Neighborhood Composition and Community Garden Locations: The Effect of Ethnicity, Income, and Education

Abstract

Community gardens provide food, health, and sustainability benefits to surrounding communities. Research demonstrates that low-income or ethnic minority communities develop gardens to resist divestment and provide access to healthy food, whereas white or highly educated communities develop gardens to address local sustainability concerns. Missing from this discussion is a comprehensive picture of the relationship between neighborhood composition and community garden locations. Using GrowNYC and GreenThumb’s 2014 survey of New York City community gardens, this study employs negative binomial and spatial regression methods to examine this relationship. Findings reveal increased numbers of gardens in communities with higher aggregate concentrations of (1) black and/or Latino residents, (2) lower income residents, and (3) well-educated residents, regardless of ethnicity or income. In keeping with qualitative research on motivations for garden development, this study provides crucial quantitative metrics suggesting the diversity of neighborhoods with community gardens and supports their inclusion in urban public policy and city planning.