Analysis on the Types of Benefits of Gardens in Urban Areas: Comparison of Korea and Overseas Cases

Background and objective: Recently, there has been an increasing need for relaxation and familiarity with nature in residential and living spaces faced daily by urban residents, leading to a growing social interest in urban gardens. The aim of this study was to determine how gardens in a city provide physical and social benefits, comparing cases in Korea and overseas. Methods: We used the keywords “garden” and “city” for Korea, and “urban,” “garden,” and “green” for overseas. We then determined the Korean and overseas research trends in urban gardens by analyzing 63 Korean and 90 overseas articles deemed suitable for this study. Results: As to the types of urban gardens, the most significant type was community gardens, both in Korea and overseas (30.2% and 48.6%, respectively), followed by rooftop gardens in Korea (22.2%) and kitchen gardens overseas (22.2%). Due to the narrow and complex urban structure in Korea, people focus on using rooftop, wall, and alley spaces, and tend to arrange container-type flexible gardens. Overseas there has been a focus on promoting health and reducing food inequality through allotment and kitchen gardens, and a tendency to use a larger area as a fixed form than Korea. In addition, it was found that gardens in urban areas had a positive effect on urban biodiversity. Conclusion: To sum up, gardens in Korea are close to living spaces, and gardens overseas influence the ecosystem with an emphasis on food production. Therefore, creating urban gardens is a method of urban regeneration with a high utility that goes beyond mere food production, both in Korea and overseas, providing comprehensive benefits for the environment (37.73%) and society (62.27%). As such, continuous research on this area of study is needed to create policy guidelines for Korea.