The baseline survey and stakeholder interview work helped to identify a cluster of community
gardens in and around the city of Nottingham. Two community gardens were identified
from this cluster for more detailed case-study work. The baseline survey identified two
main types of community gardens, those which tended be place-based and those which
tended to be interest-based. The two case studies were selected on the basis that they represented
these two different types of community gardens. The case studies were therefore
sampled according to the nature of community involvement, whether the garden appeared
to represent an interest or place-based initiative, and the nature of the management structure
(more top-down or bottom-up).
Case studies are a useful technique to assist in conveying and understanding the complexities
of social life (Yin 2003). The main focus of this study was an exploration of the
relationships within community gardens and the interaction and networks each garden has
with people in the local community, other organisations and institutions. The social capital
conceptual framework outlined earlier was used to examine how community gardens contribute
towards, and benefited from, the different types of social capital. The case-study
research combined the use of semi-structured interviews with ethnographic and