“It’s Not Only Our Task”
Administrative Barriers of Enabling Urban Gardening in Tampere, Finland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v22i2.2056Keywords:
Community gardening, city administration, institutional ambiguity, governance, neoliberal politicsAbstract
An ongoing academic debate shows that urban community gardening (CG) has diverse governance models with differing roles of city administration and citizens. This article uses an empirical case study conducted in the city of Tampere, Finland, to explore what I call the “operational space” of urban CG seen from the viewpoint of city officials. Two rounds of interviews were conducted with eight city officials, and a discourse analysis was applied for the data. As an analytic term developed in this article, the operational space emerges by administrative policies and practices that enable or constrain urban gardening under two general trends of urban governance: institutional ambiguity and neoliberal urban development. In this case, the operational space was rather rigid and narrow. The five main discourses on benefit, control of space, scarcity, unclarity, and newness referred to a clear aim to enable urban gardening. However, the discourses were restricted to strategic, limited, and instrumental levels, as the political-strategic aims of enabling urban gardening contradicted the administrative practices. The results show that cautiousness and unclarity in the administrative-political culture tend to lead to institutional ambiguity. In conclusion, operational space analysis is helpful to uncover the problems and possibilities between CG and city administration.
References
Ansell, Chris, and Alison Gash. 2008. “Collaborative governance in theory and practice.” Journal of public administration research and theory 18 (4), 543–571. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mum032
Artmann, Martina, Manon Kohler, Gotthard Meinel, Jing Gan, Ioan-Cristian Ioja. 2019. “How Smart Growth and Green Infrastructure Can Mutually Support Each Other — A Conceptual Framework for Compact and Green Cities.” Ecological Indicators 96 (2): 10–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.07.001
Bell, Simon. 2016. “Introduction.” In Urban Allotment Gardens in Europe, edited by Simon Bell et al., 1–7. New York: Routledge.
Bäcklund, Pia, and Raine Mäntysalo. 2010. “Agonism and Institutional Ambiguity: Ideas on Democracy and the Role of Participation in the Development of Planning Theory and Practice—The Case of Finland.” Planning Theory 9 (4): 333–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/147309521037368
Barron, Jennifer. 2016. “Community Gardening: Cultivating Subjectivities, Space, and Justice.” Local Environment 22 (9): 1142–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2016.1169518
Bénit-Gbaffou, Claire. 2018. “Unpacking State Practices in City-making, in Conversations with Ananya Roy.” Journal of Development Studies 54 (12): 2139–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2018.1460469
Certomà, Chiara, and Chiara Tornaghi. 2015. “Political Gardening. Transforming Cities and Political Agency.” Local Environment 20 (10): 1123–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2015.1053724
Certomà, Chiara, Lorenzo Chelleri, and Bruno Notteboom. 2020. “The ‘fluid governance’ of urban public spaces. Insights from informal planning practices in Rome.” In Urban Studies 57 (5): 976–995. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018819734
City of Tampere. 2017. “Tampere—The Best for You.” Tampere City Strategy 2030.
