The Sustainability of Community Gardens in Shanghai

Community garden is not just a garden, it is a community’s garden. The emphasis is therefore on “community”. The size and scenery of the garden do not really matter. What matters most is “community” and the underlying humanistic touch and feelings. What comes with it is the interpersonal relationship, social network, the sense of belonging and community self-governance.

a properly maintained community garden surrounded by residential buildings

If the previous urbanization and urban renewal is characterised by the mass displacement and resettlement, the current urban renewal in Shanghai is featured by the micro renewal of the existing communities which are in need of reconstructing social network and relationship among neighbours. The displacement of the old neighbourhood, as well as the alienation and distrust among neighbours dwelling in the new self-contained apartments, have turned the neighbours into the nearest strangers. Community gardens which are characterised by joint planning/construction and sharing by community members provide the easy and long-lasting common interest for the neighbours to foster relations and the sense of belongings to the communities. What is more, the participative community planning, construction and maintenance endorsed by the community gardens offers the stepping stone for community self-governance advocated by the Shanghai government in its new urban renewal drive.

The well maintained KIC Garden

a poorly maintained community garden

The community garden in Shanghai is currently still in the trial and error stage.  In many cases, dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel. As testified by the pioneering cases, the real challenge lies in the long-term maintenance of the community gardens by the community members. We hereby offer some tips in this regard.  

1.      There has to be a real bottom-up need/demand for the community garden. Those gardens which are imposed upon the communities by top-down administrative order without grass root support won’t last.

The KIC Garden which initiated the community garden movement in China is a case in mind whereby there was a real community demand for doing something about the construction dump in-between the communities. Thus, the construction of the community garden on the site of the waste land was well welcomed by the surrounding communities. The genuine community demand therefore makes it relatively easy to maintain the community garden in the long run.

Although the hard task of constructing certain number of community gardens by the administrative order of the government may sound ambitious, it may well not last long without grassroot interest and demand. This is because, without the spontaneous involvement of the community members, the sole reliance on the top-down promotion of the government and the active individuals in the community won’t last. And the spontaneous involvement of the community members, in turn, often results from the real bottom-up need/demand for the community garden.

2.      Children may provide the best breakthrough necessary for building and maintaining the community gardens.  

If the previous urban renewals characterised by large-scale displacement and resettlement have dismantled the old social network among neighbours, the current urban renewals featured by micro renewals center on reconstructing neighbour relations and social networks in the community. The trials of community gardens are typically featured by the silent majority, some opponents, and several facilitators in the community. In this respect, the nature enlightenment activities of the children and parent-child interactions in the community gardens provide the breakthroughs to connect and mobilize the silent majority---parents and grandparents in the neighbourhood, through which the social platforms and network can be built and maintained with relative ease.  

3.      The holding of periodic events and activities, such as workshops, gardening festivals, and nature enlightenment activities, helps to keep the interest alive and promote the participation of community members in the everyday maintenance of the community gardens.

4.      How to form stable community groups to sustain the community gardens in the communities dominated by floating population? As demonstrated by the initiatives in Shenzhen, mobile plants/gardens and the associated events/activities may provide the solution.