Gardens make us feel hopeful, and we expect them to solve many problems in a city, from food insecurity and climate resilience. In fact, there has been a historical trend of urban gardening gaining popularity during times of crisis. Gardens of Hope is the story of the emergence of a new form of urban agriculture in New Orleans over the decade following Hurricane Katrina. Yuki Kato documents the trials and tribulations of urban growers as they envisioned and enacted alternative futures through gardening and farming in the city undergoing rapid and remarkable transformation. Good intentions and grit were not enough to implement or sustain cultivation projects, but the growers kept on cultivating to retain hope-until they could no longer do so. Based on repeated interviews with the individuals who began cultivation projects in New Orleans between 2005-2015, Kato demonstrates that each grower saw unique potentials in urban gardening to bring about social changes, and their individualized practices resulted in divergent trajectories over time. Coining the term "prefigurative urbanism," Kato argues that these urban gardeners and farmers manifeasted alternative ways of living and working in the city through pragmatism and innovation, not utopian idealism or political agenda, while disrupting the existing social norms. Gardens of Hope asks key questions about what inspires and enables individuals to pursue prefigurative urbanism, especially in cities undergoing transformation, and examines potential and shortcomings of this unique form of civic engagement.