One of my favorite gardens, the Liz Christy Garden, named in honor of the woman who launched the community garden movement. I love this garden for helping to make the intersection of Houston and Bowery a bit more human. Every time I have to cross the intersection with all the lanes of cars and the construction with Avalon Communities going on, I'm thankful that the garden is there.
Community gardens are one of the most illustrative transformations of blight and neglect into community asset. Throughout New York City, they're remarkable for the way they break up the monotony of buildings by offering beauty in the most unexpected places.
If that's not enough reason to support your local community garden, now there's a economic case for creating community gardens. There's a new study from NYU and available on the Social Science Research Network on the effect of community gardens and adjacent property values. The abstract can be found here (and there's a link to the full article).
A few conclusions: community gardens do have a significantly positive impact on property values within 1000 feet of the garden, and the impact increases over time. The gardens have the greatest impact in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Anyone who has helped start or worked on community gardens didn't need a study to tell them that. But now you have something to go to your local politicians with...
4.20.2006
Economic impact of community gardens
Posted by Shin-pei at 2:54 PM
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5 comments:
Shin-pei,
Interesting post. I'm kind of ambivalent about community gardens. I am totally in favor of any greenery in the city, as the beneficial effects of vegetation are enormous. But when I see community gardens, I get kind of depressed because they remind me of the decades of disinvestment when the buildings that formerly enlivened these neighborhoods were demolished. Plus I think building on those sites would help alleviate the housing shortage that low- and even middle-income people face. So I think instead of community gardens, I'd rather see a built environment with public-access green roofs on every new building.
Very valid - they are definitely a product of divestment, but also of community reclamation. Those lots could be opportunities for affordable housing - but in some neighborhoods, they are the only greenspace at street level, and in those areas, the dynamics that come from having a different community space - like a community garden - amid apartment buildings makes the sidewalk experience even more valuable. I'd definitely like to see some of those public-access roof gardens though - do you think the public will go up inside a building to use them?
Would people want to use them is one question. (Yes, I think so.) Would developers want to build them is another. Large-scale developer acceptance of public-access roof gardens is probably many years away. But I am optimistic about that. More and more developers are starting to understand the benefits and cost savings of green roofs, and that's the first element that needs to be put in place. A green roof is a different thing than a rooftop garden, to be sure, but I think that once green roofs become more accepted as a standard practice, publicly accessible rooftop gardens will be the next hurdle. Then again, maybe this whole thing is just a pipe dream.
As a gardener at Liz Christy I have to say that if the land was made into housing, it would not be for the poor. The housing that is being built is for the people who can pay $4,000+ a month for a one bedroom.
Community gardens are for everyone. We are truly democratic, rich, poor, and everyone are welcome at community gardens.
You reminded me of the importance of having a community-based space in a rapidly changing neighborhood such as LES, and especially Bowery/Houston. Thanks. Hope to meet you some day in the garden.
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