In light of compact cities, public spaces paly a crucial role in daily lives of citizens. In this regard, guerrilla gardening has been evolved as a vital practice for locals. This essay will discuss that there are plenty of advantages in this phenomenon, which are outweigh its drawbacks.
Firstly, the chief advantage of converting public spaces into gardens lies in social benefits. Locals who themselves plant and nurture vegetables not only participate in social activities, such as local gathering but also enhance their sense of belonging to their neighborhoods. As a result, they create a more vibrant and safer place to live, where vandalism is vanished. Secondly, this kind of gardening promotes local economic by job creation. For example, retail workers can produce and sell organic tomato and leek in their plazas. Consequently, the need for importing productions from other places will be omitted, which leads to save both money and energy. Lastly, local gardening impacts on environmental and leads to sustainability. Research have indicated that urban heat island and air pollution will be mitigated, providing the ratio of green spaces increase. In the wake of this, local benefit from fresh air and healthier life-style.
However, there are several problems with changing the land use of public spaces. The most highlighted obstacle is the lack of open spaces, especially in compact cities, compared to sprawl cities. Additionally, this gardening is considered as a bottom-up practice, which needs permission from above authorities and should be align with urban design plans.
To sum up, it could be argued that the advantages of DIY (Do It Yourself) gardening is outweigh its disadvantages.