Stress is a key feature of living in cities across the World, and city dwellers will have similar experiences about day to day life and its associated challenges regardless of their location on the globe. Recent studies in Chicago indicated that the quality of air in people’s homes can be poorer than outside on the streets, and this combined with rising unemployment and population density creates a ‘perfect storm of stress’. Forbes magazine rated Chicago as being the most stressful city in the States; New York came second.
The same study showed that Cities with all the same stress factors as Chicago and New York are generally less stressful if they have a pleasant climate and beautiful beaches; contributing a relaxed attitude that seems to take the edge off battling one’s way to work on public transport. Green spaces and gardening can contribute to this same positive effect too. Recent studies suggest that green space can boost mental health as well as physical, and “Healing gardens” in hospitals have been found to improve clinical outcomes and speed the recovery of patients, primarily by reducing stress (Ulrich 2002).
In his book “Allotted Time: Two Blokes, One Shed, No idea”, Robin Shelton unravels a true story about his and a friend’s year learning how to garden and grow food on an allotment. Initially a ‘madcap’ scheme to make some money, their gardening project took on new meaning and became an important outlet - helping them to cope with crisis points in their lives and overcome periods of depression or boredom.
New York City’s community gardens projects, which emerged in 1973, show how an Eco Tipping Point can be a powerful tool for urban renewal and improving the wellbeing of residents. The Community Gardening Movement in New York City showed how garden projects can help stave off the effects of economic depression, aid community cohesion and improve residents’ quality of life.
In 1973 an urban landscape artist named Liz Christy had a studio near the corner of Bowery and East Houston, in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side; an area that for financial and social reason was in decline. Entire blocks became vacant as landlords stopped maintaining their properties and many plots of land were left abandoned to rats, rubbish, drugs and crime. In parts of the city police and fire stations were closed and the effects on people living in these areas, who were helplessly watching their community ‘die,’ was stressful and depressing.
Christy viewed the run-down neighbourhood as being a living canvas and she regularly scattered water balloons packed with seeds, compost and water onto vacant land; when the balloons burst, they sowed seeds, along with everything they needed to grow. When she saw a child, who had been playing in the rubbish, climb into a discarded refrigerator and pull the door shut behind him, she was horrified. Pulling him out and taking him home became a pivotal moment for her, and as it turned out, the community; Christy organised friends and tools and started clearing up. They posted up a sign that read, “Watch this plot of land turn into a garden in 24 hours”…
… In fact it took 3 months. A first the community was sceptical, but as they saw the Bowery Houston Community Farm Garden become a reality people started to offer assistance and were rewarded by taking home vegetables that they’d helped to grow. Following an article in the press, Christy’s ideas spread across the five boroughs, with one garden project leading to another, and the cycles of urban decay started to reverse themselves. The community pride and stronger ties among neighbours instilled by the projects, inspired more garden, so that by the late 1980s, New York City hosted more than 800 and the gardeners were growing over $1 million worth of produce each year.
One of the unique features of this creation of green spaces was that they weren’t planned but sprang up, quite literally, from the streets. Desperate city dwellers had launched their own urban back-to-the-land movement. Some called the gardens “the lungs of the city” pumping oxygen into streets choking with car fumes; a single acre can absorb up to two tons of sulphur dioxide, the main ingredient in acid rain. Importantly in the New York gardens, most of the greenery was edible and low-income gardeners were able to eat fresh produce in parts of town where there were no shops. 
After she died of cancer Liz Christy’s ashes were spread over the soil of her original garden and a beekeeper introduced a beehive that still turns out 100 pounds of honey a year, but In the late 1980s, the city started revoking leases and tearing out gardens. However, the gardens had put down deep roots in the psyche of New York communities and Giuliani unwittingly galvanized gardeners from potting soil into politics, The New York Garden Preservation Coalition was formed, and in the end, Giuliani’s successor saved around 600 community gardens.
As New York’s example shows, - nature, green spaces and community gardens can be a significant force for good in modern urban environments, able to fundamentally improve our wellbeing. So green spaces need to be preserved and more parks and gardens protected. Here in the UK the National Trust has decided after surveying member opinions, to be more active in planning inquiries and has threatened to buy up greenfield sites which have been earmarked for development in order to stop new housing. This new broader environmental agenda is a reassuring sign for UK residents concerned about urban sprawl and developments which lack sufficient green and open spaces. The National Trust, as Europe’s largest membership organisation, carries some clout and so could prove a useful ally in protecting and improving our environment.
More info:
- Bronx Green-Up, the community outreach program of The New York Botanical Garden, provides horticultural advice, technical assistance, and training to community gardens, school groups, and other organizations interested in improving urban neighborhoods in the Bronx through greening projects.
- UK Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens
- Green Guerillas Community Garden Advocacy
- ACGA - American Community Gardening Association
- Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network
- Health Benefits of Gardens in Hospitals - Ulrich (2002)
Reading:
- Malcolm Gladwell The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- Robin Shelton Allotted Time: Two Blokes, One Shed, No Idea
Other Credits: photos (in order) -
Image: Flickr user lucasseidenfaden
Image: Flickr user bscott2007
Image: Flickr user Petervanallen
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