Multifunctional Urban Agriculture Research Articles

Achieving coordinated development of multi-functional urban agriculture in Xiamen, China

Urban agriculture's multi-functional coordinated development is an important approach for achieving sustainable development in urban areas. This study developed a comprehensive theoretical framework for evaluating, diagnosing, and optimizing multi-functional urban agriculture by integrating a TOPSIS evaluation model with the coordination degree model and the obstacle degree model. The framework was applied in Xiamen, China to identify the obstacles that impede its coordinated development. Subsequently, four optimized modes for the coordinated development of urban agriculture were proposed. Results showed that: (1) Urban agriculture in Xiamen exhibits the characteristics of "sound social function, moderate economic function, and poor ecological function". (2) The main obstacles affecting the coordination of urban agriculture's multi-function in Xiamen are the average grain crop output, level of agricultural mechanization, arable land carrying capacity, and amount of carbon sequestration. (3) Four optimized development modes for urban agriculture in Xiamen are identified. Through formulating customized strategies that align with the distinctive optimization development mode of each district can promote the sustainable development of urban agriculture in Xiamen. In conclusion, this framework provides a valuable tool for policymakers to explore effective strategies for promoting the multi-functional development of urban agriculture in China and can be expanded to other highly urbanized regions.

A sustainable pathway towards prioritization of multifunctional benefits in urban agriculture contributing to shrinking cities in developing countries - An empirical case of Sri Lanka

Even though currently at the growth stage, many developing countries are projected to experience urban shrinkage in the future, which demands long-term actions to improve urban sustainability. The study's objective is to investigate the feasibility of using urban agriculture as an open space management strategy under future shrinking and ageing scenarios in developing countries from the urban planning perspective. The study set a future urban shrinking and ageing scenario for the Colombo District, Sri Lanka, for the year 2100. It assessed the perceptions of 93 urban planning professionals about using urban agriculture as a strategy to manage open spaces in the study area in the given future scenarios. These respondents were assumed to be future urban planning professionals living in the year 2100.Results revealed that urban planning professionals highly accept that the multifunctionality of urban agriculture is vital for urban sustainability in future urban shrinkage, and higher preferences were shown for the non-cash benefits, including educational, health, and social benefits. The study also identified the sub-benefits that need to be prioritized under each benefit category and the inter-relationships between them. Finally, it was also found that when these multifunctional benefits are integrated into the urban planning under the future urban shrinkage and ageing scenarios, farmlands that are <1 acre in size, home gardens, community gardens, and privately owned lands are the most suitable land-use characteristics to be considered.

Promoting Urban Agriculture and Its Opportunities and Challenges—A Global Review

Multifunctionality of urban agriculture can support the resolve of many urban challenges. Therefore, it is vital to understand the contribution of academic studies on urban agriculture practices as scientific information. The present study followed a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA method. Finally, 54 identified articles were analyzed. The review study mainly examined the contribution of academic literature on urban agriculture under four dimensions: the socio-economic context of the country, type of agriculture model, opportunities, and challenges. The results revealed the focus of academic literature on urban agriculture to show favoritism toward developed countries’ community gardens. Moreover, the leading academic focus on this discipline identifies multifunctionality. People’s motivations in developed countries tend to favor social, health-related, and educational benefits of urban agriculture; however, in developing countries, urban agriculture is more related to economic and ecological needs. Challenges for urban agriculture are also different among developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, existing academic studies have given comparatively less attention to identifying challenges, benefit groups of urban agriculture, and government support. Since urban agriculture is highly reliant on local factors, studying more about opportunities and challenges for urban agriculture under different socio-economic contexts and different agriculture models could be more beneficial to connect farming practices in cities with urban planning. Therefore, to make an adequate academic contribution to urban sustainability, future urban agriculture studies need to be more holistic.

