Urban Foodscapes and Greenspace Design: Integrating Grazing Landscapes Within Multi-Use Urban Parks

Shannon Davis

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.559025

Abstract

Since the early 2000s an increasing number of planning and design projects, within the spatial design fields of landscape architecture and urban design, have focused on food landscapes and their re-integration into the urban environment; particularly as a result of recent global movements toward creating more sustainable cities and human settlements. This article explores the potential contribution of grazing lands within cities of the Global North as a multi-beneficial layer in public greenspace design. Plant-based urban farms and community gardens have experienced significant growth within developed nations in recent years, in both scholarship and practice, however the design and implementation of integrated grazing lands within the urban zone has been largely left out. For much of the Global North animal agriculture is still considered primarily rural. This research considers the potential of integrating grazing lands within the city through multiuse greenspace design, and undertakes a case study design critique of Cornwall Park, Auckland where since 1903, the Park has provided urban grazing for sheep and cattle, alongside other land uses and experiences such as recreation, heritage, bio-diversity, and education. Undertaking a “descriptive critique” of Cornwall Park, and its 100 Year Master Plan, this research is intended to enhance, the understanding and role, grazing animals can play within public greenspace.

Highlights

As a basic essential for life, food has always been a critical part of any city including its production, movement and transportation, distribution, places of consumption, and waste (Pothukuchi and Kaufman, 1999, 2000; Steel, 2008, 2012, 2020; Viljoen and Bohn, 2014; Parham, 2015)
With the advent of railways, in the nineteenth century, many cities of the Global North were essentially liberated from the spatial constraints of the traditional geography of such things as food production and walkability, making it possible to Grazing Landscapes in Urban Parks build and extend urban settlements that were less constrained by size, shape, and location (Steel, 2012)
Since the early 2000s, the practice and implementation of urban agriculture within publicly-owned greenspaces has grown in both location and scale, moving from a peripheral position within local government and urban design disciplines to one that is seen as a viable and progressive way forward for cities of the Global North to meet urban resilience agendas, increasing residents access to fresh nutritious food, and supporting human relationships with the land (Viljoen and Bohn, 2005; Mougeot, 2006; Morgan and Sonnino, 2010; Morgan, 2014; Parham, 2020)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

As a basic essential for life, food has always been a critical part of any city including its production, movement and transportation, distribution, places of consumption, and waste (Pothukuchi and Kaufman, 1999, 2000; Steel, 2008, 2012, 2020; Viljoen and Bohn, 2014; Parham, 2015). Since the early 2000s, the practice and implementation of urban agriculture within publicly-owned greenspaces has grown in both location and scale, moving from a peripheral position within local government and urban design disciplines to one that is seen as a viable and progressive way forward for cities of the Global North to meet urban resilience agendas, increasing residents access to fresh nutritious food, and supporting human relationships with the land (Viljoen and Bohn, 2005; Mougeot, 2006; Morgan and Sonnino, 2010; Morgan, 2014; Parham, 2020). In addition to the production of food, urban agriculture offers a wide range of associated benefits including ecological functions such as biodiversity and nutrient cycling; and cultural functions, for example, physical exercise, education for life skills, and social interaction and inclusion Design professions such as landscape architecture and urban design can play a critical structural role in developing “healthier” cities, responding to, as Potteiger (2013) discusses, public health problems and their solutions. Using Cornwall Park as a case study, this research poses the question, how can grazing lands, for sheep and beef production, be designed within a public urban park alongside other park uses?

METHODS

CONCLUSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT