Institutions for Collective Gardening: A Comparative Analysis of 51 Urban Community Gardens in Anglophone and German-Speaking Countries

Abstract

Groups of urban gardeners collectively grow vegetables, fruits and flowers in an increasing number of community gardens all over the world. Despite a growing body of literature on community gardens, there is a particular gap for a transcontinental bigger N-study on the organisation of community gardening, which we want to fill with a comparative document analysis of 51 urban community gardens in six anglophone and German-speaking countries. Specifically, we want to understand how community gardens are organised as spaces for long-term collective action. We systematically collected and analysed documents such as membership rules, handouts to new members, formal statutes, or blog entries. A cluster analysis helped to identify three types of community garden organisations, which vary in terms of organisational form, membership and exclusion rules, individual versus collective cultivation of the garden area, and the degree of regulation, fees, and waiting lists. Our findings show that there is no single blueprint for a long-term community garden organisation, but that self-organisation or nested forms of organisation and more or less open social boundaries result in distinct places of collective gardening. Comparing organisational types across geographical contexts, the European gardens analysed showed bigger organisational diversity, more open social boundaries and more collectively used areas compared to North American gardens.

Keywords

• urban gardening
• organisation
• collective action
• germany
• switzerland
• austria
• usa
• canada
• uk