From microgarden technologies to vertical farms: innovative growing solutions for multifunctional urban agriculture

From microgarden technologies to vertical farms: innovative growing solutions for multifunctional urban agriculture

Features and Functions of Multifunctional Urban Agriculture in the Global North: A Review

In recent years, urban agriculture (UA) projects have bloomed throughout the world, finding large applications also in the developed economies of the so-called Global North. As compared to projects in developing countries, where research has mainly targeted the contribution to food security, UA in the Global North has a stronger multifunctional connotation, and results in multiple combinations of farming purposes and business models pursued. The present review paper explores the contribution and role that UA plays in cities from the Global North, defining its functionalities toward ecosystem services (ES) provisioning and analysing the factors that hinders and promote its regional diffusion and uptake. The manuscript integrates a description of UA growing systems, as well opportunities for crop diversification in the urban environment, and a comprehensive classification of UA business models. The distinctive features in terms of business models, farming purposes and farm size are then applied over an inventory of 470 UA projects in the Global North, allowing for a characterization and comparative analysis of distribution frequency of the different project typologies.

Empirical Study on the Multi-Functionality of Urban Agriculture and Creative Classes: Focusing on the Global Cities of Tokyo and Shanghai

Empirical Study on the Multi-Functionality of Urban Agriculture and Creative Classes: Focusing on the Global Cities of Tokyo and Shanghai

Farm Diversification and Sustainability of Multifunctional Peri-Urban Agriculture: Entrepreneurial Attributes of Advanced Diversification in Japan

Multifunctionality of urban agriculture is essential for the sustainability of both cities and urban farms, especially in Asian mega-cities exhibiting extensive urban sprawl. To maximise the multifunctionality of these farms, entrepreneurial or innovative farm diversification is important. However, there is insufficient research on this issue in developed countries. This study aims to demonstrate the existence of advanced diversified farms characterised by entrepreneurship, skilled farm management and social networks and explore their economic and social sustainability by using data from a survey of 386 farms located close to urban areas in Japan. Gaussian mixture clustering analysis revealed that only about 10% of the sample can be classified as advanced diversified farms and most of the other diversified farms do not exhibit entrepreneurial attributes. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that advanced diversification has a positive impact not only on the economic viability of farms, but also on their social performance. These findings have significant implications for policies promoting the sustainability of urban agriculture, suggesting that a more balanced promotion of the diversification and entrepreneurial attributes of farms is crucial to building a sustainable relationship between cities and urban agriculture.

Farmland conversion to fight climate change? Resource hierarchies, discursive power and ulterior motives in land use politics

In December 2013, local politicians celebrated with a champagne toast as the municipality of Trondheim received permission from the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation to develop 110 ha (272 acres) of high quality farmland for housing and business. The primary reason for this decision was the promotion of a more climate-friendly city. The land in question had been singled out as especially important for agriculture in previous planning processes. Based on documents, media texts and interviews, this article utilises situational analysis to scrutinise this puzzling political decision. It emphasises the importance of discourse in local decision making regarding scarce resources. Local interests and global issues are connected and made sense of in what Foucault (1972) called a “system of meaning”, which allows powerful economic interests and climate change mitigation measures to justify the permanent loss of farmland. As food production is invisible on the local political agenda, the re-implantation of multifunctional urban agriculture in the local food system could be a viable approach to slow further conversion of high quality farmland on the urban fringe.

Impacts of multi-functionality of urban agriculture on the CCs in Japan

The purpose of this study is to build a model on the relationship between multi-functionality of urban agriculture (MFA) and the creative classes (CCs) focusing on those who are thinking creatively (TC) through examining Tokyo metropolis in Japan. The impacts of multi-functionality of urban agriculture on the CCs are clarified empirically based on a questionnaire survey targeting at the residents in Tokyo. The results of questionnaire survey clarified that multi-functionality of urban agriculture are preferred by the CCs especially those who are TC. Furthermore, among the CCs, those who are TC have a high level of social capital (SC) and are favorable to diversified lifestyle as well. Therefore, it is concluded that the multi-functionality of urban agriculture has positive impacts on the residence of the creative classes with a high level of SC and the diversity of lifestyle which is thought to be important for the development of cities. Policy implication drawn from the research encourages the city leaders to put more attention on the MFA in Japan, because it is favorable to the CCs especially those who are thinking creatively.

