Wellington's community gardens could feed neighbors after a disaster, but not the whole city
Urban Ecology
The vegetable beds at your local community garden could be the closest fresh food your street has after an earthquake, and the study shows how much more they could supply with more growing space and council backing.
Researchers measured how many vegetables Wellington's community gardens could supply if a big disaster cut off normal food deliveries. The gardens can help the people who tend them and those living close by, especially people with higher nutritional needs like children and pregnant women. They fall well short of feeding the whole city, though the study found the potential is much larger if the city uses more land and more kinds of gardens.
Key Findings
Community gardens contribute meaningfully to post-disaster vegetable supply for gardeners and nearby residents, including vulnerable groups with elevated nutritional needs, but play a limited role for the wider urban population.
Potential future vegetable self-sufficiency from urban agriculture could significantly exceed current levels if land use is optimized and more garden types (beyond community gardens) are developed.
Wellington's current food-system and disaster plans are insufficient for post-disaster food security, and community gardens rely on grassroots enthusiasm rather than practical council support despite being proposed as a resilience strategy.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A New Zealand study found that community gardens in Wellington could feed nearby gardeners and neighbors after a major disaster, but they can't feed the whole city. Growing much more food would need better land use, more types of urban gardens, and real support from city planners.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Investigating Urban Agriculture's Role in Post-disaster Food Security in Wellington City, New Zealand
Natural disasters often severely disrupt food access and availability in the short term and undermine food system stability in the long term. Many cities lack comprehensive planning for food system...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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