Urban Food Growing Projects
My book “How Urban Food Growing Projects Can Transform Local Communities; Understanding Local Responses to Sustainability and Food Insecurity Challenges” is currently scheduled to come out in early 2027 with Bristol University Press. Drawing on ethnographic work, field notes and in-depth interviews with volunteers at community-based agroecology projects and community gardens, the book highlights the importance of urban food growing initiatives and alternative food networks. You can read more about these projects in the research section of this website.
In the last decade, the UK has experienced a proliferation of food banks and there are growing concerns about a rise in food insecurity (Loopstra et al., 2019, Loopstra et al., 2015). Even when access to food is adequate, diet quality can be poor, particularly in urban settings, where stress levels and lack of green spaces have been linked to an epidemic of obesity (Dinour et al., 2007). In this context, alternative food networks (AFNs) can play a major role in producing sustainable food, free from chemicals that may inhibit biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, such as pollination, natural pest control, and soil mineralisation, while at the same time increasing human wellbeing in urban areas.
Supported by the IAA ESRC grant on “The Case of Co-Farm: volunteering on a community farm”, Department of Sociology seed funding, I have been studying the impact of cofarming, as one example of alternative food networks, on the well-being and cohesion of the local community. The first phase of the work (March 2020-December 2021) focused on a local community-based agroecology (‘co-farming’) project in Cambridge, CoFarm Cambridge. Over this period, 25 in-depth interviews were collected, 16 with volunteers in the project and 9 interviews with members of the stakeholder group and the Founder & CEO of CoFarm. Further 10 interviews with beneficiaries of the food hubs have been collected in the second phase of the project which started in January 2022. Together with the Biological Sciences at Essex, I have received further funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Co-I (£54, 745), and will focus on the health and cohesion benefits of alternative food networks.
Following an extensive community consultation and co-design process (between March 2019 and March 2020), CoFarm was developed on a site off Barnwell Road, on 7-acres of privately-owned agricultural land in the Green Belt, next to Coldhams Common. The CoFarm model is based on two paid professional horticulturists training and supervising over 500 volunteer ‘co-farmers’ from the local community, so far. The farm has been highly productive over its first two growing seasons and in 2020 and 2021 has donated its entire harvest, more than 12 tonnes of organically produced fruit and vegetables, to 8 community food hubs in Cambridge city.
The project finds that as a result of their cofarming experience, volunteers reported greater involvement with community issues and heightened awareness of food justice issues. Thus, alongside other research on this topic (Cox et al., 2008), this study suggests that this form of engagement in an alternative food network can have important community benefits which can be further strengthened through communication and the active involvement of various community actors including volunteers themselves who can bring a lot of energy and knowledge to the project. Many reported that cofarming had been responsible for keeping them in good mental health during the lockdown which aligns with findings in the social prescribing literature (Chatterjee et al., 2018, Drinkwater et al., 2019, Husk et al., 2020). None of our interviewees questioned the decision for all produce to be donated during Covid19 emergency and in fact identified it as an important aspect of the cofarming activity.
The full report on volunteers and stakeholders of CoFarm can be accessed here.
********************************************************************************
Crime & Local Areas
Policy makers have growing concerns about exposure to high gambling density. Neighbourhoods change dramatically in times of crisis with disadvantage often becoming more pronounced and debilitating. Particularly, neighbourhoods with high levels of socio-economic deprivation are blighted by higher levels of crime and general anti-social behaviour. Important ‘social buffers’ such as voluntary and cultural groups disappear replaced by opportunistic organizations such as betting agents, money lenders and pawn shops. Among the determinants of a neighbourhood social vulnerability, the rise of gambling outlets as an important macroeconomic factor that is related to crime and deprivation merits further research. This strand of my work looks to correct this shortcoming by systematizing and subsequently using ecological data on the changing number of gambling outlets in different neighbourhoods. The paper “Gambling Outlets as Agents of Local Area Disorganization” published in Acta Sociologica looks at the case of the UK and investigates the relationship between gambling outlets and crime, while considering whether institutions such as community centres, church groups and small businesses may act as ‘social buffers’ in neighbourhoods of socio-economic deprivation.
Gambling Outlets as Agents of Local Area Disorganization: Crime and Local Institutions, the Case of the UK, published in Acta Sociologica: Demireva, N., & Iacono, S. L. (2024). Gambling outlets as agents of local area disorganization: Crime and local institutions, the case of the UK. Acta Sociologica, 0(0). https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/00016993241298696
Neli Demireva and Sergio Lo Iacono
Abstract
Amid growing public and policy concerns there is a great need of a systematic analysis of the relationship between commodity industries and social disorganization. Using data from the ONS, the UK Census, the UK Police Street-level Crime Dataset, and the POI Ordnance Survey, we analyse the association between gambling outlets as an example of a commodity industry and crime events across England and Wales and explore the possibility of a heterogenous effect dependent upon the level of deprivation and residential stability of an area. Our findings show that gambling outlets are significantly and positively associated with different types of crime even when controlling for other businesses, the areas’ demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Small businesses provide distinctive shielding effects. Our results have significant policy implications.
