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Evidence of COVID-19 pandemic influence on well-being produced by urban gardening : a before-after study

Tuominen, Laura S. ; Helanterä, Heikki ; Karell, Patrik LU ; Rapeli, Lauri ; Vuorisalo, Timo and Brommer, Jon E. (2024) In NPJ Urban Sustainability 4.
Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that maintaining and increasing individual and community resilience is essential, particularly in cities. Access to urban green spaces such as parks and gardens supports resilience and well-being. Here, we studied how the pandemic influenced the attitudes towards and outcomes of urban box gardening in the city of Turku in Finland. We analyzed this small-scale social-ecological system before and during the pandemic in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We find that box gardening’s importance increased for many gardeners due to the pandemic, supporting that box gardening can enhance resilience. We find that gardeners remain motivated to cultivate but contrary to expectations, they report receiving fewer benefits,... (More)

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that maintaining and increasing individual and community resilience is essential, particularly in cities. Access to urban green spaces such as parks and gardens supports resilience and well-being. Here, we studied how the pandemic influenced the attitudes towards and outcomes of urban box gardening in the city of Turku in Finland. We analyzed this small-scale social-ecological system before and during the pandemic in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We find that box gardening’s importance increased for many gardeners due to the pandemic, supporting that box gardening can enhance resilience. We find that gardeners remain motivated to cultivate but contrary to expectations, they report receiving fewer benefits, suggesting the pandemic’s negative influence on well-being extends to urban gardening. Our findings highlight the manifold and long-term influence of disturbances. The long-term changes in attitudes and outcomes suggest that the pandemic’s influence on urban gardening might be even transformative.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
NPJ Urban Sustainability
volume
4
article number
40
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85200241945
ISSN
2661-8001
DOI
10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
22262930-212a-4409-a81e-3423aa17f2b0
date added to LUP
2024-08-30 14:22:01
date last changed
2024-09-06 17:20:56
@article{22262930-212a-4409-a81e-3423aa17f2b0,
  abstract     = {{<p>The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that maintaining and increasing individual and community resilience is essential, particularly in cities. Access to urban green spaces such as parks and gardens supports resilience and well-being. Here, we studied how the pandemic influenced the attitudes towards and outcomes of urban box gardening in the city of Turku in Finland. We analyzed this small-scale social-ecological system before and during the pandemic in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We find that box gardening’s importance increased for many gardeners due to the pandemic, supporting that box gardening can enhance resilience. We find that gardeners remain motivated to cultivate but contrary to expectations, they report receiving fewer benefits, suggesting the pandemic’s negative influence on well-being extends to urban gardening. Our findings highlight the manifold and long-term influence of disturbances. The long-term changes in attitudes and outcomes suggest that the pandemic’s influence on urban gardening might be even transformative.</p>}},
  author       = {{Tuominen, Laura S. and Helanterä, Heikki and Karell, Patrik and Rapeli, Lauri and Vuorisalo, Timo and Brommer, Jon E.}},
  issn         = {{2661-8001}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{NPJ Urban Sustainability}},
  title        = {{Evidence of COVID-19 pandemic influence on well-being produced by urban gardening : a before-after study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s42949-024-00174-9}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}