(A) Problem space (B)
Community engagement
(C) Results
(A1) Care interest
ENVIRONMENTAL CARE
GEOGRAPHIES OF CARE
According to her, environmental care refers to all those activities performed to “maintain, continue, and repair” (Tronto, 2015) our environment—for instance, recycling, composting, gardening, reuse, etc.
Doreen Massey (1994) define spaces and places in terms of it social relations. In this sense, a caring space is a geographical place in which caregiving activities emerge as central or essential. For instance, a hospital, a community center, a kitchen, or a park.
(A2) Community
(A2) Community
(A3) Research question
RESEARCH QUESTION
I am interested in understanding how the community garden interacts with its constitutive outside: how it gets new volunteers, how it interacts with the street, how it reaches agreements with the neighbors, and how the spatial limits of the garden are defined.
PERIPHERY, CONSTITUTIVE OUTSIDE, STREET…
GARDEN
(A4) Design question
DESIGN QUESTION
How might we make the garden more permeable?
GARDEN
(A5) Data collection methods
SECONDARY SOURCES
INTERVIEWS
- Data, spaces and places.
- Data gardens.
- Caren (Volunteer).
- Judi (Leader).
- Andrew (Farm market).
- Jacob (Neighbor).
ETHNOGRAPHY
- Ethnography of the fence.
GARDEN
(A6) Context
Zoning and Land Use,
Percentage of areas for parks
Community District -147.2 K, population. - 91% of residents live within walking distance of a park or open space (12/59). - 6.2% of the civilian labor force is unemployed (9/59)
(A7) Insights
Fragmented Ecologies
In the same street, there are three community gardens. W. Washington, CEP, and Saint Nicholas Miracle. They are home for similar activities: gardening, leisure,
composting; and similar challenges too: littering, requiring volunteers for maintenance, and lack of resources. There are some connections from the management perspective (for instance, sharing gardening tools); however, they are disconnected spaces from the neighbor's point of view.
(A7) Insights
The thin line between care and protection
affective bonding with the space and a sense of responsibility for it. This relationship can quickly end up in protective behaviors—affecting potential new relationships with neighbors. For the volunteers and garden members, caring for the garden represents labor, time, and resources. This effort invested in the garden creates an
(A7) Insights
Maybe littering is not a bad thing…
The space only opens to the public a few moments of the week, and participating as a volunteer is open to anyone; nevertheless, it demands time and commitment (so it is not available to everyone). Of course it is bad, but currently, it seems to be the only interaction most neighbors have with the garden.
(A7) Insights: opportunities
How might we build connections between the gardens and provide a expanded experience to the community?
How might we shift from protective behaviors to caring behaviors?
How might we make the only interaction with the garden (littering) meaningful and caring?
INSIGHT #1
INSIGHT #2
INSIGHT #3
(A) Problem space (B)
Community engagement
(C) Results
(B2) What will happen?
PLAYING WITH CONTRADICTIONS
A meaningful and caring littering
(B2) What will happen?
MUSEUM OF TRASH
(B2) What will happen?
PROMPTS
What is it? Where did you get it? What is its story?
Why do you want to get rid of it?
(B4) Prototype
(A) Problem space (B)
Community engagement
(C) Results