Fostering Multi-Functional Urban Agriculture: Experiences from the Champions in a Revitalized Farm Pond Community in Taoyuan, Taiwan

Urban agriculture (UA) with its multi-functional roles has recently become a globally important topic, as it is considered as an approach to address the emerging challenges to societies seeking greater sustainability. In Taiwan, the Hakka community of Gaoyuan in Taoyuan City, where a traditional farm pond was recently transformed into a public, multi-functional UA resource, is widely regarded as the first successful bottom-up, community-led, farm-pond-based UA in Taiwan, yet its actual performance is rarely explored in any depth. Little work has been done to provide details on the socio-ecological benefits of UA in the community redevelopment process. Through in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and participant observation, this specific qualitative study aims to explore the community champions’ experiences in the transformation leading to a revitalized community. First, by linking nearby nature to people, a green network of diverse spaces, low-impact landscaping, and an agricultural-community-like pondscape, the specific landscape character that makes UA in Gaoyuan distinctive is formed. Second, through active engagement, participation, and the agency of local people, the UA implementation process features cooperative working, mutual learning, and experience-sharing. Third, UA plays a crucial role in building social cohesion that promotes people’s participation in community affairs, and strengthens the community’s social network, which involves agricultural life, crop production, the ecological environment, and community care. It is revealed that the farm-pond-based UA with its multi-functional roles acts as a catalyst for the Gaoyuan community’s progress toward sustainability. The desired end-state of the agricultural landscape, as a synthesis of natural features and human interventions, is a more sustainable, characteristic, well-maintained and united place to fulfill people’s needs and enhance people’s overall health and well-being.

Integrating urban agriculture and urban planning in Mashhad, Iran; a short survey of current status and constraints

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the role of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Mashhad in a perspective of sustainable development. To this end the article seeks to point out the conditions that hinder this development and the factors that could favor it. The article is structured as follows: in the first section the UPA phenomenon is framed with reference to some significant planning experiences in progress in Western and Islamic countries. In the second section, an outline of Mashhad as a “city in transition” is provided highlighting its main factors of change. In the third section, the institutional framework of present urban planning in Mashhad is described, also showing the weak enforcement mechanisms of planning policy for UPA. Section four presents both a conceptual and material network of un-built areas potentially suitable for agricultural uses, articulated in three different classes. By referring to city maps and recent urban schemes, the study summarizes the physical characteristics, the ownership, and the resources of each class, from inside the compact city to its peripheral belt. The article concludes by indicating the three domains of policy, education, and social commitment as the main factors that can favor effective policies and practices for a multifunctional urban agriculture.

Socially acceptable urban agriculture businesses

The rise of successful entrepreneurs in urban agriculture has attracted global interest. Here, we hypothesized that societal preferences and the acceptability of urban agriculture projects and products are ruling the success or failure of urban agriculture businesses. We surveyed 386 urban participants in Berlin, Germany, to identify general preferences for the productive use of urban space, the acceptance of different urban agriculture forms, and demands and expectations regarding urban agriculture products. The results show first that more than 80 % of the respondents preferred having accessible systems such as public green spaces, intercultural gardens, and rooftop gardens. Indeed, land uses that do not provide accessibility such as meadows, aquaponic farms, or intensive agricultural and horticultural landscapes showed lower acceptance, of less than 40 %. Second, 60 % of participants expressed acceptance of rooftop farming, agriculture in the urban fringe, or in inner-city brownfields, whereas 65 % rejected to have agriculture in multi-story buildings, agroparks, or aquaponic farms. Third, more than 50 % are willing to buy horticultural products, but they reject products from intensive production systems and animal-farming mechanisms, with more than 70 % rejection for animal products. Overall, this is the first study to investigate entrepreneurial urban agriculture possibilities from the perspective of potential consumers. The main insight is that the highest degree of acceptance is reached for multifunctional urban agriculture that combines commercial with ecological and social goals. As a consequence, projects that are purely production-driven or technologically intensive are more likely to be rejected.

