Urban Community Gardens

Placemaking for Healthy, Active, and Sustainable Living: Although there are thousands of community gardens across North America, only Seattle, and a few other cities, include them in their urban development plans. This project focuses on case studies of community gardens in Seattle that reveal the capacity of community gardens to serve larger community issues, such as community food security; urban ecosystem health; demonstration of sustainable gardening and building practices; active living and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods; and equity concerns. It further examines how landscape architecture, planning, and allied design professionals can better interact in the making of these unique urban open spaces, and how urban community gardens offer opportunities for professionals to have a more prominent role in community activism and urban sustainability. [Link]

Landscape Architecture Foundation Land and Community Design Case Studies Series (2005). Principal Investigators/ Jeffrey Hou, Julie Johnson, Laura Lawson. Research Assistants/ Arielle Farina Clark, Vanessa Lee.