SOCIALIZATION.
Humans are social creatures by nature. We interact on a day to day basis with each other, and we need each other. We can be malicious, but we also help each other out. We spread the love we have towards each other. We lean on each other when times are tough, and we help each other get stronger. Urban agriculture naturally fills into human socialization. Urban areas can cause humans to tend to be a little independent, a little apathetic. Interestingly, the presence of flora has proven to modify the behavior of humans in a way that promotes communion and building friendships [1].
Community gardens provide a space for people to get outside, get their hands dirty, and grow produce together. The community garden provides common ground, literally and figuratively. It’s easier to open up to one’s neighbors when there’s something more stimulating to discuss than the weather or the news on the block. When neighbors share experience, they can share gardening strategies, or even just tools. In urban areas, where access to open land is scarce, agriculture allows people to have a space to call their own, according to Sheila Golden, a junior specialist at the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Urban agriculture helps us reconnect in a very individualized, technological age.
With more than forty years of global food growing experience, K. Rashid Nuri knows the importance of promoting good health and economic development. A graduate of the Poli-Sci program at Harvard with a master's degree in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts, he helped plant some of San Diego's first organic community gardens. He also supports that with health and economics, good socialization follows inevitably. He discusses the importance of regaining connections through food culture.
Community gardens provide a space for people to get outside, get their hands dirty, and grow produce together. The community garden provides common ground, literally and figuratively. It’s easier to open up to one’s neighbors when there’s something more stimulating to discuss than the weather or the news on the block. When neighbors share experience, they can share gardening strategies, or even just tools. In urban areas, where access to open land is scarce, agriculture allows people to have a space to call their own, according to Sheila Golden, a junior specialist at the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Urban agriculture helps us reconnect in a very individualized, technological age.
With more than forty years of global food growing experience, K. Rashid Nuri knows the importance of promoting good health and economic development. A graduate of the Poli-Sci program at Harvard with a master's degree in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts, he helped plant some of San Diego's first organic community gardens. He also supports that with health and economics, good socialization follows inevitably. He discusses the importance of regaining connections through food culture.