Multifunctionality assessment of urban agriculture in Beijing City, China

As an important approach to the realization of agricultural sustainable development, multifunctionality has become a hot spot in the field of urban agriculture. Taking 13 agricultural counties of Beijing City as the assessing units, this study selects 10 assessing index from ecological, economic and social aspects, determines the index weight using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, and establishes an index system for the integrated agricultural function. Based on standardized data from agricultural census and remote sensing, the integrated function and multifunctionality of urban agriculture in Beijing City are assessed through the index grade mapping. The results show that agricultural counties with the highest score in ecological, economic, and social function are Yanqing, Changping, and Miyun, respectively; and the greatest disparity among those counties is economic function, followed by social and ecological function. Topography and human disturbance may be the factors that affect integrated agricultural function. The integrated agricultural function of Beijing rises at the beginning then drops later with the increase of mean slope, average altitude, and distance from the city. The whole city behaves balance among ecological, economic, and social functions at the macro level, with 8 out of the 13 counties belonging to ecology–society–economy balanced areas, while no county is dominant in only one of the three functions. On the micro scale, however, different counties have their own functional inclination: Miyun, Yanqing, Mentougou, and Fengtai are ecology–society dominant, and Tongzhou is ecology–economy dominant. The agricultural multifunctionality in Beijing City declines from the north to the south, with Pinggu having the most significant agricultural multifunctionality. The results match up well with the objective condition of Beijing's urban agriculture planning, which has proved the methodological rationality of the assessment to a certain extent.

Valuation of Multi-functionality of Urban Agriculture using Turnbull Model

Valuation of Multi-functionality of Urban Agriculture using Turnbull Model

Multifunctional Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Land Use Planning in the United States

Urban agriculture offers an alternative land use for integrating multiple functions in densely populated areas. While urban agriculture has historically been an important element of cities in many developing countries, recent concerns about economic and food security have resulted in a growing movement to produce food in cities of developed countries including the United States. In these regions, urban agriculture offers a new frontier for land use planners and landscape designers to become involved in the development and transformation of cities to support community farms, allotment gardens, rooftop gardening, edible landscaping, urban forests, and other productive features of the urban environment. Despite the growing interest in urban agriculture, urban planners and landscape designers are often ill-equipped to integrate food-systems thinking into future plans for cities. The challenge (and opportunity) is to design urban agriculture spaces to be multifunctional, matching the specific needs and preferences of local residents, while also protecting the environment. This paper provides a review of the literature on urban agriculture as it applies to land use planning in the United States. The background includes a brief historical perspective of urban agriculture around the world, as well as more recent examples in the United States. Land use applications are considered for multiple scales, from efforts that consider an entire city, to those that impact a single building or garden. Barriers and constraints to urban agriculture are discussed, followed by research opportunities and methodological approaches that might be used to address them. This work has implications for urban planners, landscape designers, and extension agents, as opportunities to integrate urban agriculture into the fabric of our cities expand.

Agro-tourism enterprises as a form of multi-functional urban agriculture for peri-urban development in China

The peri-urban area of fast growing Chinese cities is under great pressure from the land demands of urban expansion, resulting in the loss of arable land, environmental deterioration and social exclusion of village communities. The recent development of agro-tourism enterprises in peri-urban areas, as a form of commercial urban agriculture, offers a means to promote integrated urban and rural development in a manner that can counteract some of the negative impacts of urbanization. This paper describes and analyzes the performance of a large-scale agro-tourism enterprise, Xiedao Green Resort in Beijing, over the period 2004–2008. The business model combines agricultural production and tourism services fostering a demand-supply relationship between urban and rural areas. It offers a way to improve the quality of agricultural products and services, while developing multiple functions of agro-tourism which have wider economic, environmental and social benefits, creating opportunities for integrated and sustainable urban–rural development.

