Looking West across the Square Mile showing 30 St Mary Axe and Tower 42, Barbican, with Westminster in background.

The local authority wants some of its 9,000 residents to use sites awaiting development to grow food in giant grow bags.

By John Vidal
The Guardian UK
16 June 2009

The Square Mile, capital of commerce and the site of Britain’s most expensive real estate, could soon host some of its first temporary allotments with giant “grow bags” set up on building sites.

The City of London, one of the few authorities not to have formal allotments, wants some of its 9,000 residents to use the spaces to grow fruit and vegetables. The authority has only 22 acres of open space, mostly in old burial grounds and small squares, but the recession has left many building sites vacant.

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The new publication Women Feeding Cities – Mainstreaming gender in urban agriculture and food security is now available online. This publication analyses the roles of women and men in urban food production, processing and marketing in case studies from 3 development regions and includes field tested guidelines and tools for gender mainstreaming.

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