Abstract
Community gardens are unique, multifunctional urban green spaces which provide a wide
diversity of social and ecological benefits, including access to food, increased biodiversity,
educational opportunities, and community building. These benefits, often referred to as
“ecosystem services”, contribute to the social and ecological resilience of the urban landscape.
This project examines how cultural and biophysical ecosystem services interact and influence
one another in community garden settings. By comparing survey data on perceived benefits of
community gardening and agroecological characteristics of garden plots, a preference for cultural
ecosystem services among community gardeners is revealed, which influences garden cultivation
and management practices. Qualitative interviews further demonstrate how sense of place in
community gardens affects local ecological knowledge development and ecosystem service coproduction, contributing to ecological, social, and individual resilience. The conclusions of this
thesis demonstrate the importance of restoring human relationships to nature in a rapidly
urbanizing world and provide important insights for green space management and design.