The hidden potential of urban horticulture

Abstract

ood insecurity is a growing issue in the Global North 1,2 , where the majority of the population (sometimes in excess of 80%) lives in urban areas 3. Food production in urban areas, particularly horticultural production 4,5 , is increasingly recognized at all levels of governance, from local to transnational, as an important contributor to food security 6. Despite this recognition, there have been few attempts to analyse the feasibility of urban horticulture (UH) in terms of the space available within the urban fabric. We explore this issue in a case study city in the United Kingdom using a geographic information system (GIS) to map green infrastructure now used for UH along with other green infrastructure (such as parks, gardens, roadside verges and woodland) and grey infrastructure (buildings, for example) that has the potential to form part of an expanding UH system. We then develop a conceptual framework that addresses the scientific, practical engineering, knowledge, economic and socio-cultural factors that underpin sustainable UH delivery in the Global North. Within this framework, we consider two different forms of UH: soil-based horticulture (SBH) within green infrastructure and controlled environment horticulture (CEH) on flat roofs within grey infrastructure.

Urban Horticulture for Food Secure Cities through and beyond COVID-19

“…To meet the food demands of an urban population, land in and round the cities, such as green belts, land adjacent to sidewalks, vacant plots, community gardens, botanical gardens, and rooftops should be used efficiently. A recent case study from Sheffield, UK, showed that there are large potential spaces available to produce more than enough fruits and vegetables to fulfill the needs of urban inhabitants [67]. Cleveland, Ohio, a city of 400,000 inhabitants, has the potential to fulfill resident demands by growing fresh vegetables on rooftops and conducting vertical gardening in vacant spaces [68].…”

Infrastructure Interdependencies: Opportunities from Complexity

“…More broadly, the pursuit of urban agriculture has benefits in the production of food closer to points of demand, reducing monetary and environmental transport costs and making greater use of local resources that may otherwise be treated as waste, such as rain runoff (Al-Kodmany 2018). Urban agriculture faces many challenges to adoption, and its greatest introduced risks stem from uncertainties around its unexplored economics; however, the importance of its untapped potential is being increasingly recognised (Edmondson et al 2020;Grafius et al 2020). The opportunities in this case are geographical and integrative, and the main ecological principle is cyclical flow.…”

Trust, Connection and Equity: Can Understanding Context Help to Establish Successful Campus Community Gardens?

“…Australian and US community gardens and UK allotments are regularly established in communities of low socio-economic status, and often on parcels of ‘waste’ land that are reclaimed for food production. Some UK researchers argue that small scale allotments can grow sufficient produce to meet daily fruit and vegetable consumption requirements [ 48 ]. More recently, community gardening has been recognized as important in mitigating the impacts of climate change [ 49 ] and enhancing biodiversity [ 50 ].…”