Crisis Gardening

Gardening during times of crisis can have significant benefits to individuals and populations in

terms of health, well-being, social and economic outcomes. So-called ‘crisis gardening’ can even be

linked to transformative change in food systems through socio-ecological aspects of agroecology.

In this book, crisis gardening is explored to better define, describe and provide recommendations

about this activity globally. Diverse perspectives are offered from scholars around the world, providing

an overview of gardening during crises with ties to agroecology. Such a perspective is critical

as we grapple with food system crises, pandemics, climate change, biodiversity loss, mental health

issues and political conflict globally.

• The first section defines and explains crisis gardening in relation to agroecology, transformative change in food systems and public health.

• The second section describes case studies from around the world of crisis gardening from various social-ecological perspectives.

• The third section provides policy and practice recommendations and how to scale up the lessons from crisis gardening to transform food systems, public health systems, and policy and landscape planning processes.

Bringing together leaders and experts (academics, policy makers and practitioners) from around the

world, the book provides case studies of crisis gardening and develops recommendations to harness

the lessons from this practice.