This action research project began as the revitalization of inner city school grounds through the design and construction of a school and community garden. The project's intent was to give inner city children contact with nature as well hands-on learning experiences in all subjects through the planting, tending and harvesting of vegetables, flowers, and native plants. In partnership with a landscape architecture student, I involved the children, teachers, parents and neighbours of the school in designing and planting the gardens they wanted in order to transform a grass field into a biologically diverse environment reflective of the neighborhood cultures and the indigenous wildlife. Our collaboration became the soil and seeds of an ecological and cultural restoration focused on the First Nations community of the school. People, public art, plant and animal life came together in a dynamic process of education and community change. Inspired by John Dewey's theories of learning through doing, by the work of his Brazilian protege Anisio Teixeira, and by the work of Paulo Freire in adult literacy and political empowerment, this project has been inclusive of members of this culturally diverse community of First Nations and refugee families. The physical transformation of the grounds through First Nations architecture, sculpture and native plants has given visible proof to the community that when everyone works together to create a vision, then cooperates to make it happen, that vision can be realized. My thesis follows the process itself as well as the many questions I have asked throughout about the meaning of pedagogy, leadership, empowerment and collaboration. As an educator with her roots in community activism and teaching for social justice, the Grandview garden has challenged me to reexamine my roots in light of a particular cultural, social and political context where my own vision and voice needed to blend harmoniously with the diverse visions and voices of many others.

The challenges facing small scale irrigation development in South Africa are varied and complex. This complexity is exacerbated by the many years of systematic neglect, in tandem with material and intellectual impoverishment of the majority of participants in this agricultural sector. Attempting to juggle sustainable development of small scale agriculture and environmental and socio-economic advancement is difficult, but there is sufficient evidence in the literature to suggest that small scale agriculture is increasing not only in South Africa but in Sub-Saharan Africa (Collier and Field, 1998) There is no doubt that this observed increase in irrigated communal gardens result from their increasingly important role of providing food security and as means of augmenting family income. Hence the government,NGO' s and other private sector organisations have increased their support for these small scale agricultural initiatives. Small scale agriculture is therefore increasingly becoming a common land use, and with this increased support, it is likely to become a major water user, particularly as it is located in close proximity to the water source. Hence both practices and processes for small scale agriculture require careful study. Irrigation practices have been studied in KwaZulu-Natal where small scale community gardens are continuously developing. The study included two locations near Pietermaritzburg. The first, at Willowfontein, involved irrigation by furrow , and the second, at Taylors Halt, involved irrigation by hand, using containers. The dynamics of the subsurface flow was monitored using tensiometry and modelled in detail using a two dimensional, soil physics model, Hydrus-2D, to evaluate the application efficiency. This study consisted of three parts viz: socio-economic system appraisal, technical measurement and monitoring, and modelling. Important findings obtained include the following: The highlighting of pertinent socio-economic issues governing water use and allocation and other operations in developing small scale agricultural conditions, including constraints to the development of this sector under the conditions described. The demonstration of the use of reasonably inexpensive, but sophisticated measuring techniques to observe the soil water processes in small scale community gardening practices. Accurate simulations of soil water infiltration,redistribution and uptake using the Hydrus2D model. With these successful simulations, together with the results of the social system appraisal, more efficient irrigation scenarios are proposed and evaluated. The development of a methodology that could be used to assess small scale irrigation efficiencies, with computer simulation models used as tools to conduct such an assessment. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

