community gardening activities as a community creating tool and their meaning for the urban...

Community gardening activities as a community creating tool

and their meaning for the urban citizens-Study case: the Seoul forest community garden-

Muhammad. Zia MahriyarKim Gu Hoi

Advanced Urban Sociology

Graduate School of Urban StudiesHanyang University

2013

Contents

2

• Introduction• The community gardening as the solution for creating community in the city• The Seoul forest• Seoul forest community gardening activities• Evaluation• Conclusions• References

Introduction

3

“Yet commercial pressures and artificial attempts at mimicking urban life often transform public spaces into theme park where symbols rather than experience” (Castells, 2002, pp.12)

“It should now be clear why the issue of social integration comes again at the forefront of urban sociology. Indeed, it is the very existence of cities as communication artifacts that is called into question” (Castells, 2002, pp.14)

Introduction (2)

4

There are several concepts that can be implanted to enhance the cities as communication tools

In the smaller scale, the community garden can be said as one of the concept which over environmental and social values

Can the urban gardening play their role effectively as a community creating tool? What are the meanings of community gardening for people?

5

Interviews and questionnaires

Descriptive-qualitative

Comparative assessment

The research flowchart

The community gardening as the solution for creat-ing community in the city

6

“The deepest problems of modern life according to Georg Simmel (1903, pp.11) flow from the attempt of the individuality of his existence against the sovereign power of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life”

The lack of sense of community in urban life requires communication between each stakeholder in order to be solved

David Harvey (2008, pp.40) said that “one step towards unifying these (city) struggles is to adopt the right to the city as both working slogan and political ideal”

One of the countermeasure concept that has been popular nowadays includes community gardening concept


7

The community garden has been known with different names throughout the history:

Ancient Egypt where the community waste were used for urban farming In the 19th century, allotment garden was popular in Germany

During the World War I and II, victory garden concept was developed in US, Canada, and UK

The community gardening activities in most communities are open to the public and provide space for citizens to cultivate plants for food or recreation

One of the well-established examples of community garden is Seattle’s P-Patch program (Hou, 2013)


8

The community garden in Seattle has been started since 1970s by Picardo P- Patch in Seattle

It has been important feature of community-based place-making in recent decades

Gardening provides locally grown food, reduces dependency on imports, supports community building, promotes active living, and empowers marginalized communities

To support the development of community gardens, the city of Seattle establish the P-patch program in 1973. Since then, about 80 sites have been created around the city and more are being added (Hou, 2013, pp.75)

This community gardening activity has been implemented in various urban areas around the world nowadays

9

The Seoul Forest

The location of Seoul Forest community garden is near by Arisu Water Purification Center. The community garden area is 773.63 ㎡ or 0.06% from the total site area.

Seoul Forest community garden accept about 40~50 applicants.

10

The Seoul Forest- History-

Seoul Forest had been a royal hunting ground since the reign of King Taejo of the Joseon Dynasty.

Ttukseom is also well-known as the place that accom-modated the first water purification plant of Korea.

The Seongsu-dong area, of which Ttukseom was a part, was developed into an industrial zone in the 1950s, and the Seoul Horse Race Park was established in Ttukseom.

11

The Seoul Forest-Social, Urban, Environment context-

Seoul Forest provides Seoul citizens with a valuable arena for various daily cultural activities, from simple rest and leisure to more sophisticated art events, through which people of all ages and backgrounds can mix together and enjoy refreshing cultural experiences.

Seoul Forest is regarded as a life space that helps Seoul to revive its natural vitality, and as a strategic point link-ing all of the city’s forests.

The construction of Seoul Forest was guided principally by environment-friendly practices aimed at creating a forest that breathes with nature.

Seoul forest community gardening activities- Actor and institutional context-

12

The Seoul forest love community is run by 6 active members There are 10 people join the community gardening activities individually or with

their family, and 40 people join from companies or other social groups

Source: the interview and questionnaire results, 2013

Seoul forest community gardening activities- Importance-

13

(Participants’ perspective)The Seoul forest community gardening offers:

Mental health•Opportunity to connect each other

Natural envi-ronment•Feel healthier•Grow their own natu-ral foods

Economic bene-fit•Not so high, but you can get priceless mental consciousness and be closer to na-ture


Seoul forest community gardening activities- Importance (2)-

14

(Participants’ perspective)

