Structure and Processes of Home Gardens in Urban Landscape: The Case of Galle, Kandy, and Jaffna Cities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Home gardens are a central part of the domestic dwelling. Urban home gardens can play a significant role in maintaining ecosystem quality and simultaneously contribute to livelihood needs. Thus, they can be mitigating crucial issues in the urban landscape that arise due to human pressure on the environment. In the context of this concern, a better understanding of urban home gardens is essential. The study was carried out in three different geographical and socioeconomic regions of Sri Lanka. According to the results, land utilization for gardening is high in Galle and Jaffna, while Kandy shows the lowest record. The increasing area utilized for gardening from the city core to its periphery is common in all three study sites. While Kandy is specific with front gardening, Galle and Jaffna used all surrounding areas for gardening. Gardens in Jaffna and Galle are mostly used for food production while gardens in Kandy are oriented more on the visual appearance. Quality enhancement of urban home gardens should be mitigating environmental issues as the green cover has a unique function on carbon sequestration and increases water detention function and reduces soil erosion and floods.