rise, and allotment land is subject to multiple pressures from other forms of development, this study demonstrates that these spaces are important sites not only for food production but also health, social capital and environmental engagement.

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Urban food cultivation in the United Kingdom: Quantifying loss of allotment land and identifying potential for restoration

Cited by 29 publications

References 41 publications

Assessing the Direct Resource Requirements of Urban Horticulture in the United Kingdom: A Citizen Science Approach

Assessing the Direct Resource Requirements of Urban Horticulture in the United Kingdom: A Citizen Science Approach

Increasing City Resilience through Urban Agriculture: Challenges and Solutions in the Global North

“My little piece of the planet”: the multiplicity of well-being benefits from allotment gardening

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