What motivations drive foreign gardeners to cultivate? Findings from urban gardening initiatives in Lombard municipalities

This paper examines the motivations that drive foreign gardeners to cultivate a garden in Lombard municipalities.Motivations underlying urban gardening are inspired by social, health, environmental and food-related benefits. Several studies document these benefits with reference to the entire population of gardeners, while ignoring the specific perspective of each social subgroup, mainly because of a lack of data. This scarce knowledge is particularly evident for the subset of foreign gardeners, i.e., migrants moving to Italy for work and/or family reasons who decide to cultivate an urban garden in the municipality of their residence. In turn, this prevents municipalities from adopting urban gardening projects that are consistent with the specific requirements of this group.As the regional government has legally recognized the importance of urban gardens and financed their realization, the Lombard municipalities have promoted many of these practices in their territories over recent years. However, neither the region nor the municipalities have created a database of these practices or collected information on the motivations that lead people in general – and foreign citizens in particular – to cultivate locally.This paper aims to fill that gap by presenting some results gained from the elaboration of two questionnaires sent to both the municipalities and the gardeners themselves.Findings indicate that about 21 % of the responding municipalities promote urban gardening initiatives. Of these municipalities, less than one in five have at least one foreign gardener. Foreign gardeners come mainly from North Africa and Eastern Europe, most of them are over 40 years old, and have usually lived with their families in Lombard municipalities for more than five years. Their motivations consist of a growing interest in participation in local communities, breaching multiple relationships and enforcing participation. Conversely, they attribute little importance to sharing values and strengthening personal and social identities, or to preserving the social ecological memory of ancient practices. Finally, they frequently highlight the contribution of garden cultivation in reducing pollution and in reconnection with food practices, making access to good food a priority.     

Exploring Floridians' perceptions of pollinator-friendly gardening to identify critical adoption barriers and strategies

Developed landscapes in urban and peri-urban environments significantly influence the diversity, abundance, and overall health of pollinator populations such as bees, butterflies, moths, and birds. Considering growing evidence demonstrating that pollinator health can be more robust in urban habitats than rural ones, the landscape development and management practices adopted in urban and suburban areas have a significant potential impact on pollinator health. Given their influence with respect to urban and suburban landscape management in Florida, it is critical to better understand the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of Florida residents regarding pollinator-friendly gardening practices such as the flowering plant installation or reduced pesticide application. To explore the most salient factors influencing residents’ adoption of pollinator gardening practices, we facilitated three elicitation focus groups with 20 residents representing three distinct regions in Florida. Data analysis generated a series of salient sub-themes across two thematic categories: ‘barriers’ and ‘solutions and strategies’. Major ‘barrier’ themes included ‘limited knowledge or information access’ about pollinator gardening, and ‘social norms/community expectations’. Major solution and strategy’ themes included ‘developing neighborhood/homeowner association buy-in,’ and ‘pre-installation research and planning’. Overall, findings demonstrate that Florida residents have strong views regarding both the most influential barriers to adopting or engaging in pollinator-friendly gardening and the most promising solutions or strategies to mitigate those barriers. These findings have tangible implications for educational practitioners interested in expanding distribution of targeted educational outreach to further promote the adoption of pollinator-friendly landscape management practices in Florida. Findings also have implications for researchers interested in further examining the socio-economic and socio-cultural factors most influential to residents’ pollinator gardening practices.     

Gardening can relieve human stress and boost nature connection during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted social life. Gardens and yards have seemingly risen as a lifeline during the pandemic. Here, we investigated the relationship between people and gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic and what factors influenced the ability of people to garden. We examined survey responses (n = 3,743) from gardeners who reported how the pandemic had affected personal motivations to garden and their use of their gardens, alongside pandemic-related challenges, such as food access during the first wave of COVID-19 (May-Aug 2020). The results show that for the respondents, gardening was overwhelmingly important for nature connection, individual stress release, outdoor physical activity and food provision. The importance of food provision and economic security were also important for those facing greater hardships from the pandemic. While the literature on gardening has long shown the multiple benefits of gardening, we report on these benefits during a global pandemic. More research is needed to capture variations in public sentiment and practice – including those who do little gardening, have less access to land, and reside in low-income communities particularly in the global south. Nevertheless, we argue that gardening can be a public health strategy, readily accessible to boost societal resilience to disturbances.     