South Africa is a net food exporter, however, scores of households in the rural and peri-urban and urban areas are food insecure. Some households in the peri-urban areas of uMngeni and Msunduzi Municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal have sought to alleviate their households from food insecurity through community gardens, which are widely promoted and used as a means to increase food supply. This study was centred on a livelihood based analysis of the contribution of community gardens to food security in Msunduzi and uMngeni Municipalities, KwaZulu-Natal. A survey was conducted among 46 participants and data was collected through the use of Livelihood- based Participatory Analysis (LiPA) tools. LiPA emerged as a tool for analysis with the development of sustainable livelihoods approach. Livelihood analysis made use of participatory methods to evaluate the following Framework of African Food Security indicators: improvement of risk management and resilience; increase in supply of affordable food; increase in economic opportunities for the vulnerable; and improvement in dietary diversity. Gardening helped to supply the participants with fresh produce, however, gardening did little to improve the participants risk management and economic opportunities. Drought, theft and insects were identified as the major factors limiting the success of community gardens. Despite the challenges, the community gardeners were indeed benefiting from community gardening therefore, further research could be carried out to compare food security among households involved in community gardening and those not involved. / Thesis (M.Sc.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T16:18:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_Janice_Appel.pdf: 18189719 bytes, checksum: 03a09619555fd5d90509791556d1c041 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The dissertation is entitled "Barra da Lagoa Communal Gardens collaborative management in a Public Art New Genre and it refers to the process of living together, developed by the author at a specific community, as a relational and collaborative practice of an artistic process in contemporary art. The process of living together established at this community gave evidence to the local desire of construction and maintenance of gardens with communal purposes, becoming the main line for actions of inclusion, collaboration and artistic creation brokered by the author. For this process of coexistence to make sense as a contemporary artistic process, in the first part of this dissertation, under the title of Public Art New Genre , different genealogies of the new genre public art are presented. They are linked wether to the notion of spatiality or to an art critic, both situating the research at a specific context of collaborative actions in the post 1970 s period. In the second part, entitled The Concept of Community , the theoretical concepts and references of community involved with the research are discussed, since we are talking about the creative processes that were developed with Barra da Lagoa s community at Florianopolis (SC, Brazil). In the third part, under the title of The Garden and its Collaborative Managements , some of the everyday life experiences are mentioned. These experiences generate actions that are configured as collaborative in public or private spaces within the community. They unleashed creative artistic processes, such as images production and reports, entitled by the author as Here Communal Gardens . As a field of study and collaborative artistic practice in the community, considerations are presented about the artist as a mediator in the new genre public art, placing the author's artistic practice among the factors and characters of the everyday life, as well as among the theoretical framework presented along the research / A dissertação tem como título Hortas Comunitárias na Barra da Lagoa Agenciamentos Colaborativos em Arte Pública de Novo Gênero e se refere ao processo de convívio desenvolvido pela autora em uma comunidade específica como prática colaborativa e relacional de um processo artístico em arte contemporânea. O processo de convívio estabelecido nesta comunidade deu evidência ao desejo local de construção ou manutenção de hortas com fins comunitários, vindo a ser o principal fio condutor para ações de inclusão, colaboração e criação artísticas intermediadas pela autora. Para que este processo de convívio faça sentido em processo artístico contemporâneo, na primeira parte desta dissertação, sob o título Arte Pública de Novo Gênero, são apresentadas as diferentes genealogias da arte pública de novo gênero, ligadas à noção de espacialidade ou de uma arte crítica que situam a pesquisa em um contexto específico de ações colaborativas no período após a década de 1970. Na segunda parte, sob o título A Noção de Comunidade, são abordados os conceitos e referenciais teóricos de comunidade que envolvem a pesquisa, já que se tratam de processos criativos que foram desenvolvidos junto à comunidade da Barra da Lagoa em Florianópolis - SC. Na terceira parte, sob o título A Horta e seus Agenciamentos Colaborativos, são mencionadas algumas das relações de convívio, geradoras de ações que se configuraram como colaborativas, em espaços públicos ou privados da comunidade. Estas ações desencadearam processos artísticos criativos, intitulados pela autora Aqui Horta Coletiva , como a produção de imagens e relatos destes encontros. Como campo de estudo e prática artística colaborativa na comunidade, são apresentadas considerações quanto ao artista como um mediador em arte pública de novo gênero, situando a prática artística da autora em relação aos fatores e personagens do convívio, assim como quanto aos referenciais teóricos apresentados ao longo da pesquisa

