Urban Horticulture

Ecology, Landscape, and Agriculture

J. Blum, J. Blum

• Publisher: Apple Academic Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315341873
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.

Urban horticulture, referring to the study and cultivation of the relationship between plants and the urban environment, is gaining more attention as the world rapidly urbanizes and cities expand. While plants have been grown in urban areas for millennia, it is now recognized that they not only provide food, ornament, and recreation, but also supply invaluable ecological services that help mitigate potentially negative impacts of urban ecosystems, and thus increase the livability of cities. This book provides background on key issues in this growing field.

Contents

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1. Acknowledgment and How to Cite
2. List of Contributors
3. Introduction
4. Part I: Urban Horticulture and Ecological Landscaping
5. 1. Introduction to Ecological Landscaping: A Holistic Description and Framework to Guide the Study and Management of Urban Landscape Parcels
6. Loren B. Byrne and Parwinder Grewal
7. 2. New Approaches to Ecologically Based, Designed Urban Plant Communities in Britain: Do These Have Any Relevance in the United States?
8. James Hitchmough
9. 3. Urban Cultivation in Allotments Maintains Soil Qualities Adversely Affected by Conventional Agriculture
10. Jill L. Edmondson, Zoe G. Davies, Kevin J. Gaston, and Jonathan R. Leak
11. 4. Lead Levels in Urban Gardens
12. Annie King, Peter Green, Guadalupe Pena, Wendy Chen, and Louis Schuetter
13. Part II: Urban Soil and Water
14. 5. Urban Community Gardeners’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Contaminant Risks
15. Brent F. Kim, Melissa N. Poulsen, Jared D. Margulies, Katie L. Dix, Anne M. Palmer, and Keeve E. Nachman
16. 6. Sustainable Water Management for Urban Agriculture, Gardens and Public Open Space Irrigation: A Case Study in Perth
17. Raju Sharma Dhakal, Geoff Syme, Edward Andre, and Charles Sabato
18. 7. Where is the UK’s Pollinator Biodiversity? The Importance of Urban Areas for Flower-Visiting Insects
19. Katherine C. R. Baldock, Mark A. Goddard, Damien M. Hicks, William E. Kunin, Nadine Mitschunas, Lynne M. Osgathorpe, Simon G. Potts, Kirsty M. Robertson, Anna V. Scott, Graham N. Stone, Ian P. Vaughan, and Jane Memmott
20. 8. The Influence of Garden Size and Floral Cover on Pollen Deposition in Urban Community Gardens
21. Peter A. Werrell, Gail A. Langellotto, Shannon U. Morath, and Kevin C. Matteson
22. Part III: Urban Pollination
23. 9. Bumble Bee Abundance in New York City Community Gardens: Implications for Urban Agriculture
24. Kevin C. Matteson and Gail A. Langellotto
25. 10. Modification of a Community Garden to Attract Native Bee Pollinators in Urban San Luis Obispo, California
26. Jaime C. Pawelek, Gordon W. Frankie, Robbin W. Thorp, and Maggie Przybylski
27. Part IV: Urban Home and Community Gardening
28. 11. Urban Home Gardens in the Global North: A Mixed Methods Study of Ethnic and Migrant Home Gardens in Chicago, IL
29. John R. Taylor and Sarah Taylor Lovell
30. 12. Community Gardens as Contexts for Science, Stewardship, and Civic Action Learning
31. Marianne E. Krasny and Keith G. Tidball
32. Author Notes
33. Index

Acknowledgment and How to Cite

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The editor and publisher thank each of the authors who contributed to this book. The chapters in this book were previously published elsewhere. To cite the work contained in this book and to view the individual permissions, please refer to the citation at the beginning of each chapter. Each chapter was read individually and carefully selected by the editor; the result is a book that provides a multiperspective look at research into many elements of urban horticulture. The chapters included examine the following topics:

• Written as an introduction to a conference, Byrne (chapter 1) grounds the rest of the papers as it uses the term “landscape” as an umbrella for all urban horticultural practices, presenting a holistic ecological framework for understanding urban landscapes. It also suggests design guidelines that help mitigate the potentially negative effects of built-up areas on the environment.
• The Hitchmough article (chapter 2) provides an approach to sustainable urban landscape design that emphasize more mixed plantings of both native and exotic species that fit particular, frequently extreme, soil and water conditions found in urban areas.
• Contrary to common wisdom, Edmondson et al. (chapter 3) demonstrate that urban soil quality in general tends to be higher than that of areas depleted by industrial agricultural practices, and may be maintained by sustainable gardening methods.
• Their hypothesis that poor soil quality is associated with extreme anthropogenic disturbance is borne out by King (chapter 4) who gives a detailed account of a major soil contaminant on former housing or industrial areas that can cause ill health in humans.
• Kim et al. (chapter 5) reveal that urban gardeners’ awareness of soil contaminants and associated health risks is not as developed compared to that of other issues such as pesticide use. They stress the need for balanced educational messaging to further the practice of safe gardening.
• Johnson et al (chapter 6) deal with the very critical issue of irrigation under conditions of shading found in densely built cities, using a modelling system to determine agricultural potential of an urban area with respect to water demand.
• Dhakal et al. (chapter 7) pursue this topic further by examining a particular sustainable water management system in Australia, to highlight continuing issues and good practices. However, I shall have to explain some of the terminology in the introduction
• Werrell et al. (chapter 8) hypothesize that floral cover positively impacts conspecific pollen deposition by attracting a greater number of pollinators into an urban garden, and that total cucumber area positively impacts conspecific pollen deposition when pollinators are locally foraging within a garden, and they suggest that the arrangement of plants within a garden can positively influence yield in fruit and vegetable-producing plants within urban community gardens.
• Matteson and Langellotto (chapter 9) suggest that B. impatiens may be an especially important pollinator of several common crops grown within community gardens and other urban green spaces that are used for agricultural production.
• Pawelek et al. (chapter ) discuss ways to attract native bee pollinators by planting known bee-attractive plants.
• Taylor and Lovell (chapter 11) demonstrate the oft neglected significance of urban home gardens to urban horticulture, particularly agriculture, but also warn of the persistence of faulty practices that contribute to ecosystem disservices, indicating the need for educational outreach.
• The article on community gardens continues the theme of education in urban agriculture. Krasny and Tidball (chapter 12) deliver a fascinating article based on their youth-oriented education program which suggests that community gardens may provide opportunities for multi-layered learning that could apply to larger urban social-ecological systems.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

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Edward Andre

Centre for Planning, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.

Katherine C. R. Baldock

School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK; Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UJ, UK

Loren B. Byrne

Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Marine Biology and Environmental Science, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI 02809

Wendy Chen

Department of Animal Science, Law Office of Brian C. McCarthy, Peachtree Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA, USA

Zoe G. Davies

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK

Raju Sharma Dhakal

Centre for Planning, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.

Katie L. Dix

Community Greening Resource Network, Parks & People Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Jill L. Edmondson

Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

G. W. Frankie

Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

Kevin J. Gaston

Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK

Mark A. Goddard

School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK

Peter Green

Department of Animal Science, Law Office of Brian C. McCarthy, Peachtree Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA, USA

Parwinder Grewal

Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology, OARDC/The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691

Damien M. Hicks

Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK

James D. Hitchmough

Professor of Horticultural Ecology, Department of Landscape Architecture, Arts Tower, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom

Brent F. Kim

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Annie King

Departm...