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Looking to the Future of Urban and Sustainable Agriculture: Cuba and Worldwide

Sinan Koont

in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

Despite some concern about the persistence of a wish to return to industrial agriculture among some producers, leaders of the urban agriculture movement in Cuba believe urban agriculture and ... More

Despite some concern about the persistence of a wish to return to industrial agriculture among some producers, leaders of the urban agriculture movement in Cuba believe urban agriculture and agroecology are here to stay. The 2008 program of Suburban Agriculture had the goal of food sovereignty in each municipality of Cuba on the basis of agroecologically operated farms. Although there is increasing interest, agroecological urban agriculture has seen little development in the world, especially in Latin America. Still, concerns about the sustainability (and suitability) of industrial agriculture are leading to increasing advocacy of a new paradigm, and efforts in this direction (La Via Campesina) in both the First and Third Worlds. The Cuban example, even if not fully adoptable, provides significant lessons for these efforts.Less

Introduction

Sinan Koont

in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

This chapter starts with a brief discussion of the reasons for the turn to urban agriculture, as well as the enabling historical roots of this turn in human-resource formation and social ... More

This chapter starts with a brief discussion of the reasons for the turn to urban agriculture, as well as the enabling historical roots of this turn in human-resource formation and social organization, in Revolutionary Cuba. The terms “urban,” “sustainable,” and “agroecology” are introduced and defined. Major contrasting elements with urban agriculture elsewhere in the world are pointed out, especially the strong support provided by the Cuban government and the absence of massive rural–urban migration in Cuba. Next, the state of scholarly publications on urban agriculture in general and in Cuba is briefly reviewed. The introduction ends by outlining the topics to be covered in subsequent chapters and the main arguments to be developed.Less

The Nature and Organization of Cuban Urban Agriculture

Sinan Koont

in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

The National Group for Urban Agriculture (GNAU) in the Ministry of Agriculture has been designated as the lead institution in the urban agriculture effort in Cuba. Their (and other Cuban experts') ... More

The National Group for Urban Agriculture (GNAU) in the Ministry of Agriculture has been designated as the lead institution in the urban agriculture effort in Cuba. Their (and other Cuban experts') views on what constitutes urban, sustainable agriculture open the discussion in this chapter. Land-tenure institutions and different modalities of production—organóponicos, huertas intensives, parcelas, and patios—within urban agriculture are briefly covered. GNAU, at the top of a pyramid that includes Groups of UA at the provincial and municipal levels, publishes a Manual Tecnico de Organopónicos and oversees the 28 subprograms that make up urban agriculture, three of which are discussed in some detail. It also carries out a program of site visits, and has an inspection and evaluation function. On the executive, administrative side, GNAU is complemented by a system of granjas urbanas and urban-agriculture representatives. Together they constitute a system of “centralized decentralization.”Less

Case Studies of Urban Agriculture

Sinan Koont

in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba

This chapter starts with a review of various perspectives on urban agriculture in Cuba as communicated to the author during many interviews. It continues with reports on urban-agriculture site visits ... More

This chapter starts with a review of various perspectives on urban agriculture in Cuba as communicated to the author during many interviews. It continues with reports on urban-agriculture site visits by the author: Municipality of San Cristóbal (including visits to the IPA Batalla de Rubi, a hydraponic unit and the UBPC El Mango); Municipality of Matanzas (including visits to Organopónico Triangulo and an Organipónico at the Empresa Forestal); Santiago de Cuba (Organopónicos Luis M. Poz and Roberto Alegre Capriles); the City of Havana (UBPC Organopónico Vivero Alamar, CCS Antero Regalades Falcón, CCSF Arides Estevez Sánchez, parcela de Falcón and the patio La Hierba Buena with referencia nacional status).Less

Growing in the City: From Community Gardening to Urban Agriculture

Lindsay K. Campbell

in City of Forests, City of Farms: Sustainability Planning for New York City's Nature

Chapter five traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for (or resisting), and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. First, it describes a brief history ... More

Chapter five traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for (or resisting), and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. First, it describes a brief history of community gardening as a social movement in New York City since the 1970s. Then, it explores the vibrant material practices and varied narratives employed by a newer wave of civic practitioners engaging in urban agriculture from the 2000s to the present. The chapter parses this more recent trend into its various threads, which range from a focus on local food production, to commitments to food justice, to an interest in neighborhood stabilization and youth empowerment.Less

