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- Title
Experimental urban commons?: Re‐examining urban community food gardens in Cape Town, South Africa.
- Authors
Kanosvamhira, Tinashe P.; Follmann, Alexander; Tevera, Daniel
- Abstract
Contemporary literature on urban agriculture often analyses urban community gardens as 'existing' commons with the capacity to counter neoliberal urban development and resource management practices. However, the existing literature on 'political gardening' generally focuses on cities in North America and Europe, despite the prevalence of urban community gardens and neoliberal planning across other regions, including Southern cities. This paper examines urban community gardens in Cape Town, South Africa to assess their capacity to function as urban commons in six areas: infrastructure, inputs, land, produce, labour and immaterial components. This mixed‐methods study employed questionnaires, semi‐structured interviews and observations across 34 urban community gardens in the city. The findings and analysis demonstrate how the urban community gardens counter neoliberal privatisation and individualisation processes. However, their capacity to function as urban commons is significantly curtailed by an entrenchment within the neoliberal context. Thus, the urban community gardens are framed as 'experimental' commons, a valuable re‐conceptualisation of alternative resource utilisation in neoliberal Southern cities.
- Subjects
CAPE Town (South Africa); COMMUNITY gardens; URBAN agriculture; CITIES &; towns; URBAN growth; GARDEN cities
- Publication
Geographical Journal, 2024, Vol 190, Issue 2, p1
- ISSN
0016-7398
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/geoj.12553