无锡市民家庭园艺消费现状研究

在无锡市主要行政区域进行市民家庭园艺消费的基本情况、消费心理、花园中心消费意愿等现状的随机问卷调查。结果表明：有94.8%的市民有购买过植物及花园用品的经历;1～2个月逛1次花市的人占35.2%;而每年花销在植物、园艺资材、养护上主要在100～500元的占47.6%;市民购买家庭园艺产品主要是家庭和个人用;有40.9%的市民更注重家庭园艺产品的外观;绝大多数市民对于城市现有花市的条件不太满意、不太满足;有74.5%的市民愿意尝试去花园中心购物;植物类在花园中心成为消费者的首选;希望通过广告媒体得知花园中心相关园艺产品信息的比例占29.4%。消费水平偏低、消费趋于大众化、现有花市条件的不满意、消费需求多样化、高效宣传渠道的注重、期待如花园中心全新消费环境,已成为无锡市民家庭园艺消费的基本特征。     

The domestic garden – Its contribution to urban green infrastructure

Domestic gardens provide a significant component of urban green infrastructure but their relative contribution to eco-system service provision remains largely un-quantified. ‘Green infrastructure’ itself is often ill-defined, posing problems for planners to ascertain what types of green infrastructure provide greatest benefit and under what circumstances. Within this context the relative merits of gardens are unclear; however, at a time of greater urbanization where private gardens are increasingly seen as a ‘luxury’, it is important to define their role precisely. Hence, the nature of this review is to interpret existing information pertaining to gardens/gardening per se, identify where they may have a unique role to play and to highlight where further research is warranted. The review suggests that there are significant differences in both form and management of domestic gardens which radically influence the benefits. Nevertheless, gardens can play a strong role in improving the environmental impact of the domestic curtilage, e.g. by insulating houses against temperature extremes they can reduce domestic energy use. Gardens also improve localized air cooling, help mitigate flooding and provide a haven for wildlife. Less favourable aspects include contributions of gardens and gardening to greenhouse gas emissions, misuse of fertilizers and pesticides, and introduction of alien plant species. Due to the close proximity to the home and hence accessibility for many, possibly the greatest benefit of the domestic garden is on human health and well-being, but further work is required to define this clearly within the wider context of green infrastructure.     

Quantification of the environmental effectiveness of nature-based solutions for increasing the resilience of cities under climate change

Nature-based solutions (NBSs) enhance the potential for mitigation and adaptation to climate change in cities. Among the environmental benefits offered by these measures, enhanced biodiversity, increased carbon storage, reduction of extreme temperatures, and pluvial flood control are crucial. The purpose of this study was to establish an integrated methodology for quantifying the benefits of NBSs and complementary measures and to apply it in a neighbourhood of Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain), where two alternative designs that incorporated NBSs and complementary measures were designed. Then, the individual effectiveness of the four variables was measured using both in-situ measurements and modelling approaches. For the integrated effectiveness, a multi-criteria decision analysis was employed. Both the ‘feasible’ design and the ‘ideal’ one led to an increase in biodiversity (46 and 108 %, respectively) and carbon storage (50 and 130 %, respectively). When considering each measure independently, putting soil provided the highest benefits for carbon capture and biodiversity; meanwhile, planting woody species and installing light-coloured permeable pavements and water fountains reduced the mean radiant temperature by 26.5 K and the air temperature by 0.5 and 2.5 K, respectively, in specific places. Finally, the importance of quantifying the multiple environmental benefits of NBSs for the selection of climate-smart options in urban planning has been highlighted.     