City of Farms: Cultivating Urban Agriculture through Food Policy Visions and Plans

Lindsay K. Campbell

in City of Forests, City of Farms: Sustainability Planning for New York City's Nature

Chapter six reveals the ways in which civic and public actors working outside the boundaries of PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. A ... More

Chapter six reveals the ways in which civic and public actors working outside the boundaries of PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. A local/regional food system framework offered one way to bridge divisions within the movement and work towards comprehensive change to food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and post-consumption. Within the void created by city hall’s lack of engagement, other figures in the municipal government seized the opportunity to advance food policy agendas for New York City. At the same time, the complete absence of food, agriculture, and community gardens from PlaNYC was contested by civic groups and residents. As a result, the 2011 update to PlaNYC included a brief crosscutting section on food, although it lacked capital funding to fuel the achievement of its stated goals. Incorporation of food issues into PlaNYC was nonetheless seen by advocates as a symbolic and political achievement.Less

Urban Agriculture

Illène Pevec, Soul Shava, John Nzira, and Michael Barnett

Alex Russ and Marianne E. Krasny (eds)

in Urban Environmental Education Review

This chapter considers school gardens in North America and urban agriculture in South Africa as sites for urban environmental education. Urban agriculture encompasses rooftop and community gardens, ... More

This chapter considers school gardens in North America and urban agriculture in South Africa as sites for urban environmental education. Urban agriculture encompasses rooftop and community gardens, greenhouses, hydroponic systems, plant nurseries, small livestock husbandry, and vertical farms, located indoors, on vacant lots, on roofs, and on postindustrial landscapes, among other sites. Urban environmental education taking place in urban agriculture sites can integrate intergenerational and multicultural learning and contribute to environmental and science knowledge, positive youth development, job skills, and improved diets. It can also enhance social capital, environmental quality, and economic development. The chapter looks at examples of recent policies and practices strengthening urban agriculture and environmental education.Less

Urban Agriculture and Food Security in the Middle Eastern Context: A Case Study from Lebanon and Jordan

Salwa Tohmé Tawk, Mounir Abi Said, and Shadi Hamadeh

in Food Security in the Middle East

Due to its heavy reliance on food imports, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is considered to be one of the most food insecure regions in the world. Urban Agriculture (UA), a traditional ... More

Due to its heavy reliance on food imports, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is considered to be one of the most food insecure regions in the world. Urban Agriculture (UA), a traditional practice in the MENA region, is an important source of income for many urban and peri-urban households. Studying the role of urban agriculture in the MENA region could provide a better understanding of its role in food security. The present study was conducted to investigate food security as related to peri-urban and urban agriculture in two peri-urban locations: Bebnine in Lebanon, where agriculture lacks support, and in Wadi el Seer in Jordan, where urban agriculture is being institutionalised. The findings indicate the prevalence of high food insecurity in both locations, demonstrating that producers are more food insecure than non-producers, and that food security is strongly associated with poverty and the number of household members.Less

Urban Agriculture, Food Justice, and Neoliberal Urbanization: Rebuilding the Institution of Property

Michelle Glowa

in New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action

While urban agriculture has been immensely popular in the San Francisco region, highly competitive land markets increasingly compel landowners, both public and private, to put their properties to ... More

While urban agriculture has been immensely popular in the San Francisco region, highly competitive land markets increasingly compel landowners, both public and private, to put their properties to uses other than gardening. Gardeners have developed a variety of strategies to gain and maintain access to land. In so doing, they connect gardening to a “land politics” that asks who should have access to and decision-making power over particular properties as well as broader urban design. This chapter explores how gardeners influence the production of space and the institution of property.Less

The Urban Agriculture Fix: Navigating Development and Displacement in Denver

Joshua Sbicca

in A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

When urban agriculture becomes a sustainability initiative with institutional backing, it can drive green gentrification even when its advocates are well intentioned and concerned about the possible ... More

When urban agriculture becomes a sustainability initiative with institutional backing, it can drive green gentrification even when its advocates are well intentioned and concerned about the possible exclusion of urban farmers and residents. This chapter explores these tensions through the notion of an urban agriculture fix, which I apply to a case in Denver, Colorado. Urban farmers accessed land more easily after the Great Recession and as a result were a force for displacement and at risk of displacement as the city adopted sustainable food system plans, the housing market recovered, and green gentrification spread. This case suggests the importance of explaining how political economy and culture combine to drive neighborhood disinvestment and economic marginalization, which can compel the entrance of urban agriculture due to its perceived low cost and potential high return for local residents. Yet, while urban agriculture may provide some short-term benefits, it may ultimately be entangled in some of the long-term harms of green gentrification.Less

