Critical geography of urban agriculture

Abstract

Urban agriculture is a broad term which describes food cultivation and animal husbandry on urban and peri-urban land. Grassroots as well as institution-led urban agricultural projects are currently mushrooming in the cities of the Global North, reshaping urban landscapes, experimenting with alternatives to the capitalist organization of urban life and sometimes establishing embryonic forms of recreating the Commons. While this renewed interest in land cultivation and food production is attracting increasing interest in a wide range of disciplines – from planning to landscape and cultural studies – it remains a very marginal and almost unexplored field of human geography. Nonetheless, beyond the rhetoric of sustainability and health, urban agriculture raises several relevant questions of interest for a critical geographer. Starting by drawing a map of concepts and theories available in an interdisciplinary literature, and highlighting fields of possible inquiry, this paper aims to define the scope of and an initial agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture.

Political gardening. Transforming cities and political agency

“…The analysis is largely based on empirical research and analysis of the forms, means and practices of urban gardening in 11 cities: Dublin (Ireland), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Leeds (England), Plymouth (England), three undisclosed locations in the West Midlands (England), Cologne (Germany), Toronto (Canada), Los Angeles and New York (US). We selected these cases on the basis of the distinctive character of urban gardening in the context of the neoliberal transformation of Global North cities, believing they can contribute to a critical discussion of the 'politics of urban space' (Tornaghi 2014), and to enrich the emerging debate on radical, critical and political gardening (see for example Certomà, 2015). This editorial paper is structured as follow: in the next section we locate the analysis of political gardening within a discussion on 'the post-political'.…”

Exploring Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting Potential for Food Production in Urban Areas

“…Statistical features of RH are summarised in Table 6 by agricultural land use. The annual amount (January-December) of RH from the whole set of roofs associated to RGs exceeds 180,000 m 3 . Mean values are around 70 m 3 for all land uses except for orchards that have smaller value (43 m 3 ).…”

“…Local food production, food sustainability, environmental stewardship, and community resilience provided by urban agriculture (UA) in the Global North are increasingly gaining relevance [1][2][3]. The literature recognises that edible vegetable production is intertwined with other concepts such as food security and nutrition [4][5][6], ideas of beautification [7], social interactions and education [8], and leisure and exercise [9].…”

Fostering Multi-Functional Urban Agriculture: Experiences from the Champions in a Revitalized Farm Pond Community in Taoyuan, Taiwan

“…As such, not only the form and features of physical spaces are created, but also a great possibility for different non-productive activities and amenities related to people's quality of life is provided. Underpinned by Tornaghi [70], who indicates the place-making role of UA, the findings show that the implementation of the farm-pond-based UA features a creative, collaborative process that contains design, development, and construction or rehabilitation of various places for farming, leisure, recreation, social interaction, environmental education, and ecological services. The desired end-state of these places is sustainable, distinguishing, well-maintained, and unified environments that satisfy people's needs and enhance their overall health and well-being.…”