Allotment Site Research Articles

USING THE NDVI TO ANALYZE THE EFFICIENCYOF RECLAMATION WHEN ASSESSING THE CONDITION OF VEGETATION COVER ON DISTURBED LANDS

Land disturbance due to human economic activity can lead to serious deterioration of the vegetation cover or its destruction. Land reclamation is an important stage in their restoration. Assessment of the effectiveness of reclamation is based on an analysis of the state of the vegetation cover, and a key role in this process is played by the method of assessing vegetation using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).In the course of the work, a comparative analysis of field and remote methods for monitoring vegetation cover was carried out to identify their advantages and disadvantages. The simplest, most accurate and less expensive method has been determined – determining the quality of vegetation cover using satellite images of the Earth.A vegetation method for assessing vegetation cover to analyze the implementation of reclamation work is proposed. The process of carrying out reclamation work in the event of severe contamination of the soil surface lasts for years and continues until the fertile soil layer is completely restored to a state suitable for its use in accordance with its intended purpose and permitted use.The NDVI is the most applicable in studying the vegetative capacity of plants, since it is the most sensitive to the concentration of chlorophyll in plant leaf tissues. The index is formed through spectral satellite images, which absorbs electromagnetic waves in the red spectrum and reflects in the near-infrared. The result is a complete spectral analysis, with which you can identify areas that need reseeding or additional fertilization. The index is moderately sensitive to climate and soil changes and may become saturated in densely vegetated environments.A study of satellite images was carried out to determine the NDVI. As an example, the object of study was taken – a land allotment site for the construction of a high-pressure water pipeline, located on the territory of the Sharansky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Maps of the distribution of the NDVI were compiled before construction (2020) and during reclamation (2021–2022). An analysis of the obtained data was carried out, the results of which revealed the possibility of reducing the restoration period from 3 years (according to the existing scheme) to 1 year.

Moderate use of pesticides in allotment gardens as indicated by their residues in larval food provisions of Osmia solitary bees

Exposure to pesticides may jeopardize pollinators, but it has rarely been examined in urban landscapes. We used larval food provisions (mix of pollen and nectar) of mason bees (Osmia spp.) nested in artificial shelters as matrices to investigate the rate of pesticide pollution in twelve allotment sites in Prague and Brno cities. Seven commercial croplands (fruit orchards, oilseed rape fields) were selected for comparison. In total, 79 samples of larval provisions were analysed using a validated UPLC–MS/MS method for the presence of 262 pesticides and/or important metabolites. Fifty-six pesticide residues were detected in the allotments and 74 in cropland sites. Fifty pesticide compounds were common to both landscapes. Fewer residues were found in the allotments (14.3 ± 0.9, mean ± SE) than in croplands (21.5 ± 1.1, mean ± SE; df = 17.4; t = −2.9; p < 0.01), and they were present at low levels up to 16 ppb. In cropland sites, ten residues occurred at high individual concentrations (mean per site > 10 ppb). The highest levels were observed for the fungicide pyrimethanil (mean = 1,989 ppb, maximum = 3,983 ppb) and among insecticides for thiacloprid (mean = 136 ppb, maximum = 170 ppb). The results supported the presumption of a lower risk of pesticide exposure in urban gardens than in croplands. Given the limited knowledge on the sublethal effects of pesticides and especially pesticide mixtures on solitary bee development, the regulation or control of pesticide use in allotment gardens is recommended.