The importance of university campuses for the avian diversity of cities

In a world of increasing urban areas and their subsequent negative effect on biodiversity, university campuses arise as environmentally friendly designs that can help enhancing biodiversity. However, current information on the topic is mainly based on single-campus studies, taxonomic diversity variables (e.g., species richness), and specific geographic regions like Asia or North America. Multi-campus comparisons, studies on other components of biodiversity (e.g., functional or phylogenetic diversity) and biodiversity information from other regions of the world are needed to generalize the previous findings. In this study, we try to fill in these gaps by simultaneously investigating taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of bird communities on 15 university campuses of Spain, which is located within the Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity where no previous study on this topic have been conducted. We compared campus areas with other randomly selected urban areas to test whether university campuses hold higher levels of bird diversity than non-campus areas. We also analyzed other environmental variables (e.g., green and building cover in and around campuses) to identify whether their influence in university campuses varies from other urban areas. Our results show that taxonomic diversity was higher within university campuses compared to other areas, but this pattern was not confirmed for functional and phylogenetic diversity. We found that grass cover, buildings, and the green area around the study areas have different associations with taxonomic, functional, or phylogenetic diversity respectively in campuses or non-campus areas. Our findings highlight the importance of university campuses for the conservation of Mediterranean urban biodiversity and support their use as relevant resources for promoting nature conservation among citizens.     

Home gardening in Singapore: A feasibility study on the utilization of the vertical space of retrofitted high-rise public housing apartment buildings to increase urban vegetable self-sufficiency

In land-scarce cities, high-rise apartment buildings may provide vertical spaces for natural-light home gardening along corridors, rooftops, balconies as well as façades. The vertical space can improve not only urban environmental sustainability but also food security. Using an experimental approach, we investigated the food production potential of a high-rise public housing apartment building based on different gardening systems, food crops, and sunlight availability. A gardening prototype system for building corridors was shown to increase the unit area yield of corridor gardening by fivefold compared to a commercial trough planter system. Additionally, this commercial trough planter system was mainly for leafy vegetable production, whereas the gardening prototype system for corridors is also suitable for climbing crops, such as legumes and cucurbits. Nevertheless, because of the limited space along corridors of the apartment building and the relatively low-light levels on average, corridor gardening was estimated to meet only 0.5 % of the demand for vegetables of the residents living in the apartment building. Rooftop gardening with shallow growing medium (depth < 15 cm) was estimated to meet 3 % of demand, and façade gardening 43 %, given the larger space available. Although the vegetable production potential in this study was estimated based on a particular typology of public housing apartment buildings in Singapore, our results showed that vegetable production in public housing apartment buildings is feasible, and home gardening can produce a substantial amount of vegetables for consumption if well deployed. Governments of highly urbanized cities may wish to invest in better home garden designs for high-rise public housing apartment buildings and encourage residents’ participation in home gardening, which would increase high-rise greenery coverage and improve urban food system resilience. Future studies should also investigate the environmental sustainability and food safety aspects of home gardening in highly urbanized cities.     

Envisioning the future—Creating sustainable,healthy and resilient BioCities

Numerous challenges – from population increase to climate change – threaten the sustainable development of cities and call for a fundamental change of urban development and green-blue resource management. Urban forests are vital in this transition, as they provide various ecosystem services and allow to re-shape and re-think cities. Based on a Europe-wide community effort with diverse experts centered around urban forests and urban greening, we propose five key research fields to generate the knowledge required to unlock fundamental changes in urban development and green-blue resource management: circular bioeconomy, climate resilience, governance, social and human environment, and biodiversity. To support the design of greener, cooler, more inclusive and resilient cities, all these research fields require inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, engaging stakeholders in transforming urban engagement and functioning. We summarise main inter-, trans- und multi-disciplinary research paths for each field and the cross-cutting knowledge areas that can help to address the challenges many cities face (e.g., modelling and assessment of the urban microclimate). For transforming cities further knowledge is needed on e.g., urban innovation, transition, participation, and more. Finally, we address how the identified research gaps can be implemented (e.g., international coordinated research effort, interdisciplinary networks).     