How Urban Agriculture is Reshaping Peri-Urban Beijing?

In Beijing, urban agriculture (UA) experienced a corkscrew development with its role changing in decades: It has evolved from the purely production mode to multi-functional urban agriculture, fulfilling both social and ecological demands. At present, the practice of UA as well as the number of rural to urban migrants is growing rapidly in peri-urban Beijing. Through Multi-stakeholder Process for Action planning and Policy Design (MPAP) methodology and four in-depth case studies, we can see that UA activities are playing very important roles in reshaping peri-urban Beijing. Socially, UA induces the emergence of new migrant communities. While migrants rebuild their social network, they are changed by the city as well, which has also changed the local community. The new comers are on their way to creating a new balance. Physically, urban and peri-urban farmland limits urban sprawl, supplies agricultural products for everyday life, and reserves urban green spaces for recreation and leisure for citizens in Beijing, which has changed the landscape and land use and land cover (LUCC) pattern greatly. Under Beijing's land policy, the concentric configuration spatial allocation through multi-functional UA is formed, which at the same time due to migrants' UA activities are creating harmful and low efficient land use pattern which should be of concern.

Participatory Design of Public Spaces for Urban Agriculture, Rosario, Argentina

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized for its potential contribution to more sustainable urban development. Urban agriculture includes the cultivation and raising, processing and marketing of food and non-food crops, medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruit trees, as well as animal products within urban and periurban areas. Urban agriculture positively impacts urban food security, local economic development, environmental management and community building. To reconcile the demands posed by urban growth with urban agriculture activities of high social and economic value, urban agriculture however should be included into land use planning and design, and regulated by municipalities, assuring its proper management and avoiding potential health and environmental risks. Open and green urban spaces could be designed for multifunctional urban agriculture and combine natural habitat, food production, educational, recreational and leisure activities. Such design processes would benefit from broad participation of urban planners and architects, urban farmers, citizens and slum inhabitants as to enhance ownership and engagement, more effectively use available local resources and give the process a higher credibility and wider outreach. This article shares the experience of Rosario, Argentina where the city planners and University staff collaborated with two low-income communities in the design and implementation of a multifunctional neighborhood park, public square and road reserve. A step-by-step participatory design process was followed: starting from initial visioning, defining and relating the various existing and multi-functional land uses desired, to elaborating the site plan, and agreeing on implementation procedures. The article briefly contextualizes the site and its inhabitants, illustrates the design process and the results achieved and highlights some of the problems encountered. Participatory design of open spaces for urban agriculture in Rosario- though a complex process- proved to have contributed to improving socio-economic and environmental conditions in the city, while also serving as a source of inspiration to other cities in the region.

URBAN HORTICULTURE IN AFRICA AND ASIA, AN EFFICIENT CORNER FOOD SUPPLIER

Peri-urban agriculture is still the subject of intense debate as regards its viability, its efficiency in urban food supply relative to rural production, and the rationale for the state to protect it from urban development. The paper investigates the role of urban horticulture in the supply of African and Asian cities and the importance of maintaining proximity between farmers and consumers of vegetables. It draws on insights of spatial economics as regards physical proximity and institutional economics as regards relational proximity. It is based on market surveys in various cities of Africa and South-East Asia, especially on the origin of food products, and the relationships between buyers and purchasers. The results show the importance of urban agriculture in the overall supply of the most perishable vegetables, i.e., leafy vegetables, and its complementarity with rural areas for other vegetables in seasonal supply. In addition to the advantage of quickly bringing fresh perishable products, proximity has advantages in terms of short marketing chains with low marketing costs. In some situations, it also helps in building confidence between farmers and consumers, in particular as regards vegetable safety. Finally it contributes to food sovereignty. The paper concludes by arguing why it is legitimate for the public sector to support a non-polluting multi-functional urban agriculture. (Resume d'auteur)