Category — thesis

E. Duchemin, F. Wegmuller, and A.-M. Legault
Institut des sciences de l’environnement, Université du Québec à Montréal, Succ. Centre-Ville, C.P. 8888, Montréal, Québec, Canada
2009

Abstract.

For over 30 years, different urban agriculture (UA) experiments have been undertaken in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The Community Gardening Program, managed by the City, and 6 collective gardens, managed by community organizations, are discussed in this article. These experiments have different objectives, including food security, socialization and education. Although these have changed over time, they have also differed depending on geographic location (neighbourhood).

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By David D. Mkwambisi , Evan D. G. Fraser , Andy J. Dougill

Journal of International Development
Published Online: 17 Feb 2010

Abstract

Support of urban agriculture can be used as a route to reducing urban poverty across Sub-Saharan Africa. However policy makers require more precise information on how it contributes to alleviating food insecurity and poverty problems. This study in Malawi’s two main cities (Lilongwe and Blantyre) revealed two predominant types of urban farmers: (i) low-income, less educated, often female-headed households, who use urban agriculture as an insurance against income losses and who can employ skilled workers to support their livestock activities; and (ii) middle- and high-income, often male-headed households, that undertake urban agriculture for personal consumption and hire significant numbers of unskilled workers.

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Micro-farming – algae, plankton, insects

By Jakub Dzamba
University of Toronto
Nov, 2009
Email: k.dzamba@utoronto.ca

Excerpts:

The purpose of this living document is to add clarity and factual depth to a concept called micro-farming; where the remarkable ability of micro-organisms and insects to rapidly reproduce is harnessed for the production of food.

Third Millennium Farming (3MF) is about using species of micro-organisms (algae and plankton) that are much better converters of sunlight into plant biomass than even our fastest growing crops, and similarly using species of micro-livestock (insects) that are much better converters of plant biomass into edible meat than even our fastest growing livestock.

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Best Practices in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Development

To be included in JAFSCD Vol. 1 Issue 2
Deadline: June 5, 2010

JAFSCD welcomes research or policy briefs, and case studies (up to 2,500 words) and full articles (up to 8,500 words) on best community-development practices related to:

Urban livestock management and regulation
Urban market gardening and backyard gardening
Marketing and value-adding
Waste management and reuse
Urban farming by immigrant or other special populations
Farming on the fringe

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Sketchbook image by Anthony Zierhut. The Monterey Road Eco-Community Garden opening. Larger image here.

By Alex Chisholm
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts of Leadership
2008 – 150 pages
Email: alex.1chisholm@gmail.com

Abstract

Community gardens and other forms of urban agriculture (UA) make vital contributions to the environmental sustainability, food security, and economic prosperity of urban life. Community gardens also improve cities’ social, recreational, and aesthetic qualities. Yet growers continue to struggle for access to land and mechanisms to expand agriculture within cities. An umbrella organization that advocates and negotiates for land access and favourable government policies on behalf of growers could be an effective tool for increasing UA within the City of Vancouver.

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By John C. Downen, Research Analyst
2009 | Volume 69, Number 3
Bureau of Economic and Business Research
University of Utah

Excerpts:

This study examines urban farming along Utah’s Wasatch Front. It covers agricultural activity in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties using data from the USDA’s Census of Agriculture from 1974 to 2007. It begins by looking at the amount of farmland and farms, as well as the distribution of farm sizes. Next we consider farm ownership and operator characteristics, noting that most farms on the Wasatch Front are sole proprietorships. The study then turns to farm finances, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and an analysis of direct sales and current organic practices. A summary concludes the piece.

