PALSTA (garden plot) research group

We are an interdisciplinary research group exploring urban allotment gardens and community plots as part of everyday, economic, and multispecies networks. Our interest lies in how cultivation functions simultaneously as a means of livelihood, as a communal, ethical, and aesthetic practice, and as a relationship with other humans, plants, animals, and the soil.

Our research brings together perspectives from cultural studies, geography, environmental policy, gender studies, and theology. We approach allotment gardening as an economy that extends beyond monetary exchange, encompassing everyday forms of livelihood and coexistence within multispecies relations. We view urban garden plots as both economically significant and ethically challenging spaces—sites where practices of mutual livelihood and the building of liveable futures are actively rehearsed.

Our current main dataset consists of the Palsta writing collection conducted in collaboration with the Finnish Literature Society (1 March–15 October 2024, www.finlit.fi/palsta). We plan to complement it with ethnographic, media, and cartographic materials. The collected materials are analysed through methods such as multimodal discourse analysis and research drawing.

Our project generates new knowledge about the social, ecological, and economic meanings of urban allotments at a time when the conditions for life and livelihood must be reimagined—in collaboration not only among humans but across species.