City of Tampere. 2021. “Puistot ja viheralueet” [Parks and Green Spaces], City of Tampere, last modified September 6, 2021, https://www.tampere.fi/asuminen-ja-ymparisto/ymparisto-ja-luonto/puistot-ja-viheralueet.html
Crossan, John, Andrew Cumbers, Robert McMaster, and Deirdre Shaw. 2016. “Contesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow’s Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship.” Antipode 48 (4): 937–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12220
Darly, Ségolène, and Nathan McClintock. 2017. “Introduction to urban agriculture in the neoliberal city: Critical European perspectives.” ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 16 (2): 224–31. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1598
Demailly, Kaduna-Eve, and Segolene Darly. 2017. “Urban Agriculture on the Move in Paris: The Routes of Temporary Gardening in the Neoliberal City.” ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 16 (2): 332–61. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1384
Drake, Luke, and Laura J. Lawson. 2014. “Validating Verdancy or Vacancy? The Relationship of Community Gardens and Vacant Land in the U.S.” Cities 40, Part B: 133–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.07.008
Eizenberg, Efrat, and Tovi Fenster. 2015. “Reframing Urban Controlled Spaces: Community Gardens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa.” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 14 (4): 1132–60. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1161
Ernwein, Marion. 2017. “Urban Agriculture and the Neoliberalisation of What?” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 16 (2): 249–75. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1387
Follman, Alexander, and Valérie Viehoff. 2015. “A Green Garden on Red Clay: Creating a New Urban Common as a Form of Political Gardening in Cologne, Germany.” Local Environment 20 (10): 1148–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.894966
Follman, Alexander, and Valérie Viehoff. 2019. “Public-access Community Gardens: A New Form of Urban Commons? Imagining New Socio-Ecological Futures in an Urban Gardening Project in Cologne, Germany.” In Urban Gardening as Politics, edited by Chiara Tornaghi and Chiara Certomà, 66–88. London and New York: Routledge.
Guitart, Daniela, Catherine Pickering, and Jason Byrne. 2012. “Past results and future directions in urban community gardens research.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 11 (4): 364–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2012.06.007
Fox-Kämper, Runrid, Andreas Wesener, Daniel Münderlein, Martin Sondermann, Wendy McWilliam, and Nick Kirk. 2018. “Urban Community Gardens: An Evaluation of Governance Approaches and Related Enablers and Barriers at Different Development Stages.” Landscape and Urban Planning 170, 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.06.023
Ghose, Rina, and Margaret Pettygrove. 2014. “Urban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship.” Antipode 46 (4): 1092–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12077
Haid, Christian G. 2017. “The Janus Face of Urban Governance: State, Informality and Ambiguity in Berlin.” Current Sociology 65 (2): 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392116657299
Hajer, Maarten. 2003. “Policy Without Polity? Policy Analysis and the Institutional Void.” Policy Sciences 36, 175–95. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024834510939
Hajer, Maarten. 2004. “Three Dimensions of Deliberative Policy Analysis: Analysing Governance Networks in Rebuilding Ground Zero.” Paper presented at the 2004 Convention of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.
Hajer, Maarten, and Wytske Versteeg. 2005a. “Performing Governance Through Networks.” European Political Science 4 (3): 340–47. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210034
Hajer, Maarten, and Wytske Versteeg. 2005b. “A Decade of Discourse Analysis of Environmental Politics: Achievements, Challenges, Perspectives.” Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 7 (3): 175–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/15239080500339646
Hajer, Maarten, and Hendrik Wagenaar. 2003. Deliberative Policy Analysis: Understanding Governance in the Network Society. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Harvey, David. 2013. Rebel Cities. From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.
Healey, Patsy. 1997. Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Societies. Macmillan: London.
Jacob, Michelle, Cecilia Rocha. 2021. “Models of Governance in Community Gardening: Administrative Support Fosters Project Longevity.” Local Environment 26 (5): 557–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1904855
Johnstone, Barbara. 2002/2018. Discourse Analysis. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Jokinen, Ari, Eveliina Asikainen, and Krista Willman. 2017. “How to Grow Multifunctionality in Food System Planning.” The Finnish Journal of Urban Studies 55 (3): 48–63.
Jokinen, Ari, Helena Leino, Pia Bäcklund, and Markus Laine. 2018. “Strategic Planning Harnessing Urban Policy Mobilities: The Gradual Development of Local Sustainability Fix.” Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 20 (5): 551–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2018.1454828
Keshavarz, Nazila, and Simon Bell. 2016. “A History of Urban Gardens in Europe.” In Urban Allotment Gardens in Europe, edited by Simon Bell et al., 8–32. New York: Routledge.
