The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London

Matjaž Glavan; Ulrich Schmutz; Sarah Williams; Stefano Corsi; Federica Monaco; Moya Kneafsey; Paola Andrea Guzman Rodriguez; Majda Čenič-Istenič; Marina Pintar

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.009

The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London

Matjaž Glavan, Ulrich Schmutz, Sarah Williams, Stefano Corsi, Federica Monaco, Moya Kneafsey, Paola Andrea Guzman Rodriguez, Majda Čenič-Istenič, Marina Pintar

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Urban gardening is not a new phenomenon but it has received considerably more practical and academic interest in recent years. Studies on economic aspects such as crop yields, inputs and outputs of production, productivity, gross margins and the contribution to home economics are rare, especially in Europe. While urban gardening plays an important role in the Global South, its role in Western Europe for food productivity and home economics is currently under-researched. The aim of this study is to analyse European urban gardeners’ economic performance and self-sufficiency on a household level, as well as to reach a better understanding of their contribution to food self-provision and food security in the metropolitan areas. In a study carried out in 2014 with on-site personal and with online questionnaires participated 180 urban gardeners from three case study cities (Ljubljana, Milan, and London). Results from the economic analysis showed that although for most urban gardeners, profit is not their main motivation, the economic calculation shows that productivity in small urban plots can be comparable to market garden production. Urban gardeners are saving money, especially when, compared to retail prices for regular produce or organic produce, their input is included in the gross margin calculation. We conclude that, in the case-study cities, the self-provisional potential of urban gardeners’ households to adequately cover the annual vegetable need of five-a-day servings can be met under three conditions: (1) sufficient garden size; (2) increased area productivity, and (3) sufficient labour-hour inputs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	100-122
Number of pages	23
Journal	Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
Volume	36
Early online date	29 Oct 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.009
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2018

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, [26], (2018) DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.00

© 2017, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

Keywords

Economic performance
Motivation
Productivity
Self-sufficiency
Urban gardening
Vegetable production

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Forestry
Ecology
Soil Science

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.009

Post-printAccepted author manuscript, 2.54 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London",

abstract = "Urban gardening is not a new phenomenon but it has received considerably more practical and academic interest in recent years. Studies on economic aspects such as crop yields, inputs and outputs of production, productivity, gross margins and the contribution to home economics are rare, especially in Europe. While urban gardening plays an important role in the Global South, its role in Western Europe for food productivity and home economics is currently under-researched. The aim of this study is to analyse European urban gardeners{\textquoteright} economic performance and self-sufficiency on a household level, as well as to reach a better understanding of their contribution to food self-provision and food security in the metropolitan areas. In a study carried out in 2014 with on-site personal and with online questionnaires participated 180 urban gardeners from three case study cities (Ljubljana, Milan, and London). Results from the economic analysis showed that although for most urban gardeners, profit is not their main motivation, the economic calculation shows that productivity in small urban plots can be comparable to market garden production. Urban gardeners are saving money, especially when, compared to retail prices for regular produce or organic produce, their input is included in the gross margin calculation. We conclude that, in the case-study cities, the self-provisional potential of urban gardeners{\textquoteright} households to adequately cover the annual vegetable need of five-a-day servings can be met under three conditions: (1) sufficient garden size; (2) increased area productivity, and (3) sufficient labour-hour inputs.",

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note = "NOTICE: this is the author{\textquoteright}s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, [26], (2018) DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.00 {\textcopyright} 2017, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Copyright {\textcopyright} and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. ",

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AU - Glavan, Matjaž

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AU - Williams, Sarah

AU - Corsi, Stefano

AU - Monaco, Federica

AU - Kneafsey, Moya

AU - Guzman Rodriguez, Paola Andrea

AU - Čenič-Istenič, Majda

AU - Pintar, Marina

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PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Urban gardening is not a new phenomenon but it has received considerably more practical and academic interest in recent years. Studies on economic aspects such as crop yields, inputs and outputs of production, productivity, gross margins and the contribution to home economics are rare, especially in Europe. While urban gardening plays an important role in the Global South, its role in Western Europe for food productivity and home economics is currently under-researched. The aim of this study is to analyse European urban gardeners’ economic performance and self-sufficiency on a household level, as well as to reach a better understanding of their contribution to food self-provision and food security in the metropolitan areas. In a study carried out in 2014 with on-site personal and with online questionnaires participated 180 urban gardeners from three case study cities (Ljubljana, Milan, and London). Results from the economic analysis showed that although for most urban gardeners, profit is not their main motivation, the economic calculation shows that productivity in small urban plots can be comparable to market garden production. Urban gardeners are saving money, especially when, compared to retail prices for regular produce or organic produce, their input is included in the gross margin calculation. We conclude that, in the case-study cities, the self-provisional potential of urban gardeners’ households to adequately cover the annual vegetable need of five-a-day servings can be met under three conditions: (1) sufficient garden size; (2) increased area productivity, and (3) sufficient labour-hour inputs.

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The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Ulrich Schmutz

Cite this

The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Profiles

Ulrich Schmutz

Cite this