Urban garden as a water reservoir in an urban area – a literature review

Abstract

The aim of the presented work was to show that contemporary researchers recognize the potential of urban gardening in improving urban retention, and that the contemporary scientific literature mentions specific problems-indicators of retention that can be useful for developing guidelines for authorities and gardeners on the management and development of urban gardens, such as allotments and community gardens, considering their role as a retention tool. In this study, a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed scientific articles from popular scientific databases such as Web of Sciences, Science Direct, Springer and MDPI was performed, which was, besides literature analysis, the main method of research. Definitions of urban garden retention indicators were developed, which are: rainwater/stormwater infrastructure (collecting rainwater water – special infrastructure); watering systems (system for providing water strait to plants); planting type (garden plants: flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs on beds – no turf: lawn or turf with dicotyledonous plants). The most frequent groups of indicators in the articles were also identified. The study also analyzed the distribution of surveyed articles between continents, noting the overrepresentation of articles from North America and the absence of articles from South America.

Keywords

• meta-analysis
• water retention indicators
• community garden
• soil maintenance
• planting type