Kumnig, Sarah. 2017. “Between Green Image Production, Participatory Politics and Growth: Urban Agriculture and Gardens in the Context of Neoliberal Urban Development in Vienna.” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 16 (2): 232–48. https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1393
Kyrönviita, Mikko, and Antti Wallin. 2022. Building a DIY skatepark and doing politics hands-on, City 26 (4): 646–663. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2022.2079879
Lefebvre, Henri. 1996. Writings on Cities. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Lönnqvist, Antti, Jonna Käpylä, Henna Salonius, and Tan Yigitcanlar. 2014. “Knowledge that matters: Identifying regional knowledge assets of the Tampere region.” European Planning Studies 22 (10): 2011–2029. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2013.814621
Mayrhofer, Rita. 2018. “Co-creating Community Gardens on Untapped Terrain—Lessons from a Transdisciplinary Planning and Participation Process in the Context of Municipal Housing in Vienna.” Local Environment 23 (12): 1207–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2018.1541345
McClintock, Nathan. 2014. “Radical, Reformist, and Garden-Variety Neoliberal: Coming to Terms with Urban Agriculture’s Contradictions.” Local Environment 19 (2): 147–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.752797
McGlone, Pauline, Barbara Dobson, Elizabeth Dowler, and Michael Nelson. 1999. Food projects and how they work. New York: YPS & Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Nettle, Claire. 2014. Community Gardening as Social Action. Farnham: Routledge.
Paltridge, Brian. 2018. Discourse analysis: An introduction. London: Bloomsbury 2012.
Purcell, Mark, and Shannon K. Tyman. 2015. “Cultivating food as a right to the city.” Local Environment 20 (10): 1132–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.903236
Rosol, Marit. 2010. “Public Participation in Post‐Fordist Urban Green Space Governance: The Case of Community Gardens in Berlin.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34 (3): 548–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00968.x
Rosol, Marit. 2012. “Community Volunteering as Neoliberal Strategy? Green Space Production in Berlin.” Antipode 44 (1): 239–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00861.x
Sintomer, Yves, Carsten Herzberg, and Anja Röcke. 2008. “Participatory Budgeting in Europe: Potentials and Challenges.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32 (1): 164–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00777.x
StatFin. 2022. Vital statistics and population by area, 1990-2021. Statistics Finland’s free-of-charge statistical databases. https://pxweb2.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__kuol/statfin_kuol_
pxt_12au.px/
Tappert, Simone, Tanja Klöti, and Matthias Drilling. 2018. “Contested Urban Green Spaces in the Compact City: The (Re-)Negotiation of Urban Gardening in Swiss Cities.” Landscape and Urban Planning 170: 69–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.08.016
Tornaghi, Chiara. 2014. “Critical Geography of Urban Agriculture.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (4): 551–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132513512542
van Holstein, Ellen. 2020. “Strategies of self-organising communities in a gentrifying city.” Urban Studies 57 (6): 1284–1300. First published online: April 4, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019832468.
Wagenaar, Hendrik. 2011. Meaning in Action: Interpretation and Dialogue in Policy Analysis: Interpretation and Dialogue in Policy Analysis. London & New York: Routledge.
Wallin, Antti, Helena Leino, Ari Jokinen, Markus Laine, Johanna Tuomisaari, and Pia Bäcklund. 2018. “A Polyphonic Story of Urban Densification.” Urban Planning 3 (3): 40–51. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v3i3.1340
Wesener, Andreas, Runrid Fox-Kämper, Martin Sondermann, and Daniel Münderlein. 2020. “Placemaking in Action: Factors That Support or Obstruct the Development of Urban Community Gardens.” Sustainability 12 (2): 657. https://doi.org/0.3390/su12020657
Wetherell, Margaret, and Jonathan Potter. 1988. “Discourse analysis and the identification of interpretative repertoires.” In Analysing Everyday Explanation. A Casebook of Methods, edited by Charles Antaki, 168–83. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Krista Willman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors agree to publish their articles in ACME under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