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By Henk de Zeeuw and Marielle Dubbeling
Leusden, October 2009
18,000 words

Discussion paper for the Technical Consultation “Agriculture, Food and Cities”, September 24-25, 2009, Rome, jointly organised by Food and Agriculture of the United Nations – Food for the Cities Multi-disciplinary Action (FAO-FCIT) and RUAF Foundation (International Network of Resource centres on Urban Agriculture and Food security)

This policy briefing resulted from the international expert consultation organised by FAO-Food for the Cities (FAO-FCIT ) and RUAF Foundation (24-25 September, 2009, in Rome), attended by some 25 experts on urban food security and urban agriculture from international organisations, including senior staff of FAO, RUAF Foundation, IDRC, CGIAR-Urban Harvest, UN-HABITAT, World Bank, IFAD, Rockefeller Foundation, IWMI, CIRAD, IFPRI, ICLEI, GTZ, Heifer Int., Biodiversity Int., WFP and Milano 2015.

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Guinea pig keepers in the North Kivu Province of Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Neil Palmer. Larger image here.

By Nyumbaiza Tambwe
Conference paperKMAfrica
2009 Dakar

Excerpts:

Introduction

The paper attempts to establish a relationship between urban agriculture and food security. In other words, it seeks to examine the impact of agricultural activities taking place within and around the city of Lubumbashi on household level. The paper uses the sustainable livelihood approach based on the theories of alternative development. Instead of identifying all strategies used in urban areas, the study focuses on urban agriculture because of its potential as source of food and income. On methodological level, using the non-probability sampling, the city was divided into its seven administrative wards. As each ward is administratively divided into areas, each area was taken as reference for the selection of informants.

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Ma Chaba and Ma Phillipina is two of six elders who started this garden next to the Phillipi Municipal building, Cape Town. They receive training and ongoing support from Abalimi, and regularly supply the Harvest of Hope box scheme with fresh organic veggies. Photo by konsciousimages. Larger image here.

Determining the features of urban agriculture, the current poverty response policies that are in place in the Southern African countries of South Africa and Zambia

By Nel, E.; Hampwaye, G.; Thornton, A.; Rogerson, C.M and Marais, L.
Global Development Network (GDN) Working Paper Series
2009, Africa

Urban agriculture (UA) has not always received adequate recognition in respect of institutional acceptance. In addition, institutional acceptance has often not been followed by proactive policy approaches. At the same time, decentralization in both South Africa and Zambia has resulted in a larger degree of local decision-making powers. This report evaluates said responses from eight case studies (four from Zambia and South Africa each) against the existing literature and policy frameworks.

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Figure 7: Modeling the Initiation of Urban Agriculture based on Vancouver and Montréal Case Studies

The Urban Agricultural Movement in Canada: A Comparative Analysis of Montréal and Vancouver

By Chandal Nolasco da Silva
Email: chandal.nds@gmail.com
A research essay submitted to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, 16,000 words
Carleton University 2009

1. Introduction

Urban agriculture is a term used to describe both private and public agricultural activities that take place in urban and peri-urban areas. While regional examples practice urban agriculture differently, each will help to increase food security. Urban agriculture has the potential to increase a region’s food security by providing a local food supply system and successful examples of this situation have been documented in the Canadian cities of Montréal and Vancouver.

By documenting the birth of the urban agricultural movements in Montréal and Vancouver, this research has sought to understand how modern Canadian cities can adopt local food systems.

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The 10 x 10 project, comprising modular food production units distributed to schools, community centers, and Boys and Girls Clubs, would provide children with a hands-on, direct food production experience, as well as appreciation of fresh foods.

From of a report by Urban Design Labs (MIT and Columbia University researchers) called Curbing Childhood Obesity: Searching for Comprehensive Solutions.

MIT researchers think America’s obesity epidemic can be reversed via ‘foodsheds,’ in which healthier, more affordable food is produced and consumed regionally.
Excerpt From: Good food nation
Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office

In a report finished this October after meetings with food-industry leaders, the MIT and Columbia researchers propose a solution: America should increase its regional food consumption. Each metropolitan area, the researchers say, should obtain most of its nutrition from its own “foodshed,” a term akin to “watershed” meaning the area that naturally supplies its kitchens.

