| 1. |
- Camps-Calvet, Marta, et al.
(författare)
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Ecosystem services provided by urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain : Insights for policy and planning
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 62, s. 14-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many European cities, urban gardens are seen as increasingly important components of urban green space networks. We adopt an ecosystem services framework to assess contributions of urban gardens to the quality of of their users. First, we identify and characterize ecosystem services provided by urban gardens. Secondly, we assess the demographic and socioeconomic profile of its beneficiaries and the relative importance they attribute to different ecosystem services. Next we discuss the relevance of our results in relation to critical policy challenges, such as the promotion of societal cohesion and healthy lifestyles. Data were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews and a survey among 201 users of 27 urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, as well as from consultation meetings with local planners. We identified 20 ecosystem services, ranging from food production over pollination to social cohesion and environmental learning. Among them, cultural ecosystem services (non-material benefits people derive from their interaction with nature) stand out as the most widely perceived and as the most highly valued. The main beneficiaries of ecosystem services from urban gardens are elder, low-middle income, and migrant people. Our results about the societal importance of urban gardens were deemed highly relevant by the interviewed green space planners in Barcelona, who noted that our data can provide basis to support or expand existing gardening programs in the city. Our research further suggests that ecosystem services from urban gardens can play an important role in addressing several urban policy challenges in cities, such as promoting stewardship of urban ecosystems, providing opportunities for recreation and healthy lifestyles, and promoting social cohesion. We conclude that urban gardens and associated ecosystem services can play an important in urban policies aimed at enhancing quality of life in cities, particularly if access to their benefits is expanded to larger segments of the population.
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| 2. |
- Camps-Calvet, Marta, et al.
(författare)
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SOWING RESILIENCE AND CONTESTATION IN TIMES OF CRISES : The case of urban gardening movements in Barcelona
- 2015
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Ingår i: PArticipation and COnflict. - 1972-7623 .- 2035-6609. ; 8:2, s. 417-442
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urban gardens have been observed to multiply in response to crises. However, the meaning and motivations behind the emergence of gardening movements varies greatly over space and time. In this paper we argue that bottom up urban gardening initiatives taking place in Southern European countries in form of land occupation and communalization represent forms of resistance that enhance social cohesion and collective action in times of need. Specifically, this research examines the role of urban gardens in (i) building community resilience and (ii) articulating forms of resistance and contestation to development pressure and commodified urban lifestyles. Our research is based on data collected among 27 urban gardening initiatives in Barcelona, Spain, including 13 self-governed community gardens and 14 public gardens. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with gardeners and with staff from the Barcelona City Council. Our results show mechanisms through which urban gardens can contribute to build resilience by nurturing social and ecological diversity, generating and transmitting local ecological knowledge, and by creating opportunities for collective action and self-organization. We further examine collectively managed gardens as urban commons that emerge as a form of resistance to the privatization of public urban space, and that offer opportunities to experiment with new models of urban lifestyles. We show how gardening initiatives can be seen to represent an emerging form of urban green commons that provides a suitable ground to ` sow' resilience and contestation in times of crises and socio-ecological deterioration.
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| 3. |
- Langemeyer, Johannes, et al.
(författare)
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Stewardship of urban ecosystem services : understanding the value(s) of urban gardens in Barcelona
- 2018
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Ingår i: Landscape and Urban Planning. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-2046 .- 1872-6062. ; 170, s. 79-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The notion and assessment of ecosystem services (ES) values is becoming an established part of the discourse regarding urban green space performance. Yet, underlying factors enabling ES values are still poorly understood. We assume the production of ES value crucial for environmental stewardship in cities, and aimed in this study to uncover their key enabling factors. This study has been developed on a broad data base including a survey (n = 201), interviews (n = 46), field observation and remote sensing from 27 urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, including municipal 'allotment gardens' and 'civic gardens' emerging from bottom-up initiatives. In a first step, we distinguished different urban gardens types regarding the ES values they provide. In a second step, we tested specific garden characteristics including (a) user profiles, (b) biophysical garden properties, and (c) institutional settings for their specific importance to trigger ES values. Results showed ES values to significantly differ with the types of gardens. For example, classical allotment gardens are more likely to provide recreational values, while emerging civic gardens are more likely to produce place-making and social cohesion. A main finding from our study is the importance of social and institutional garden characteristic as enabling factors of ES values. Results indicate, for example, a correlation between childhood experiences and a higher appreciation of ES. Our results further indicate that civic gardens with broader property rights and decision-capacities are more likely to enhance stewardship action. In providing a differentiated understanding of the ES value(s) of urban gardens, this study highlights the potential for green space planning in cities to steer the stewardship of urban gardens by providing institutional and physical space for civic gardening initiatives.
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| 4. |
- Porcuna-Ferrer, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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"So many things have changed" : Situated understandings of climate change impacts among the Bassari, south-eastern Senegal
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 148
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mainstream discourses frame anthropogenic climate change as a biophysical apolitical problem, thus privileging Western science and silencing other worldviews. Through a case study among the Bassari, an ethnic group in South-Eastern Senegal, we assess the local, embodied, and situated understandings of climate change and the tensions that arise when the apolitical global climate change discourse interacts with situated understandings. Drawing on data from 47 semi-structured interviews and 176 surveys, we find that while the global climate change discourse has not permeated into the Bassari, they experience climate change through its many impacts on the biophysical and socio-economic systems. Results also highlight that climate is not considered the main or only driver of change, but that changes in elements of the climate system are inextricably linked with political and economic dynamics and environmental degradation. Finally, our results point toward the importance of values and supernatural forces in defining situated ways of conceptualizing, interpreting, and responding to change. By including situated worldviews in theoretical understandings of climate and environmental change, we contribute to the claims about the need to reframe how climate change is conceptualized. Our research emphasizes the importance of a relational view of climate change, which requires moving beyond understanding isolated climate change impacts towards defining climate change as a systemic problem. Building on feminist and decolonial literature, we argue for the need for more plural and democratic ways of thinking about climate change, crossing epistemological and ontological boundaries and including local communities and their knowledge and understandings.
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