Grower-squatters in a Shenzhen urban garden: enduring informality

Source abstract

This case study presents qualitative observations and interview data to explore the operation of an informal urban garden in Shenzhen. In contrast with formal urban horticulture practices in neighboring areas, observation reveals that grower-squatters claim usufructuary rights to engage in informal horticulture activities which are commonly transferred through informal transactions. Non-confrontational land claims, social networks governed by tacit understandings, and self-motivated recycling of resources, all rooted in informal arrangements, have collectively sustained flourishing urban horticultural practices for the past decade. Strikingly, these informal arrangements have not only endured but consistently outperformed adjacent formal community gardens, which, despite official sanction and investment, fell into neglect. Such informal practices can contribute to the development of sustainable, self-organizing urban gardens in megacities.