The role of urban agriculture in sustainable urban development, creation of social bonds and community formation

2022-4-18
Erişen, Yağmur
With the ever-increasing urbanization, sustainable urban development has gained more importance. Actions to achieve sustainable urban development have been discussed from many perspectives. One of the prescribed actions for successful sustainable development is the sustainable communities according to the specific urban context, responding to the wants, needs and the culture of its community. With the COVID-19, people in cities realized the importance of green spaces and the critical need for socialization. Thus, urban agricultural landscapes fulfill these needs by functioning as socially productive spaces. Yet these areas were, in past practices, used for their economic benefits, such as food production and safety. To better understand the contributions of social outputs of urban agricultural areas to sustainable urban development, this study aims to investigate four community gardens in Ankara. It examines how these gardens contribute to sustainable urban development by creating social bonds in community formation. This research employs a multiple case study approach, since each locality and neighborhood has its own specific context and features. Besides the spatial analyses, direct observation and archival studies, interviews were conducted with the users and managers and/or educators of the four selected community gardens in Ankara. NVivo coding schemes were created to assess the aspects of each community garden, their urban design strategies and social outputs. This research reveals that inclusive design, management and use, community interactions, voluntary involvement and spatial accessibility of these gardens play critical roles in social bond formation in sustainable communities.

Suggestions

Adopting sustainability assessment criteria to guide urban regeneraton projects: two case studies in Ankara
Seyhan, Zeynep.; Elias Özkan, Soofia Tahira; Department of Architecture (2019)
Increasing awareness of climate change, loss of biodiversity and increase in environmental pollution due to the current trends of consumption in the urban areas have brought about a myriad of schemas to guide environmentally friendly urban developments. These schemes or Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSA Tools) provide a convenient way to establish healthier and sustainable cities. Meanwhile, Turkey is going through a rapid urban transformation process that is being questioned with respect to...
Challenges and conflicts in achieving sustainable communities in historic neighbourhoods of Istanbul
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge (2011-04-01)
Although urban regeneration has been widely seen as a panacea to resolve the multi-faceted problems of cities over the last two decades, a broad section of literature suggests the need for questioning the impacts of urban regeneration projects as an integral part of neo-liberal policies. In the context of Turkey, by focusing on Istanbul, this article aims to investigate the success of the regeneration initiatives in achieving sustainable communities in deprived historic housing neighbourhoods. After definin...
Evaluation of Walkability and Pedestrian Level of Service
Tüydeş Yaman, Hediye (2018-01-01)
Due to decreasing resources, living in urban regions focus on sustainability in many aspects, including transportation. Sustainable transportation encourages non-motorized modes of walking and cycling as well as public transit (which also relies on walking while accessing a station), as well. However, walking as a mode is still a big mystery itself that needs further attention and research effort especially in the evaluation part. So far, the planners have discussed the concepts of walking and walkability, ...
Evaluation of Walkability and Pedestrian Level of Service
Tüydeş Yaman, Hediye (2017-01-01)
Due to decreasing resources, living in urban regions focus on sustainability in many aspects, including transportation. Sustainable transportation encourages non-motorized modes of walking and cycling as well as public transit (which also relies on walking while accessing a station), as well. However, walking as a mode is still a big mystery itself that needs further attention and research effort especially in the evaluation part. So far, the planners have discussed the concepts of walking and walkability, ...
Searching for a Balance Between Community Needs and Conservation Policies in Historic Neighbourhoods of Istanbul
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge (2010-01-01)
Despite the recent rising interest in sustainability and community-related issues among urban regeneration policy-makers, it is still questionable how far the recent regeneration efforts in historic housing areas achieve a balance between the community needs and conservation policies. To answer this question, this article explores the interplay between conservation, community needs and sustainability in the context of Turkey, focusing on Istanbul. It premises on the assumption that finding the balance betwe...
Citation Formats
Y. Erişen, “The role of urban agriculture in sustainable urban development, creation of social bonds and community formation,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.