Summer Reading: Tiny Gardens Everywhere (Main)
Uncover the radical roots of urban gardening with Kate Brown, author of Tiny Gardens Everywhere (2026).
The history of gardening in European and North American cities in the 20th century is a story about ordinary people working with each other—and with plants and microbes—to cultivate life in the unlikeliest of places. Using the deluge of nutrients that flow into cities, working class gardeners regenerated wasteland, built the first garden city communities, and engaged in the most productive agriculture in recorded human history. Following the plants and microbes, urban gardeners also built mutual aid societies that advocated for equity, social welfare, and rights—rights not to liberty and the pursuit of happiness (who can eat that?) but to food, fuel, and shelter; to well-being for all.
Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT. Her prize-winning books include Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (2019), Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (2013), and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (2004).
Presented in partnership with City of Cambridge Community Garden Program.
CPD Hosts Community Stakeholders Event
On Thursday, May 15th the Cambridge Police hosted our Community Stakeholders Event at The Foundry on Rogers St. Organized by the Family & Social Justice Section, this event is an opportunity for various civic groups, community members and business leaders to come together in a discussion of various topics related to our local criminal justice system.
Summer Food Kickoff Event
Join Summer Food Program staff for a day of fun and free food to kick off the 2026 Summer Food Program!
Vision Zero
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
Planning & Urban Design
Planning and urban design staff members work on many fronts to help the Cambridge community prepare for future growth and change.
6 - Mid-Cambridge
Mid-Cambridge is one of Cambridge's largest neighborhoods, stretching from Central Square in the east to Harvard Square in the west and north to Inman Square and the Cambridge/Somerville border. It is predominantly residential but also includes parts of the Harvard University campus, Cambridge and Youville Hospitals, and the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.