Impact areas and framework

Community gardens can serve as a cost-effective way to acquire more nutritional food. But the economic impacts mostly align with activities of urban farms. Urban or Market farms will often locally distribute food through CSA or markets and through those sales they can employ gardeners and farmers.

Quantitative measures

The benefit measures for Economic impacts in most studies we’ve seen revolve around measures of turnover and revenue but also of the relative effort to grow that produce and the percentage of food sold that comes from locally grown sources. Further indicators around job readiness, creation and upskilling provide useful indicators for the incremental benefits of urban farms to a local community.

In a world facing the overwhelming challenges that come with climate change we can imagine a day where greenhouse gas emission mitigation, in the form of carbon credits, will become a tradable item for community gardens involved in the art of composting. See the carbon calculator tool further into this site for more information.

Qualitative measures

We don’t feature any qualitative benefits from an economic perspective in our study though we expect perception of resilience and personal development, as well as the various qualitative benefits of locally grown produce, for those involved could be collected through one on one interviews.

References

• Wakefeild, S., Yeudall, F., Taron, C., Reynolds, J., & Skinner, A. (2007). Growing Urban Health: Community Gardening in South-East Toronto. Oxford University Press.

Community gardens can alleviate some pressure off civil services like waste and stormwater management. When community gardens have efficient composting systems for the community, this can significantly reduce the volume of greenhouse gas emitting rubbish collected by waste management. On top of that, the food scraps get turned into healthy soil for the garden. And depending on the size of the garden, all the permeable surfaces can absorb a lot of rainwater and divert it from going into the municipal stormwater system.

Quantitative measures

The amounts of kitchen waste collected and processed by community gardens can be relatively easy to measure and through surveys it’s possible to understand measures such as how people drop off compost, by what transport medium and how far they come and how long it takes them to drop off their waste.

For stormwater management measures of permeable surface areas and rainwater collected help determine the offset provided by a community garden.

Qualitative measures

It’s really insightful to understand what motivates people to engage with a community garden to drop off compost waste. Surveys are always useful for this purpose. Look to Innermost Gardens approach to surveys on this site.

References

• Beilin, R., & Hunter, A. (2011). Co-constructing the sustainable city: How indicators help us “grow” more than just food in community gardens. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 523-538.

Community gardens serve as social spaces providing a relaxing environment for people to connect with new people. They can accommodate people of any age, ability and ethnicity which means that people from different backgrounds get to share ideas, stories, advice and knowledge. This generates social resilience, necessary in this day in age where we live in a world often detached from our neighbours.

Quantitative Measures

Impacts vary for different generations and can be different for people with different interests. Common measures across these subsets include numbers of people involved, hours involved and also the number of facilities, programs and /or activities for each subset.

Measures on numbers of youths up-skilled as well as the numbers indicating positive attitude changes and improved association with their community can be valuable to collect for that subset,

Qualitative Measures

Pre and post program code answers from interviews with members of the community, young and old, can support qualitative assessment of benefits. An example question might be ‘What does a garden give back to the community?’ or ‘How does a garden affect safety in the community?’ Answers to these questions can inform us about perceptions around community safety and crime.

References

• Bendt, P., Barthel, S., & Colding, J. (2012). Civic greening and environmental learning in public-access community gardens in Berlin. Landscape and Urban Planning 109, 18-30.

• Earle, M. (2011). Cultivating Health: Community Gardening as a Public Health Intervention. Wellington: University of Otago.

• Glover, T. (2004). Social Capital in the Lived Experiences of Community Gardeners. Leisure Sciences, 143-162.

• Kinglsey, J., Townsend, M., & Henderson-Wilson, C. (2009). Cultivating health and wellbeing: members’ perceptions of the health benefits of a Port Melbourne community garden. Leisure Studies, 207-219.

• Okvat, H., & Zautra, A. (2011). Community Gardening: A Parsimonious Path to Individual, Community, and Environmental Resilience. Tempe: Society for Community Research and Action 2011.

•  Parry, D., Glover, T., & Shinew, K. (2005). ‘Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How Does Your Gaden Grow?: Examining Gender Roles and Relations in Community Gardens. Leisure Studies Vol. 24, No. 2, 177-192.

• Wakefeild, S., Yeudall, F., Taron, C., Reynolds, J., & Skinner, A. (2007). Growing Urban Health: Community Gardening in South-East Toronto. Oxford University Press.

Participating in community gardening can bring people an array of positive health benefits. The benefits can be viewed in three different categories, physical, mental and nutritional. Jobs around community gardens are versatile and can accommodate anyone’s level of fitness. People often find the gardens as an important break from the city, a chance to deepen their connection with nature and relax. The access to nutritional food is of course also a plus and knowing where it comes from and how it is grown. This is particularly important for communities with less access to good food.

Quantitative measures

Common impact areas for quantitative health impacts from community gardening include Physical, Mental and Nutritional Health benefits.

Typical measures for physical health benefits can include the number of people involved in gardening practice as well as cumulative and average hours of those involved.

Mental health measures can include the number of programs that approach mental health as well as the number of participants that address mental health as part of their gardening practice.

Nutritional health measures can be the number of people eating produce from the garden, awareness of where consumed produce comes from and comparisons of those eating fresh produce as compared to others they live with.

Qualitative

Perception of physical and mental health improvements from participants involved in community garden are valuable qualitative measures and can be assessed through surveys and one on one interviews.

