Understanding Transience and Participation in University Student-Led Food Gardens

Pedersen, Rebecca Laycock; Robinson, Zoë; Surman, Emma

doi:10.3390/su11102788

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This said, support from higher levels of governance for smaller scale activities can provide stability for bottom-up activities. This is especially true for activities led by students, as they are so transient (Laycock Pedersen et al, 2019). Higher-level support can also help to scale successful initiatives trialled at a smaller scale.…”

Section: Diversity Of Scales Of Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

Robinson¹,

Pedersen²

2021

Front. Sustain.

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Universities have an important role in moving society towards a more sustainable future. However, this will require us to repurpose universities, reorienting and refocusing the different university domains (education, research, campus, and outreach) towards sustainability. The governance structures and processes used to embed sustainability into the activities and operations of the institution are critical to achieving the required transformation. Our current university systems which are seen as contributing to socio-ecological system unsustainability are resilient to change due to slow variables such as organisational and sector-wide prevailing paradigms and culture. Therefore, to repurpose a university requires us to destabilise our prevailing system, crossing a threshold into a new stable system of a ‘sustainable university' across all its domains. This paper utilises an adaptation of Biggs et al. (2012) resilience principles for the governance of social-ecological systems to provide a framework to consider aspects of university governance for sustainability that can be utilised to repurpose universities towards sustainability, and destabilize unsustainable elements of the system. This paper draws out examples relating to sustainability governance within universities with regards to the four principles of (i) managing diversity and redundancy, (ii) managing connectivity, (iii) managing slow variables and feedbacks, and (iv) encouraging learning and experimentation within the context of complex adaptive systems. In this article, we have shown that using resilience in a non-normative way is possible (to decrease resilience of an unsustainable system), and that it can also be valuable to help understand how to shift organisational governance towards a particular end-state (in this case, university governance that advances sustainability). This paper provides an example of how to operationalise resilience principles of relevance to the resilience literature as well as providing a practical framework to guide higher education institution governance for sustainability.

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Section: Diversity Of Scales Of Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

Robinson¹,

Pedersen²

2021

Front. Sustain.

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“…Community garden-based research demonstrates positive impacts of community gardens on physical, mental and cognitive health. Benefits are attributed to the core garden constituents of fresh air, social interaction, healthy food, reduced stress and physical exercise [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Closely associated are benefits owing to nature’s ability to facilitate recovery from mental fatigue [ 24 ], reduce risk of psychological distress and build healthier cortisol profiles [ 25 ].…”

Section: The Role and Function Of Campus Community Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Community gardens regularly accommodate sustainability practices, such as composting and recycling waste, and have been referred to, eloquently, as sites of embodied sustainability [ 44 ]. They contribute to sustainable ecological and urban development, generating multiple environmental benefits [ 45 , 46 ] including pro-sustainability attitudes [ 21 ] and sustainable food systems—in keeping with the ‘Slow City’ agenda [ 47 ]. Australian and US community gardens and UK allotments are regularly established in communities of low socio-economic status, and often on parcels of ‘waste’ land that are reclaimed for food production.…”

Section: The Role and Function Of Campus Community Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CCGs can fail when design is inadequate, people are not engaged and university management is not committed (financially and otherwise) to their success [ 14 ]. Other barriers include when student turnover is high, there is a lack of guidance and limited financial resourcing [ 5 ] and an overreliance on volunteerism from a transient student community [ 21 ]. Universities aspire to be connected with the communities in which they are located, to be ‘outward looking’ [ 52 ] and leaders in sustainability [ 2 ].…”

Section: The Role and Function Of Campus Community Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trust, Connection and Equity: Can Understanding Context Help to Establish Successful Campus Community Gardens?

Marsh

Mallick

Flies

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Campus community gardens (CCGs) can potentially improve student health and wellbeing, mitigate social and ecological problems, and nurture university-community relationships. However, CCGs are located in complex socio-political and ecological settings and many community gardens struggle or fail. However, few studies have assessed the socio-political/ecological context of a garden setting prior to its development to understand the potential barriers and enablers of success. Our study assessed the socio-spatial context of a proposed CCG at a student university accommodation site. We engaged diverse university and community stakeholders through interviews, focus groups and a survey to explore their perceptions of the space generally and the proposed garden specifically. Visual observations and public life surveying were used to determine patterns of behavior. Results confirmed known problems associated with an underutilized site that provides little opportunity for lingering or contact with nature; and unknown barriers, including socially disconnected stakeholders and community distrust of the university. The research also uncovered positive enablers, such as stakeholder appreciation of the social, wellbeing and ecological benefits that a CCG could deliver. Our findings suggest that an in-depth exploration of a proposed garden context can be an important enabler of its success.

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“…Different working practices can also lead to frustrations from different stakeholders. Students and staff work on different timescales and as such have different conceptualisations of time which can affect their relationships (Laycock Pedersen et al, 2019). Students are often frustrated at the seemingly slow rate of progress from University operations, and University staff frustrated by what is seen as unreliable communication and Student-led projectsa case study response to emails from students, who may not use email as their main form of communication.…”

Section: Communication and Early Planningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of university, students and students’ union partnerships in student-led projects

Briggs

Robinson

Hadley³

et al. 2019

IJSHE

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Purpose This paper aims to explore a single-institution case study of partnership working between students, the University and Students’ Union, through four student-led sustainability projects. The paper analyses the role and value of these partnerships and provides advice for other institutions on effective partnership working between these stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach A single case study of partnership working with multiple embedded units of analysis (four projects) is presented based on reflections of practitioners involved in the projects who have different roles within the University and Students’ Union. Findings The longevity and effectiveness of student-led projects, and disciplinary-breadth of students engaged, can be enhanced by greater collaboration with, and integration into, University and Students’ Union systems. Partnership working between different stakeholders is key to overcoming challenges and the success of student-led projects, helped by key staff “enablers”. These projects provide myriad learning opportunities for developing change agency skills, even where projects are relatively short-lived and could be seen as failures in terms of longevity. Research limitations/implications This analysis is based solely on practitioner reflections, with limited direct quantification or qualitative data on the projects’ impacts on the students themselves. Originality/value This paper draws together the experiences and reflections of four practitioners with different roles within the University and Students’ Union across four different projects and provides advice to generate student-led sustainability projects which have longevity and impact for wider student populations and future generations of cohorts.

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Understanding Transience and Participation in University Student-Led Food Gardens

Cited by 6 publications

References 44 publications

How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

Trust, Connection and Equity: Can Understanding Context Help to Establish Successful Campus Community Gardens?

The importance of university, students and students’ union partnerships in student-led projects

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