Abstract
Urban Agriculture (UA), i.e., the production of crops or rearing of livestock in cities, is growing in popularity. Upscaled UA is increasingly gaining support from policy makers, funders, local authorities and other key actors across the globe. Radical forms of the concept, in the form of edible rooftops, urban farms and high-tech growing projects, are becoming more commonplace in our cityscapes; enabling production on a level not witnessed previously. With the mainstreaming of large-scale UA comes the potential to further the social, environmental and economic value of the practice, through job creation, biodiversity enhancement, the creation of short food supply chains and other benefits. Yet, despite this growth, there are barriers to upscaling city farming. Evidence suggests that a core issue surrounds urban soil contamination and hesitation with regards to crops in the city. This paper uses a qualitative approach to explore the UK’s largest urban farm and a spectrum of other UA sites to illustrate such barriers. We reveal how public hesitation, financial barriers and soil quality prevent development. We reflect on the breadth of the issue and call for a more pragmatic approach to these barriers. In doing so, we propose a path forward for enabling UA at scale.
Highlights
Upscaling Urban AgricultureInterest in urban food growing is at an all-time high, with policies and key actors pushing forward the practice across the globe [1,2]
Many spaces go beyond fruit and vegetables, with livestock featuring on an array of micro and meta-urban agriculture (UA) sites [4]
This study draws on qualitative data from a range of exemplar projects across the UK to enable a reflection on the state of the sector; we combine the primary data with secondary materials to provide a meta overview of the positives and negatives related to various models of upscaled urban farming
Summary
Interest in urban food growing is at an all-time high, with policies and key actors pushing forward the practice across the globe [1,2]. The practice from the USA is more communal in nature, which differs from the UK’s individual allotment plot model, and is less restrictive, meaning that more spaces can be created [5]. In this sense, with allotments often over-subscribed, this more communal version of growing has risen in popularity [6]. Even prior to the pandemic, there was a rise in UA policies and plans; with charters, planning documents and other tools being used to enable the practice [8] Despite this interest and post-pandemic upscaling, there are still a large number of barriers preventing the practice. We hope that findings will be of interest to a range of decision-makers, practitioners and academics exploring the potential of UA to contribute significantly to feeding cities
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