Growing Resistance to Systems of Oppression: An Exploration of the Transformative Power of Urban Agriculture

Samantha Noll

doi:10.1515/opphil-2020-0110

Abstract

Abstract Today the relationship between food and cities is revitalizing urban areas, as food production practices transform locales one block and one neighborhood at a time. The key catalysts of this transformation include the commitment to address the root causes of inequalities within food systems and the desire to increase local control over food systems that have been increasingly industrialized and globalized. These goals, encapsulated by the terms “food justice” and “food sovereignty,” play major roles in guiding local food initiatives in cities today. This study explores how justice-oriented urban agriculture projects transform city contexts in ways that reduce regulatory barriers – barriers that, when left in place, could perpetuate systems of oppression. The study ends with the argument that, by removing regulatory barriers, urban agriculture projects are transforming cityscapes in ways that cultivate justice at the system level.

Highlights

Today the relationship between food and cities is revitalizing urban areas, as food production practices transform locales one block and one neighborhood at a time
This study explores how justice-oriented urban agriculture projects transform city contexts in ways that reduce regulatory barriers – barriers that, when left in place, could perpetuate systems of oppression
The study ends with the argument that, by removing regulatory barriers, urban agriculture projects are transforming cityscapes in ways that cultivate justice at the system level

Summary

The urban agriculture movement in context

It is important to briefly place the urban agriculture movement in historical context. Both movements are guided by the desire to address pragmatic problems faced by local communities and to address social justice concerns, such as problematic environmental, social, health, and economic distributions of harms and benefits of current food systems.[18] Today the relationship between food and cityscapes is revitalizing, as food production practices transform cityscapes one block and one neighborhood at a time In this context, urban agriculture is taking on a multiplicity of forms, as there are many ways that projects form relationships between land, labor, production activities, and markets.[19]

Food sovereignty and food justice in the city

Barriers to food justice in the city

Urban agriculture as transformation