The countryside in the city? Rural-urban dynamics in allotment gardens in Brno, Czech Republic

Sovová, Lucie; Krylová, Radoslava

doi:10.2478/mgr-2019-0009

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…This is a process similar to that in other European countries [1][2][3]9,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. So far, allotment gardens in the Tri-City have been moved from their previous locations to new, less prestigious ones, as was the case in other countries [2,17,18,24,25]. Despite this, the analyzed allotments were left, the aesthetics of which are taken care of by the managers, so as to limit the number of conflicts generated by them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Similar issues were discussed in the articles concerning Prague [24] and Brno [25]. In the former, the authors remind the reader that the allotment gardens were created based on the political and ecological process of urbanization of nature, dictated by the communist authorities in 1948-1989, and later by neo-liberal governments.…”

Section: Review Of Research On Allotment Gardensmentioning

confidence: 87%

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Changes in the Function of Allotment Gardens in an Attractive Location Based on the Example of Tri-City in Poland

Moskalonek

Połom

Puzdrakiewicz

2020

Land

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Allotment gardens are quite common in many European countries. In particular, they are an important part of the urban space in Central and Eastern Europe. They served to improve the inhabitants’ physical and mental well-being during the communist period and relieved the family budget thanks to their own crops. The article analyzes the functioning of allotment gardens in Poland based on the example of the Tri-City, with particular emphasis on allotment gardens in a prestigious, attractive location. Several research questions were asked regarding the change of the traditional function related to growing fruit and vegetables towards the modern function related to recreation and relaxation. A thesis was put forward that the attractive, seaside location of one of the allotment gardens on the border of Gdańsk and Sopot favors the dynamics of the changes in the function. New garden houses often resemble residential apartments in terms of comfort and function and are used for commercial rent during the summer, even though this is prohibited. In the study, the methods of a field query as well as a questionnaire survey and an in-depth interview were applied to check the state of the allotment holders’ knowledge on the applicable regulations regarding the functions of allotment gardens and their development, the size of garden houses and the rules of staying in the gardens, in particular living there. The questionnaire research and in-depth interviews were conducted at the beginning of 2020. The questionnaire research was conducted in February and March, and the in-depth interviews in May. The most pressing issues concerned the changing functions of allotment gardens and the perception of these changes by allotment owners who have gardens in a traditional form of cultivation. This study also allowed looking at possible neighborhood conflicts that may arise from a change in the function, in particular from the construction of houses with residential facilities, which encourages permanent residence in them, and sometimes subletting to tourists due to their attractive coastal location. The study helped to deepen the knowledge on the functioning of allotment gardens and transforming their functions into residential ones during the summer season. The obtained results show that nearly 60% of the surveyed respondents believe that seasonal occupation of allotment gardens should be allowed if their owners wish to do so. Most of the respondents encountered the problem of abnormal buildings and believe that the regulations in this respect should be followed. At the same time, they do not think that it is causing any problems for them. Conducting in-depth interviews, the information was obtained that the change of functions does not affect the existing, traditional users, and they mostly accept the changes taking place.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Review Of Research On Allotment Gardensmentioning

confidence: 87%

Changes in the Function of Allotment Gardens in an Attractive Location Based on the Example of Tri-City in Poland

Moskalonek

Połom

Puzdrakiewicz

2020

Land

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“…Regarding the special benefited groups, only 16 articles [27,28,31,33,34,36,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] have recorded such specific benefited groups from particular urban agriculture practices, which include older adults, migrants, low-income people, disabled people, people with mental disorders, school children, cancer patients, and women (Table S1). However, the Health and emotional benefits were recorded more than twice as much in developed countries [17,26,27,36,[38][39][40]46,47,49,50,52,53,[56][57][58][59][60][61] compared to developing countries [29,59,[62][63][64][65][66] (Table 2). The top three health and emotional sub-categories recorded in developed countries are food nutrition and quality, connection with nature, physical activity, and mental relaxation.…”

Section: Special Benefited Groups Land Ownership and Government Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Urban Agriculture and Its Opportunities and Challenges—A Global Review

