“You feel like you’re part of something bigger”: exploring motivations for community garden participation in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Background Increased global urbanisation has led to public health challenges. Community gardens are identified as a mechanism for addressing socio-ecological determinants of health. This study aims to explore motives for joining community gardens, and the extent to which participation can be facilitated given barriers and enablers to community gardening. Such a study fills a gap in the public health literature, particularly in the Australian context. Methods This paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews with 23 participants from 6 community gardens across Melbourne. Applying phenomenological, epistemological and reflexive methodologies and thematic analysis of the data, this study provides a snapshot of drivers of community garden participation. Results Results were categorised into six enabling themes to participation. These themes revolved around (i) family history, childhood and passion for gardening; (ii) productive gardening, sustainability and growing fresh produce in nature; (iii) building social and community connections; (iv) community and civic action; (v) stress relief; and (vi) building identity, pride and purpose. Time costs incurred, garden governance and vandalism of garden spaces were among the barriers to community garden participation. Conclusion Although an interest in the act of gardening itself may be universally present among community gardeners to varying degrees, the findings of this study suggest that motivations for participation are diverse and span a range of ancestral, social, environmental, and political domains. This study contributes exploratory insights on community garden motivations and sustained involvement across multiple urban sites in Melbourne (Australia). This study recommends extending this work by undertaking future quantitative research that can move from local case studies to a national guidelines on how to engage more people in urban agriculture activities like community gardening. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7108-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Placemaking in Action: Factors That Support or Obstruct the Development of Urban Community Gardens

“…CGs mirror dialectic relationships between realms of the public and the private, and of the planned and the unplanned [18]. Local communities become attached to CGs and report positive experiences of sense of place and belonging [19,20]. While placemaking strategies usually focus on topics that guide the practice of placemaking [3,7] and build on theoretical considerations about construction of meaning, social exchange, collaborative action and civil empowerment [8,10,12,14,20], little is known about factors that hinder or impede placemaking in action.…”

“…Local communities become attached to CGs and report positive experiences of sense of place and belonging [19,20]. While placemaking strategies usually focus on topics that guide the practice of placemaking [3,7] and build on theoretical considerations about construction of meaning, social exchange, collaborative action and civil empowerment [8,10,12,14,20], little is known about factors that hinder or impede placemaking in action. This paper aims at shedding light on enablers and barriers in CGs in their role as placemaking platforms (see Figure 1) and proposes general dimensions for systematisation and future research, which are adaptable to theoretical conceptualisations of placemaking (Section 1.1) and placemaking practice (Section 1.2).…”

Trust, Connection and Equity: Can Understanding Context Help to Establish Successful Campus Community Gardens?

“…Community garden-based research demonstrates positive impacts of community gardens on physical, mental and cognitive health. Benefits are attributed to the core garden constituents of fresh air, social interaction, healthy food, reduced stress and physical exercise [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Closely associated are benefits owing to nature’s ability to facilitate recovery from mental fatigue [ 24 ], reduce risk of psychological distress and build healthier cortisol profiles [ 25 ].…”

A Systematic Review Protocol to Identify the Key Benefits and Associated Program Characteristics of Community Gardening for Vulnerable Populations

“…The benefits of community gardening are numerous, building upon the previously mentioned physical and mental health benefits of gardening in general. Due to the grounding in a community setting, community gardens have been shown to improve connections within the local community, thereby reducing social isolation [34,35]. Additional benefits attributed to participation in community gardens include promoting a healthy diet through increasing fruit and vegetable intake [5], building a sense of identity and ownership [35], stress relief [35], encouraging contact with nature [1], and increasing social capital [36,37].…”