This practicum analyzes the leadership, management practices, and organizational structure of five university gardening organizations, to determine if they have had an impact on the spaces of agricultural production in the cities in which they exist. The research concludes that if university gardens/farms are to become successful demonstration projects within their cities they must: 1) have strong, collaborative, and flexible leadership structures; 2) effectively communicate with stakeholders; 3) generate consistent funding; 4) demonstrate their success on campus and within their communities; 5) create linkages with academic and community organizations; 6) create goals and objectives that overlap with university and municipal strategic plans. Furthermore, this study illustrates that university gardens/farms are important to planners as ‘living laboratories’ of urban food production; as well as educational tools that build the capacity of residents to grow local food, and understand the importance of agricultural urbanism (AU) for city planning and design.

The Youth for EcoAction (YEA) Program is a project of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg involving youth at risk in after-school programming. The program focuses on urban agriculture and gardening projects and was developed using the circle of courage model of youth empowerment. This research used participatory methods, including participatory video to analyze the program and its benefits. The YEA program creates positive change in the lives of participants and at a community-wide level. These benefits include skill building and job training, improved self esteem, nutrition and food security, increased environmental awareness and behaviour, and greater community strength. Youth serving agencies, community development organizations and government policy makers should look to the YEA program as a model for youth empowerment and community revitalization. This thesis also explores benefits of participatory research, specifically participatory video, and documents the personal learnings and journey of the author from researcher to practitioner.

This practicum analyzes the leadership, management practices, and organizational structure of five university gardening organizations, to determine if they have had an impact on the spaces of agricultural production in the cities in which they exist. The research concludes that if university gardens/farms are to become successful demonstration projects within their cities they must: 1) have strong, collaborative, and flexible leadership structures; 2) effectively communicate with stakeholders; 3) generate consistent funding; 4) demonstrate their success on campus and within their communities; 5) create linkages with academic and community organizations; 6) create goals and objectives that overlap with university and municipal strategic plans. Furthermore, this study illustrates that university gardens/farms are important to planners as ‘living laboratories’ of urban food production; as well as educational tools that build the capacity of residents to grow local food, and understand the importance of agricultural urbanism (AU) for city planning and design.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007. / Submitted to the African Centre for Food Security. Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Since 2008, the United States (USA) has resettled thousands of Bhutanese refugees, providing brief financial support and pathways to citizenship. Despite the efforts of governing bodies and voluntary agencies which facilitate resettlement, many refugees struggle with adapting to the vastly different lifestyle, economy, language and social structures. In particular, effectively addressing psychological needs of this population is a challenge for service providers operating within an expensive health care system based on Western constructs of mental health. In response to this challenge, refugee resettlement agencies throughout the country use community gardens to promote psychological healing, self-sufficiency, community engagement, and a return of human dignity. Though success of these programs is being shared in the media, there has yet to be empirical data examining their impact. The current study tested whether Bhutanese refugee engagement in a community garden impacts symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD and somatic complaints. The study also investigated whether community gardening is associated with perceptions of social support and adjustment to life in the United States. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from 50 adult Bhutanese refugees in Fort Worth, Texas. Gardening was significantly related to increased social support overall, a key factor in overall functionality within communal cultures; and specifically perceived tangible support was increased. A significant effect of gardening was also found for adjustment. Although a significant effect was not found for psychological and somatic symptoms, there is still evidence of effects on somatic complaints. Varying results from quantitative and qualitative data warrant further investigation into the nuanced work of clinical research and advocacy with refugee populations.

The study examines social and physical connections and images that define the sense of place of three community gardens managed by the City of Portland. Most research on community gardens focuses on social group connections and their impact on community revitalization and empowerment. Few studies consider the impact of physical and social connections to community gardens from the perspective of individual gardeners in constructing their sense of place. No studies have yet examined the relationship between spatial images, space connections, and empowerment feelings related to community gardens. This study is intended to initiate a discussion on the empowerment experience of individual gardeners and their images associated with community gardens in the context of sense of place. Thirty gardeners participated in the study. The use of the narrative photo storytelling method applied through de Certeau's practice of everyday life and narrative city approach enabled gardeners to express in their own terms connections to space and experience of empowerment achieved through community gardening. The study proposes the concept of the Natural Realm as the context for sense of place of Portland Community gardens. Natural Realm deemphasizes the human-centric view of nature. Community gardeners most commonly experience empowerment by perceiving community gardens as sacred places where people feel well because they can grow healthy food, practice green domesticity, and learn from nature in a beautiful setting. The study applies Rocha's ladder of empowerment to examine the relevance of individual and group action in fulfilling empowerment goals in the context of sense of place. Gardeners accomplish most of their empowerment goals through solitary efforts to maximize pleasurable activities and increase personal efficacy and satisfaction by optimizing physical and social connections in community gardens.

