Recently, the Toronto Star featured an article about the displacement of the Swansea Mews residents, crumbling infrastructure and life dependent on community housing. It’s a disturbing example of the failures of government, and the meaning of the community, of people who turned concrete into homes.
Mentioned almost immediately is the loss an impacted resident felt by leaving her garden behind. While safety and uncertainty were top of mind, so too was the sadness of separation from her garden and the stress of not knowing whether she could grow food in her new apartment.
Research has shown that gardening is a healthy pastime with positive impacts on mental well-being as well as physical health. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, people turned to gardening as one of the few things they could do that was socially distanced. People working from home found time to start new hobbies, gardening included to deal with social isolation.
It stands to reason then, that governments would promote urban gardening as a way to positively impact citizen health and community. Yet, our research has shown that only limited municipalities have programs to promote household gardening. Community gardens have been one way that municipalities have provided space for urbanites to garden. Yet, the popularity of these initiatives surpassed the availability of plots during the pandemic as many gardens had lengthy waitlists, forcing them to be left out.
The Star used the gardening quote as a powerful metaphor of planting roots in a community, which is atypical for public housing news. Swansea Mews is a public housing initiative that provided housing to low-income people which is often stigmatized. Reports of violence, substance abuse and basic villainizing of residents dominate stories about residents. Public housing is almost completely urbanized, with more access to concrete and asphalt than to greenspaces.
Isolation was felt most acutely during the pandemic lockdowns, for many groups including public housing residents. Yet, even without the public health pressure to remain separated from community members socially, residents of public housing generally do not participate in social mixing. Research has shown that the social capital and mental well-being of everyone are enhanced when meeting people outside their social circles.
Online community building provides an opportunity for all gardeners, regardless of geography or income, to participate in the shared joy of gardens. Gardening forums are free to join and can break down barriers and stigmas that often follow public housing residents. During the pandemic, many gardeners joined online communities to share advice and pictures of their gardens.
The crisis at Swansea Mews involved a failure of structural engineering that made residents’ homes unsafe. Gardening offers an opportunity in which housing managers and community members can foster social collaboration and well-being. Gardens should be a public housing priority and included with all public housing initiatives, similar to parking spaces. With gardening, residents cultivate a sense of community and feel connected to their roots.
