Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2005 . / Principal faculty advisor: Swasey, James E., Dept. of Plant & Soil Science. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.L.A.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Open access. Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-116).

The purpose of this practicum is to design a landscape with the ability to purify wastewater from Winnipeg North End Water Pollution Control Centre and to use the purified water for the irrigation of community gardens. Water pollution has been a big issue around the world. Eutrophication refers to the overabundance of nutrients in waterbodies. Lake Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba, one of the largest freshwater resources in Canada, has a serious eutrophication problem. One of the major nutrient loading sources is the nutrient-rich inflow from the Red River (Water Stewardship Division, n.d.), which consists of agricultural runoff and municipal and industrial wastewater. In the City of Winnipeg, the North End Water Pollution Control Centre releases a large amount of treated wastewater into the Red River. The treated wastewater is rich of phosphorus, nitrogen, and pathogen. The landscape can play a potential role to purify the nutrient-rich wastewater before it reaches the river while providing outdoor spaces for community gardens and leisurely uses. / October 2016

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The industrialized agricultural system has resulted in ecological, economic, and social imbalances in several ways. Community gardens have become a trending interest to minimize the negative consequences of the modern agriculture system, especially in food insecure disadvantaged neighborhoods. Although community gardens have numerous economic, environmental, and social benefits, they have faced considerable degradation in some of the neighborhoods. Also, many of them have been lost to other land uses due to the lack of powerful public support. To achieve greater public support, knowledge about people’s perceptions and attitudes towards the community garden environment is important. This knowledge can help to develop more successful community gardens that can foster an increased involvement and support of community gardens. Community gardeners and non-community gardeners in five different low-income and low-access neighborhoods were chosen as study participants in the City of Roanoke, Virginia. Quantitative and qualitative data were used together for this study. Factor analysis, descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and T-Test procedures were used for the quantitative phase. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Findings showed that people’s preferences are based on several factors including content and spatial organization of the environment, maintenance level of the community garden site, and the opportunities that community gardens offer to its users and residents. Particularly, participants preferred well-maintained community garden landscapes equipped with well-constructed raised beds, pavilions, pathways, and sitting structures offering opportunities for gathering and social events. Participants negatively responded to untidy community garden scenes with features such as unorganized garden spaces, uncontrolled weeds, overgrown vegetation, and poorly constructed structures. Results also showed that mental health and stress relief, outdoor exercise and physical health, community pride, and food access were the main motivation themes to participate in community gardening. On the other hand, theft and damage, difficult access, too much effort, and no personal interest were the main motivations not to participate in community gardening. Findings from this study may help gardeners, community garden program managers, planners, and designers to develop more successful community garden projects that can expand involvement and support for community gardens and increase the permanence of these landscapes in urban neighborhoods. / Ph.D. / The modern agricultural system has resulted in several negative ecological, economic, and social impacts. Community gardens have become a trending interest to minimize these negative impacts, especially in low-income and low-access neighborhoods. Although community gardens provide economic, environmental, and social benefits, they have been lost to other land uses due to the lack of powerful public support. To achieve greater public support, knowledge about people’s landscape preferences and their attitudes towards the community garden environment is important. This knowledge can help to increase public involvement and support and to develop more successful community gardens. Community gardeners and non-community gardeners in five different low-income and low-access neighborhoods were chosen as study participants in the City of Roanoke, Virginia. Participants were asked to rate a series of community garden scenes. They were also asked about their opinions on community garden design and their motivations to participate or not to participate in community gardening. Findings showed that people’s landscape preferences are based on several factors including organization of landscape elements, maintenance level of the community garden site, and the activities that community gardens offer to its users and residents. Particularly, participants preferred well-maintained community garden landscapes equipped with well-constructed raised beds, pavilions, pathways, and sitting structures offering opportunities for gathering and social events. Participants negatively responded to untidy community garden scenes with features such as unorganized garden spaces, uncontrolled weeds, overgrown vegetation, and poorly constructed structures. Results also showed that mental health and stress relief, outdoor exercise and physical health, community pride, and food access were the main motivation themes to participate in community gardening. On the other hand, theft and damage, difficult access, too much effort, and no personal interest were the main motivations not to participate in community gardening. Findings from this study may help gardeners, community garden program managers, planners, and designers to develop more successful community garden projects that can expand involvement and support for community gardens and increase the permanence of these landscapes in urban neighborhoods.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

In urban areas, residential and community gardens are potential floral resources for pollinators. Pollinator "friendly" gardens are a popular way to support this ecosystem service, but the pollinator plant list recommendations lack empirical evidence to show which plants are most attractive to potential pollinators. This project used a community science survey based on a morpho-species protocol to monitor five community orchards in Portland, Oregon during six months of the growing season in 2017. Overall, orchards with higher floral species richness supported higher richness and abundance of pollinators, but the pollinator communities were not significantly different among the orchard sites. Orchard fruit-set had a variable correlation with pollinator richness and abundance. At the landscape level, the number of miles of street within 500m showed a strong negative correlation with the overall pollinator community richness. Bumble bee abundance showed a strong negative correlation with the percentage of single family residential zoning, and NDVI at 2000 meters. Our community science approach promoted volunteer awareness of pollinator diversity in Portland, but did not increase volunteer intention to conserve pollinators. This research helped build evidence of the dynamics of urban pollinators and the role that community science can play in pollinator biodiversity monitoring.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-81)

This study emerged from the author's work in a food commons in industrial East Vancouver. It began from a curiosity about how place impacts who we are. By employing a process oriented research design the study evolved to ask: How may participation in the Purple Thistle's food commons influence people's engagement in the urban landscape? The findings challenge modern notions of property and urban design, and highlight a vision of the urban impossible (Chatterton, 2009) that could catalyze communities to uphold their democratic right to the city. Entering through an open, process oriented, and trust centered organizational structure, participants' experiences in the Purple Thistle garden led them to new ways of experiencing (in)dependence and trust. This had implications for the way they saw the world around them, and the way they engaged in the built environment.

The sharing economy is a new promising trend with many positive outcomes on society and the environment, as it provides potential for sustainable solutions due to the reduction of resource consumption and less waste. However, research and practice show that sharing comes with its own share of problems. People often act selfishly, and in worst-case scenarios try to take advantage of others without contributing to the shared good. To achieve the higher goal of sustainability, it is important that conflicts in the sharing economy are prevented, and a setting is achieved that allows people to easily behave in a cooperative and sustainable way. The present research examines which conflicts emerge in sharing communities (study 1) and community gardens in particular (study 2), and whether regulation can prevent conflicts in large groups. Two exploratory studies were conducted. First, a qualitative study with consumers and non-consumers of the sharing economy revealed that regulatory systems are perceived as important for preventing the exploitation of other community members, but also that cooperation should not be enforced with strict controls and punishment. Rather, problems should be discussed in a democratic group setting, rules and goals should be set up together, and trust should be built. Second, a questionnaire study with community gardeners in Austria confirmed these results, and showed that trust is related to less conflict in community gardens, while harsh forms of regulation are related to a potential for greater conflict. Additionally, the results indicate that soft forms of regulation are related to fewer relationship and task conflicts, better conflict resolutions, a high sense of community, and greater trust in the community. We then discuss how these findings can be used to regulate sharing economy activities and give limitations and directions for future studies.