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

There are three lines of poverty in South Africa, the first line is that of people living at less than R271 per month and constitute one third of the population (about 33 percent), second being those people living at less than R422 per month (50 percent of the population) and the last group being people living at less than R1 230 per month, constituting 79.1 percent of the population (Oosthuizen. 2008: 7 – 9). The poorest provinces are Eastern Cape and Limpopo with a poverty rate of 68.3 percent and 60.7 percent respectively, Western Cape and Gauteng the poverty rates are 20 percent and 28.8 percent respectively (United Nations Development Programme. 2003) To respond to the poverty challenges the government has come up with poverty alleviation strategies which were later translated into anti-poverty programmes. The Anti-poverty programmes undertaken by Government since 1994 can be grouped into various categories of public expenditure such as (Friedman and Bhengu, 2008:14), Social assistance and grants, Employment generating programmes, enterprise development and income support, Basic household security, Social services, Disaster relief and Employment related social insurance. This study assessed Mogabane Community Project to find out reasons why the project did not reach its objective of poverty reduction in the community. Qualitative Research methodology was used to arrive at the findings.

This action research project began as the revitalization of inner city school grounds through the design and construction of a school and community garden. The project's intent was to give inner city children contact with nature as well hands-on learning experiences in all subjects through the planting, tending and harvesting of vegetables, flowers, and native plants. In partnership with a landscape architecture student, I involved the children, teachers, parents and neighbours of the school in designing and planting the gardens they wanted in order to transform a grass field into a biologically diverse environment reflective of the neighborhood cultures and the indigenous wildlife. Our collaboration became the soil and seeds of an ecological and cultural restoration focused on the First Nations community of the school. People, public art, plant and animal life came together in a dynamic process of education and community change. Inspired by John Dewey's theories of learning through doing, by the work of his Brazilian protege Anisio Teixeira, and by the work of Paulo Freire in adult literacy and political empowerment, this project has been inclusive of members of this culturally diverse community of First Nations and refugee families. The physical transformation of the grounds through First Nations architecture, sculpture and native plants has given visible proof to the community that when everyone works together to create a vision, then cooperates to make it happen, that vision can be realized. My thesis follows the process itself as well as the many questions I have asked throughout about the meaning of pedagogy, leadership, empowerment and collaboration. As an educator with her roots in community activism and teaching for social justice, the Grandview garden has challenged me to reexamine my roots in light of a particular cultural, social and political context where my own vision and voice needed to blend harmoniously with the diverse visions and voices of many others. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Les cadres théoriques de la conservation de la nature n’ont pas un caractère figé, mais ont évolué au cours du temps en privilégiant telles ou telles valeurs, notamment intrinsèques ou instrumentales. Or, les limites de ces cadres d’analyse pour susciter des engagements pour la nature ont été montrées. En m’appuyant sur la notion de valeurs relationnelles ainsi que sur celle des transformations des expériences de nature, j’ai conduit un travail qui veut apporter une réflexion complémentaire aux manières de concevoir la conservation de la nature. Pour cela, à travers l’étude transdisciplinaire des initiatives citoyennes de jardins partagés, cette thèse cherche à comprendre les motivations des citoyens ordinaires à s’engager pour la nature. Ce travail a notamment permis de montrer que des expériences de nature se font aussi en ville, par exemple pour combler un vide personnel par des pratiques de jardinage et des mises en relations sociales et écologiques dans ces espaces. Ces expériences sont aussi vécues par les riverains des jardins, qui pour la plupart reconnaissent et valorisent les bienfaits de ces jardins pour eux, pour les jardiniers, pour le quartier et pour la ville. Au niveau de la biodiversité, j’ai montré que les jardins sont des endroits propices pour l’installation d’une flore spontanée, dont la richesse dépend de l’action des jardiniers et des décisions des propriétaires du terrain (notamment de laisser l’espace disponible sur un temps long). Enfin, j’ai montré comment les relations socio-écologiques créées et encouragées dans un jardin deviennent des moteurs pour l’action politique. Par tous ces angles d’approche, ce travail de thèse montre donc le rôle crucial des valeurs relationnelles dans la motivation à conserver la nature. Relations à reconnaitre et valoriser dans toutes leurs diversités. / Theoretical frameworks for nature conservation have evolved through time, with priority successively given to different values, instrumental or intrinsic. However, these frameworks have limits in motivating engagement towards nature. Building on the respective notions of relational values and transformation of nature experiences, my thesis work aims to fuel the reflection on new ways of considering nature conservation. I have used community gardens, a particular form of citizen initiative, as a study case to understand the motivations of ordinary citizens to engage towards nature. On the social side, I showed that experiences of nature can be gained in these gardens despite the urban environment, to fulfil personal needs through gardening and through the development of social and ecological relationships. These experiences of nature influence the neighbouring citizens of the gardens, who acknowledge their benefits for themselves, the gardeners, the neighbourhood, and the city in general.On the ecological side, I showed that community gardens host a rich community of spontaneous plants, which species richness depends upon gardeners’ management and garden age, which in turn depends on stakeholder decisions as to the durability of community gardens.Last, I showed how socio-ecological relationships created and promoted in a community garden can become drivers for political actions, through the particular case of one garden.Through this combination of social and ecological approaches, this thesis highlights the crucial role played by relational values in nature conservation motivation. These relations have to be acknowledged and promoted in all their diversity.

