Urban gardens as places of transformation: gardening as a practice of care and becoming
In a recent publication, Yvonne Volkart, head of research at the Institute Art Gender Nature (IAGN) at the HGK Basel, interprets horticultural practices as activities of paying attention, caring, healing and repairing.
Urban community gardens have become an integral part of the city. As places connected to the earth, they have the potential to fundamentally change both the city and society. But what is so special about urban gardens and why are they indispensable?
In the open access publication Unterwegs in die Stadt der Zukunft, published by transcript in March 2024 and edited by Andrea Baier, Christa Müller and Karin Werner, authors from academia, research and activism shed light on the various dimensions of the new urban garden movement and explore their role in helping to shape a people- and nature-friendly city of the future.
Dr Yvonne Volkart, Head of Research at the Institute Art Gender Nature (IAGN) at the HGK Basel, points out in her article entitled Gärtnern als Praxis des Sorgens und des Werdens that gardening practices open us up to the transformative power of the living and the unpredictable dimensions of becoming. They show that human beings are not outside of "nature", but are part of it and (want to) care for it.
Horticultural practitioners live with the plants, look after them, care for them. They are the mothers, the care workers, the ones who, together with their protégés and allies, maintain life on earth. From this, Yvonne Volkart derives the thesis that horticultural practices are eco-logics of care and concern. At their centre are activities of becoming attentive, caring, healing and repairing.
The text "Gardening as a practice of caring and becoming" by Yvonne Volkart was written as part of the HGK Basel-based research project Plants_Intelligence. Learning like a Plant of the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF (2022-25).
Unterwegs in die Stadt der Zukunft. Urbane Gärten als Orte der Transformation, ed. by Andrea Baier, Christa Müller, Karin Werner, Transcript: Bielefeld 2024, 432 pages