The Influence of Urban Gardening Activities on Participants’ Perceived Restorativeness, Resilience, Sense of Community and Stress

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

Dear Authors.
The manuscript “The influence of Urban Gardening Activities on participants’ Perceived Restorativeness, Resilience, Sense of Community and Stress” is good-written and fits well the general scope of Healthcare. The topic of the study presented is interesting and it includes a novelty.
The authors of the manuscript described of investigate to investigate the effect of urban garden activities on participants' psychological and physiological benefits.
As a landscape architect - I read the article with pleasure.
Urban gardening is a social trend involving the cultivation of various types of plants in the broadly understood urban space in order to provide locally produced food to city residents, educate the youngest, establish social bonds and improve the quality of public spaces. It is worth noting that urban gardening is characteristic of both economically poor and rich societies and, depending on the type of society and the "consumer", it can take different forms and be aimed at different goals . In addition, depending on the specificity of the city space or its fragments, contemporary urban gardening may consist in the spontaneous use of undeveloped patches of land, and in the planned creation of thematic gardens functionally related to the surroundings.
Most often, in the concepts of new cities, there are central and linear solutions, while in existing cities there are corridor, island and point forms: vertical or horizontal, in a network system or irregularly dispersed over a large area. Currently, one of the most common forms of urban gardening is the community garden or community garden, an area usually within the city, which is located in a common public space, created and maintained by residents connected by a bond resulting from a sense of belonging to one place or one idea. The solutions and activities carried out by a given community in a designated area focus on the creation and maintenance of a garden, often a vegetable or fruit garden, in conjunction with a flower or herb garden, the crops of which can be used by all members of the community. Plants are planted in the ground, under tunnels, in containers or on raised beds. The garden is run according to rules established and accepted by the community, and visitors who visit it abide by simple rules developed by the community.
In Germany, “multicultural” gardens (German: Interkulturelle Gärtens) are popular, established with the aim of integrating immigrant populations. Neighborhood gardens also play an important role in the lives of the elderly and disabled, being a place for passive and active recreation, social meetings and cultural events. The idea of these gardens is to motivate members of the local community to engage in work for the common good, to take care of their surroundings and respect common property, but above all to give a sense of pride in the effects of joint work. The products produced are used by community members for their own needs or sold. Working in the garden also has an educational and pro-ecological aspect.
Community gardens in Detroit are an example of urban gardening being geared towards production goals. For decades, this city was the American capital of the automotive industry, it was built by the Ford and General Motors factories located there - they provided jobs, which attracted new residents, stimulated construction and investments. The reasons for the declaration of bankruptcy of Detroit in 2013 are, among others, in the deindustrialization and crisis of the car industry, bad spatial policy, gradual transfer of life to the suburbs and dependence on the car, and in the wrong tax policy. The case of Detroit shows that urban gardening is a viable way to save the city. The unemployed decided to cultivate the fallow land. Vegetables and fruits are planted in former home gardens or in the place of demolished buildings. They set up social gardens and neighborhood agricultural cooperatives – they consume some of the crops and sell some. In 2013, there were 1,172 gardens in the city, of which 61% were family gardens, 28.7% - community gardens, 5.8% - gardening cooperatives, and 4.5% - school gardens (https:/ /detroitography.com).
Discussion, results and conclusions are an important signpost for decision makers. The research methods are correct, the appropriate research objects have been selected. The conclusions were properly presented. The results are very well presented in the tables. The program of gardening activities was very well planned and described (Table 2). Information about the participants, including the average monthly income, is also interesting (Table 3).
But I have comments on Fig. 1. - draw the boundaries of the park and add URL (google maps?).
I would also add more literature. I reviewed other manuscripts with over 120 references.
After making minor corrections, in my opinion the article is suitable for publication.
Yours sincerely,
Reviewer.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer1

First of all, we would like to express thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions for our manuscript. Especially. We would like to appreciate providing precious information/literature on urban gardens and gardening activities.

1. As you suggested, In Fig. 1, we replaced the aerial photography of the park which indicated study site by line. We also provided URL.
2. We corrected grammatical errors, replaced optimal terminology, such as recovery to restoration, change to increase or decrease, subject to participant, and so on.
3. We refined the purpose of study in Introduction.
4. We expanded the sampling methods in Methodology.
5. We described more study limitations and suggested further research.

We would like to thank you for your time.

 

Sincerely,

Won Sop Shin, corresponding author

Reviewer 2 Report

This is a worthy study looking at a couple of important variables in nature-based work.

The use of standardized scales with relative high reliability adds strength

use of physiological measure (cortisol) adds convergent validity

Sampling method needs to be more detailed. how recruited, compensation?

any drop off of subjects?

The sampling method needs to be addressed in limitations

what did control group do as compared with garden group?

Manuscript needs further translation as there are many instances of improper use of grammar 

choice of vocabulary can be improved as well 

ie. use 'restorative' instead of 'recovery'

manuscript needs further translation with more accurate use of grammar and better choice of vocabulary

Author Response

Dear Reviewer2

First of all, we would like to express thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions for our manuscript.

 

1. We corrected grammatical errors, replaced optimal terminology, such as recovery to restoration, change to increase or decrease, subject to participant, and so on, throughout the manuscript.
2. We refined the purpose of study in Introduction.
3. We expanded the sampling methods in Methodology. The expansion was focused on how the participants recruited, compensation, and drop rate.
4. We described more study limitations relating to sampling and suggested further research.

We would like to thank you for your time.

 

Sincerely,

Won Sop Shin, corresponding author

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for revising. Ready for pub.