(Re)creating a Living Memorial: Urban Gardening as a Multispecies Co-creating Practice

This essay explores what happened when I recreated an allotment in the style of the year 1918. The plot was located on a charity allotment site in the city of Oxford in the United Kingdom and cultivated during the growing season of 2020 to2021. There have been people growing on the site for over a century. I planted open pollinated non-hybrid heritage seeds from the era. Reflecting on the use of landscape as an archive, I use both academic and creative responses to the soil as a repository of memory. The plot itself became a living memorial that diverse members of the public visited, to share food and engage with the plot and the themes it generated. These themes were the current COVID-19 pandemic, the 1918/1919 flu pandemic, and the First World War in Africa and Europe. In contrast to contested public memorials, the allotment garden space facilitated restoration. This essay therefore examines what can be enabled through a co-creating a multispecies gardening practice. It discusses whether the inclusion of nature enables a different engagement with challenging histories. By working with a store of memory within the natural world, the case study of the 1918 allotment demonstrates the ways in which it is possible to transcend both time and space, to open up counter narratives of key periods in global history. The 1918 allotment also offers up a methodological approach that works with the practice of decolonisation as “convivial” (Nyamnjoh). A meeting place for varied peoples and more-than-human others to come together in transformation, through urban gardening and working alongside and with more-than-human gardeners.

Allotments in the Future: Building Resilience to Climate Change through Improved Site Design and Efficient Water Practices

In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of allotments and home- grown food in the UK. This interest is likely to increase as people become more aware of the health benefits of spending time outdoors. Climate projections for the UK indicate that over the next 20 years, winters will become warmer and wetter, and the summers hotter and drier. Most UK allotments and community gardens are a collection of individual plots whose holders are free to manage them as they wish, within site rules. The efficacy of individual efforts to collect and store rainwater is often limited as most allotment sites were laid out when water practices were a secondary consideration. Our research, which included visiting allotment sites and reviewing growing practices, suggests that grouping plots and sharing water facilities could enable plot holders to store sufficient water to meet anticipated demand for thirty rain-free days in midsummer. This combined with growing practices that improve soil moisture capacity and water use efficiency will provide effective mitigation against climate change.

Villas e Casas de Catálogo no sítio do Primeiro Loteamento de Pelotas-RS

A chegada do século XX trouxe significativos avanços de infraestrutura urbana, que repercutiram nas maneiras de habitar a cidade e consequentemente as residências. As exigências salutares do novo século impulsionaram a conformação de uma nova tipologia arquitetônica, as villas e casas de catálogo. Essas residências, caracterizadas pela sua premente ventilação e iluminação naturais buscam, por sua natureza, a característica de grandes lotes para suas implantações. Este artigo analisa como esse novo tipo edilício se implantou na região mais antiga da cidade de Pelotas-RS, o sítio do Primeiro Loteamento, que possui a característica de lotes estreitos e compridos. A investigação proposta pretende compreender como essa arquitetura se inseriu na malha urbana mais antiga da cidade, estabelecendo relações entre a tipologia arquitetônica e a morfologia urbana. A análise dos resultados foi realizada a partir dos dados coletados através de um inventário de varredura, que permitiu entender as principais características do sítio e das edificações estudadas.

Urban agriculture: Declining opportunity and increasing demand—How observations from London, U.K., can inform effective response, strategy and policy on a wide scale

Allotment gardening systems are widely used to provide urban residents with small-scale community agricultural plots. Originating in local food production needs, allotments provide multiple additional benefits and contribute to urban resilience. Despite overwhelming evidence of the diversity of benefits that they offer, allotments are under threat, though the extent of the decline in provision remains largely unknown. London, U.K. serves as a model in which to quantify contemporary provision of, and demand for, allotments in a growing city. This study provides concrete evidence to inform future policy and planning.The data come from multiple sources: previous publications provide baselines, while local authorities and management groups provided current details of allotment sites and their waiting lists; allotments were additionally mapped using GIS to determine area of provision.Allotment sites are being lost in London at an increasing rate, approximately triple that of a decade ago, and the compensatory measure of decreasing individual plot sizes within a site is widely employed to buffer demand. This decline can be largely attributed to increasing land value and pressures coupled with restrictive local authority finances.This decline in provision has coincided with an increase in popularity. We found that the demand for allotments has increased four-fold since 2006. When considering the 55 % of sites for which we obtained sufficient data, provision would need to increase by 77 % in order to address the current length of waiting lists.This study is the first step in aiding evidence-based decision-making in preservation of this vital resource. Ultimately, the results of this study and the tools it employs can inform the future direction of allotment provision strategies and land use-planning in a wide range of urban contexts.

