Allotment and Community Gardens: Commons in German Cities
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Abstract
This chapter analyzes the historical and political context of allotment gardens and community gardens in German cities. Despite considerable differences, the two garden types face similar problems in terms of “Bestandsgarantie” (the guarantees for their existence) and their being vulnerable to the valorization of city space in a neoliberal economic environment. Both garden types must be seen as elements of the urban commons. The chapter furthermore discusses the vernacular amateur design, distinguishing both types from aristocratic gardens and public parks. Both garden types create human relations and communities in the city, acting as catalysts for integration, and both have adapted (in terms of the character of human relations and their garden design) to historical and cultural changes. Vernacular gardens in cities invite a reconceptualization of environmentality towards an inclusion of the dimensions of lived space.