Drawing on the Past toward a Food Sovereign Future: The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

Monica M. White

in Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement

Whereas previous chapters discussed strategies employed by those who stayed in the South, this chapter tells the stories of the descendants of those who migrated north, focusing on Detroit. While far ... More

Whereas previous chapters discussed strategies employed by those who stayed in the South, this chapter tells the stories of the descendants of those who migrated north, focusing on Detroit. While far in time and space from the other examples of Black agricultural resistance discussed in this book, contemporary communities in Detroit are similarly turning to agriculture as a strategy of survival and resistance. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) formed in 2006, setting goals of improving education, food access, and collective buying. DBCFSN is rooted in a pan-African philosophy of pride and solidarity and draws from founders’ experiences in Detroit’s Black Power era and in city government. Central to DBCFSN’s approach to community food sovereignty are antiracist and anticapitalist principles that guide cooperative efforts, political education, and organizing designed to dismantle systems of white supremacy embedded in the food system. DBCFSN’s most well-known projects – the Detroit Food Policy Council, D-Town Farm, and the Ujamaa Food Buying Club – enact the strategies of prefigurative politics, economic autonomy, and commons as praxis to build collective agency and community resilience.Less

City as Ecosystem: Changing Form, Function, and Governance of Urban Socio-Nature

Lindsay K. Campbell

in City of Forests, City of Farms: Sustainability Planning for New York City's Nature

This 5,000 word chapter brings together the political, discursive, and material threads to consider the “city of forests” and “city of farms” as two different assemblages. It explores these pieces of ... More

This 5,000 word chapter brings together the political, discursive, and material threads to consider the “city of forests” and “city of farms” as two different assemblages. It explores these pieces of urban nature in the context of an early-21st century global city that has engaged in municipal long-term sustainability planning, investment in green infrastructure, and creation of food policy visions. It closes with conclusions and further probing questions about how, why, and for whom we create urban forests and farms. In examining what sort of nature we want to produce, the chapter explores possibilities for new governance arrangements, management practices, design strategies, and uses for urban land.Less

From the Holy Trinity to Microgreens: Gentrification Redefining Local Foodways in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Pamela Arnette Broom and Yuki Kato

in A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

This chapter focuses on gentrification of the foodways in post-Katrina New Orleans, particularly how the emerging narrative of urban agriculture presented the practice as a new idea, despite the ... More

This chapter focuses on gentrification of the foodways in post-Katrina New Orleans, particularly how the emerging narrative of urban agriculture presented the practice as a new idea, despite the long-standing tradition of local food production and procurement practices in the city. We combine a personal experience of being a long-term urban gardener in the city with grower interviews to illuminate what aspects of the new urban agricultural scene in the city are distinct from the tradition of growing and eating locally that predates the storm. With its emphasis on geographic dimension (e.g., grown locally), the new notion of locality associated with urban agriculture tended to dissociate from the social and cultural dimensions of the preexisting local folk foodways (e.g., native plants grown by the locals). As a result, we argue that the popularity of urban agriculture among the newcomers, albeit well-intended, had adverse effects of discouraging many long-term residents from getting engaged with urban agriculture, keeping them from opportunities such as entrepreneurialism, community health, and urban sustainability.Less

Introduction

Alex Russ and Marianne E. Krasny

Alex Russ, Marianne E. Krasny, Alex Russ, and Marianne E. Krasny (eds)

in Urban Environmental Education Review

This book explains how urban environmental education can promote urban sustainability, and more specifically how environmental educators can achieve educational, youth and community development as ... More

This book explains how urban environmental education can promote urban sustainability, and more specifically how environmental educators can achieve educational, youth and community development as well as environmental quality goals in cities. Building on research and practice, it outlines novel approaches to educating about the urban environment and to participatory urban planning, stewardship, and governance. The book features contributions from an international community of eighty-two scholars from environmental education and related fields who share their insights about a variety of topics ranging from urbanization and the characteristics of sustainable cities to environmental justice, sense of place, climate change education, intergenerational education, inclusive education, and educator professional development. The book also explores methods and tools used in urban environmental education such as cities as classrooms, environmental arts, adventure education, urban agriculture, ecological restoration, green infrastructure, urban digital storytelling, and participatory urban planning.Less

