Description

A measure of per capita garden area per target distance - public community gardens provide active interaction with nature and opportunities for social cohesion

Measuring community gardens as part of the greenspace network in cities gives an indicator of a range of factors such as: accessible greenspace provision and preservation, diversity of land use for humans and biodiversity, sustainable use of vacant land, climate regulation (cooling, stormwater, reduced GHG emissions associated with food transportation), food security, physical activity, access to healthy food/fruit and vegetable consumption, community cohesion and empowerment. Ultimately community gardens deliver a social function. Mapping exercises can also be used to identify areas where future community garden (CG) projects should be targeted (i.e., need for CGs).

Scale as linked to D2.2 framework

• City

Data source [ link to data framework]

• Depends on selected methods - to be determined

Data needs

• Depends on selected methods - to be determined

Expected Outputs

• Depends on selected methods - to be determined

Calculation methods

• A variety of methods exist from applied/public participation techniques through to earth observation/remote sensing approaches. For further details on measurement tools and metrics see: Connecting Nature Indicator Metrics Review Env89_Applied

Links and references

• Balfour, R., Allen, J., 2014. Local action on health inequalities: Improving access to green spaces. London, UK
• Dennis, M., James, P., 2016. User participation in urban green commons: Exploring the links between access, voluntarism, biodiversity and well being. Urban For. Urban Green. 15, 22– 31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2015.11.009
• La Rosa, D. (2014) Accessibility to greenspaces: GIS based indicators for sustainable planning in a dense urban context. Ecological Indicators, 42: 122-134.
• Jakubowski, B. and Frumkin, H. (2010) Environmental Metrics for Community Health Improvement. Preventing chronic disease, 7(4): 1-10.
• Senes, G., Fumagalli, N., Ferrario, P.S., Gariboldi, D. and Rovelli, R. (2016) Municipal community gardens in the metropolitan area of Milano: assessment and planning criteria. Journal of Agricultural Engineering, XLVII: 509 [82-87].
• Speak, A.F., Mizgajski, A. and Borysiak, J. (2015) Allotment gardens and parks: Provision of ecosystem services with an emphasis on biodiversity. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 14(4): 772-781.