Community gardening and social prescribing: an ethnographic exploration

Community gardening projects involve the coming together
of people in a community, to partake in physical activity, develop skillsets, and
socialise in green space. Such activities are welcome in a social context whereby
health is often conceived of in reductionist, individualist, and biomedical terms.
Community gardening represent an opportunity for fostering health - physical,
mental, and social wellbeing (WHO) - in a holistic, sustainable manner.
I propose to study the relationship between community gardening and wellbeing,
using ethnographic methods, in two low-income areas with poor health outcomes, in
North East England. Twelve-months of participant observation will be strengthened
by a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews. I intend to explore how such
activities interact with the NHS's expanding program of social prescription: the
referral of patients to non-clinical activities by primary healthcare providers. I seek
to address the research gap on the interaction between community gardening and
social prescription, and on social prescription and the centres that facilitate such
projects
The study will draw on and add to the anthropological and sociological literature on
therapeutic landscapes, concepts of nature, and on how moralities and values are
inculcated through practices. Participant observation will allow for the elucidation of
the effects of community gardening for individuals, and of social prescription on
facilitators, over time. The accompanying interviews will allow the development of a
picture of what participants propagate through community gardening, and what helps
and hinders their engagement.