Introduction: Development, Displacement, and Dining

Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca

in A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

From upscale restaurants to community gardens, food often reflects shifts in taste that are emblematic of gentrification. The prestige that food retail and urban agriculture can lend to a ... More

From upscale restaurants to community gardens, food often reflects shifts in taste that are emblematic of gentrification. The prestige that food retail and urban agriculture can lend to a neighborhood helps to increase property values, fostering the displacement of long-term residents while shifting local culture to create new inclusions and exclusions. And yet, many activists who oppose this dynamic have found food both a powerful symbol and an important tool through which to fight against it at scales ranging from individual consumption to state and national policy. The book argues that food and gentrification are deeply entangled, and that examining food retail and food practices is critical to understanding urban development. A series of case studies, from super-gentrifying cities like New York, to oft-neglected places like Oklahoma City, show that while gentrification always has its own local flavor, there are many commonalities. In the context of displacement, food reflects power struggles between differently situated class and ethnoracial groups. Through the lens of food, we can see that who has a right to the gentrifying city is not just about housing, but also includes the everyday practices of living, working and eating in the places we call home.Less

Diverse Politics, Difficult Contradictions: Gentrification and the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance

Michelle Glowa and Antonio Roman-Alcalá

in A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

In the San Francisco Bay Area, during the last nine years advocates have made major inroads in shifting local policies and approaches to urban agriculture. At the same time, the city’s landscape has ... More

In the San Francisco Bay Area, during the last nine years advocates have made major inroads in shifting local policies and approaches to urban agriculture. At the same time, the city’s landscape has undergone massive transformation. In this chapter, based on personal experiences as leaders in urban agriculture in the Bay Area and as researchers on the (transformational) politics of food systems, we propose that the justice-driven components of urban agriculture movements are subject to the influence of broader changes in political-economic context, and that urban agriculture is easily absorbed into existing neoliberal and pro-development political trajectories and projects. In this chapter, through the case of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, we analyze the movement’s composition, its genesis over time, and how the movement has confronted the tensions and limitations of neoliberal urbanization.Less

Boston’s Emerging Food Solidarity Economy

Penn Loh and Julian Agyeman

in New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action

An emerging food justice movement in Boston aspires to build a food economy rooted in values of justice, sustainability, and democracy. Though not centrally coordinated, this movement encompasses ... More

An emerging food justice movement in Boston aspires to build a food economy rooted in values of justice, sustainability, and democracy. Though not centrally coordinated, this movement encompasses cooperatives, a community land trust, social enterprises, and nonprofits spanning the food system, from land and farms to food processing and organic waste recycling. This chapter uses an urban political ecology lens and a solidarity economy framework to understand and analyze the challenges and opportunities facing this emerging Boston Food Solidarity Economy. The chapter examines how these play out through the case of the legalization of commercial farming in Boston. Finally, we discuss how some of these constraints might be overcome, with an emphasis on organizing and shifting power relations.Less

Food for all? Critically evaluating the role of the Incredible Edible movement in the UK

Michael Hardman, Mags Adams, Melissa Barker, and Luke Beesley

in Urban gardening and the struggle for social and spatial justice

With the concept of Urban Agriculture (UA) growing in popularity, more cities and towns are exploring opportunities to enable the practice and transform neglected spaces into havens for produce. This ... More

With the concept of Urban Agriculture (UA) growing in popularity, more cities and towns are exploring opportunities to enable the practice and transform neglected spaces into havens for produce. This chapter provides an insight into one such town, Todmorden and its Incredible Edible movement, located in the heart of England. This chapter adopts a qualitative approach to critically exploring the IET movement and to understand its impact on Todmorden. We engaged with key actors and the public in order to ascertain views towards the schemes, analysing the positives and negatives of the model. Findings revealed that the scheme has an overwhelmingly positive impact on the town, with social, environmental and economic benefits. Furthermore, it was made clear that IET is helping to create a more just food movement in Todmorden, particularly through its free for all philosophy. However, some negatives were also highlighted during the course of the research, predominately around maintenance issues and a lack of perceived inclusivity in parts. Overall, the scheme was highly valued and seen as a powerful method for growing the wider UA movement; recommendations centred on further replicating the model and helping local food to prosper in similar locations globally.Less