Intersections between public and private: community gardens, community service and geographies of care in the US City of Buffalo, NY

Abstract

Abstract. This paper discusses issues of public space, citizenship, gender, and race in the light of public relocation of responsibility for social services and care to private communities due to the elimination, privatization or devolvement of such services by state restructuring and welfare reform. The presented case studies are taken from a larger study of community gardens in Buffalo, NY. This mixed methods study found connections between community organizations' commitment to community gardening and their involvement in the provision of social, youth, and emergency services, including after school programs, tutoring, refugee services, and winter coat drives. The paper concludes that the everyday lives of Buffalo’s residents within the social, political and economic conditions cannot be separated from the effects of larger structural processes, such as deindustrialization, privatization, and state restructuring.