Cultivating Governance: An Exploratory Analysis of Urban Garden Management Models for Long-Term Sustainability

The transformation of food systems has driven the growth of community gardens as urban green infrastructure with potential social, health and environmental benefits; however, less attention has been paid to how their governance is configured and sustained in practice. This study analyses and compares the governance of seven urban allotments in the Valencia Functional Urban Area (Spain) and explores its social dimensions: participation, community cohesion, inclusion and learning. A qualitative cross-sectional design combined 10 semi-structured interviews and five focus groups with 37 institutional, associative, user and expert participants, selected through purposive sampling until thematic saturation and analysed thematically. The allotments form a continuum between community self-management and institutional management: three are formally institutional, one is hybrid and three are self-managed with support, although hybrid arrangements predominate in practice. Participants described institutional contacts, funding, tenure arrangements and organisational capacity as relevant to continuity. Reported difficulties included administrative constraints, concentrated workloads and volunteer succession. Social interaction, inclusion and learning were valued alongside cultivation. The findings identify differences in reported governance practices without establishing the superiority of any model.