Urban gardening and the struggle for social and spatial justice

The book presents an in-depth and theoretically-grounded analysis of urban gardening practices (re)emerging worldwide as new forms of bottom-up socio-political participation. By complementing the scholarly perspectives through posing real cases, it focuses on how these practices are able to address - together with environmental and planning questions - the most fundamental issues of spatial justice, social cohesion, inclusiveness, social innovations and equity in cities. Through a critical exploration of international case studies, this collection investigates whether, and how, gardeners are willing and able to contrast urban spatial arrangements that produce peculiar forms of social organisation and structures for inclusion and exclusion, by considering pervasive inequalities in the access to space, natural resources and services, as well as considerable disparities in living conditions. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16, Peace, justice and strong institutions

This is the first book which explicitly addresses the issue of urban gardening and spatial justice. As urban gardening initiatives have mushroomed worldwide, they have targeted a wide range of disparate goals, the majority of which are proven to be socio-political, rather than merely environmental, ecological or economic. By combining scholarly perspectives with real cases, the essays in this collection focus on how urban gardening practices are able to address the most fundamental issues of spatial justice, social cohesion, inclusiveness, social innovations and equity in cities.

The first section of the book focuses on the political reading of urban gardening by presenting a comprehensive overview of the different trajectories and forms it takes. Sitting in the broader context of political gardening, the second section presents a rich and insightful array of real-life cases. These explore the daily practices of urban gardeners in transforming neglected spaces into vibrant and inclusive spaces of justice in the city. The third section critically scrutinises the consequences of urban gardening initiatives in terms of injustice mitigation in the city, by assessing their potential for place revitalisation and community engagement.