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Urban Agriculture Into Planning Sub-urban development on prime agricultural land, Toronto, Canada Charlie Clark the Integration of Urban and MAGAZINE NUMBER 4, JULY 2001 NUMBER 4, JULY Peri-Urban Agriculture into Planning In regions of the world characterised by economic collapse, urban agriculture into urban planning in such as those in East and Southern Africa, the last decade different contexts of the world? has witnessed a tremendous increase in total city area under ❖ In the few instances where integration informal urban food production. Associated with this has is taking place, how has this resolved been an unprecedented increase in worldwide attention to questions of land - access and use - con- urban agriculture (Bakker et al. 2000; Mbiba 2001). Yet, the flicts? What lessons if any, can we learn overall picture shows that formal recognition and integration from these instances? of agriculture into urban planning and city development has hardly changed, save for a reduction in prohibitive or anti- DETERMINANTS FOR CHANGE urban agriculture interventions. The change from prohibitive to facilitat- ing approaches and integration of urban agriculture into urban planning and roblems and conflicts remain that development requires (and is dependant constrain integration into planning. In many urban areas, the transfor- P A differentiated and mation of city responses from prohibitive models towards permissive or enabling flexible approach is needed Editorial ones has hardly materialised nor been for- malised. The perceptions and responses to urban agriculture among actors in a upon) structural changes in perceptions, www.ruaf.org certain city at any given time are not con- in institutional regimes that govern or sistent, and conflict remains the norm. manage cities and in social values upon which production and consumption in In this context, the following questions cities is anchored. The cases in this vol- are pertinent: ume highlight, as other cases do, that ❖ Why does urban agriculture remain these structural changes do not arise pri- marginal in the urban planning process? marily from people’s simple exchange of Beacon Mbiba, Co-ordinator, ❖ What factors determine urban ideas and verbal assent. Instead, structu- Peri-Urban Transformations agriculture’s integration into urban plan- ral changes (and hence the need for inte- Research Network (PeriNET), ning and sustainable development? gration of agriculture into city develop- South Bank University, London, ❖ What is being done, or what should be ment) is partly a consequence of some UK; ✉ [email protected] done, to facilitate the integration of sort of crisis in a given context; this could René Van Veenhuizen, ETC- RUAF, Leusden, the Netherlands URBAN AGRICULTURE be drought, economic collapse (as in East and Southern Africa today), or political and economic change (like in Bulgaria), lack of confidence in current agricultural practices (the Netherlands), waste disposal problems (as in West Africa Urban Agriculture Support Programme for – see no. 3 of the UA-Magazine – and in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality in Nepal the Philippines) or food insecurity. Traditionally, municipalities in Nepal are defined on the PAGE 28 basis of (the accumulation of) non-farm activities. If we accept this “crisis” model, the ques- Agriculture is considered to be a rural activity, which is one tion that arises is “what would happen to constraint to the promotion of urban agriculture. How this (the attention on) urban agriculture, once problem was overcome is narrated in this article, which the crisis is over?” The European scenario describes the integration of urban agriculture into the land- of allotment gardens from World War 1 use planning of Madhyapur Thimi municipality located in to the present (see Howe and White on the centre of Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. page 11 and Mbiba 1995) suggest that the activity will decline as the crisis disap- pears. However, gardens will re-emerge to serve new needs such as leisure and education (see the article on Portugal and prevailing today, urban agriculture as a THE IMPORTANCE OF URBAN Brazil in this volume), or integrated with land use will be left to compete against AGRICULTURE FOR CITY other uses of the land (see the case on other potential users of the same urban AUTHORITIES Delft, the Netherlands). Planning might spaces (as is illustrated in the case of According to Fainstein (1999) the reality cease to give it significant standing and Lusaka, Zambia). It is an environment of planning is one of conflicting interests planners will move on to deal with new where power prevails and planning has in a very unequal society; planning pro- crisis issues. Hence even in European to be understood accordingly. There is a vides justification to the interests of the cities where urban food production was need for innovative approaches in the powerful while giving token attention to once a key aspect of national survival urban planning process to enhance a sus- the rest. The testimonies from articles in strategy (see Garnett 1996) most planning tainable