Connections in the garden: opportunities for wellbeing
Aisling Bailey, Jonathan Kingsley
Abstract
This study aimed to gain an insight into the ways in which community and allotment gardening may enhance wellbeing for people and place, within urban Melbourne, Australia. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 participants representing six community/allotment gardens. The findings suggest that community and allotment gardening enhance people’s wellbeing on a personal level mentally and physically, through social connectedness and community, and finally through connecting with the natural environment through the gardens themselves. These findings contribute to existing literature exploring community and allotment gardening predominantly based in North America and Europe by offering an exploration of an Australian context. Theoretically, these findings provide support for conceptualisations which acknowledge the interconnectedness and reciprocity of the wellbeing of people and place. Practically, these findings support the call for local government to ensure continuing access to land for facilitating community and allotment gardening.