The Urbanization of Nature in a (Post)Socialist Metropolis: An Urban Political Ecology of Allotment Gardening

Abstract

In this article we explore how nature becomes part of the city through the example of allotment gardening in the city of Prague, in the Czech Republic. Prague allotments were established based on an ongoing political‐ecological process of urbanization of nature that was locally driven by socialist (from 1948 to 1989) and later neoliberal governance. We employ a situated urban political ecology (UPE) approach to analyse changes in the planning of allotments and the impact thereof on the experience of gardeners. This double focus allows us to uncover the effects of neoliberalization on the processes of production of urban nature in respect of both policy and everyday practice. We contrast contemporary capitalist urbanization with its socialist predecessor by showing the immediate effects of the acceptance of neoliberal modes of governance on allotments, urban nature and the understanding of the city. We open allotments as a terrain for UPE to turn attention to the (uneven) production of urban nature in a post‐socialist context that has thus far been largely absent from the UPE literature. We demonstrate that post‐socialist urbanization is a fruitful terrain that offers new opportunities to unmask the effects of neoliberalization on the production of uneven urban space and thus improves our understanding of contemporary uneven urbanisms.

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

“…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.…”

“…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.…”

Valuing the Benefits and Enhancing Access: Community and Allotment Gardens in Urban Melbourne, Australia

“…Such a call sits alongside related movements, such as the Global Right to the City Network, which challenges exclusionary effects of neoliberal urbanisation, imploring the rights of citizens to access urban space and culture [58]. Advocating for an alternative framing to neoliberal urbanisation as a starting point, Gibas and Boumová [59] (p. 35) draw on historical aspirations within former Czechoslovakia of achieving an "harmonious environment and . .…”

How are allotment gardens managed? A comparative study of usage and development in contemporary urban space in Germany and Poland

“…Other studies also confirm this need to protect AGs in the urban space, e.g: planning protection (Poniży and Stachura 2017;Szkup and Pytel, 2016), legal protection (Calvet-Mir and March, 2019;Trembecka and Kwartnik-Pruc, 2018;Weirich, 2007) and historical and cultural protection (Acton, 2011). Studies by Lorbek and Martinsen (2015), Spilková and Vágner (2016), Gibas and Boumová (2020) also raise the issue of AGs protection in a situation of increasing urbanisation and investment pressure. Simon-Rojo et al (2016) indicate that following the collapse of the communist system in Central and Eastern Europe, the structures of allotment gardens changed dramatically, e.g.…”

“…(…) Appearance was a major point of criticism in some recent discussions about the future of Czech allotments (Sovová and Krylová, 2019, p. 113). Kožešník (2018) and Gibas and Boumová (2020) point out that allotments were described as "resembling slums" or "ulcers on the face of the city". No strong relationship was found between recreational and productive development and selected social characteristics of the allotment holder, This is probably due to the fact that (as noted during the field research) the way the plot is developed reflects the personality of the allotment holder and especially their motivations for having one (Maćkiewicz et al, 2021).…”