Urban Garden USA. Community Gardening as a Tool of City Planning

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Landscape Management, grade: 1,3, course: City Planning, language: English, abstract: In modern times society in most U.S. cities changed to "bedroom communities" where people stay home, watch television and forget how to live in the cultural, urban or even village sense. At the same time, however, issues such as global warming and sustainability gained attention, which led to the re-emergence of a movement within the city: Community Gardening. The question to be answered is if Community Gardens/Urban Gardens (CG) are planned as a means to other objectives or an end in itself. If it is a means to other ends, the CG is only beneficial until the other aim is achieved. If not, the gardens serve a greater use than only to overcome crisis. This in turn would be an indicator that CG should be more recognized as a city-planning tool instead of decrease in times of peace and wealth. In order to find out what role CG play in today's urban planning and how it can contribute to improve urban conditions, I first have to illuminate the current problems in today's cities. After having a general overview on the present urban conditions I than focus on the historical and current development of CG in general and in particular in the United States (U.S.). Later I take a closer look on the general objectives behind the emergence of urban garden movements and the benefits that they contained in the past and present. Looking at recent prime examples of urban gardens in Berlin and San Diego will shed light on the goals behind and particular the benefits CG have on today's urban environments, communities and its residents. In the end I'll give some recommendations on how CG should be implemented in the field of city planning to improve the described urban conditions.