Institutionalizing urban forestry as a “biotechnology” to improve environmental quality

Urban forests can provide multiple environmental benefits. As urban areas expand, the role of urban vegetation in improving environmental quality will increase in importance. Quantification of these benefits has revealed that urban forests can significantly improve air quality. As a result, national air quality regulations are now willing to potentially credit tree planting as means to improve air quality. Similarly, quantification of other environmental benefits of urban trees (e.g., water quality improvement, carbon sequestration) could provide for urban vegetation to be incorporated in other programs/regulations designed to improve environmental quality.     

Perceived COVID-19-related stress drives home gardening intentions and improves human health in Taiwan

The COVID-19 pandemic has added a layer of mental health problems and perceived stress. Home gardening is considered a good method to reduce perceived stress. The current research evidence is insufficient to understand the relationship and influencing factors between the intentions, behaviors, and benefits of home gardening during short-term COVID-19 events. Although the duration from the onset to stabilization of the outbreak lasted for only 1.5 months from May to June 2021 throughout Taiwan, the significant pandemic changes might have affected the perceived stress along with the intentions, behaviors, and benefits of home gardening. This study explored the relationship between pandemic stress and home gardening through online snowball sampling because of the strict social distancing regulations. A total of 1455 non-follow-up and internet questionnaires throughout Taiwan were collected during the wave onset, peak, easing, and stabilization stages. The questionnaire included questions on personal information, perceived pandemic stress, gardening intentions, gardening behaviors, and gardening benefits. This study showed that perceived stress increased from the pandemic onset to its peak, and decreased from the peak to stabilization stages. Home gardening intentions and behaviors also revealed similar trends. Higher pandemic-perceived stress directly increased home-gardening intentions and indirectly promoted home-gardening behaviors and benefits. Our findings indicated that home gardening is a positive element in reducing perceived stress. Lower gardening intentions and behaviors were observed when the high perceived stress was removed. This study suggests that home gardening was a valuable strategy for staying close to nature and obtaining multiple benefits during the peak pandemic period. Providing small-scale gardening activities and spaces is appropriate for obtaining gardening benefits and avoiding space abandonment after the pandemic. Providing seeds, seedlings, tools, knowledge, online home gardening programs, and small residential and food gardens is a valuable strategy for obtaining multiple benefits during the peak of the pandemic.     

Scaling up nature-based solutions for climate-change adaptation: Potential and benefits in three European cities

Many exemplary projects have demonstrated that Nature-based Solutions (NBS) can contribute to climate change adaptation, but now the challenge is to scale up their use. Setting realistic policy goals requires knowing the amount of different NBS types that can fit in the urban space and the benefits that can be expected. This research aims to assess the potential for a full-scale implementation of NBS for climate-change adaptation in European cities, the expected benefits and co-benefits, and how these quantities relate to the urban structure of the cities.We selected three case studies: Barcelona (Spain), Malmö (Sweden), and Utrecht (the Netherlands), and developed six scenarios that simulate the current condition, the full-scale implementation of different NBS strategies (i.e., installing green roofs, de-sealing parking areas, enhancing vegetation in urban parks, and planting street trees), and a combination of them. Then we applied spatially-explicit methods to assess, for each scenario, two climate change-related benefits, i.e. heat mitigation and stormwater regulation, and three co-benefits, namely carbon storage, biodiversity potential, and overall greenness. Finally, by breaking down the results per land use class, we investigated how the potential and benefits vary depending on the urban form.Most scenarios provide multiple benefits, but each one is characterized by a specific mix. In all cities, a full-scale deployment of green roofs shows the greatest potential to reduce runoff and increase biodiversity, while tree planting -either along streets or in urban parks– produces the greatest impact on heat mitigation and greenness. However, these results entail interventions of different size and in different locations. Planting street trees maximizes interventions in residential areas, but key opportunities for integrating most NBS types also lie in commercial and industrial areas. The results on the pros and cons of each scenario can support policy-makers in designing targeted NBS strategies for climate change adaptation.     

