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The Application of Sustainability Assessment: A Community Garden Assessment tool

Nipper, Danielle (2010) The Application of Sustainability Assessment: A Community Garden Assessment tool. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Community gardens provide numerous benefits, are important to sustain, and are significant to public health. They go beyond tangible benefits such as improved food security, nutrition and physical activity and can be the host of intangible benefits such as improved leadership, social networks, and quality of life. The essence of a community garden's dynamic transcends across multiple intervention levels making the community garden a flexible initiative. However, recent evidence indicates that community gardens struggle with discontinuation. The overarching goal of this paper is to examine longevity and sustainability issues as they relate to community gardens. I will apply a systematic framework of organizational structure and improvement (Sustainability Assessment Modeling (SAM)) to better understand community garden sustainability. Specifically, I propose the use of the SAM framework to develop a community garden assessment. SAM quantifies stakeholder's values, perceptions, and both economic and environmental costs. One aim of this paper is to explore the literature related to SAM and how this model can relate to public health, with a discussion of its methods, strengths, and limitations. The ultimate objective is to synthesize this information into a proposal of an effective, sustainable-focused assessment for community gardens. The participatory assessment process I propose will utilize indicators of organizational strengths, weaknesses and success of community gardens, such as longevity.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Nipper, DanielleDanielle.Nipper@yahoo.com
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairKeane, Christopher Rcrkcity@pitt.eduCRKCITY
Committee MemberTrauth, Jeanette Mtrauth@pitt.eduTRAUTH
Committee MemberRohrer, Wesley Mwmrun@pitt.eduWMRUN
Date: 28 June 2010
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 6 April 2010
Approval Date: 28 June 2010
Submission Date: 28 March 2010
Access Restriction: 5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: School of Public Health > Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
Degree: MPH - Master of Public Health
Thesis Type: Master's Thesis
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: sustainability assessment; SAM; community garden; garden
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-03282010-183213/, etd-03282010-183213
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:33
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:37
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/6627

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