Community Gardens

Harvesting Data Essential for Saving Urban Gardens

To preserve the spread of urban gardening, activists are beginning to map and document the many haphazard community gardens to gain recognition from landlords and city officials in hopes of warding off bulldozers.

September 3, 2012 - Grist

Turning Vacant Lots from Eyesore to Opportunity

Vacant lots in American cities consume vast amounts of land, which many are now recognizing as places of opportunity. Some cities and citizens are transforming once empty urban spaces into vibrant community-fostering places.

August 23, 2012 - The Nature of Cities

The Community-Building Power of Communal Gardens

Planted to solve a perceived food desert problem, urban gardens are harvesting more than just fresh, nutritious food. Neighborhoods surrounding gardens are seeing surprising declines in violent crime.

August 3, 2012 - Mother Jones

Bringing Dead Space Back to Life in Brooklyn

Sarah Goodyear discovers a project to help Brooklynites reclaim land owned by the city, but long since abandoned, and building neighborhood bonds in the process.

March 30, 2012 - Grist

Urban Parks Grew in 2011, as Employment Declines

The 100 largest U.S. cities added 120 new parks last year, but overall spending remained largely flat. Approximately half the cities experienced cuts in their parks budgets, forcing departments to defer maintenance costs even as usership grows.

December 8, 2011 - City Parks Blog

A Tour of Three Detroit Community Gardens

Community gardens are popping up all over Detroit. This post from Model D takes a tour through three of them, and explores how they balance art and nature.

August 11, 2011 - Model D

Can the Ultra-Ex Project Save Cleveland?

"Vacancy begets vacancy." With more than 1,000 vacant lots adding to the city's running total of 20,000 each year, Cleveland is on an Ultra-Ex mission to prepare these sites for tomorrow's housing renaissance.

August 5, 2011 - The New York Times

A New Kind of Community Garden

It's common for community gardens today to be so popular there is a waiting list to get in, and the system favors those new to the neighborhood. A pair of farmers has set out to change all that.

June 27, 2011 - The Christian Science Monitor

Community Gardens and Farms as Detroit Renewal Tools

As the city of Detroit struggles with population loss and dwindling industrial jobs, farms and community gardens offer the city a positive nudge.

May 20, 2011 - The New York Times

Bringing Gardens and Parks to a Neighborhood Near You!

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust's mission is to bring parks and gardens to underserved communities in Los Angeles, where problems of obesity are bad enough that the city recently banned new fast food operations.

February 12, 2011 - The Planning Report

For Sale: Organic Farm Included

Developers are building more and more residential communities around organic farms, banking on increased resident demand for locally grown food, outdoor recreation space, and small-town charm.

November 30, 2010 - The Los Angeles Times

Community Gardens in the Corporate World

A new community garden on the Intel corporate campus in Hillsboro, Oregon is just one of many such plots that have been added to corporate sites across the country.

June 20, 2010 - The Oregonian

2,029 Urban Gardens

Vancouver set a goal of creating 2,010 food gardens around the city by the time of the 2010 Olympics, and managed to reach that number (and a little more).

April 12, 2010 - The Vancouver Courier

Broken Inner-City Freeway Reborn as Garden

Activists have turned the site of a former inner-city freeway in San Francisco into a community garden.

March 21, 2010 - Good

Community Gardens Sprout in Seattle

Activists in Seattle have created a community garden on empty land to help provide food for the city's needy.

March 2, 2010 - The Seattle Times

City People Do-It-Themselves

This post from The New York Times' blog examines how city government's are increasingly relying on automated services to keep order and boost revenue, and how citizens are reacting.

June 28, 2009 - The New York Times

Urban gardens provide food to Philadelphia residents

Mini-farms across the city boost neighborhood appearances, help low-income residents in tough economic times

June 17, 2009 - Philadelphia Daily News

Neighbors Team Up To Build Community Garden

Residents in an Oxnard neighborhood install a community garden which will provide them with fruits and vegetables.

June 16, 2009 - Ventura County Star

wish you were here: liveblog from the Association for Community Design Annual Conference

I’m watching local Rochester-area advocates respond to presentations by three panelists on the subject of “Community Food Supply and Environmental Justice” at the Association for Community Design annual conference. We’re here hosted by the Rochester Regional Community Design Center.

June 5, 2009 - Jess Zimbabwe

Hooking Up Gardeners and Backyards

Wait times for a plot of land in one of Santa Monica's community gardens have grown so long that officials are instituting a new program to connect gardeners with homeowners willing to share their backyards.

April 14, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

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