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Photo of Rebecca Laycock Pedersen (white woman with glasses)

Rebecca Laycock Pedersen

Postdoctoral researcher

Photo of Rebecca Laycock Pedersen (white woman with glasses)

Reviewing University Community Gardens for Sustainability : taking stock, comparisons with urban community gardens and mapping research opportunities

Author

  • Rebecca Laycock Pedersen
  • Zoe Robinson

Summary, in English

Community gardens (CGs) in university settings are faced with challenges associated with a transient and inexperienced population of student gardeners, but they also have the potential to have a lasting impact on the food behaviours of many young people. This paper undertakes a systematic critical review of literature about University Community Gardens for Sustainability (UCGS) in order to suggest directions of future research in the emerging field research about CGs within and outside of universities. The literature shows that UCGS have similar benefits to those identified in urban CG literature; but with greater emphasis on both the educational and environmental sustainability benefits, suggesting an under-used potential of CGs in these areas. We argue that a better understanding of the particular challenges and benefits of UCGS could improve outcomes of CGs in all settings. Therefore we recommend that future should explore: (1) participant transience in CGs, thereby helping sustainability projects with large volunteer bases learn to cope with challenges this poses in order to maximise the garden’s impacts; (2) whether/how participating in CGs can contribute to changes in attitudes/behaviours with regards to sustainability and be used as a tool for Education for Sustainability in and outside of university settings and (3) failed cases of CGs to genuinely understand factors that contribute to success. By addressing these areas we can improve our understanding of how community gardening can contribute to our communities, universities and environment, and can begin to make these potential contributions a reality.

Publishing year

2018-06-03

Language

English

Pages

652-671

Publication/Series

Local Environment

Volume

23

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Other Social Sciences

Keywords

  • Education for sustainability
  • failure
  • higher education
  • transience
  • urban agriculture
  • volunteers

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1354-9839