Urban agriculture in Havana – evidence from empirical research

Abstract

The aim of this article is to indicate the features of contemporary urban agriculture present in the contiguously built-up areas of Havana. Using an exploratory and classification approach, the authors draw on fieldwork and a prior analysis of satellite and aerial imagery, first to characterize the spatial distribution of urban gardens and then to point to their main intrinsic features, including the methods and organization of production and the functions performed. The research conducted shows that urban agriculture is distributed across the city in an uneven fashion, with the main concentration in districts of lower-density urban construction, which reflects the availability of land resources intentionally left between buildings by modernist planners. The most common production technique applied is organopónico, or organoponics. However, the material commonly used to construct the bordering walls is asbestos, which may pose a significant threat for both producers and consumers. Two case studies are analyzed to exemplify different approaches to organic food production.

Singapore vs. the ‘Singapore of Africa’—Different Approaches to Managing Urban Agriculture

“…Then, a satellite and aerial imagery (available via Google Earth) analysis (manual and visual interpretation) was conducted in order to locate agricultural areas and urban farms in the two cities. Thanks to the high level of spatial resolution of the images provided by Google Earth, the method in question has already proved to be suitable for research on urban agriculture, where there is a diversity of plant cover [41][42][43][44]. The study area in Singapore comes within the city limits and was taken to exclude smaller islands, which are uninhabited, serve recreational functions (as is the case with Sentosa), or are industrial (like the artificial island of Jurong).…”

“…A similar practice has been used since the 1990s in Havana. In the Cuban capital, however, agricultural activity that was originally intended to be temporary turned out to be long term, as gardens founded almost three decades ago continue to operate today [33,44]. In turn, in Singapore, even though it is possible to obtain a short-term license or land lease for urban agriculture, such permits are rarely issued.…”

Adapting to urban gardening in China: how will policymaking help migrant and native gardeners?

“…From the perspective of natural eco-systems, it fosters urban biodiversity (Lin et al, 2015;Speak et al, 2015;Teuber et al, 2019), maintains ecological functions, and strengthens the relationship between residents and the natural ecosystem (Askerlund and Almers, 2016;Hemmelgarn and Munsell, 2021). Although urban gardening has been widely acknowledged for its outstanding value, policy attitudes to it vary among governments due to differences in socio-economic contexts (Djokić et al, 2018;Górna and Górny, 2020;Schoen et al, 2021).…”