The countryside in the city? Rural-urban dynamics in allotment gardens in Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract The position of urban allotments in the rural-urban spectrum is evaluated in this paper, which contributes to literatures on urban gardening, as well as contemporary rural-urban dynamics. Historically, European allotments can be seen as a product of urbanisation. At the same time, they embody a number of “non-urban” characteristics that create the impression of “the countryside in the city”. This research project investigates how the urban and the rural are materialised, represented and practised in five allotment sites in Brno, Czech Republic. We follow three main lines of enquiry where the urban and the rural seem to meet: the physical environment of the allotments; the social life of these spaces; and food production as one of their core functions. Critical reflection of the rural-urban perspective advances our understanding of urban gardens, while, at the same time, allotments offer an example of hybrid spaces, which, in turn, contribute to discussions on current cities and countrysides. Overcoming the urban-rural dichotomy could facilitate the inclusion of urban gardening in contemporary cities.

Temporalities of learning: lessons from a socio-material study of allotment gardening practice

ABSTRACTPractice-oriented, socio-material investigations have surfaced the emergent nature of professional knowing and the significance of things for organising such knowing. However, in these accounts, one significant organising actor is largely overlooked: time. This paper foregrounds time, exploring how different temporalities orchestrate knowing in practice. The empirical study for this article is not of professional practice, but the work of allotment gardening and it is, in part, this attending to everyday practice which unsettles routinised ways of seeing and allows unnoticed actors such as time to emerge. The use of Actor-Network Theory sensibilities further disrupts habitual ways of seeing, as the practice of gardeners on an English allotment site is shown to be distributed over a multitude of socio-im/material actors, mobilising five temporal regimes which order learning. This article theorises that such temporal patterning is particularly enabling for learning and indicates that attending to temporality extends the parameters for understanding learning beyond the case of the everyday, to professional knowing and learning more generally.

Places of urban disorder? Exposing the hidden nature and values of an English private urban allotment landscape

Increasing urbanisation is placing significant development pressure upon our urban spaces and green infrastructure. Allotments have strong cultural roots in the urban domain with emerging evidence of multiple health and quality of life benefits associated with their existence, use and management. However, they represent a remnant landscape; out of order and unproductive according to conventional economic and market assessments of urban land use. Consequently, allotments represent highly contested spaces; as opportunity spaces for redevelopment to meet housing demands or as growing spaces for escape and socialisation. This paper employs a phenomenological approach to explore the values and perceptions of plotholders, residents, planning managers and allotment bodies relating to one privately owned allotment site in Dudley, West Midlands, UK. Our focus on private allotments fills an important research (lack of information on ownership and spatial extent) and policy (treated differently to public allotments as open space in planning policy) gap. Semi-structured interviews reveal that the allotment site is valued by plotholders and nearby residents on a wide range of ecosystem services and community benefits with only minor concerns evident about modern allotment infrastructure and bonfires. This positive picture reflected strong local governance and community relationships. However, there was a misunderstanding among residents that this private allotment had the same level of protection as a municipal site. It is recommended that planning policy treats both municipal and private sites equally and that more research is conducted on the ownership, distribution and governance of private allotment sites given their importance a in urban planning and placemaking.

