Placemaking and urban gardening: Himmelbeet case study in Berlin

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine urban community gardens from the urban planning perspective. The paper analyses the Berlin case study Himmelbeet and its relation to the concept of critical placemaking (Toolis, 2017) and placemaking principles of Madden and Schwartz (1999).

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on participatory action research. It examines one specific case study in Berlin where the author volunteered for several years. The set of placemaking principles is used as an ex-post analysis tool to evaluate how the community garden meets the criteria of placemaking.

Findings

The paper shows that the urban community garden can be considered as a placemaking scheme although it was not planned with placemaking instruments. The garden’s placemaking process shows strategies to challenge issues of exclusion, disinvestment and depoliticization of public spaces and thus exemplifies the possibilities of citizen-controlled placemaking processes.

Originality/value

The paper links placemaking with urban community gardens by assessing the placemaking principles and discussing the criteria of critical placemaking. The paper also contributes to a better understanding of urban community gardens in relation to current trends of austerity and urban inequalities.

Citation

Karge, T. (2018), "Placemaking and urban gardening: Himmelbeet case study in Berlin", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 208-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-10-2017-0109