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Urban Gardening as a New Form of Activism in the Post-Political Era

Spaces aren’t just the block of space we inhabit, the concept extends beyond the physical reality of length times width times height , it’s an amalgamation of reality, subjectivity, and its existence within cultural context. Sometimes that botch of land we call garden, isn’t just a patch of anthropogenic greenery. Anthropogenic as in, cultivated by humans, as means to, reactions to, or an aspiration towards. This reading borrows Lefebvre’s triad of space to secrete a critical understanding on Urban Gardening. It offers a unique perspective on the relationship between space, society, and politics in this post-political era. With the rise of neoliberal governmentality, citizens were pushed to survive whilst pitted against rising budget cuts in welfare programs, commodification of space, and the looming threat of food scarcity. Urban Gardening is seen as an ailment for the people and their means to express disagreement and dissent especially in the Global North. In the US, community g...
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Treating Lead Poisoning in your Urban Garden Harvests

Ever since the 2020 pandemic, Urban Gardening has slowly paved its way into the Indonesian zeitgeist. Aside from providing a therapeutic outlet, growing fruits and vegetables in an urban environment are also a neat way to ensure food resilience albeit in a microscopic scale. However, many have reported that urban soils contained some levels of dangerous contaminants, like heavy metals. Heavy metal contaminants such as lead, copper, and aluminium, are commonly found in urban soil. Trace amounts are believed to come mainly from industrialization and urban development. These toxins are largely present in acidic soils, even more so in homes painted with lead-based paints and those built along older streets. Human exposure to these toxins can result in health adverse effects mainly in children; such as intellectual and behavioral problems. These contaminants can reach our body via the fruits and vegetables we harvest from our backyard. To minimize the risk of ingesting these harmfu...
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