2021

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Multifunctionality of urban agriculture can support the resolve of many urban challenges. Therefore, it is vital to understand the contribution of academic studies on urban agriculture practices as scientific information. The present study followed a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA method. Finally, 54 identified articles were analyzed. The review study mainly examined the contribution of academic literature on urban agriculture under four dimensions: the socio-economic context of the country, type of agriculture model, opportunities, and challenges. The results revealed the focus of academic literature on urban agriculture to show favoritism toward developed countries’ community gardens. Moreover, the leading academic focus on this discipline identifies multifunctionality. People’s motivations in developed countries tend to favor social, health-related, and educational benefits of urban agriculture; however, in developing countries, urban agriculture is more related to economic and ecological needs. Challenges for urban agriculture are also different among developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, existing academic studies have given comparatively less attention to identifying challenges, benefit groups of urban agriculture, and government support. Since urban agriculture is highly reliant on local factors, studying more about opportunities and challenges for urban agriculture under different socio-economic contexts and different agriculture models could be more beneficial to connect farming practices in cities with urban planning. Therefore, to make an adequate academic contribution to urban sustainability, future urban agriculture studies need to be more holistic.

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“…This type of organized urban gardening has been declining since 1989, both in terms of land area and the number of allotment members Spilková and Vágner, 2016). During my field research conducted in allotments in Brno, several gardeners expressed the opinion that social cohesion was stronger during socialist times, whereas nowadays gardens are used in a more individualized manner, and common activities are less frequent (Sovová and Krylová, 2019). A representative survey from 2015 (unpublished) revealed that some Czechs currently feel less involved in informal food economies compared to 10 years ago (questions focused on topics such as FSP, self-help repairs and housework and receiving and giving help).…”

Section: Rethinking Food Self-provisioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…16 I am aware that the association of food production with the countryside is based on the modernist conceptualization of the city and the countryside, which does not necessarily capture current realities in many places of the world. In other words, one should be careful in assuming that rural dwellers are by default more connected with their food system (seeSovová and Krylová, 2019, for a discussion of this issue).…”

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confidence: 99%

Grow, share or buy? Understanding the diverse economies of urban gardeners

Sovová¹

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1 1.1 The search for a 'different' food system 4 1. 1. 1 AFNs as a response to the problems of the conventional food system 4 1.1.2 What is mainstream, alternative and ethical? The problem of reflexivity and normativity 5 8.4 Turning the garden into a food source: How does FSP work? 8.5 Seasonality 8.6 Reflections on practice theory 8.7 Reflections on the diverse economies framework 160 Conclusion: Ordinary practices, extraordinary economies References 169 Summary Shrnutí 183 Samenvatting Appendix 1: Interview guide used for the first round of interviews 191 Acknowledgements About the author 196 8 9 2 My own MSc thesis dealt with urban allotments as spaces of alternative food production (Sovová, 2015). Other master's theses were written on community gardens (Malá, 2015), the importance of gardens in the life of elderly women (Plošková, 2015), a conflict over the elimination of urban allotments in Brno (Hošková, 2011), and the use of agrochemicals in hobby gardens (Hrazdírová, 2010), to name just a few. 3 I understand an allotment garden as a piece of land divided into plots which are tended by individual gardeners. In comparison, a community garden is a plot cultivated jointly by a group of people. Both allotment gardens and community gardens can be categorized as types of urban gardening, together with home gardens in the city, guerrilla gardening and other forms of non-commercial food growing in urban settlements. Urban agriculture is a broader term that covers both private and commercial food production practised in cities. 4 Professional farmers were excluded from the sample.

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The countryside in the city? Rural-urban dynamics in allotment gardens in Brno, Czech Republic

Cited by 20 publications

References 44 publications

Changes in the Function of Allotment Gardens in an Attractive Location Based on the Example of Tri-City in Poland

Changes in the Function of Allotment Gardens in an Attractive Location Based on the Example of Tri-City in Poland

Promoting Urban Agriculture and Its Opportunities and Challenges—A Global Review

Grow, share or buy? Understanding the diverse economies of urban gardeners

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