Premise
Do gambling outlets have crime-producing impact? Although land-based gambling is becoming overshadowed by online betting, in the case of Great Britain, land-based premises (such as casinos, betting shops and arcades) which are the focus of the paper produced a Gross Gambling Yield of £4.5 billion in 2022/23 and there were 8,301 registered premises in this year employing roughly 80 000 individuals (the latest available data on the sector (Gambling Commission, 2024)). In fact, the Gross Gambling Yield of online betting surpassed that of remote betting only in 2019 which attests to its importance for the UK economy (Department for Culture, 2023)2. our data analysis has been guided by reports produced by local authorities concerned about land-based gambling premises and their effect upon local communities. A report for the Southwark Council completed in 2014 shows that the focus in studies of gambling outlets is usually on individual health outcomes, problem gambling and the positioning of gambling outlets and pay-day loan shops (BenCaveAssociates, 2014). Although the report acknowledged that there could be a variety of wider and broader effects, it ascertained that there are considerable difficulties in quantifying the impact of gambling outlets on community well-being. The borough of Barking and Dagenham also completed a review that identifies areas of high multiple deprivation as potential problematic areas in which to place gambling activities. The recommendation of the review is that gambling facilities should not be located in areas with high levels of deprivation. Our study provides further insights as to the question of the positioning of different gambling outlets since we consider potential confounders and further investigate whether deprivation can re-enforce or whether residential stability can alleviate the negative impact of high gambling outlet density.
Data and Methods
To capture the levels of social disorganization in the local community (measured as police data on crime), in this paper, we consider a wide range of crime events and distinguish between anti-social behaviour, interpersonal crimes (such as violent crimes and theft), burglaries, property damage and vehicle theft. Second, we take into account a variety of criminogenic localities. Previous research has shown that several types of outlets and local area amenities might be related to heightened levels of crime (Hipp, 2016), and as these may be in proximity to gambling outlets we need to control for such establishments and local social structures in order to be able to see whether gambling outlets resemble or differ from other established criminogenic spaces such as evening economy industries. Third, we control for a range of social ecological factors that are known to be associated with crime rates such as the deprivation levels of the local area or its levels of ethnic diversity. Thus, the impact of gambling outlets may be more pronounced in deprived and residentially unstable areas than in less deprived or more residentially stable ones as socio-economic disadvantage is associated with a neighbourhood’s capacity to provide social control or guardianship (Krivo and Peterson, 1996, Sampson, 2012).
Results
Our findings show that gambling outlets are significantly and positively associated with different types of crime even when controlling for other businesses, the areas’ demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Moreover, the results of our study suggest that the criminogenic impact of residing closer to gambling premises is not limited to providing criminal opportunities for perpetrators but very importantly such criminogenic attractors may hinder guardianship within the community – areas with high proportion of homeowners who also are typically long-term residents experience increasing social disorganization with the increase in number of land-based gambling premises. The presence of small business owners can however mitigate the negative effects of high gambling outlets density.
We find that deprivation may make matters worse in terms of theft and burglaries, but not in terms of violent crime, anti-social behaviour or property damage. There are several reasons for this result. The data shows that exposure to gambling outlets is not much higher in local areas marked by high levels of deprivation compared to non-deprived areas. Thus, many of the very deprived local areas which are most susceptible to violent crime have not been affected by gambling density in the analysis. Furthermore, our data suggests that at high levels of deprivation, the impact of gambling outlets is focused on opportunistic types of crimes such as thefts and burglaries.
Policy Implications
Policy makers have growing concerns about exposure to high gambling density. This study establishes a significant positive association between gambling premises and neighbourhood social disorganization which is on par with other established criminogenic places such as evening economy outlets. Moreover, this negative impact is not restricted just to deprived areas, and increased guardianship through homeowners does not shield the local community. Small business owners however do play a protective role, and this study concludes that they are important for the well-being and resilience of the local area. Our results make an important sociological contribution to the current explanation of social disorganization in local areas as well as provide empirical identification of institutions which can support efforts to reduce criminality. Further work should aim to better understand and map all the possible pathways through which collective efficacy at the local area level can be successfully encouraged and sustained.
BENCAVEASSOCIATES 2014. Betting, borrowing and health – health impacts of betting shops and payday loan shops in Southwark. southwark_bet_borrow_health_review_070314. London: Ben Cave Associates, 2014.
DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, M. S. 2023. High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age. CP835 OGL. ISBN 978-1-5286-3581-3; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age.
GAMBLING COMMISSION 2024. Industry Statistics – February 2024 – Correction: Official statistics. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/publication/industry-statistics-february-2024-correction#summary.
HIPP, J. R. 2016. General theory of spatial crime patterns. Criminology, 54, 653-679.
KRIVO, L. J. & PETERSON, R. D. 1996. Extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods and urban crime. Social forces, 75, 619-648.
SAMPSON, R. J. 2012. Great american city, University of Chicago Press.
Neli Demireva 