The benefits of exotic food crops cultivated by small-scale growers in the UK

AbstractExotic crops—plant species grown in relatively small quantities and not traditionally cultivated in a country or region—are often intimately linked with the ethnic origins of their maintainers and are a principal source of culinary and nutritional diversity for many people. Recognizing that a wealth of exotic crop diversity and associated knowledge is held by small-scale growers in the UK, Garden Organic initiated the Sowing New Seeds project to capture and preserve some of this valuable resource by building a seed collection and knowledge base. To establish a sample of this diversity and knowledge, we undertook a survey at 31 allotment sites in the Midlands region of the UK with the objectives of identifying the exotic crops cultivated, characterizing the demography of those who grow them, understanding their direct use values, and assessing their potential indirect use value for the diversification and improvement of other crops. Results reveal that 26% of the food crops recorded are exotic and that they are grown by people belonging to 13 different ethnic groups. The majority save their own seed, indicating that these crops are performing well in the UK, with grower selection providing the basis for their continuing success. Further, most maintainers swap seed with other growers, indicating that exotic crops are likely to be gradually diversifying in response to different growing conditions—a positive sign for their value for local food security and as national genetic resources with potential for use in crop improvement programs. The research highlights the multitude of benefits that growers obtain through cultivating exotic crops, which are not only related to nutrition and culinary requirements, but also to general health and well-being, culture, and a range of other forms of life enrichment. It is critical that growers are encouraged and supported in continuing to cultivate, save and pass on their exotic crops to younger generations, as well as to protect allotments from development in order to maintain this important diversity adapted to local growing conditions. Importantly, many exotic crops currently grown on a small scale may enter into commerce, and thus expand the diversity of the UK's food crop base. Such a shift may be particularly important in the face of the increasingly detrimental impacts of climate change on crop production. We conclude that exotic crop diversity could be more important for future nutrition, health and food security than we currently appreciate.

Health Benefits of Urban Allotment Gardening: Improved Physical and Psychological Well-Being and Social Integration

With an ever-increasing urban population, promoting public health and well-being in towns and cities is a major challenge. Previous research has suggested that participating in allotment gardening delivers a wide range of health benefits. However, evidence from quantitative analyses is still scarce. Here, we quantify the effects, if any, of participating in allotment gardening on physical, psychological and social health. A questionnaire survey of 332 people was performed in Tokyo, Japan. We compared five self-reported health outcomes between allotment gardeners and non-gardener controls: perceived general health, subjective health complaints, body mass index (BMI), mental health and social cohesion. Accounting for socio-demographic and lifestyle variables, regression models revealed that allotment gardeners, compared to non-gardeners, reported better perceived general health, subjective health complaints, mental health and social cohesion. BMI did not differ between gardeners and non-gardeners. Neither frequency nor duration of gardening significantly influenced reported health outcomes. Our results highlight that regular gardening on allotment sites is associated with improved physical, psychological and social health. With the recent escalation in the prevalence of chronic diseases, and associated healthcare costs, this study has a major implication for policy, as it suggests that urban allotments have great potential for preventative healthcare.

Experiential learning and the visceral practice of ‘healthy eating’

ABSTRACTConsumer disconnections with food production methods remain of concern to those promoting food knowledge and healthy food attitudes. Knowing food is central to bridging this disconnection – as is demonstrated by third sector projects that promote growing and cooking skills. In recent years ‘celebrity’ chefs' promotion of practical food skills has helped to shape government policies. Many of these initiatives have focused on educating children about healthy eating through cookery lessons. However, there is little evidence whether these more hands-on educative policies will be effective in changing consumption habits. This article enters into the debate through an exploration of a cooking workshop undertaken with primary school pupils that directly involved the children in the food production-consumption cycle. Using ethnographic research undertaken on two new allotment sites in south Somerset, it describes how the children helped harvest the produce, as well as prepare and eat it, and explores how the close, experiential nature of preparing the lunch made the produce become accepted as food. The findings indicate how visceral practices can change not only their access to food, but also widen children's food experiences. An investigation of the close, embodied interactions between the children and the material of the plot helps to explain how these processes unfold.

