CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Somosfalvi, Lilla |
|---|---|
| Title | Environmental Learning Beyond the Fences: Adult actors' experience in a school garden programme in Hungary |
| Summary | Growing urbanisation alters human-nature relationships leading to citizen’s alienation from nature. This socio-economic change calls for new ways to connect citizens with the natural environment in urban areas. Community gardens are identified as an initiative that reconnects urban population with natural landscape, improves their environmental knowledge, and increases the adaptive capacity of local communities. While research on community gardens’ role in this field is constantly growing, such literature on school gardens, a subcategory of community gardens is limited. Academic papers on school gardens focus on the benefits in students’ development, while neglecting garden’s impacts on adults, who are also integral actors in the complex network around gardens. This thesis aims to address this gap by analysing the environmental learning experience of adult participants and their perceptions about the garden in light of their involvement in a school garden using the social theory of learning. These aspects were explored in the context of reGARDEN located in a densely populated district of Budapest. Through field observations and semi-structured interviews, the thesis found that all participating adult groups’ environmental knowledge improved in the identified learning streams including gardening and local ecological conditions; environmental elements and processes; new skills; and personal development. The study also revealed that the school garden plays a significant role in community building, recreation and in some cases even resulted in partial behavioural change. The conclusion was made that school gardens have the potential to promote environmental learning among adult actors and contribute to the social resilience of the community. |
| Supervisor | László Pintér |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/somosfalvi_lilla.pdf |
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