Emergent approaches to urban gardening

This chapter provides an overview of the latest trends of urban allotment gardens from a typological and spatial standpoint. Previous chapters in this book show that

recently there has been a resurgence of urban gardening practices (see Chapters 2 and 3). Thus, an investigation into whether this resurgence is supported by new spatial arrangements that can circumvent the ever-rising pressure for urban development and from land values is necessary. Likewise, it is necessary to question whether planning systems are capable of accommodating higher demand for allotment gardens as a result of such resurgence. The chapter shows that, in response to rapidly changing urban conditions and planning systems that cannot reconcile speculative development with social needs, other types of urban allotments are emerging which differ from the conventional forms of the past. A number of case studies from 11 European countries collected by many researchers involved in the COST Action form the evidence base for the identification of new approaches to the design and implementation of allotment gardens which substantially differ from the conventional type on green land. Following the introduction, the chapter is organized in four sections: the first identifies urban dynamics behind the emergence of new ways to approach urban gardening, both as an activity and its spatial manifestations; the second presents a description of such emergent approaches, and the third discusses their cross-cutting and common characteristics, identifying the spatial implications for the urban context. Finally, in the conclusions we establish the need for a reframing not only of spaces suitable for urban gardening or motivations for this particular activity, but more importantly of planning and design processes, and the role of the designer as a facilitator of bottom-up initiatives.