Urban Sustainable Growth, Development, and Governance Structures for Revitalization of Open Vacant Spaces in Agriculture and Farming

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the implications of urban sustainable growth, development, and governance structures for the revitalization of open vacant spaces in agriculture and farming. After reviewing the extensive corpus of literature on the subject, the authors used the critical socio-ecological analysis methodology to determine the main issues, trends, practices, and implications of the urban vacant spaces in relation to the urban sustainable growth and development, the use of urban vacant land in urban agriculture, farming, and gardening, and the collaborative urban governance structures and revitalization of open vacant spaces. It is concluded that transitional use of vacant land and parcels are to be used and utilized for developing a sustainable green city. However, urban vacant land and parcel spaces are required to be utilized for revitalization purposes to be stimulated. Social-ecological analysis focusing on vacant lots in underdeveloped urban spaces hold potential for urban transformation to meet the social needs and improve the ecological services.