• Based on the questionnaire answers, people see the main function of urban gardening as ecological and social It indicates that there is a changing of activities orientation

• The volunteer said that they want to continue to do the activity

• Strong social cohesion

• Enhance sense of community


Seoul forest community gardening activities- Importance (3)-

15

(Organization and government perspective)

• The Seoul forest community gardening is also born from the main goal “the improvement of communities”

• The importance of this activity for Seoul forest love community , Seoul green trust, and Seoul city government is the creation of community which then uses this community gardening activity as the catalyst to achieve this goal


Seoul forest community gardening activities- Local impact-

16


Mental HealingHealing

Focus

Community ValuesCare

Citizens will be ableto feel the same way

Seoul forest community gardening activities- Conflict-

17


Seoul Forest community gar-den have no conflict in the join membership. Because the concept of urban gardening in Seoul Forest is to educate the member.

• Community gardening member aspect

• Management officer aspect

Actually the community garden is an informal program. The site of community garden owned by Arisu Water Purification Cen-

ter.

Seoul forest community gardening activities- The differences to other gardens-

18


Things that makes urban gardening in Seoul Forest different is educa-tional concept.

second thing is the variety of member. Because of management officer open the recruitment via internet so, not just Sungdong-gu people join but also all over the Seoul city.

19

Evaluation

The individuality of urban-life style and segregation between them (stakeholders) has become the importance issues

How the bond between people can be strengthened? Some development trends nowadays:

The destruction of traditional community development of exclusive apartment complexes sub-urbanization with low density

The iconic flagship projects which has been omnipresent as the government efforts to improve their city’s global image tend to have less value to the community because of their non-inclusivity

In short, what the urbanites need are the facilities or spaces that has meaning for them

Is it the case for the Seoul forest community gardening? What is the meaning of Seoul forest community gardening activities for people?

20

Evaluation- The Seoul forest community gardening as a community creating tool-

Activities bring together people which some of them did not know each other Gardening together, making kimchi, drinking and eating foods together was

mentioned to strengthen social cohesion These point has been emphasized as the difference to other types of gardening

The participants: Has joined for around 1 – 2 years Doing gardening 3-4 times a week to 2 times or more per months Gardening in the week-end and week-day afternoon<shows the sustainability> Feel proud to be addressed as the Seoul forest community gardeners<shows the existence of value of community> Come by walking to around 1 hour trip by car Some come with family, as individual, or as a group Mainly know the Seoul forest community gardening from internet<Participants come from different places and social characteristics. Yet the community gardening can unify the diversities and grow the sense of community>

21

Evaluation- The meaning of Seoul forest community gardening activities for people-

The natural environment and mental health are the main values <exclusion of economic value shows the change of main orientation>

The community garden: Is seen as the mental healing process, which give people chances to interact Is natural environment Offers mental and environmental consciousness as something that cannot be

bought with money

Has the community development effect to the city overall

<Seoul forest community gardening has the natural environment, mental health and community development meanings>

22

From all of the discussions, we come into conclusions that:

1. The community gardening activity creates the new community from the people that did not know each other at the first time. The togetherness and sharing between participants enhance the social cohesion and create the community values

2. The meaning of community garden to the people are the natural environment exposure, mental healing process, and community development

Conclusions

23

• Castells, M,. 2002. Urban sociology in the twenty-first century. Cidades- Cominidades e territorios. Dez. 2002, n. 5, pp. 9-19.

• Harvey, D., 2008. The right to the city. New left review 53. • Hou, J., 2013. Community ‘owned’ public space: Seattle’s alternatives to POPS. Sus-

tainable urban regeneration. Vol.25.• Kim, S, E., 2013. A comparative study on park marketing strategies by operating agen-

cies. Seoul national university.• Lee, H, A., 2008. The process of Seoul Forest park’s cultural establishment and the role

of civil organization. Chugye university for the arts.• Lee, J, Y., 2012. Determinants of demand for Seoul Forest Park. Sejong university.• Wirth, L., 1938. Urbanism as a way of life. The American journal of sociology. Vol.44.

The University of Chicago press. • Simmel, G., 1903. The metropolis and mental life. Die Großstadt und das Geistesleben• Seoul Forest Homepage. (http://parks.seoul.go.kr/) • Min, K, K., 2013. Urban agriculture booms in Seoul. the Hankyoreh.

References

24

Thank you

community gardening activities as a community creating tool and their meaning for the urban...

Education