The Benefits of Urban Agriculture and Community Gardens Urban green spaces play important roles in the environmental renewal of urban areas. Green spaces provide carbon absorption, storm water retention, humidity control, and prevent soil erosion.11 The concrete jungles of the city scene need these services to minimize the impacts of urbanization on local and global ecosystems. A brief review of the literature on urban green spaces has focused on the environmental benefits of these spaces. The practice of urban agriculture and the creation of green spaces for horticulture provide other benefits in addition to the environmental ones usually discussed. In this section the benefits of urban agriculture, specifically community gardens, are reviewed. Firstly, community gardens, one element of urban agriculture, are urban green spaces. As green spaces, community gardens provide an array of positive benefits. For example, In “A Hedonic Valuation of Urban Green Areas”, Morancho used three variables: garden plot or green space size, view of the garden or green space, and proximity of the housing from the green space, and measured the impact on sale price of the dwelling. Her findings were that distance from the garden or green space is most significant, displayed in a drop in housing price for every 100m further from the green space.12 In addition, Voicu and Been detail in “The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighboring Property Values” the potential positive and negative impacts on community gardens to the surrounding neighborhood.13 Their benefits include providing recreational space, creating a sense of community, and adding aesthetic value. On the negative side, they can become a venue for loitering or other undesirable social behavior as is commonly associated with vacant space. However, the positive and negative impacts a garden can have on a neighborhood is difficult to quantify, for community gardens vary greatly depending on the size, how long its been there, and the community it is in. Further, cities often experience a high turnover of renters as opposed to homeowners, who are less likely to be invested in improving the space. Voicu and Been’s regression modeled study reveal that community impacts have an Aurelia Bengochea Morancho, “A Hedonic Valuation of Urban Green Areas,” Landscape and Urban Planning; Science Direct (2003). 11
12
Morancho, 2003.
Ioan Voicu and Vicki Been, “The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighboring Property Values,” Real Estate Economics 36:2 (2008) 241-283. 13
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