Since 1975, over 1.3 million Southeast Asian refugees have resettled in the United States from the Southeast Asian nations of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2014). Many Southeast Asian refugees fled their home countries after the Vietnam War to avoid political persecution. As a result of forced migration, Southeast Asian refugees experience high levels of psychological distress attributed to premigration trauma and postmigration. Stressors may include adjusting to a new culture, finding housing, establishing employment, financial hardship, learning a new language and the feeling of identity loss of their homeland. In considering these stressors, this study sought to understand how a lack of access to affordable healthy food may be impacting Southeast Asian refugees’ social, mental, and physical health. Using basic qualitative research, nine structured participant interviews were conducted. Findings suggest one way to alleviate some stress for refugees was to increase access to culturally congruent food. Additionally, increasing economic opportunities and transportation services were identified as critical to improving access to healthy food options. The theoretical framework that guided this study was resilience theory. This framework brought to light the hardship and stress experienced by refugees. I then used it to outline ways that community gardens may build individual resilience to overcome personal hardships through social support structures. The findings highlight the importance of resettling refugees in communities close to families to build individual resilience and the need for refugee resettlement practitioners to continue to offer resettlement support beyond initial arrival to the United States and until economic self-sufficiency is achieved. Additionally, four central themes emerged from individual stories of each participant’s perceptions of how food access impacts their social, mental, and physical health. The four themes were: (1) postmigration traumas create hardships among Hmong refugees, (2) poverty and physical and mental health disabilities impact food access, (3) food cultivation is deeply rooted in the Hmong culture, and (4) gardens build social communities and give hope. The study also uncovered two unexpected findings. The first was the strong cultural belief in natural healing using herbal medicine known as “tshuaj ntsuab Hmoob” or Hmong green medicine, and, secondly, the prevalent cultivation of Hmong herbal medicine plants in the gardens. For practitioners developing housing for resettled refugees, creating green space for refugees to cultivate their traditional green medicine is vital to Hmong refugees’ identity and culture. One way to provide such access would be to incorporate green space into resettlement housing arrangements so refugees may cultivate fruits and vegetables native to their home countries. Creating green spaces for refugees may help to preserve their rich culture and empower refugee communities to practice their cultural beliefs and traditions. Lastly, I conclude the study with a proposal for development of a nonprofit community garden called Garden of Hope. My vision for the Garden of Hope is to address findings of this study through program services, which may increase access to culturally congruent food and promote individual resilience through entrepreneurship. The goal is to teach refugees how to grow and market their organic fruits and vegetables to local restaurants and or sell them at local community farmers markets. Addressing postmigration stressors for Southeast Asian refugees through the Garden of Hope may improve individual economic mobility and uplift improvised communities through entrepreneurship.

Historic open data can be an asset to community gardens in land use disputes, the preservation and sharing of cultural traditions, and adaptation to climate change. Yet scholarship has not yet provided an accessible guide to the many issues of labor and technology involved in producing open data. This thesis addresses this gap by offering a guide to producing, preserving, and interpreting open data oriented toward community gardens from a public history perspective. This thesis examines the history of community gardens and related community data stretching to the Progressive Era, drawing comparisons to to that of historic open data in the gallery, library, archives, and museum (GLAM) world. The thesis also considers the worth of crowdsourcing and other volunteer labor models in data production, offers basic considerations for structuring and maintaining historic open datasets, and reviews the role of data visualization as a means of data communication and interpretation. Ultimately, I contend that open data is doable in public history and urgently worthy of consideration for gardens. / History

No description available.

