Paul Sherfey

Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations: Cultivating responsible citizenship : collective gardens at the periphery of neoliberal urban norms Paul Sherfey

As the population increases, urban environments across the globe are expanding and becoming denser. In conjunction with this, neoliberal capitalist policies impact how urban land is used, and who is given access to it.

Changes in the urban landscape do not go uncontested, however. The rise of collective gardens is one example of action where people challenge dominant rationales of urban land use. These gardens emphasise collective management and publicly-oriented educational and cultural programming. They are also places where alternative norms of urban life are nurtured. What are these alternative norms, how are they nurtured, and what does this tell us about contemporary experiences of urban life in the context of neoliberal capitalism?