Community Gardens as Instruments of Group and Neighborhood Cohesion: A Mixed Methods Case Study

Abstract

A mixed methods case study, which investigated whether community gardens can foster a sense of community within its members and whether that engenders a deeper sense of community about the neighborhood. Using SEM-based path analysis on survey generated data, the hypothesis was tested that variables connected to cohesion and norms of healthy eating would influence a participant’s neighborhood psychological sense of community (NPSOC). Though an SEM model containing both paths yielded mixed results, two smaller sub-models separately representing the two paths of cohesion and norms of healthy eating were both found to be well-fitting, affirming the research question. The qualitative data confirmed and offered additional insights into the quantitative data. Interviews confirmed gardeners had a sense of community in the garden and that it was associated with variables connected to cohesion. However, what was termed “outward signs of community” were also found to be influential on the sense of community. Examples of “outward signs of community” were evidence of plots being tended and other changes in the garden space performed in gardeners’ absence. Interviews also revealed the power of the garden to increase NPSOC through “emblematic association”; that is, the garden was seen as an emblem or extension of the neighborhood.