Abstract
Food security is becoming an increasingly relevant topic in the Global North, especially in urban areas. Because such areas do not always have good access to nutritionally adequate food, the question of how to supply them is an urgent priority in order to maintain a healthy population. Urban and peri-urban agriculture, as sources of local fresh food, could play an important role. Whereas some scholars do not differentiate between peri-urban and urban agriculture, seeing them as a single entity, our hypothesis is that they are distinct, and that this has important consequences for food security and other issues. This has knock-on effects for food system planning and has not yet been appropriately analysed. The objectives of this study are to provide a systematic understanding of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North, showing their similarities and differences, and to analyse their impact on urban food security. To this end, an extensive literature review was conducted, resulting in the identification and comparison of their spatial, ecological and socio-economic characteristics. The findings are discussed in terms of their impact on food security in relation to the four levels of the food system: food production, processing, distribution and consumption. The results show that urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North indeed differ in most of their characteristics and consequently also in their ability to meet the food needs of urban inhabitants. While urban agriculture still meets food needs mainly at the household level, peri-urban agriculture can provide larger quantities and has broader distribution pathways, giving it a separate status in terms of food security. Nevertheless, both possess (unused) potential, making them valuable for urban food planning, and both face similar threats regarding urbanisation pressures, necessitating adequate planning measures.
Highlights
Food security has become an increasingly relevant issue facing the Global North over the past few decades
Acknowledging the large body of literature providing evidence that food demand will increase in importance for urbanised areas in the Global North, this paper seeks to review the state of knowledge and discussion on the supply side, the roles of urban and peri-urban agriculture (PUA)
Regarding the Global South, the zones where PUA and UA spatially overlap seem much larger compared to the Global North
Summary
Food security has become an increasingly relevant issue facing the Global North over the past few decades. Acknowledging the large body of literature providing evidence that food demand will increase in importance for urbanised areas in the Global North, this paper seeks to review the state of knowledge and discussion on the supply side, the roles of urban and peri-urban agriculture (PUA). Peri-urban agriculture is a residual form of agriculture at the fringes of growing cities, though a commonly agreed spatial definition for peri-urban areas is missing They are described as the transition zone between urban and rural areas with, on the one hand, lower population densities and a lack of infrastructure compared to cities, and not ‘‘urban’’, and on the other hand a limited amount of agricultural and natural land, and not ‘‘rural’’ (Allen 2003; Piorr et al 2011). To focus on the hypothesis of this paper, we do not examine the Global South and instead concentrate on UA and PUA in the Global North
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
