Rooftop gardening complexities in the Global South: Motivations, practices, and politics

An increasing number of urban residents in the Global South are turning to rooftop gardening, whether through soil or hydroponics, to cultivate their own vegetables, fruit, and herbs. In Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, rooftop gardening serves as an important alternative to traditional wet markets and more recently established supermarkets. In this paper, we examine the motivations, practices, and constraints of Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners, along with the level of government support or disapproval for rooftop gardening. Our study is grounded in critical urban geography and urban political ecology and specific debates regarding informal life politics. Our findings reveal that Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners feel confronted by a critical food safety crisis, emphasising their need to access safe, fresh, and affordable produce through rooftop gardening. Simultaneously, they express scepticism about the capacity and willingness of formal political institutions at both the municipal and national levels to address and resolve these concerns. We explore whether Hanoi’s urban rooftop gardeners can be considered to be engaging in a form of everyday life politics and examine the dynamics emerging in this regard. We conclude by offering potential policy recommendations for Global South cities to support urban gardening communities. This paper delves into the motivations, practices, and limitations of Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners, alongside assessing government support. Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners face pressing food safety concerns while expressing doubt in formal political institutions’ ability to address these anxieties. We reflect on whether these gardeners engage in everyday life politics, before providing policy recommendations for supporting urban rooftop gardening in Global South cities.