The Role of Allotments and Community Gardens and the Challenges Facing Their Development in Urban Environments—A Literature Review | Land Portal

Informations sur la ressource

Date of publication: 
janvier 2023
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
LP-midp001524
Copyright details: 
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article

Current research largely focuses on the role of allotment gardens, the challenges facing them, and the direction of their future development in urban environments. The main idea behind the introduction of allotment gardens was to improve the living conditions and food supply of workers and the underprivileged. The impact of allotment gardening does not only concern the allotment gardeners but also the general public and the environment. It is important to emphasise that allotments have impacts not only on food production and outdoor physical activity, but also on the reuse of idle or neglected land, community development, therapeutic and nutritional benefits, and psychological benefits for allotment holders and residents. For this reason, this study captures six broad themes related to allotments: (1) community participation and cohesion, (2) health and well-being, (3) economic opportunities, (4) pollution, (5) urban planning and development, and (6) sustainable environment. The research is a systematic review in which steps were taken to minimise bias in the identification, selection, and summarisation of studies. The initial literature selection was based on a keyword search (title, abstract, and keywords) of the comprehensive literature databases Web of Science (all years) and Scopus (all years). The total scientific literature on which this review is based includes 162 research articles published between 1978 and July 2022. This work aims to fill these gaps and analyse existing knowledge by providing a detailed review of the academic literature, focusing not only on the benefits of community gardens and allotments in urban areas, but also on the existing problems related to allotments and urban gardening. Possible directions of development are also analysed based on the legal regulations in each country.

Auteurs et éditeurs

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Kwartnik-Pruc, AnitaDroj, Gabriela

Corporate Author(s): 
Publisher(s): 

MDPI AG, a publisher of open-access scientific journals, was spun off from the Molecular Diversity Preservation International organization. It was formally registered by Shu-Kun Lin and Dietrich Rordorf in May 2010 in Basel, Switzerland, and maintains editorial offices in China, Spain and Serbia. MDPI relies primarily on article processing charges to cover the costs of editorial quality control and production of articles. Over 280 universities and institutes have joined the MDPI Institutional Open Access Program; authors from these organizations pay reduced article processing charges.

Fournisseur de données

MDPI AG, a publisher of open-access scientific journals, was spun off from the Molecular Diversity Preservation International organization. It was formally registered by Shu-Kun Lin and Dietrich Rordorf in May 2010 in Basel, Switzerland, and maintains editorial offices in China, Spain and Serbia. MDPI relies primarily on article processing charges to cover the costs of editorial quality control and production of articles. Over 280 universities and institutes have joined the MDPI Institutional Open Access Program; authors from these organizations pay reduced article processing charges.

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