tUrban areas, in particular, present unique challenges for the conservation of ecosystems. Allotment gar-dens (AGs) are an important greenspace feature of urban landscapes in Europe which have the potentialto offer multiple social and bio-physical ecosystem services in addition to food production. This studyis an attempt to assess and compare the ecosystem services provided by AGs in Manchester, UK, andPozna´n, Poland as well as a comparison to city parks. The surveys included a detailed land cover char-acterisation and an assessment of cultivated and spontaneous plant species. There are differences in theland use characteristics in the two cities with a preference for vegetable growing and water recycling inManchester, and a greater number of trees and a higher focus on recreation in Pozna´n. The consequencesof these basic differences are discussed in terms of the ecosystem services that are provided by the twodifferent AG types, and parks. In terms of ecology, there is higher species richness on AGs with a greaterproportion of neophytes, which may potentially spread into cities. The species recorded in parks and AGscontained a lot of native characteristics of urban, ruderal plant communities.