and equitable development of this volume endorse a picture where departments have no ‘space’ for urban cities. urban agriculture is marginal to/in city agriculture. As concluded by Martin and Marsden (1999: 389) for England and Wales, planning departments are hardly engaged in the broader aspects of the politics and local economy of urban food Dear Readers issues and there is a progressive decline in allotment provision. In the capitalist Again, the amount of articles submitted to the magazine was very high, for production-consumption environment which we thank you. It was decided to accept quite a lot of these articles, since the wealth of experiences is illustrated and the broad topic could only be cov- ered sufficiently this way. The guest editor for this issue was Beacon Mbiba from Zimbabwe, Co-ordinator of PeriNET (Peri-Urban Transformations Research Network), South Bank University, London, UK. Further input was received from Axel Drescher, from the University of Freiburg, Germany. The latter reports on the FAO-ETC E-Conference session on Planning (held in September 2000) in this issue. We offer you sixteen articles on a diversity of topics surrounding the theme; Integration of Urban Agriculture into Urban Planning. Articles cover all regions again, although West-Africa is not represented sufficiently this time. Great news from Latin America: the first edition of the UA-Magazine in Spanish PAGE 14 has been released by our colleagues in Quito, Ecuador. Spanish readers are sug- gested to contact UMP-LAC (see page 35). Urban Agriculture and City Planning in Bulgaria Current urban planning and development in Bulgaria You are invited to contribute to future issues of the Urban Agriculture Magazine. does not take into account the existence of urban and Same of the topics considered for 2002 are given on the back-page of this maga- peri-urban agriculture. The SWAPUA project, operating zine. As suggested in the Editorial Board we welcome your contributions on any in 10 cities in five CEE countries, has identified subject. Articles would ideally be up to 2,500 words in length, and preferably characteristics of the various types of farming and the main accompanied by illustrations (digital and of good quality), references and an problems associated with urban and peri-urban farming, with abstract. an emphasis on soil and water management issues. Here, the case study of the Bulgarian city Trojan is presented. Looking forward to hearing from you. The Editor 2 UA-Magazine Efforts towards planning; of no importance to city lead- engaging rather than ers, not competitive vis à vis other urban abandoning planning land uses such as housing, and remains incidental rather than a primary consid- eration in city programmes. The questions ever work. What seems to work, and generally asked have to do with what city what will lead to integration is a more authorities and planners should do for differentiated approach. Firstly, this urban agriculture to flourish. However, should be considered per activity; for In this issue the way forward may be to ask the ques- example, crop production versus live- tion from the other side: “what can urban stock, but even further: vegetables versus 4 Interviews 7 Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture agriculture do for cities, city authorities cereals and large animals versus poultry, on the Policy Agenda, Report of and planners?” For example, what differ- and so on. The cases and other papers in the E-Conference ence can it make to the fortunes of a local earlier issues of the UA Magazine clearly 9 Why We Need New Urban councillor and to the city budget? It is show that authorities and by-laws favour Planning Concepts; Insights from furthermore important to understand the crops in the city, especially vegetables; South Africa planning process, the constraints and cities world over will not promote live- 11 Awareness and Action in the UK opportunities, and how urban agriculture stock within their borders, but rather 13 Support for Urban Agriculture in could assist in improvement. From the envisage animals (save some poultry per- St Petersburg case study of St Petersburg (and others) haps) in the peri-urban areas: see for 14 Using Urban Agriculture for Sustainable City Planning in the problem of insufficient budgets is instance in Accra, Hubli-Dharwad, Bulgaria: the Case of Trojan highlighted. Agricultural activities could Havana and Dar es Salaam (Bakker et al. 17 The Urban Planning Dilemma in assist in overcoming part of this problem 2000). Harare, Zimbabwe (see also the case study on Trojan, 18 The Women and Land Lobby Bulgaria, and the proposal to re-develop Secondly, there is a need to differentiate Group in Zimbabwe suburban areas in Toronto, Canada). The by spatial focus; the consideration of 19 The Marginalisation of Urban evidence from the papers is that, unless urban agriculture in built-up areas (on- Agriculture in Lusaka urban agriculture can perform better on plot), on large city spaces (off-plot) or on 22 Integration of Agriculture in City these questions than other, competing the more rural interfaces (peri-urban).
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