This master’s thesis aims to provide a holistic perspective on community gardens by using the two theoretical approaches of third place by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg and Thirdspace by the geographer Edward Soja. Much research has been done on community gardens with the lens of third place, but not in combination with the concept of Thirdspace. In contrast, the first concept focuses on the physical place, the latter on the mental and lived space created by the physical place. Combining the concepts provides a new and more holistic view of com- munity gardens, which can reveal various motivations behind people’s attraction to the gardens besides the environmental and recreational aspects. They include the atmosphere, opportunities for knowledge exchange, sentimental value, and the appeal of the in between-spaces within the garden. In doing so, this will be exemplified as a case study of four community gardens in Malmö. 

The data were collected through ethnographic, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the theoretical frames of third place and Thirdspace. The data analysis revealed that com- munity gardens can serve as third places, and Thirdspaces can emerge. However, in the case of third place, each garden needs to be looked at individually because the case study has shown that it depends on the people in the garden. Not every considered garden fulfilled the criteria of third place to the same extent. Still, it can be argued that the effect of third places is there. People are going there to socialize, network, enjoy community, and create a safe environment. Lastly, the following Thirdspaces could be detected in the investigated gardens: “the country- side and city,” “the private and public,” and “the individual and collective engagement”. As with the third place, not every Thirdspace is equally represented in the gardens under consideration.