Show me your garden and I will tell you how sustainable you are: Dutch citizens’ perspectives on conserving biodiversity and promoting a sustainable urban living environment through domestic gardening

This paper focuses on Dutch perspectives on the issue of gardening for biodiversity and sustainable urban environments. A semi-qualitative survey based on multiple choice, open, and visual questions were conducted with a representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 517). The aim of the survey was to get a better insight into the way Dutch domestic gardens contribute to urban sustainability and biodiversity conservation. Cultural Theory was used as a heuristic framework for survey design and analysis. The results show that the Dutch population is best represented by the Egalitarian and the Hierarchist perspectives. The Egalitarian perspective has strong ecological ideals, but these ideals are not reflected in how most of them design and maintain their gardens in practice. There seems to be a strong cognitive dissonance in the relation between a majority of the Dutch garden owners and the design and maintenance of their gardens. Only a small group of people with an Autonomous perspective is able to bring their high ecological ideals into practice in their yards. The Individualist perspective group has least ideological and practical concern for gardening, sustainability and biodiversity. The results have been discussed in the context of global goals for sustainable cities and biodiversity, as reflected in the Aichi targets and the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper intends to provide policymakers and urban planners with levers to experiment with incentives to bridge gaps between private space and public interests (the public/private dilemma).     

Can we integrate ecological approaches to improve plant selection for green infrastructure?

Modern cities are dominated by impervious surfaces that absorb, store and release heat in summer, create large volumes of runoff and provide limited biodiversity habitat and poor air quality can also be a health issue. Future climate change, including more frequent and extreme weather events will likely exacerbate these issues. Green infrastructure such as parks, gardens, street trees and engineered technologies such as green roofs and walls, facades and raingardens can help mitigate these problems. This relies on selecting plants that can persist in urban environments and improve stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution. However, plant selection for green infrastructure is challenging where there is limited information on species tolerance to heat and water variability or how these species can deliver multiple benefits. Therefore, we draw on research to illustrate how plant performance for green infrastructure can be inferred from plant attributes (i.e., traits) or from analysis of their natural distribution. We present a new framework for plant selection for green infrastructure and use a case study to demonstrate how this approach has been used to select trees and shrubs for Australian cities. We have shown through the case study and examples, how plant traits and species’ natural distribution can be used to overcome the lack of information on tolerance to both individual and multiple stressors; and how species contribute to the provision of benefits such as stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution mitigation. We also discuss how planting design and species diversity can contribute to achieving multiple benefits to make the most of contested space in dense cities, and to also reduce the risk of failure in urban greening.     

A balancing act: Biodiversity and human wellbeing considerations in the management of urban forest in a global biodiversity hotspot

Environmental and urban forest managers in cities located in highly biodiverse regions may need to balance biodiversity conservation with the provision of ecosystem services to people. However, striking this balance is not easy and many competing factors influence the decision-making process. Set in the Perth Metropolitan Area, located in the global biodiversity hotspot of the Southwestern Australia Floristic Province, this study aimed to understand: (i) the extent to which a benefits-oriented approach is used by local governments to optimise biodiversity and human wellbeing urban forest outcomes, and (ii) what other factors influence the decision-making process shaping urban forest composition. Using a social-ecological framework, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 local government practitioners. We found that biodiversity conservation is actively considered in the planning and management of urban forest in natural areas and parks, but rarely in streetscapes. Maximising shade and cooling, and to a lesser extent enhancing sense of place, were the key benefits actively sought in streetscapes. Parks appeared to straddle the middle ground as areas with most flexibility to accommodate multiple biodiversity and human wellbeing benefits. Yet, benefits were only some of a multitude of social-ecological factors influencing the decision-making process shaping urban forest composition. In particular, streetscapes were affected by a large number of social and political factors (e.g., perceived risk and nuisance, ad-hoc decisions by elected members), many of them leading to suboptimal urban forest outcomes. For a benefits-oriented approach to prevail in complex and contested urban spaces it is important that the decision-making process is evidence-informed and capable of handling the challenges and conflicts that are likely to arise. Reactive decision-making results in a conservative, “safe” species palette that over time defines streetscapes by what they do not do (creating disservices) rather than what they do (delivering multiple biodiversity and wellbeing benefits), which ultimately is not a desired outcome in the context of an increasingly urbanized world.     

