Opportunities and risks of integrating urban allotments as niche innovations into transformative, sustainable urban development

Urban green and open spaces are gaining strategic importance for climate adaptation and sustainable urban transformation. Urban gardens, especially urban allotment gardens, constitute a distinctive component of green infrastructure because they combine ecological and social functions with food production. Despite this multifunctionality urban allotment gardens are often only marginally integrated into municipal planning and governance, rendering their ecological and social benefits undervalued and their long-term development vulnerable. This article investigates how innovative urban allotment garden concepts can contribute to transformative and sustainable urban development beyond isolated pilot projects. Building on transformation research, particularly the multi-level perspective and governance-oriented transition approaches, the study conceptualizes innovative allotments as niche innovations that may trigger regime level change when strategically embedded in planning and institutional structures. Methodologically, the paper applies a qualitative, multi scalar research design in Germany combining document analysis of municipal planning instruments, expert interviews with administrations and allotment organizations, and project-based interviews and site visits of selected innovative garden initiatives. Results reveal that the transformative impact of urban allotment gardens depends less on individual projects than on the interplay of niche experimentation with regime level anchoring through planning instruments, stable governance formats and evidence based ecological objectives. Comparative insights from best practice cities inform an evaluation grid that provides a transferable framework for municipalities to identify gaps and leverage allotments as multifunctional, socially inclusive and climate resilient infrastructure.