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Midmar Drive Allotments by Sandy Gemmill
Larger image here.

By Jake Butcher
This research was conducted as part of an Ecology (conservation and management) dissertation at the University of Edinburgh.
16,000 word dissertation. Complete paper on-line. Link on next page.

Summary

A recent increase in urban food production has been stimulated by both the recognised advantages which it brings in terms of health, recreation and urban sustainability and by the solution which it represents to the many problems associated with the globalisation of the food system, urbanisation and increasingly intensified agriculture.

The City of Edinburgh has experienced not only a growth in the number and diversity of urban food growing projects over recent years but also a rise in waste, carbon emissions and both human and environmental health problems.

This study aimed to address these problems by assessing current food production and subsequently quantifying the room for expansion of food growing in the city. Case studies were conducted detailing information on 16 different food production projects within the City.

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Troy Gardens, Jan. 2003, Site Plan (Overall)

Annie Myers conducted a research project focused upon urban farms and city planning, for the course City Planning 252 (”Land Use Controls”)
May 2008, CP252, Professor Fred Etzel
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Urban and Regional Planning

An urban farm is considered to be one or more sites within the boundaries of a city, where the soil is cultivated for edible plants, and where the food produced is shared (whether for-profit or not, by sales or donation) with individuals other than the farmers themselves. The existing sites currently known as urban farms usually occupy a total of at least 1/4 acre (or 10,890 ft2) and have established a formal food distribution system, often selling through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), at farmers markets, and to local restaurants.

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Book cover image: Food, Culture, and Survival in an African City by Karen Coen Flynn, 2005

Urban agriculture in Mwanza, Tanzania
Published in Africa,  Fall, 2001  by Karen Coen Flynn

Karen Flynn is on the faculty of the Department of Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Akron, Ohio. She received her doctorate in anthropology from Harvard in 1997 for a thesis on ‘Food Provisioning in Urban Mwanza’.

Abstract

Many people living in Mwanza, Tanzania, provision themselves through urban agriculture – the planting of crops and raising of animals in urban and peri-urban areas, as well as in the countryside. This article compares Mwanza’s urban farmers with those in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana. Like Zimbabwe’s urban agriculturalists, more and more of Mwanza’s are not among the poorest of the poor. Much like Ghana’s urban farmers, those in Mwanza are often middle and upper-class males with access to scarce land and inputs. Urban cultivators in Mwanza differ from those in Kenya and Zambia with regard to gender, socio-economic class and the factors motivating their farming activities.

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Demolition of structures and urban agriculture lots on road reserves and harassment to smallholder farmers in road strips areas are common: Photos, January 2006 at Ubungo Darajani.

Improving urban land governance with emphasis on integrating agriculture based livelihoods in spatial land use planning practise in Tanzania

By Wakuru Magigi
From Moshi (Tanzania) (2008)
200 pages (6MB)

Abstract

This study examines spatial land use planning and urban agriculture practises in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, one of the rapidly urbanising cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. It demonstrates how urban agriculture livelihood can be integrated in spatial land use planning and improve urban land governance by taking Goba, Chango’mbe ‘A’ and Ubungo Darajani as case study settlements. Location and periurban typology are theoretical premises used in this study. These help in understanding the policy and practical premises that constrain urban agriculture livelihood integration in urban land use planning processes and land management principles.

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By Adam Brock
September, 2008

A research paper I (Adam Brock) wrote under supervision from NYU professor Natalie Jeremijenko in Summer 2008. The conclusion? It’s not lack of land that’s preventing us from growing food on campus – it’s the politics of centrally-controlled space.

Abstract

Urban Agriculture presents a promising means of addressing at least three critical issues facing cities: food security, ecological health, and community development. As an urban research university with an increasing commitment to sustainable practices, NYU is in an ideal position to contribute to this emerging discipline. Although the neighborhood around NYU’s core is uncommonly dense, the University owns several acres of under-utilized outdoor space within this core that could potentially be suitable for cultivation.

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