Research-informed gardening activism: steering the public food and land agenda

Abstract

Drawing on the authors' personal experience in the Edible Public Space project (Leeds, UK), this paper explores the 'spheres of influence' and contradictions that shaped the project's trajectory. We identify and analyse the dynamics and contradictions at play in the formation of an urban gardening group grown out of a coming together of scholarly and committed action ambitions and aim to capture learning elements for scholarly activism, political gardening and radical urbanism. We explore the action research intervention with a focus on the role of spatial interventions in fostering social innovation in the public food and land agenda. We structure our discussion in a threefold conceptual framework: (i) a discussion on shifting planning arenas and their understanding in social innovation; (ii) an overview of the role of political gardening practices, in particular of food commons/food sovereignty initiatives, in envisioning and implementing alternative urbanism; and (iii) a discussion on the action research nexus, through a thick case study description in which we also unpack our own engagement and positionality. Doing so, we aim to contribute to the creation of an active memory of political gardening. The paper will speak in particular to a rising number of researcher-gardeners-environmentalists, and aims to problematise the links between research-informed strategic thinking and actions, and the vocation of critical urban theory to provide and make visible alternatives for social change.

Growing Online: Activist Identities in the “Grow Your Own” English Blogging Community

“…They also construct themselves as relative experts who provide guidance in these areas to others, inviting them into the fold of GYO. The acts of GYO and of blogging about it can be seen as creative production or productive leisure (De Solier 2013) as both are important aspects of use of leisure time in a society which has been disconnected from the domestic growing of food (Tornaghi and Van Dyck 2014). Rewards appear to be reaped at the physical level and experienced through the senses, including pride in one's accomplishments and a connection to earth and the environment, as evidenced through the three main topics identified in the study: environment, economy and food & health.…”

“…One of the key ideas underpinning this study is that food is a critical resource through which activism is materialized and around which activist practices can be mobilized. There is a growing body of research on food activism, largely through the lens of community-based food production and ethical consumerism (Adams et al 2015;Certoma and Tornaghi 2015;De Hoop and Jehlicka 2017;Larder et al 2014;McClintock 2014;Thompson 2012;Tornaghi and Van Dyck 2014), and a more recent strand of research looking specifically at digital food activism (Eli et al 2016;Lewis 2018;Schneider et al 2018). However, little attention, if any at all, has been given to the ways through which these activists emerge linguistically as drivers of social change and negotiate an identity that brings them close to: other digital communities that strive to impact the way our capitalist world is run (see Svensson et al 2015 -for examples of other digital activist communities); and those who construct their lifestyle discursively through food-related texts (e.g.…”

Scholar-activist perspectives on radical food geography: collaborating through food justice and food sovereignty praxis

“…For example, Sbicca (2016) utilizes the concept of restorative justice in examining cross-movement collaborations that create integrative solutions to structural inequities for those leaving the prison system. In another example, Tornaghi and Van Dyck (2015) reflect on their experiences of political gardening in the UK that pursues a radical urbanism grounded in solidarity, rebuilding the commons, and rethinking human–environment relationships.…”

Shoots and leaves: exploring the impacts and fragile sustainability of sustainable place-making projects working with marginalised people

“…There were challenges and ethical dilemmas in the field especially in trying to be constructive and avoid emotional attachment, while providing support (Tornaghi and Van Dyck, 2015). For instance, there were tensions towards the end of the funding period when staff and participants were concerned about what would happen to them and the project activities without access to further funding.…”