Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6355

Title: Community gardens: A natural way to wellbeing
Authors: Fountain, Simon
Behavioural & Social Sciences in Health
Keywords: health
wellbeing
quality of life
community gardens
social capital
nutrition
Issue Date: 2000
Abstract: Community gardens provide social, economic and environmental benefits to local urban communities. These include individual and collective social wellbeing, access to cheap, nutritious food and improved functioning of the local ecology. Although regarded by some as a neutral project to organise a community around, community gardening is still highly political. When planned, organised and run by local people and located centrally in the community, (particularly disadvantaged communities) these green spaces offer multiple health benefits that prevent disease and promote wellbeing, a sense of citizen control and social capital. Most indicators suggest that community gardening movement has enjoyed varied success in building healthier Sydney communities. However the intrinsic effects of this low cost, low-tech community process is hard to compare and measure. Challenges include security of tenure, establishing appropriate policy and planning guidelines with local councils and departments, ensuring active and full participation of those community groups 'at risk' and developing persuasive evaluation systems to meet these challenges. It is suggested that community gardens reflect the wider social, cultural, structural elements in the society as well as the human processes that ultimately enable or restrict healthy living.
Description: This work was digitised and made available on open access by Yooroang Garang, the School of Indigenous Health Studies; the University of Sydney; and Sydney eScholarship. It may only be used for the purposes of research and study. Where possible, the School will try to notify the author of this work. If you have any inquiries or issues regarding this work being made available please contact the Sydney eScholarship Repository Coordinator - escholarship.info@sydney.edu.au
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6355
Department/Unit/Centre: Behavioural & Social Sciences in Health
Rights and Permissions: The author retains copyright of this thesis
Type of Work: Technical Report
Appears in Collections:Honours and Postgraduate Coursework theses – Health Sciences

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