Community Gardens: alternatives to capabilities expansion and to sustainable development in urban centers in Brazil

The capability approach focus on what people are able to do and to be, defining achievement in quality of live in terms of the real opportunities that people has, whether at the basic level as being adequately nourished, whether in complex fields such as taking part in the life of the community. In this view development is a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy, understanding that freedoms also depend on social and economic arrangements. Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom, such as poverty, poor economics opportunities, corruption and systematic social deprivation. The creation of the community vegetable gardens in urban centers deal with important social issues as poverty, famine and sustainable development. The community gardens consist of urban agriculture practices, which provides healthy and organic food. The production is cultivated in the common spaces and delivered at low cost or free of charge to the local community, strengthen social relationships, stimulating the collective management of public areas and enhancing the freedom to participate in the community politics and social issues. By giving more socio-economic opportunities to people, they also improve human capabilities and substantive freedoms, enhancing the human dignity and the quality of live.