The Fruits of Diversity Community Orchard, located in Portland, Oregon in an affordable housing neighborhood, is a site of alternative food provisioning in which a group of people, organized by two nonprofits, work together to manage fruit and nut producing plants. Through conversations with volunteers who participate regularly and participant observation, this study explores the questions: What does community mean in the context of a community orchard? In what ways does partnering with a nonprofit from outside the neighborhood influence community and the way the project is operationalized? This thesis situates community orchards within the literature on alternative food networks (AFN) and highlights three key findings drawing on literature about community development and race in AFNs. First, neighbors and non-neighbors who participate in the project propose different definitions of community. Second, neighbor involvement is limited by a number of factors, including neighborhood divisions and organizational challenges. Notably, orchard participants do not reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the neighborhood, putting this project at risk of creating a white space in a majority people of color neighborhood and reproducing inequality rather than fighting against it. Finally, this research complicates the notion of community in alternative food networks and demonstrates how collaborating with an organization from outside the neighborhood impacted the community through increasing non-neighbor participation and through their communications, aesthetics, decision making, and inattention to racial dynamics in the neighborhood and orchard.

Urban community gardens’ capability to yield aspects of social sustainability has been addressed in previous research. Nevertheless, further studies within this scientific field are requested for, exploring various socio-economic contexts and how such variables impact the outcomes of urban community garden initiatives. By the means of qualitative content analysis of material obtained via interviews and documents focusing on two urban community gardens in Skäggetorp, Linköping, on which a conceptual framework of social sustainability is applied,this study aims to investigate and seek a greater understanding of the potential and challenges of utilising urban community gardens as a planning strategy to foster social sustainability in socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoods. The study finds that urban community gardens can bring various aspects of social sustainability, which can help meet the needs of socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoodsin the strive for social sustainability. Many of these aspects are primarily created through the interaction occurring in the gardens. The study further confirms that urban community gardenscan function as educational hubs, allowing residents to practise language skills and learn about societal functions. Additionally, findings indicate that urban community gardens can be of financial significance in socio-economic vulnerable areas, a finding that previously mainly has been identified in studies of developing countries. Moreover, the study finds that urban community gardens allow existing traces of social sustainability to become visible and practised. However, low participation and lacking governmental support can obstruct the utilisation of urban community gardens as a planning strategy to foster social sustainability in socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoods.