Urban gardening as a means for fostering embodied urban human–food connection? A case study on urban vegetable gardens in Germany

Abstract

Urbanization is increasingly compromising residents’ connection to natural habitats and landscapes. With established relationships between human–nature connection (HNC) and pro-environmental behaviour and human well being, there are calls for effective interventions to strengthen HNC in urban settings. However, much of this research has operationalised HNC in narrow psychological terms. Based on an embodied framework of urban human–food connection (HFC) as a specific dimension of HNC, this article explores the role of active urban gardening in promoting different types of internal and external HFC and their link with pro-environmental food behaviour (PEFB). Based on a quantitative survey in Germany addressing vegetable gardeners in Munich (N = 254), a principal component analysis extracted four components of HFC comprising external body-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-body activities: food harvesting and experiential food interaction) and internal mind-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-mind activities including food discovery as well as food consciousness). These were found to be statistically related to one another. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that food consciousness through concerns on food consumption and environmental impacts as well as food as part of life attitude as an internal HFC is the sole predictor of PEFB. The study suggests an embodied HFC model emphasizing the need for local body- and mind-based nature connections for fostering earth stewardship. Future research should explore the relationship between inner dimensions of nature connectedness and external behavioural change to enable transformations towards sustainability.

Biophilic Experience in High-Rise Residential Areas in China: Factor Structure and Validity of a Scale

“…Frequent visits to green space, water, and other landscapes by walking, running, and cycling [46]; physical exercise [47,48] Interactions with natural environment Natural environment for sitting, touching, and playing with [49]; urban gardening accompanied by nature observation, leisure, physical exercise, social interaction, and knowledge acquisition [50]; community gardening activities [37,51] The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective tool in the form of a scale for evaluating the biophilic spatial environment in high-rise residential areas. Specifically, there are two objectives: (a) to identify biophilic design features that enhance residents' NC in the spatial environment and (b) to examine the reliability and validity of the scale and analyze its structure.…”

Fences, seeds and bees: The more-than-human politics of community gardening in Rotterdam

“…Urban community gardens, like the Gandhi-garden in Rotterdam, are great settings to empirically study more-than-human politics because they expresses specific embodied politics of human–food relations (Artmann et al, 2021), and agro-biological practices and public concerns since ‘every plant is political’ (Tracey, 2007). More-than-human associations are made and remade through urban gardening (Certomà, 2011) in relation to broader environmental, climate and economic concerns (Certomà and Tornaghi, 2015; Tornaghi and Certomà, 2019).…”

"You are what you eat": Plant-Human Relations in Home Gardens

“…Correspondingly, Degnen (2009, 151) argues that traditional scholarship has positioned humankind and nature as separate, and regarded social relations "between the realms of humanity and nature" as impossible. However, these divisions distort intricate human-nature networks and disregard the fact that humans are materially and mentally integrated into the biosphere, simultaneously shaping it and relying on it for life (Artmann et al 2021). Scholars have repeatedly posited that beyond-human interactions need to be taken seriously if we are to flourish not only as a human race but as part of the complex interwoven spiderweb of human and beyond-human networks that make up our systems (Heitlinger et al, 2021;Artmann et al, 2021).…”