An Introduction: Teaching and Learning in Urban Agricultural Community Contexts

Abstract

Urban agriculture has seen a resurgence in interest and activity as consumers are interested in where their food comes from, how it was produced, and how it reflects their personal values. The interest in urban agriculture has resulted in formal, nonformal and informal education programs, projects, and experiences. The breadth and nature of the field of urban agriculture and related educational programs is nuanced, eclectic, highly diverse, and transcends a wide range of contexts. As such, literature was reviewed and summarized into a framework of factors, including scope; approaches and methods; diversity of production and services; systems-driven and holistic; purpose-driven on food and social justice; a community-based food system for the public good. Although numerous authors have discussed the diversity of urban agriculture, these factors were proposed as a framework to continue the dialogue and demonstrate how various authors in this book discussed urban agriculture in their chapters. This book is a collection of authors’ wisdom of programmatic and evidence-based experiences in urban agriculture education. Nine chapters are briefly introduced, and their unique contributions are highlighted in the introduction. The chapters provide implications on how educators can inform programmatic engagement in urban agriculture.