Practical Ethics: Urban Agriculture in US Cities

Abstract

AbstractUrban agriculture provides the opportunity to challenge the status quo within our current urban and food systems. The increased number and density of people in a city creates opportunities and challenges for urban agriculture. Howe and Kaufman’s ethical framework of means and ends is one way to frame urban agriculture. An emphasis on both means and ends is useful given the tendency for ethical ends (or outcomes, economic or otherwise) to preempt considerations for ethical means or processes. Using this framework, we suggest three key ideas to frame ethics of urban agriculture: a place-based historical perspective, a bridge between cities and regions, and a nested approach to reimagining healthy socio-ecological systems. Urban agriculture practitioners must understand the broader history of urban places and agricultural processes as both consequences of national historical processes, in contemporary place specific contexts, and with respect to future goals and orientations to society. The contribution of urban agriculture to environmentally sustainable futures recognizes that food production and consumption is an essential component of human life. The transformative potential of urban agriculture stems from its significant role in two systems that affect everyday life: urban and food systems. This potential for change does not imply that change through urban agriculture practice is inevitable. In this case, change requires that urban agriculture participants and stakeholders critically examine their own practices and expectations. We illustrate how this ethical framework provides an important perspective on the past, present, and future of urban agriculture.