Growing Food in Cities: the Implications for Land-Use Policy

Abstract

There has been much social, political and academic debate about the growing of food in recent years. These debates have been mirrored by a surge of academic interest concerning the ability of cities to produce enough food to feed their inhabitants. To date, research has tended to bypass or perhaps even ignore food that is grown within urban areas and the land-use policy implications of such activities. The purpose of this article is to explore the implications of this oversight. Having discussed this neglect, international examples are used to illustrate the nature of the relationship between land-use policy and urban agriculture. The article proceeds to detail the findings of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded research study investigating land-use policy and urban agriculture in the UK. This is primarily concerned with detailing the attitudes to and knowledge of urban food production of land-use officials, and an examination of the land-use regulatory framework utilized for urban food production. In conclusion, the article utilizes the evidence presented to demonstrate that, whilst urban agriculture is extensively practised, the urban land-use policy implications of urban agriculture deserve more attention by both land-use officials and researchers than has hitherto been the case.