sustainability Article Urban Cultivation and Its Contributions to Sustainability: Nibbles of Food but Oodles of Social Capital George Martin *, Roland Clift and Ian Christie Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK;
[email protected] (R.C.);
[email protected] (I.C.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Academic Editors: Sean Clark and Marc A. Rosen Received: 2 February 2016; Accepted: 6 April 2016; Published: 25 April 2016 Abstract: The contemporary interest in urban cultivation in the global North as a component of sustainable food production warrants assessment of both its quantitative and qualitative roles. This exploratory study weighs the nutritional, ecological, and social sustainability contributions of urban agriculture by examining three cases—a community garden in the core of New York, a community farm on the edge of London, and an agricultural park on the periphery of San Francisco. Our field analysis of these sites, confirmed by generic estimates, shows very low food outputs relative to the populations of their catchment areas; the great share of urban food will continue to come from multiple foodsheds beyond urban peripheries, often far beyond. Cultivation is a more appropriate designation than agriculture for urban food growing because its sustainability benefits are more social than agronomic or ecological. A major potential benefit lies in enhancing the ecological knowledge of urbanites, including an appreciation of the role that organic food may play in promoting both sustainability and health. This study illustrates how benefits differ according to local conditions, including population density and demographics, operational scale, soil quality, and access to labor and consumers.