The Effect of Slope and Media Depth on Growth Performance of Sedum Species in a Green Roof System in Mississippi\u27s Sub-Tropical Climate

In recent years, green roofs have become an accepted solution in ecological urban design to mitigate the impacts of impervious surfaces (Berghage, Beattie, Jarrett, Thuring, & Razaei, 2009). An experimental research project was conducted at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) Green Infrastructure Research Area at South Farm of Mississippi State University to determine how medium depth and slope gradient on rooftops affect plant cover and survival. Plant cover was monitored monthly by photographing the experimental green roof platforms. Photoshop and AutoCAD software programs were employed to digitize and to calculate plant cover from the images. All recorded data was analyzed with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests. It was determined that the effects of medium depth and slope are statistically significant on plant cover and survival

Understanding the predictors of sense of place and place attachment in the community gardens in Roanoke, VA

Community gardens have become a useful tool to minimize the impacts of food insecurity in many US cities. According to the Feeding America’s annual map, the 12.1 percent of Virginians are food insecure, and this rate is 16.9 percent in the city of Roanoke. The number of community gardens is increasing in Southwest Virginia. In order to understand the factors that influence peoples’ involvement and their support for community garden programs, research that investigates the sense of community garden place and people’s attachment to the community gardens is needed. This study has investigated the predictors of place attachment in community gardens and developed a place attachment measurement framework. A content analysis was performed on 32 peer-reviewed articles, six thesis/dissertations, and three technical reports from cooperative extensions of four different universities. This analysis identified five major categories of the framework including visual landscape preference, the symbolic meaning of the place, functional opportunities in the place, natural bonds, and cultural connections. This study also introduces an ongoing community-based participatory research that employs this framework in order to investigate the sense of place and place attachment in eight community gardens in Roanoke. Based on the preliminary findings, the individual predictors under each category and their factor loadings will be presented. The individual and community level predictors and cultural identities that are critical for people’s attachment will be discussed. This will surely help to satisfy people’s needs and expectations and to increase the involvement and support for the long-term success of these programs

Attitudes and Perceptions of Community Gardens: Making a Place for Them in Our Neighborhoods

Although community gardens provide numerous economic, environmental, and social benefits, some have been lost to other land uses due to the lack of organized and effective public support. Knowledge about people’s attitudes and perceptions towards these landscapes is important to achieve greater public support. This study used a scene rating survey to investigate attitudes and perceptions of four different groups (community gardeners, community and home gardeners, home gardeners, and non-gardeners) in Roanoke, Virginia. Content analysis, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, customized Kruskal- Wallis test (ANOVA) and content identifying method (CIM) procedures were used. All statistical analyses were completed at a 95% significance level using SPSS version 21. Results showed that there are seven dimensions important to participants’ preferences in community gardens including “Gathering and Seating”, “Plots with Boundaries”, “Focal Points”, “Plots without Boundaries”, Garden Entrance”, Untidy Space”, and “Composting Structures”. Excluding the “Gathering and Seating” dimension, a significant difference was detected between participant groups. Based on these dimensions, this study provides design recommendations for community garden projects to minimize possible opposition between gardeners and non-gardeners and to develop more successful community garden programs for the long-term survival of these landscapes in cities