Community gardens: policies, incentives and recommendations for Calgary

Date
2010
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Abstract
With increasing globalization population growth, and urbanization comes an emerging need for urban planners to place increasing importance on quality natural and built spaces within the public realm in order to ensure the social sustainability of human settlements. Community gardens can address some of the problems associated with urbanization and its impacts on the quality of the urban environment, however although the benefits of community gardens are widely recognized, community gardens have yet to be incorporated into municipal planning and policy frameworks and are given no legislative or financial support from municipal governments in Calgary. Without proper urban planning that incorporates high quality public realm, green and open spaces, population growth, along with the redevelopment of established communities, poses both challenges and opportunities for Calgary's established communities. The goal of this study was to determine what policy and planning recommendations and incentives would encourage the expansion of community gardens in established communities in Calgary. This research explores the contributions of community gardens to community development, citizen engagement, and sense of place, articulates the need for increased community garden development, identifies the barriers to expanding community gardens, and makes planning and policy recommendations to support the expansion of community gardens in established communities in Calgary. Primary and secondary research was conducted through literature review, case study, participant interviews, and key informant interviews. Drawing on the experience of Vancouver and Seattle, the MOP provides recommendations for a set of regulatory measures to encourage further development of community gardens in Calgary. Research findings document a range of initiatives, incentives, and policies to promote, encourage and enable the successful growth of community gardens. Effective implementation necessarily depends on community-led grassroots efforts, complemented with balanced municipal support to expand the benefits of community gardens to a larger audience.
Description
Bibliography: p. 129-136
Some pages are in colour.
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Citation
Hayes, T. (2010). Community gardens: policies, incentives and recommendations for Calgary (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/3314
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