References

• Alaimno, K., Packnett, E., Miles, R., & Kruger, D. (2008). Fruit and Vegetables Intake among Urban Community Gardeners. Nutrition Education and Behaviour, 94-101.

• Amrstrong, D. (2000). A survey of community gardens in upstate New York: Implications for health promotion and community development. Health and Place, 319-327.

• Earle, M. (2011). Cultivating Health: Community Gardening as a Public Health Intervention. Wellington: The University of Otago.

•  Kinglsey, J., Townsend, M., & Henderson-Wilson, C. (2009). Cultivating health and wellbeing: members’ perceptions of the health benefits of a Port Melbourne community garden. Leisure Studies, 207-219.

•  Kuo, F., & Taylor, A. (2004). A potential natural treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 1580-1586.

•  Wakefeild, S., Yeudall, F., Taron, C., Reynolds, J., & Skinner, A. (2007). Growing Urban Health: Community Gardening in South-East Toronto. Oxford University Press.

Community gardens can have a range of environmental impacts both directly and indirectly. Direct environmental impacts include greenhouse gas mitigation, carbon sequestration, increased ecosystem biodiversity and regeneration. The indirect environmental benefits are more to do with influencing urban lifestyle change and education.

Quantitative benefits

Measurements for positive impact can entail number of volunteers and activities across each impact area as well as outputs from those activities. Volume of produce grown as well as numbers of food producing and non food producing trees and plants planted can provide strong indicators of community engagement in environmental restoration. These measures could extend to other ecosystem services functions e.g. beehives added as indicators of biodiversity improvements.

In terms of resource conservation we can look to measures of resources such and water and energy uses as well as land/lots used to grow food or develop biodiverse ecosystems.

Qualitative benefits

A good way to collect qualitative benefits for environmental impact is through surveys. As an example, for Innermost Gardens compost operation, a QR code linked to a google survey form was attached to the side of the compost bins. Folks who were dropping their kitchen waste off just had to point their smartphone camera at the QR Code and they would then be queried by the form. In a short period of time over 100 responses were received. 

Over 80% of those folks dropping off compost walked as part of their daily recreation and over 74% lived within 1 km of the gardens. 93% were dropping off compost because they wanted to contribute to climate change mitigation while 63% don’t have their own compost pile.

References

• Beilin, R., & Hunter, A. (2011). Co-constructing the sustainable city: How indicators help us “grow” more than just food in community gardens. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 523-538.

• Bendt, P., Barthel, S., & Colding, J. (2012). Civic greening and environmental learning in public-access community gardens in Berlin. Landscape and Urban Planning 109, 18-30.

• Krasny, M., & Tidball, K. (2009). Community Gardens as Contexts for Science, Stewardship, and Civic Action Learning. Cities and the Environment Vol. 2 Iss.1 Art.8.

• Meadows, D. (2000, November 6). Two Brothers Talk Carbon Sequestration. Retrieved from Grist: https://grist.org/article/how/

• Okvat, H., & Zautra, A. (2011). Community Gardening: A Parsimonious Path to Individual, Community, and Environmental Resilience. Tempe: Society for Community Research and Action 2011.

Growing local food can provide a means for communities to become more connected and resilient, particularly when gardens and gardeners collaborate to grow food. As an example a single beehive can produce more than 60kg’s of honey a year which is more than one family can consume. When one grows food locally they can better control the inputs and as such have improved potential to cultivate food that is potentially healthier than those found in the supermarkets. The ecological benefits of growing food locally include a reduction in the food miles and by developing local soils the communities ability to capture carbon improves.

Quantitative measures

Measures generally fall into such things as quantitative counts of vegetable producing units and area available for production. Labour effort and inputs as well as yield measures are also useful. Economic measures such as income from farmers markets and increase in sales turnover are valuable measures for urban farms and community supported agriculture.

Qualitative measures

The social benefits that come from growing local can be significant. At most community gardens you’ll find a mixture shared common beds and allotment beds. Each style suits different people and motivates them for different reasons. A qualitative survey and/or one on one interviews can provide often surprising and heart warming evidence of these benefits. Some examples from Innermost Garden Allotment users.

I have been renting one of the private allotments at the Innermost gardens for 2 years after moving to Wellington from the UK. I’ve always enjoyed gardening but living in a south facing exposed apartment meant I was struggling to grow much successfully. After taking on a small plot I was able to grow tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn and more which would not have been possible otherwise. As the area is protected from wind by the surrounding trees it means I can grow something all year round. At the moment I have broccoli, cabbage and sprouts growing and planning on growing a cut flower patch this summer.

Being able to walk to the gardens in 30 minutes from home also means it is a great source of exercise a couple of times per week as well as helping to provide fresh organic vegetables in our diet. Having an area to grow helped me feel more at home in Wellington. It gave me an opportunity to meet more local people, both other allotment holders, who often share tips and extra produce and people who use the gardens to walk, enjoy the space or use the compost bins.

When I retired three years ago I was living in an apartment in central Wellington. I would often walk through the Innermost Gardens in the weekends and always thought it was a lovely tranquil space so close to the centre of the city. I became involved in the garden working days but wanted to have more time in the gardens and when I learnt about the allotments thought that would suit really well.

I have had my allotment for over two years now and it has satisfied my craving for gardening while still living in an apartment. I try to grow year-round salad greens and also other crops such as beans, beetroot, etc. We also use the compost bins for our vegetable waste.

There are often people walking through during the week keen to know what is going on in the garden area and a continual stream of people walking in with their compost. I personally think it is a wonderful asset to inner city life.