We are working with allotment communities and local organisations in Norwich to understand how gardeners share knowledge, skills, and values to support food justice and benefit their communities. The findings will empower allotment communities to improve collaboration, facilitate learning, and fully realise allotment potential to contribute to food justice.
Background
Across the UK, allotments — small plots of land rented by individuals to grow food for personal use — play an important role in urban and peri-urban food systems. They provide fresh, healthy food, encourage physical activity, support mental wellbeing, and build social connections. Despite these clear benefits, allotments are often overlooked in public health, food, and wellbeing policies, and their full potential to support healthier, fairer communities is not yet fully realised.
Historically, allotments have supported communities through times of social and economic crisis, including the World Wars, economic recessions, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They have helped people access food, maintain mental and physical health, and strengthen community ties. Today, allotments bring together people from diverse ages and backgrounds, including those from marginalised or disadvantaged communities, creating vibrant spaces for learning, collaboration, and sharing skills. However, tensions and power dynamics within these communities can influence how people interact and work together, sometimes limiting the full potential of these spaces to support wellbeing and food justice.
This community-engaged survey will explore how learning and collaboration in allotment communities contribute to food justice and help build healthier, fairer communities. The findings aim to promote allotments as a community-based solution that local authorities and health systems could use to support prevention, wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities.
Project Aims
This project uses a community-engaged survey to explore how learning and collaboration within allotment communities support food justice, wellbeing, and fairer, healthier communities. It aims to amplify community voices and provide evidence to help local authorities and health systems recognise allotments as valuable community-based resources for prevention, wellbeing and reducing health inequalities.
Project Activity
This project relies on a community-engaged survey:
- First, workshops with allotment community members and interested stakeholders will be held to discuss the topic and co-design the survey so it reflects the interests and needs of the community.
- Second, the survey will be carried out with particular attention to reaching underrepresented communities.
- Third, the survey data will be analysed, and community feedback on the findings will be sought before reports are shared with local stakeholders and allotment communities.
Anticipated or actual outputs
The evidence from the community-engaged survey will inform two reports. The first one offering practical guidance on how allotments can be better utilized as community resources to support prevention, wellbeing, and strategies to reduce health inequalities. The second one will provide a practical guidance for allotment communities and organizations to help communities strengthen collaboration, enhance learning practices and build inclusive food-growing space that benefit members and their wider neighbourhoods.
Who is involved?
Kaja Weaver, University of Hertfordshire
Contact
Kaja Weaver, k.weaver2@herts.ac.uk
