Community Gardens as Organizations to Build Collective Efficacy: A Chicken and Egg Scenario

• In Event: Communities in Context: The Social Organization of Neighborhoods

Abstract

Community organizations have been associated with increases in collective efficacy, specifically social cohesion/capital (see Bursik and Grasmick, 1993; Morenoff et al., 2001; Sampson, 2012). There have in fact been studies of community gardens specifically being associated with increased social capital (see Armstrong, 2000; Chitov, 2006). The present study uses interviews with community gardeners and non-gardeners to ascertain whether community gardens lead to social cohesion or if social cohesion leads to community gardens.

Author

• Lesli Blair, Saint Xavier University