The management of plants and their impact on monuments in historic gardens: Current threats and solutions

The conservation of historic gardens is crucial for safeguarding monumental, aesthetic, historical, ecological and economic values in many countries of the World, as well as associated services, such as carbon stock, microclimate and water regulation, biodiversity conservation, pollution removal, and recreation. In historic gardens, architectural and sculpture elements coexist with an abundant plant component, which is currently often precarious due to senescence processes occurring nowadays. Unhealthy plants and reduced structural stability of trees represent a threat for both garden artistic structures and buildings, as well for the visitors’ safety. Awareness in garden managers about the most relevant and current threats is necessary for garden conservation. This review, through a global survey of the literature since 1990, addresses two main questions (1) which are the most relevant threats on historic gardens vegetation as affected by environmental, biological and anthropogenic causes, and how do they impact on monuments? (2) Which are related strategies to counteract these threats? Regarding the whole analysed period, the impact of the biotic component on monuments was the most discussed threat; in recent years a growing concern on the effects of climate change and pathogens and pests on historic garden plants also emerged. Strategies to address current and future challenges of historic gardens are hereby identified from experiences reported in worldwide literature and discussed. Best practices are collected in tables to provide managers of historic gardens with a valuable tool and guide to conserve and enhance their value. Due to the heterogeneity of the threats to be addressed, a multidisciplinary approach to ensure the conservation of historic gardens is recommended.     

Past results and future directions in urban community gardens research

Globally, rapid urbanisation has substantially reduced the amount of viable agricultural land – a food security issue. Food security is bringing a renewed scholarly interest in community gardens. This paper reviews the extent of English academic literature on community gardens, including: who has undertaken the research, where it has been published, the geographical location of the gardens studied, and the various methods used to undertake the research. The characteristics of the community gardens are summarised, including what types of plants are grown, who is involved in the gardens, and who owns the land. The motivations, benefits and limitations of community gardening are also examined. Finally, potential directions for research into community gardens are highlighted. Academic literature on community gardens is dominated by studies investigating gardens in low-income areas with diverse cultural backgrounds. Research based in cities in the USA also dominates the literature. Scholars from a wide diversity of disciplines have examined community gardens but research is mostly concentrated in the social sciences. The natural sciences are notably under-represented, yet they have much to offer including assessing gardening practices to better understand the agro-biodiversity conservation potential of community gardens.     

URban Biotopes of Aotearoa New Zealand (URBANZ) II: Floristics, biodiversity and conservation values of urban residential and public woodlands, Christchurch

