Growing Community: Factors of Inclusion for Refugee and Immigrant Urban Gardeners

Lissy Goralnik (), Lucero Radonic, Vanessa Garcia Polanco and Angel Hammon
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Lissy Goralnik: Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Lucero Radonic: Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Vanessa Garcia Polanco: National Young Farmers Coalition, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Angel Hammon: Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Urban agriculture is an important neighborhood revitalization strategy in the U.S. Rust Belt, where deindustrialization has left blighted and vacant land in the urban core. Immigrants and refugees represent a growing and important stakeholder group in urban agriculture, including in community gardens across the Rust Belt Midwest. Community gardens provide a host of social and economic benefits to urban landscapes, including increased access to culturally appropriate food and medicinal plants for refugee and immigrant growers. Our work in Lansing, Michigan was part of a collaboration with the Greater Lansing Food Bank’s Garden Project (GLFGP) to describe the refugee and immigrant community gardening experience in three urban gardens with high refugee and immigrant enrollment. Our research describes the ways garden management facilitates inclusion for refugee and immigrant gardeners and how particular factors of inclusion in turn contribute to social capital, an important outcome that plays a critical role in refugee and immigrant subjective wellbeing.

Keywords: social capital; community gardens; urban agriculture; Rust Belt Midwest; wellbeing; refugee and immigrant gardeners; garden management; agency; placemaking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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