The book investigates the development of community gardens with self-built structures, which have existed as a shared public open space land use form in New York Cityâs low-come neighborhoods like the South Bronx since the 1970s. These gardens have continued to be part of the urban landscape until today, despite conflicting land use interests, changing residents groups and contradictory city planning. Both community gardens and self-built structures are created in a participatory design and self-built effort by urban residents and are an expression of the individual gardenersâ preferences, their cultural background and the decisions made by the managing residentsâ group in regards to the needs of their neighborhood. Ultimately community gardens with self-built structures are an expression of the peopleâs will to commonly use this land for open and enclosed structures next to their homes in the city and need to be included in future urban planning.
