According to the anthropologist Tim Ingold people in modern cities have become distanced and alienated from urban environments. We have forgotten that an environment is a world we live in, and not just a world we look at. To inhabit and environment means to engage in it “and through this practice of habitation it becomes part of us too. “ Could the growing phenomenon of community gardens in Copenhagen and other western cities be a collective attempt to create more meaningful and tangible cities? In her interdisciplinary PhD studies, Anne Madsbjerg explores why urban gardeners engage in community gardens in Copenhagen. What is at stake when community gardeners immerse themselves in the physical and social practice of urban gardening? She pays special attention to the underlying emotional, multi-sensory and social factors that drive the community garden work. Anne Madsbjerg, Architect MAA, is a PhD Fellow at the University of Copenhagen. |