Urban Agriculture in Chinese Cities: Practices, Motivations and Challenges

Luehr, Geoff; Glaros, Alesandros; Si, Zhenzhong; Scott, Steffanie

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-17187-2_17

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Although these lands have lost the attributes of agricultural land, the soil and water sources still maintain the formal arable land's high standard of safety. Dispossessed farmers also have an intricate knowledge of vegetable properties, utilized recycled materials, fertilization of the soil, and other professional cultivation skills (Luehr, 2019). This is different from illegal urban agriculture in South Africa, where squatter gardening largely exists in informal settlements because of the severe housing shortage and high unemployment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the spatial planning dimensions of urban informal food systems in Nanjing, China

Zhao

2021

Urban Agric & Regnl Food Sys

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Modern food systems have achieved great success in efficiency and productivity. Long food chains with many food miles and nodes emphasize food processing, packaging, and marketing. These activities have threatened the sustainability of food systems. Many countries have carried out various urban agriculture activities to respond to challenges such as food security issues and climate change. However, small-scale farming and local food vending that support the lower socioeconomic population groups in China are ignored by legislation and urban planning. This study aims to improve informal food systems by involving informal food production and marketing in spatial planning. In this paper, informal food systems, which refer to the combination of food chains that contain informal activities, are identified based on the Chinese social background. The spatial typologies of production, marketing, and consumption in informal food systems are summarized. Typomorphology is applied to analyze the typology evolution of spaces for informal food systems in the Qinhuai District in Nanjing. The results show that the morphological regions for food production changed more than construction land in 58 superblocks from 2005 to 2019.Agricultural land decreased, and the most common types of change were from fragmented agricultural land (Type P2) to fragmented and temporary arable land (Type P3) to construction land with isolated vegetable plots (Type P4). In this evolution process, the informal food system reflects the deviation between diversified needs in cities and urban planning. A bottom-up structure is necessary to protect vulnerable groups, especially those involved in small-scale urban food production.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the spatial planning dimensions of urban informal food systems in Nanjing, China

Zhao

2021

Urban Agric & Regnl Food Sys

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“…According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [24], urban agriculture refers to small production areas located within a city. Urban agriculture refers to "farming or gardening that takes place within and/or around cities" [4] (p. 291). Urban agriculture "is an industry located within (intraurban) or on the fringe (periurban) of a town, a city or a metropolis, which grows or raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, (re-)using largely human and material resources, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area" [5] (p. 10).…”

Section: An Approach To Urban Agriculture and Urban Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, sustainable strategies are pivotal to guarantee this urban development, and urban agriculture, in particular, may lead to the planning and management of a sustainable urban food supply, thus "bringing positive impacts to local economics, environment, social equity and culture preservation" [2] (p. 1). Previous research defines urban agriculture as the production, processing and marketing of food within an urban environment [3][4][5][6]. Environmental threats caused by food production [7] compel cities to develop strategies that are based on sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Gardens as Sustainable Attractions for Children in Family Tourism

Fusté‐Forné

Forné

2021

Resources

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Most of the global population live in urban environments and the majority of tourist flows are concentrated in cities. Urban agriculture has recently emerged as an avenue for the protection of sustainable food production and the promotion of sustainable food consumption. Also, the relationships between horticulture and tourism are attracting growing interest in the context of urban studies. Drawing on a qualitative approach based on ten semi-structured interviews, this research analyzes the relationship between urban gardens and family tourism. The paper innovatively contributes to the understanding of gardens as an urban attraction that improves the sustainable production and consumption of food in the context of family tourism experiences. The results show the relevance of urban gardens for the creation of sustainable experiences that engage families with local food, enhance local supply chains, and inform the future of urban environments. Urban gardens are a visitor attraction that may lead to the development of sustainable people, places and products, and they represent the sustainable integration of horticulture in tourism based on participatory experiences, direct contact with the natural environment and the discovery of the origin of food.

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“…However, ‘the state also incentivizes the development of multifunctional spaces that provide services beyond just raw agricultural goods. For example, peri‐urban agri‐tourism serves to reconnect urban dwellers with significant cultural and natural landscapes, and to preserve arable land as cities grow’ (Luehr et al, 2020, p. 293).…”

Section: Mfa In Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional agriculture: Policies and implementation in China

Song

Robinson

2020

Geography Compass

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Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has been supported in the European Union (EU) for over two decades, primarily as part of rural development policy in which agriculture is encouraged to deliver a range of economic, social and environmental outcomes. MFA has also grown in some countries without significant policy support, notably in peri-urban fringes in North America and Australasia. Further expansion of this phenomenon is now apparent in China under strong central government policy directives from the early 2000s. Drawing upon a decade of studies of MFA in China, this paper examines some of the responses to various related policy initiatives, including major programs, such as Grain for Green, which have encouraged farmers to generate environmental services. It also refers to the scope for individual farm households to take initiatives leading to MFA via adoption of multiple functions on smallholdings (e.g., rural tourism, food processing). Various interpretations of MFA are explored, with a focus on how central government policy directives have driven take-up of various MFArelated initiatives.

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Urban Agriculture in Chinese Cities: Practices, Motivations and Challenges

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

Exploring the spatial planning dimensions of urban informal food systems in Nanjing, China

Exploring the spatial planning dimensions of urban informal food systems in Nanjing, China

Urban Gardens as Sustainable Attractions for Children in Family Tourism

Multifunctional agriculture: Policies and implementation in China

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