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Urban gardens are incredible assets to communities. They provide resourceful green spaces to grow sustainable food, build community cohesion, make new friends, connect with the earth, and much more.
Recently, community gardens have resurged as a grassroots movement that contributes food security, mental respite, and educational and cultural growth opportunities to cities covered in concrete, polluted air, empty lots, and food deserts.
These urban communities have become a symbol of empowerment, social actualization, and activism and enable city-dwellers to interact with their incredible food resources outside of the supermarket.
While some focus on quantity of food, others are centered around community-building or education. What all of them have in common, is that they bring us together.
Check out our list of 5 inspiring urban gardens in the US:
1. GOTHAM GREENS
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WHERE: New York & Chicago
WHAT: Gotham Greens first started in Brooklyn and now has four locations in NYC and Chicago. Their flagship farm in Brooklyn produces over 100,000 pounds of greens per year. But these guys don’t just produce healthy local veggies, they’re using high-tech greenhouses with solar panels to make sure food is pesticide-free and sustainably grown.
2. BUGS: BALTIMORE URBAN GARDENING WITH STUDENTS
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WHERE: Baltimore, Maryland
WHAT: The Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students (BUGS) program encourages students from low-income families to get their hands dirty and plant veggies through their after-school and summer programs. Many of these kids don’t have access to green spaces, and have never had the opportunity to grow food.
3. REVISION URBAN FARM
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WHERE: Boston, Massachusetts
WHAT: ReVision Urban Farm in Boston works in partnership with the Revision Family Home - a shelter for 22 homeless parents and their kids. The farm provides these families with information on healthy eating, and access to the farm’s fresh vegetable. The organization also provides job training to help families escape the cycle of poverty.
4. SWALE
WHERE: New York, New York
WHAT: Swale, a floating food forest located on a barge, is an innovative project meant to inspire city-dwellers to rethink the relationship between our cities and our food. This urban garden serves as both a living art exhibit and an educational farm. Food forests are sustainable gardens that incorporate perennial vegetables, fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, and vines- each one complementing the other in a symbiotic relationship.
5. URBAN ORGANICS
WHERE: St. Paul, Minnesota
WHAT: Urban Organics is a non-profit aquaponic garden. Aquaponics use fish and crustacean waste as a type of fertilizer that provides nutrients back to the vegetables. The organization has also resourcefully taken over an abandoned commercial brewery. The goal of the garden is to provide residents with fresh and organic vegetables, to prove aquaponic commercial viability, and to support local economic development.
