Two Decades of Architects’ and Urban Planners’ Contribution to Urban Agriculture and Health Research in Africa

Abstract

Urban agriculture (UA) is an ancient practice in Africa that meets social- and health-related needs. However, it is unclear whether architects and urban planners have incorporated the topic into their research and practices. This study aimed to assess the scientific contributions of these fields to UA and their relevance compared to other disciplines. The research objectives were to evaluate the trends in the subject, architects’ and planners’ involvement, and the effects of UA on health in Africa. As a method, a review was conducted using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The research query was (“urban agriculture” OR “urban farming”) AND Africa AND (“health” OR “global health” OR “urban health”), and the time frame considered was January 2000 to December 2020. Zotero, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Excel, and VOSviewer were used to collect and analyze metadata. After excluding duplicates, a total of n = 390 articles were involved. The results displayed the mixed health effects of UA, a growing interest in the topic with prominence on food security, and evidence from public health, not architecture and planning. The study recommends more theoretical research on UA by architects, which should be translated into policies and implementation.

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“…African UA is practiced for several reasons, each contributing to its growing prominence across cities and towns. Cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas has become increasingly important due to economic, social, environmental, and health-related factors [2]. UA is a significant activity in many African urban centers.…”

“…Its contribution to health through food security is among the reasons for promoting it [3]. The health aspects of this activity are often not studied by urban planners, and even though UA is practiced on urban land, they are supposed to be planned [4].…”