The city Parks Department has put out a map that you can explore to see the open and green spaces in and around New York City.

Clicking on Community gardens yields the following map:

The map looks great in the sense that communities that are designated federal poverty zones, food deserts, and low in social capital are the ones with the greatest number of community gardens. However, the presence of community gardens actually points to a history of white flight, divestment, and planned/unplanned contraction. Copious vacant lots (often absorbed into the city’s portfolio of properties after non-payment of taxes, etc.) in these communities were there to be turned into community gardens. Wealthier neighborhoods that withstood the devastation during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, and that preserved their housing stock, did not have vacant lots to be turned into community gardens,

While community gardens are now a community asset, their presence points to a deeper and darker history of New York City’s economic history.

We Are The Change

As seen from a school playground on Lexington at 127th Street.