Onyango Elizabeth, Otoadese Destiny, Mori Keji, Chinedu-Asogwa Nkechinyere, Kiplagat Joyce, Jirel Binita
School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Health Place. 2025 Mar;92:103433. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103433. Epub 2025 Mar 4.
International migration is contributing to changes in the sociocultural and the economic landscapes of many cities in the world. As part of the changes in cities, we are witnessing an increased use of community gardens as spaces for wellbeing restoration, for social connection, and for addressing the challenge of food insecurity, particularly cultural food insecurity. Cultural food security is one major under-recognized issue, yet is pivotal to address given its role in positively supporting immigrants' settlement and health. However, there is lack of comprehensive evidence of how neighborhoods are changing to accommodate these initiatives and meet the cultural food needs of diverse communities. Our scoping review explored evidence from existing literature on how neighborhoods are changing to accommodate community gardens (CG) as a novel means to address cultural food insecurity among immigrant communities and support place-making and resettlement. Our literature search identified several areas of transformations including the different kinds of community gardens that have emerged, the associated physical, social, cultural, environmental, economic, and policy changes that have been reported in other countries in the Global North. The review also identified multifold benefits of CG in this regard, including benefits to health and wellbeing - the physical (i.e. nutrition and physical activity), mental (e.g., a place for healing for immigrants fleeing war-torn countries, domestic violence, trauma; fostering a connection to the land in new environments via place-making), and social (e.g., fostering community connections and cultural knowledge exchange). Despite the known benefits of community gardens to immigrants' health and wellbeing, there remains a lack of comprehensive evidence in Canada on how neighborhoods are changing to accommodate these initiatives and meet the cultural food needs of diverse communities. Such studies will serve as sources of evidence for novel ideas to address the cultural food needs and food insecurity of immigrant communities, which is becoming a growing public health concern.
国际移民正在促使世界上许多城市的社会文化和经济格局发生变化。作为城市变化的一部分，我们看到社区花园的使用越来越多，它们成为恢复身心健康、建立社会联系以及应对粮食不安全挑战（尤其是文化粮食不安全）的空间。文化粮食安全是一个主要的未得到充分认识的问题，但鉴于其在积极支持移民定居和健康方面的作用，解决这一问题至关重要。然而，关于社区如何变化以适应这些举措并满足不同社区的文化粮食需求，缺乏全面的证据。我们的范围综述探讨了现有文献中的证据，这些证据涉及社区如何变化以接纳社区花园，将其作为解决移民社区文化粮食不安全以及支持场所营造和重新安置的一种新方式。我们的文献检索确定了几个变革领域，包括已出现的不同类型的社区花园，以及在全球北方其他国家所报告的相关物理、社会、文化、环境、经济和政策变化。该综述还确定了社区花园在这方面的多重益处，包括对健康和幸福的益处——身体方面（即营养和体育活动）、心理方面（例如，为逃离饱受战争蹂躏国家、遭受家庭暴力、创伤的移民提供一个治愈的场所；通过场所营造在新环境中建立与土地的联系）以及社会方面（例如，促进社区联系和文化知识交流）。尽管社区花园对移民健康和幸福的益处是已知的，但在加拿大，关于社区如何变化以适应这些举措并满足不同社区的文化粮食需求，仍然缺乏全面的证据。此类研究将为解决移民社区的文化粮食需求和粮食不安全问题的新想法提供证据来源，而这正日益成为一个公共卫生问题。
