This thesis presents research on community food gardens as an example of urban
agriculture. It aims to provide evidence on the factors that influence their ability to
produce food. Drawing on participant observation methods, and interviews with
community food gardeners, on six London housing estates in 2010, this thesis explores
the everyday community food garden practices of residents. It explores the factors that
influence food growing, from discourse, everyday practice, and spatial interactions of
those who garden. Key results show that the process of transforming, constructing, and
inhabiting material space occupies residents’ time, leading to a reduced emphasis on
food production. The research concludes that food harvests as an edible outcome are
only sought in quantities relative to confirming the embodied situation of social
practices, a key aspect of which is the need to gain spatial sovereignty over the estates’
landscape.
Date of Award | 1 Apr 2014 |
---|
Original language | English |
---|
Awarding Institution | |
---|
Making space for food: everyday community food gardening and its contribution to urban agriculture
Tomkins, M. (Author). 1 Apr 2014
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis