Community gardens were established to help communities maintain a sustainable food system through neighborhood collaboration and partnership and encourages healthier eating habits. During the 1970’s, community gardens were founded due to rising food prices and the concern about the food industry (Paulsen et al., 2014). Since then, community gardens have been shown to help people become more socially, mentally and physically active. “Community gardens may offer physical and mental health benefits by providing opportunities to physical activity, skill building, creating green space, and improve social well-being through strengthening social connections” (Healthy Places, 2010). Therefore, participating in a community garden helps improve neighborhood relationships and human health.
This paper will examine potential benefits of urban community gardening and will explore how economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly in the Hilltop area near the city of Tacoma, are fighting back against food inequality, as the city receives a significant transformation in its infrastructure and economic growth.
Community Gardening Creates Healthy Environments
Community gardens improve neighborhood relationships by providing a space for neighbors to work together and establish a healthy community environment through social connections, cooperation, and friendship. Paulsen et al. (2014), used qualitative data from thirteen gardens near a neighborhood with a diverse population and income levels, to identify the benefits of community gardening at a personal, interpersonal, and community level in Baltimore, Maryland (2014, p. 69). Paulsen et al. found that at a personal level, gardening allows gardeners to be more social, and closer to nature; at an interpersonally level, gardeners build trust in neighbors, and at a community level, community gardens create a beautiful and healthy environment (2014, p. 78). Therefore, community gardening helps people develop their social skills by working together, participating, providing support to the neighbors and creating a friendly environment.
Community Gardening Improves Human Health
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease is a growing epidemic in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated that “About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year, that is one in four deaths” (Heart Disease Facts, 2017). In addition, the CDC also indicated that diabetes, obesity, and poor diet contribute to cardiovascular diseases (Heart Disease Facts, 2017). Therefore, eating healthier foods decreases the risks of developing heart disease.
Gardening is a type of physical activity. Community gardening helps people become more active with low impact exercising by stretching, bending, walking, digging, and lifting tools and plants (Cultivating Community Gardens, 2013). Moreover, community gardening also has its physical healing properties. In his article, Detroit’s Good Food Cure, Larry Gabriel (2012), explained that a recovering addict woman reported feeling healthier, as her skin complexion improved, after she started to work at an urban garden and changing her diet to incorporate fresh food (p. 73). Gabriel noted that a woman in her mid-twenties reported having debilitating allergies since she was 17, and by working in a community garden and changing her diet, her health improved significantly (2012, p. 72). Thus, people who participate in community gardening improve their health by growing and consuming fresh, healthy food.
Community Gardening Helps Fight Climate Change
Cleveland et al. (2017), conducted a study to determine the potential effect of household vegetable gardens on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in Santa Barbara County, California (p. 365). The analysis included the use of lawn area for vegetable gardens, the consumption of home-grown vegetables, the use of household irrigation, the amount of household organic composting, and organic compost application (Cleveland et al., 2017, p. 365). Cleveland et al. determined that a “single household that grows 50% of their vegetable consumption in one year reduces 11% of carbon dioxide emissions” (2017, p. 371). Growing and consuming food from a household garden help reduce greenhouse gases by replacing green spaces with vegetable gardens, changing the use of fertilizers with organic compost, and by minimizing the use of transportation.
Most produce people consume comes from farms located thousands of miles away, which get transported to supermarkets. In his book, Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006), Michael Pollan indicated that the industrialization of the organic food sold in supermarkets misinforms consumers the origin of the food (p. 137). Therefore, household and community gardens help mitigate energy cost and fight climate change, since people grow and consume garden food locally.
Community Gardening as a Social Movement
A $40 million investment projected to complete by the summer of 2018 in the Hilltop area. Photo Credit: The News Tribune
In recent years, the city of Tacoma has received a considerable transformation in its infrastructure by restoring old buildings and creating more small businesses in the city center and its surrounding areas (Economic Development Strategic Framework), like Point Ruston, the Hilltop area, and 6th Avenue. Also, the beautification of the city has caused property values to rise and the low-income residents who live near the city center are struggling to sustain themselves. A Kirkland developer is projected to complete the restoration of an unoccupied building in the Hilltop area into one and two-bedroom apartments by the summer of 2018 (Ruud, 2017). Ruud indicated that the president of the Hilltop Action Coalition, Brendan Nelson, addressed the community concern about gentrification with city officials though conversations to maintain affordable housing (2017). Therefore, economic growth in Tacoma is a concerning issue to the low-income population that resides in the Hilltop area.
The creation of community gardens originated from limited access to healthy and inexpensive food for the low-income residents and for the population that lives in poverty. During the Obama administration, the First Lady, Michelle Obama promoted healthy eating at a national level by creating a garden at the White House (Gabriel, 2012). The White House Kitchen Garden inspired community organizations to start urban community gardens.
The city of Tacoma, in partnership with the Pierce Conservation District, has over thirty-five community gardens, and eleven of these community gardens that are on city property are managed by schools, nonprofit organizations, and community groups (Community Gardens, n.d.). This initiative started eight years ago to help provide fresh food to local underserved neighborhoods.
Green Thumb Community Garden – Courtesy of Pierce Conservation District
With the support of the Pierce Conservation District, the Hilltop Urban Garden (HUG), a community-based urban agriculture organization in the Hilltop area in Tacoma, was founded in 2010 to provide food security, particularly, for minorities and low-income families and fight food injustice. (About HUG, n.d.). HUG partners with community members and homeowners in the Hilltop area to use their greenspace for vegetable gardening, and has expanded with six more urban farm sites (HUG Urban Farm Network, n.d.). This organization has inspired community members to start growing their own vegetables and eating healthier.
Conclusion
Community gardens can create food security in urban cities that do not provide adequate, healthy food and decrease the risk of illnesses by growing and consuming their own fresh foods. Community gardens can also create a healthy environment by interacting with one another and minimize the effects of climate change. With more education and community involvement, cities can thrive in unused spaces to create urban gardens and become sustainable for human health and the environment.
References
Cleveland, D. A., Phares, N., Nightingale, K. D., Weatherby, R. L., Radis, W., Ballard, J., … Wilkins, K. (2017). The potential for urban household vegetable gardens to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Landscape and Urban Planning, 157, 365–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.07.008
Community Gardens. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/one.aspx?objectId=17030
Cultivating Community Gardens. (2013, July). Retrieved from https://www.lgc.org/community-gardens/
Economic Development Strategic Framework. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cityoftacoma.org/government/city_departments/community_and_economic_development/administration/economic_development_strategic_framework
Gabriel, L. (2012). Detroit’s good food cure. In menu for the future (pp. 72-73). Portland, OR: Northwest Earth Institute.
Healthy places (2010, June). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthtopics/healthyfood/community.htm
Heart Disease Facts. (2017, November). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
HUG Urban Farm Network. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hilltopurbangardens.com/urban-farm-network/
Pollan, M. (2006). The omnivore’s dilemma: A natural history of four meals. (p. 136). New York, NY. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Poulsen, M. N., Hulland, K. S., Gulas, C. A., Pham, H., Dalglish, S. L., Wilkinson, R. K., & Winch, P. J. (2014). Growing an urban oasis: A qualitative study of the perceived benefits of community gardening in Baltimore, Maryland. Culture, Agriculture, Food & Environment, 36(2), 69-82. doi:10.1111/cuag.12035
Ruud, C. (2017, April 8). Shops and apartments will rise soon at long-vacant corner in Hilltop business district. The news tribune. Retrieved from http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article143449899.html
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