The community garden experience < our experience

COMMUNITY GARDENS REDUCE CRIME ON ESTATES, STUDY SAYS

Community gardens play a significant role in reducing the incidence of crime on public housing estates in NSW, according to a UNSW study.

The study was conducted over two and a half years on nine public housing estates. It found effective a social approach to crime reduction that includes:

• better design
• lighting
• on-site housing managers
• friendly neighbourhood police
• cooperation between government and residents
• the presence of community gardens.

The study is the work of Dr Bruce Judd and Dr Rob Samuels of the AHURI UNSW-UWS Research Centre.

“In many public housing estates, people’s territories are not defined,” Dr Judd said. “There is no patch that’s yours to look after. You get these no-man’s-land spaces that end up being littered with shopping trolleys, rubbish and dead cars. This causes a downward spiral of physical deterioration, low morale and stigmatisation. In areas of high disadvantage, community becomes critical,” Dr Judd said. “You need empathetic people on the ground actively tackling the issues.”

Occupy, secure, light and use it - the formula for reclaiming derelict community land

Community gardens are a way to reclaim ambiguous space, he said. “Occupy space, secure it, light it well and get people actively using it,” is Dr Judd’s prescription for reclaiming urban no-man’s land.

The NSW government housing estate at Claymore, near Campbelltown, provides an example of the role of community gardens in public housing estate rehabilitation. There, assisted by Argyle Community Housing, residents cleaned up their streets, started their own neighbourhood watch, employment service and extensive community food gardens. The prevalence of a large number of Pacific Islander residents had made the large area of community garden reminiscent of a Pacific Island bush garden, with sugar cane, taro, sweet potato, banana and a range of vegetables.

The NSW Department of Housing and the University of New South Wales have published a book and CD based on the results of a four-year study of the gardens at the Waterloo Public Housing Estate — A Bountiful Harvest: Community Gardens and Neighbourhood Renewal in Waterloo (pdf from NSW Department of Housing website).

Published in Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network Community Harvest 2006

< top

PAGE UPDATED... Thursday, 7 June 2007