UK allotments and urban food initiatives: (limited?) potential for reducing inequalities

The number of urban food initiatives in many regions of the world, notably Europe and the USA, has burgeoned in recent years, and analyses of the impacts of these activities on people and environments are the focus of an increasing academic literature. The impacts documented include enhanced food security, cohesive neighbourhoods, sustainability, and food justice. Yet, another literature presents opposing analyses and focuses on exclusionary aspects of projects and their enabling of a continued neo-liberal reduction in state welfare provision. As a result, there has been an impasse in debates over the potential of urban food projects to reduce inequalities. This paper proposes that the benchmark of the UK allotment system provides a means to examine these opposing positions. It uses the conceptual frameworks of diverse economies and the capital assets framework to attain clarity in the analysis of the many kinds of food-related activities seen in (peri-)urban areas. Drawing on empirical work in Plymouth, UK, it focuses on the potential of the different food ventures to reduce inequalities, given certain contingent economic and political factors. It also presents evidence that the allotment movement despite its initially radical roots can be seen as largely apolitical in the present day and has no leverage over allocation of land to allotment sites. Even so, evidence is growing that both allotments and the newer forms of urban food activities contribute to meeting national and city-level policy objectives, with the potential to enhance food justice and reduce inequalities.

“Doing” Gardening and “Being” at the Allotment Site: Exploring the Benefits of Allotment Gardening for Stress Reduction and Healthy Aging

The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits to health and well-being of allotment gardening (in Wales, UK) in a community-dwelling older adult sample, with a particular emphasis on stress recovery. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore allotment gardener participants' personal beliefs and ideas of the benefits of their allotment gardening activity. The transcribed interviews were examined using thematic analysis. It was assumed that through the discussion of positive aspects of allotment gardening it would be possible to clarify specific benefits that relate to coping with stress in order to further an understanding of the mechanisms involved. Findings indicate that allotment gardeners appreciate both “doing” gardening activity as well as “being” at the allotment landscape for affording a wide range of benefits to their health and well-being. These benefits are discussed with reference to existing theory and research, including links to stress reduction.

Deskilling, agrodiversity, and the seed trade: a view from contemporary British allotments

Over the last half-century, quality control standards have had the perverse effect of restricting the circulation of non-commercially bred vegetable cultivars in Britain. Recent European and British legislation attempts to compensate for this loss of agrodiversity by relaxing genetic purity standards and the cost of seed marketing for designated “Amateur” and “Conservation” varieties. Drawing on fieldwork conducted at a British allotment site, this article cautions against bringing genetically heterogeneous cultivars into the commercial sphere. Such a move may intensify the horticultural “deskilling” of British allotment gardeners, who have come to rely on commercial seed catalogs as sources of germplasm and knowledge. Horticultural deskilling also entails the delegation of seed selection activities to professional breeders and the potential loss of agrodiversity. The activities of dedicated seed savers who save and circulate the seed of genetically heterogeneous “heritage” varieties, in a manner similar to the management of landraces in the global South, may provide a better model for attempts to safeguard vegetable diversity in the global North.

Limitations of the CLEA model when assessing human health risks from dioxins and furans in soil at an allotments site in Rochdale, NW England

Many allotments in the UK today are situated on urban brownfield areas which creates a potential human health risk from soil borne contamination. This paper looks specifically at the risks to allotment users at a site in Rochdale, UK, from polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans (PCDD and PCDF). A contaminated land investigation was undertaken involving the collection and analysis of 24 soil samples from the top 0.0-0.3 m of the soil profile. Homogenised egg samples were also collected and analysed from plots where poultry were kept. The concentration of PCDD and PCDF in soil at the site varied from 0.69 to 13.62 μg kg(-1); two plots out of a total of eight exceeded the soil guideline value (SGV) of 8 μg kg(-1), however all plots fell below the site specific assessment criteria (SSAC) of 15.9 μg kg(-1). Human health risks were assessed using the Environment Agency's contaminated land exposure assessment (CLEA) model. The assessment using CLEA alone did not provide enough evidence to indicate significant possibility of significant harm (SPOSH) across the entire allotment site. However, when the likely exposure from the soil was combined with potential exposure from consumption of site laid eggs, the results indicated that the potential risks could constitute SPOSH. This paper gives evidence to support the bioconcentration of PCDD and PCDF in eggs and highlights the importance of considering pollutant linkages outside the generic CLEA model.

