Suburban Soil -Local Food Production Networks in a Peri-Urban Context
Suburban soil -Local food production networks in a peri-urban context Klara Mörk Master Thesis at Chalmers Architecture Master Program Design for Sustainable Development Gothenburg, Sweden, spring 2015 Abstract Food today is generally produced with fossil resources on monoculture fields in global hinter- lands. It is delivered to shops just in time and little is held in stock. This makes our food supply vulnerable to some of the global changes we are most likely to expect, such as global warming, peak oil, peak phosphorous, land degradation, drought etc. These changes are also partly caused by the current food system. Recreating local food systems is one way to make food supplies more resilient to these global changes, as well as decreasing the negative global environmental impact caused by what we eat. The northeast suburbs of Gothenburg have an available workforce, often with an agricultural background, and a large amount of municipally owned farmland. This master thesis focuses on two northeastern suburbs Hammarkullen and Angered, and the area in between them. The the- sis tries to answer the question of how a local food system could be developed in these suburbs by valuing, using and developing the existing resources? This master thesis goes through aspects to consider when planning for food production. Such as soil quality, water access, sunlight, scale and closeness which impacts the choice of site, as well as distribution systems, economy, engagement and ownership when involving people to farm peri-urban land. By this the master thesis also functions as a guide and reference for devel- oping urban and peri urban agriculture in other places.
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