The book presents an in-depth and theoretically-grounded analysis of urban gardening practices (re)emerging worldwide as new forms of bottom-up socio-political participation. By complementing the scholarly perspectives through posing real cases, it focuses on how these practices are able to address - together with environmental and planning questions - the most fundamental issues of spatial justice, social cohesion, inclusiveness, social innovations and equity in cities. Through a critical exploration of international case studies, this collection investigates whether, and how, gardeners are willing and able to contrast urban spatial arrangements that produce peculiar forms of social organisation and structures for inclusion and exclusion, by considering pervasive inequalities in the access to space, natural resources and services, as well as considerable disparities in living conditions.

This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16, Peace, justice and strong institutions

Foreword by Runrid Fox-Kämper
1 Urban gardening and the quest for just uses of space in Europe - Chiara Certomà, Martin Sondermann and Susan Noori
2 Conflation in political gardening: concepts and practice - Lucy Rose Wright and Ross Fraser Young
3 City wastelands: creating places of vernacular democracy - Beata J. Gawryszewska, Maciej Lepkowski And Anna Wilczynska
4 Temporary urban landscapes and urban gardening: re-inventing open space in Greece and Switzerland - Sofia Nikolaidou
5 Urban gardening and spatial justice from a mid-size city perspective: the case of Ortobello Urban Garden - Giuseppe Aliperti and Silvia Sarti
6 Community gardening for integrated urban renewal in Copenhagen: securing or denying minorities' right to the city? - Parama Roy
7 Limits to growth? Why gardening has limited success growing inclusive communities - Hannah Pitt
8 Is urban gardening a source of wellbeing and just freedom? A Capability Approach based analysis from the UK and Ireland - Alma Clavin
9 Food for all? Critically evaluating the role of the Incredible Edible movement in the UK - Michael Hardman, Mags Adams, Melissa Barker and Luke Beesley
10 The foreseen future of urban gardening - Efrat Eizenberg
Index

Editors

Chiara Certomà is MSCA Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Development at Ghent University

Susan Noori is an Independent Social Researcher

Martin Sondermann is Head of the Research Department 'Society and Culture' at the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning