A Green Oasis: What Makes Community Gardens Worth Saving? While Researchers Amass Evidence of Benefits, Advocates Develop New Strategy to Prove Their Value.

Author

Joel Wolfram, Cuny Graduate School of JournalismFollow

Graduation Date

Fall 12-16-2016

Grading Professor

Keith Kloor

Subject Concentration

Health & Science

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

Green Valley Community Garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn, is one of about a dozen gardens on land owned by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development that are being uprooted by plans to build affordable housing. The gardeners are fighting back to prevent the garden’s destruction, saying that the food-producing green space is a source of healthy eating in a community with high rates of health problems, like diabetes and obesity. Researchers are attempting to tease out the public health benefits of community gardens as one metric of their value, but the science is still catching up with the claims of urban gardening gospel. Meanwhile, the New York City Community Garden Coalition is rolling out a project that bills community gardens as green infrastructure that can help the city manage stormwater and alleviate the problem of sewer overflows during heavy rains. It hopes that the millions of gallons of stormwater the project estimates participating gardens will divert from sewers will demonstrate to the city that the green oases play a vital role in its future, encouraging it to preserve more gardens for years to come. Link to story: https://joelwolfram.atavist.com/a-green-oasis

Audio or Video Files

Recommended Citation

Wolfram, Joel, "A Green Oasis: What Makes Community Gardens Worth Saving? While Researchers Amass Evidence of Benefits, Advocates Develop New Strategy to Prove Their Value." (2016). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/149