Factors and social relations in the urban garden “This is a square”, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

The current research paper is a qualitative study that investigates which are the factors and social relationships involved in the creation of urban gardens in Madrid, Spain. The objective is to understand how the urban garden “This is a square” was born, from the experience of the participants and what makes them prevail over time. Analyzing the urban anthropology and social-biographical perspective, this paper is carried out to clarify how the garden is formed, understanding the way social actors come together in the Urban Garden, from its cause and permanence as well, applying a qualitative-ethnographic methodology. Three concepts are considered as guiding factors of the research, being guiding in the evaluation of the development of communities in diverse urban studies. These are trust, participation and belonging to the place. Therefore, the study was carried out applying to the participants semi-structured interviews based on different life stories experiences, before and after the creation of the community garden. It is concluded in relation to the three concepts mentioned before with the main factors that represent them, as well as the evolution of the Urban Garden until today. At the beginning taking part was the most important for establishing the square: there were no social relations between neighbors, and there was no trust, nor belonging. Confidence and sense of belonging have improved. Although the variety of activities are the most important factors to develop and keep the urban garden, as well as the increase of the social relations of those who participate, and there is a lot of rotation among the participants, the urban garden has prevailed.