In the cities of industrialized countries, the sudden
keen interest in urban agriculture has resulted, inter alia, in the
growth of the number and diversity of urban collective gardens. While the multifunctionality of collective gardens is well
known, individual gardeners’ motivations have still not been
thoroughly investigated. The aim of this article is to explore the
role, for the gardeners, of the food function as one of the
functions of gardens, and to establish whether and how this
function is a motivating factor for them. We draw on a set of
data from semi-structured interviews with 39 gardeners in 12
collective gardens in Paris and Montreal, as well as from a
survey on 98 gardeners and from field observations of the
gardeners’ practices. In the first part we present the nature and
diversity of garden produce, and the gardeners’ assessment
thereof. In the second part we describe the seven other functions mentioned by the gardeners, which enables us to situate
the food function in relation to them. We conclude that the food
function is the most significant function of the gardens, and
discuss the implications for practitioners and policy makers