Allotment gardening and health: a comparative survey among allotment gardeners and their neighbors without an allotment

BackgroundThe potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was compared to that of controls without an allotment.MethodsA survey was conducted among 121 members of 12 allotment sites in the Netherlands and a control group of 63 respondents without an allotment garden living next to the home addresses of allotment gardeners. The survey included five self-reported health measures (perceived general health, acute health complaints, physical constraints, chronic illnesses, and consultations with GP), four self-reported well-being measures (stress, life satisfaction, loneliness, and social contacts with friends) and one measure assessing self-reported levels of physical activity in summer. Respondents were divided into a younger and older group at the median of 62 years which equals the average retirement age in the Netherlands.ResultsAfter adjusting for income, education level, gender, stressful life events, physical activity in winter, and access to a garden at home as covariates, both younger and older allotment gardeners reported higher levels of physical activity during the summer than neighbors in corresponding age categories. The impacts of allotment gardening on health and well-being were moderated by age. Allotment gardeners of 62 years and older scored significantly or marginally better on all measures of health and well-being than neighbors in the same age category. Health and well-being of younger allotment gardeners did not differ from younger neighbors. The greater health and well-being benefits of allotment gardening for older gardeners may be related to the finding that older allotment gardeners were more oriented towards gardening and being active, and less towards passive relaxation.ConclusionsThese findings are consistent with the notion that having an allotment garden may promote an active life-style and contribute to healthy aging. However, the findings may be limited by self selection and additional research is needed to confirm and extend the current findings.

Multi-element survey of allotment produce and soil in the UK

In 2004, a survey of 12 metals was carried out in six rural and six urban allotment sites across the UK. A total of 215 samples of vegetables and 36 samples of soft fruit were analysed using ICP–MS, and 51 samples of soil using ICP–OES. On a fresh weight basis, Cu levels in produce ranged 0.119–2.271 mg kg−1. The highest levels measured (in mg kg−1) were Pb 0.164 in a sample of blackcurrants, Cd 0.039 in spinach, Hg 0.003 in curly kale and As 0.025 in raspberries. The lowest concentrations for these metals were below the level of detection (LOD) in numerous samples. The majority of Pt samples were below LOD and all were under the limit of quantification (LOQ). The results of the survey showed that the concentrations of the metals in vegetables, fruit and soils were consistent with previous studies and, generally, at low levels.

Allotment holding as an eco‐leisure practice: the case of the Sataf village

This article explores the phenomenon of allotment holding as a leisure practice, by drawing upon on a 2‐year field study conducted at the Sataf village allotment site near the city of Jerusalem. The findings indicate that plotting at the Sataf involves an ideological commitment to nature and environment‐friendly related themes. Accordingly, plot holding at the Sataf is termed an eco‐leisure practice. In addition, the findings indicate that plotting at Sataf is an individual rather than a socially oriented experience. These findings are interpreted with regard to all of the particular features and developments in Israel, the specific literature on allotment holding, the study fields of leisure and tourism, and George Simmel's philosophy of experience.

Cultivated histories in a Scottish allotment garden

The historical development of Scottish allotment gardens has invested these urban agricultural landscapes with an ambiguous diversity that persists today in both plot-level practice and in political representations. This paper examines how the ambiguity that pervades allotment practice surfaces as a liability in strategic appeals. I juxtapose a pair of narratives - the story of my involvement in a Scottish Parliament Allotments Inquiry and a history of a single Edinburgh allotment site - to draw out the survival of historical forms in contemporary political negotiations. Although a theory of ‘tactics’ and ‘strategies’, adopted from Michel de Certeau, frames my discussion, I locate my analysis in the gap between these categories.