Urban forests are increasingly valued for multiple benefits such as amenity, cultural values, native biodiversity, ecosystem services, and carbon sequestration. Urban biodiversity in particular, is the new focus although global homogenisation is undermining regional differentiation. In the northern hemisphere (e.g., Canada and USA) and in the southern hemisphere, particularly in countries like South Africa, Australia, South America and New Zealand, local biodiversity is further impacted by historical colonisation from Europe. After several centuries, urban forests are now composed of synthetic and spontaneous mixtures of native species, and exotic species from around the temperate world (e.g., Europe, North and South America, South Africa, Asia). As far as we are aware no-one has carried out in-depth study of these synthetic forests in any Southern Hemisphere city. Here we describe the composition, structure, and biodiversity conservation imperatives of urban temperate forests at 90 random locations in Christchurch city, New Zealand.We document considerable plant diversity; the total number of species encountered in the 253 sampled urban forest patches was 486. Despite this incredibly variable data set, our ability to explain variation in species richness was surprisingly good and clearly indicates that total species richness was higher in larger patches with greater litter and vegetation cover, and taller canopy height. Species richness was also higher in patches surrounded by higher population densities and closer to very large native forest patches. Native species richness was higher in patches with higher soil pH, lower canopy height, and greater litter cover and in patches closer to very large native forest patches indicating dispersal out of native areas and into gardens. Eight distinct forest communities were identified by Two-Way INdicator SPecies ANalysis (TWINSPAN) using the occurrence of 241 species that occurred in more than two out of all 253 forest patches.Christchurch urban forest canopies were dominated by exotic tree species in parklands and in street tree plantings (linear parkland). Native tree and shrub species were not as common in public spaces but their overall density high in residential gardens. There was some explanatory power in our data, since less deprivation resulted in greater diversity and density, and more native species, which in turn is associated with private ownership. We hypothesise that a number of other factors, which were not well reflected in our measured environmental variables, are responsible for much of the remaining variation in the plant community structure, e.g., advertising, peoples choice. For a more sustainable asset base of native trees in New Zealand cities we need more, longer-lived native species, in large public spaces, including a greater proportion of species that bear fruit and nectar suitable for native wildlife. We may then achieve cities with ecological integrity that present multiple historical dimensions, and sequester carbon in legible landscapes.     

Ecological and economic benefits of cross-boundary coordination among private forest landowners

A significant challenge facing forestry today is managing private forests sustainably in the face of continued ownership fragmentation (i.e., parcelization). Cross-boundary coordination––where forest practices are coordinated across multiple properties––has been proposed as a mechanism by which landscape-level ecological and economic benefits may be accrued in privately-owned landscapes, but few tests of the concept exist. Using a case study approach, we quantify the extent to which ownership-centric forest management is constrained by economies of scale and misses opportunities to achieve ecological objectives in three landscapes in Wisconsin, USA. Methods are based on existing forest management plans and include spatial analysis of patch distributions and shapes, simulation of forest practices, and calculation of net present value over a 20-year horizon. Our results indicate substantial opportunity for cross-boundary coordination: between 62% and 88% of the managed properties within our study landscapes were adjacent to other properties with forest management plans. At a patch scale, coordination can result in ecological benefits that can be accrued into the future (e.g., maintenance of large patches and natural ecosystem boundaries). Because these landscapes are already highly parcelized, however, coordination offers little opportunity to impact the overall landscape-scale structure. Greater economies of scale can also be gained by coordinating forest practices, including increases in the size (16–99%) and volume of timber sales (16–94%), and a modest economic advantage (3–6%). As first steps, investment in data infrastructure and professional training are required to support cross-boundary multi-ownership forest management. More broadly is the need to shift from policies and practices that are largely ownership-centric to those that include and better incorporate landscape-centric perspectives.     

The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana,Milan and London

Urban gardening is not a new phenomenon but it has received considerably more practical and academic interest in recent years. Studies on economic aspects such as crop yields, inputs and outputs of production, productivity, gross margins and the contribution to home economics are rare, especially in Europe. While urban gardening plays an important role in the Global South, its role in Western Europe for food productivity and home economics is currently under-researched. The aim of this study is to analyse European urban gardeners’ economic performance and self-sufficiency on a household level, as well as to reach a better understanding of their contribution to food self-provision and food security in the metropolitan areas. In a study carried out in 2014 with on-site personal and with online questionnaires participated 180 urban gardeners from three case study cities (Ljubljana, Milan, and London). Results from the economic analysis showed that although for most urban gardeners, profit is not their main motivation, the economic calculation shows that productivity in small urban plots can be comparable to market garden production. Urban gardeners are saving money, especially when, compared to retail prices for regular produce or organic produce, their input is included in the gross margin calculation. We conclude that, in the case-study cities, the self-provisional potential of urban gardeners’ households to adequately cover the annual vegetable need of five-a-day servings can be met under three conditions: (1) sufficient garden size; (2) increased area productivity, and (3) sufficient labour-hour inputs.