Özet:

The vegetable garden of Michelle Obama in The White House, as well as the ‘community gardens’, ‘city farms’ or ‘hobby gardens’ owned by city-dwellers all around the world, herald a new urban lifestyle in the pursuit of healthy food cultivated in personal gardens. Repercussions of this current, seen primarily in New York, London and Berlin among others, also began in Vienna and Istanbul and grabbed public attention. This tendency should be considered not as a temporary trend, but a desire of inhabitants to establish a connection with their environment, even if it is only for economic purposes, to have a say in urban design or to raise ecologic awareness. The objective of this study was to analyze common, similar or different aspects of community gardens in Vienna, the Austrian capital and Istanbul, the most important city in Turkey, with respect to formation and implementation; these gardens are called ‘common gardens’ or ‘hobby gardens’ as an aspect of urban agriculture needed by people with common grounds despite certain differences in realization with regard to social dynamics of relevant place. Istanbul is known for dense housing, while Vienna is famous for its wide green spaces; nevertheless, productive landscaping, gardens and balcony gardening are gradually becoming more popular among inhabitants in both cities, especially in central areas. Fertile, historical landscaping keeps diminishing in Istanbul where green-less housing dominates; therefore, these applications bring the historical identity and cultural richness into our day; besides, they inspire new productive spaces and remind the importance of present ones.

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