The trouble with temporary : impacts and pitfalls of a meanwhile community garden in Wythenshawe, South Manchester

St Clair, R; Hardman, M; Armitage, RP; Sherriff, GA

Abstract

The rise of Urban Agriculture projects across the UK has led to a surge of interest in
their efficacy and resulting social impacts. Real Food Wythenshawe is a Lottery-funded
urban food project in the UK that aims to teach the population of Wythenshawe to grow
their own food and to cook from scratch. The area, popularly referred to as 'Europe's
largest council estate', suffers from high levels of deprivation and has been described
as a 'food desert' due to a perceived lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables (Small
World Consulting, 2013). In order to encourage Wythenshawe residents to grow their
own food and to increase access to fresh fruit and vegetables, Real Food
Wythenshawe aims to transform unused areas of land into growing spaces, such as
allotments and community gardens.
This paper focuses on research conducted at a community garden in Wythenshawe,
established by Real Food Wythenshawe as an example of a 'meanwhile' or temporary
growing site for people affected by cancer. The research investigated the impact of the
growing activities on community garden participants through a series of observations
and interviews. The findings suggest that the benefits of the space were multiple and
diverse, ranging from increased growing knowledge to therapeutic effects, whilst there
has been minimal effect on participants' dietary behaviour. The organisation of the
community garden also raises questions over some of the practicalities of temporary
urban growing sites and highlights the tensions that can arise between small
community growing groups and larger institutions with control over land use. These
findings add to a growing body of research that considers the value of growing in the
city and reflects on the role of community gardening in deprived urban areas of the UK.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 25, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 6, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 6, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 14, 2017
• Journal: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
• Print ISSN: 1742-1705
• Electronic ISSN: 1742-1713
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 548-557
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170517000291
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170517000291
• Related Public URLs: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renewable-agriculture-and-food-systems
• Additional Information: Projects : Evaluating the Value of Urban Agriculture