Community gardens flourish in cities all over the world. In the United States a community garden movement was rekindled in the 1970s and Portland, Oregon was at its epicenter. The Reed Community Garden on the campus of Reed College in Southeast Portland is one of the oldest community gardens in the city, and with 150 garden plots, the largest.
Marilee Dea has been gardening at Reed for 17 years and is one of several garden managers.
The garden has been a fixture in the neighborhood for 30 years but now Reed College has plans to build a dorm on top of the garden. Marilee and the other gardeners have been negotiating with the college for five years to - if not save the garden in its current location - at least be able to garden somewhere else on the campus.
Reed has recieved a lot of bad press as a result of the garden controversy, and last we heard they have committed to providing garden space somewhere on the campus and moving the garden's carefully nurtured topsoil to the new location.
COMMUNITY GARDENS AROUND THE WORLD
El Sol Brilliante Community Garden
Manhattan's East Village circa 1982
This garden is by Parque Centrale in central Caracas, Venezuela. Parque Centrale is actually not a green space, but a huge shopping and business complex. The garden provides a respite of green in the concrete jungle of central Caracas.