O crescimento no número de hortas urbanas em todo o mundo tem desempenhado um papel importante no fortalecimento de sistemas alimentares urbanos mais sustentáveis. Embora as hortas urbanas ofereçam múltiplos benefícios à sociedade, ainda não é claro em até que medida os vegetais cultivados são contaminados pela absorção de elementos químicos e compostos orgânicos provenientes de deposições atmosféricas, levantando questões sobre o quão seguro é o cultivo de alimentos em metrópoles superlativas. Esta tese foi elaborada com o objetivo de avaliar a influência da poluição do ar em vegetais folhosos cultivados em hortas urbanas na cidade de São Paulo. Foram quantificadas as concentrações de 17 elementos químicos (relacionados ao tráfego veicular e à biologia vegetal) e 16 hidrocarbonetos aromáticos policíclicos (HPAs) absorvidos nas folhas da Brassica oleracea var. acephala (couve) e Tetragonia tetragonioides (Pall.) Kuntze (espinafre). Para verificar a correlação entre os elementos químicos encontrados nos espinafres/couves e os presentes no material particulado atmosférico foram expostos simultaneamente aos vegetais exemplares de Tillandsia usneoides L. (Bromeliaceae). Além disso, utilizamos dois métodos de biomonitoramento: as frequências de micronúcleos em tétrades de Tradescantia pallida (Rose) Hunt. cv. \"Purpurea\" Boom (Trad-MCN) como um indicador de curto prazo de resposta genotóxica à poluição atmosférica, e também o uso de cascas de árvores para quantificar a acumulação de elementos químicos relacionados ao tráfego veicular a longo prazo nas regiões circundantes das hortas. Análises multivariadas foram utilizadas para correlacionar as concentrações elementares, os resultados de biomonitoramento e as características do ambiente urbano local, como variáveis meteorológicas, tráfego e obstáculos verticais adjacentes aos jardins. Encontramos diferenças significativas nas concentrações elementares dos vegetais nas diferentes hortas comunitárias. Essas diferenças foram relacionadas ao tráfego veicular, obstáculos verticais e clima local. As concentrações de Pb e Cd em ambos os vegetais excederam os valores-limite para o consumo após 60 dias de exposição. Observou-se uma forte correlação entre a concentração de elementos relacionados ao tráfego nos vegetais e nos exemplares de Tillandsia usneoides L.. A frequência de Trad-MCN apresentou uma correlação significativa com as variáveis de tráfego e elementos químicos relacionados à ressuspensão de poeira (road dust) e emissão por escape veicular depositados nas cascas de árvores. Foram observadas associações negativas entre Trad-MCN e a distância de vias de tráfego veicular intenso, bem como a presença de obstáculos verticais no entorno das hortas. As concentrações de Mn/Zn presentes nas cascas de árvores foram associadas com o aumento de Trad-MCN. Os níveis de HPAs em ambos os vegetais nos períodos de 45 dias foram < 1 ug kg-1. A poluição do ar proveniente do tráfego veicular influencia diretamente a absorção de elementos químicos em vegetais folhosos e as concentrações desses elementos podem exceder os valores recomendados para o consumo humano / Urban vegetable gardens have steadily increased worldwide playing a significant role in the strengthening of sustainable urban food systems. Although urban gardens provide multiple benefits to society, the extent to which vegetables are contaminated by the absorption of chemical elements and compounds derived from atmospheric deposition is unclear raising questions about how safe is the cultivation of foods in superlative metropolises. This thesis was designed to evaluate the influence of air pollution on leafy vegetables cultivated in gardens of São Paulo, Brazil. We quantified the concentrations of 17 elements (traffic-related and those essential to plant biology) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) absorbed in the edible tissues of Brassica oleracea var. acephala (collard greens) and Tetragonia tetragonioides (Pall.) Kuntze (spinach). In addition, to verify a correlation between the chemical elements found in collard greens/spinach and those from air pollution particles, we simultaneously exposed specimens of the air plant Tillandsia usneoides L. (Bromeliaceae). Also, we evaluated the use of two biomonitoring methods: the micronuclei frequencies for early tetrads of Tradescantia pallida (Rose) Hunt. cv. \"Purpurea\" Boom (hereafter, Trad-MCN) as a short-term indicator of genotoxic response and tree barks to quantify the accumulation of traffic-related chemical elements as a long-term biomarker of air pollution in urban gardens. Multivariate analysis was used to correlate the elemental concentrations, biomonitoring results and the characteristics of the local urban environment, such as weather variables, traffic burden and vertical obstacles adjacent to the gardens. We found significant differences in the elemental concentrations of the vegetables in the different community gardens. These differences were related to the vehicular traffic, vertical obstacles and local weather. Pb and Cd concentrations in both vegetables exceeded the limit values for consumption after 60 days of exposure. A strong correlation was observed between the concentration of traffic-related elements in vegetables and in Tillandsia usneoides L. The frequency of Trad-MCN had a significant correlation with traffic variables and chemical elements related to road dust and tailpipe emissions deposited in tree barks. Negative associations between Trad-MCN and both the distance through traffic and the presence of vertical obstacles were observed in the vegetable gardens. The Mn and Zn concentration in tree barks were associated with increased Trad-MCN. The levels of PAHs in both vegetables over 45-day periods were < 1 ug kg-1. Air pollution exerts a direct influence in the absorption of urban particles, which may reach levels above the recommended values for consumption