Urban Agriculture: What About Domestic Gardens?

Abstract

In this contribution, domestic gardens are presented as an underrated category of land use. They are ancient expressions of urban agriculture. Food production in domestic gardens is the oldest of multiple lines of cultural evolution throughout time, next to amenity and formal display. In recent decades, many if not most domestic gardens have largely lost their role in food production. However, seen in contemporary perspective, domestic gardens cover substantial parts of urban and periurban spaces, and carry large potential for many cultural and ecosystem services. As media of expression, experimentation, and creativity at an individual or household scale, domestic gardens engender strong sympathies for urban agriculture, and for agriculture in general. They deserve to be reconsidered as additional substrates and buffers for food production in the urban, periurban, and residential context.