Urban Agriculture, Cui Prodest? Seattle’s Picardo Farm as Seen by Its Gardeners

Abstract

The urban green network provides various ecosystem services that are crucial assets in determining cities’ sustainability. Urban agriculture is a type of urban green space that is experiencing a growing interest among Institutions and researchers. This paper analyses its benefits, as perceived by the urban gardeners, using an open-questions survey. The case study is a community garden in Seattle, called Picardo farm. The results show how the citizens involved in community gardens are aware of a variety of values linked with the urban agriculture, that provides outdoor activities, food production, connection with nature, wellbeing, education, and positive social interactions. A significative strength of the community gardens regards the ability to build site-specific cohesive communities, guaranteeing constant stewardship of the place where they are located. Finally, the results show that urban agriculture is a complementary form of urban green space provision with distinctive values of respect to other urban green spaces.