Oranjezicht City Farm and Market: Building Resilient Urban Communities Through Circular Food Systems
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Stresses / Shocks Qualities of a resilient city Rapid urbanisation Food insecurity Unemployment Robust city Fexible city Resourceful city RESILIENT CAPE TOWN PILLARS PILLAR 1: PILLAR 2: PILLAR 3: PILLAR 4: PILLAR 5: People Place & Space Economy Disaster readiness Governance Compassionate, Connected, climate Capable, job Collectively, Collaborative, holistically healthy city adaptive city creating city shock-ready city forward-looking city Oranjezicht City Farm and Market: Building resilient urban communities through circular food systems Purpose The Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF) is a To strengthen community cohesion, OZCF It is written for: non-profit farming project under the coordinated the establishment of the • Cities focused on building resilience SA Urban Food and Farming Trust. The Oranjezicht City Farmers Market and also through small-scale household organic OZCF champions the local production of operate its “Bokashi Brigade” initiative to waste diversion; food, whilst at the same time celebrating provide a food waste sink to surrounding • Cities exploring urban farming as a culture and building community through households and small businesses. place-making approach to building urban farming. social cohesion; The case study discusses: • Entities exploring the establishment Its flagship community farm is located in • a model for small scale urban farming of community volunteering mechanisms the neighbourhood of Oranjezicht, Cape in an urban residential context; with formalise structures that could Town where it leans on the involvement • a community led place-making contribute to building resilience in of community volunteers and paid staff initiative that fosters social cohesion; their local communities and cites; to manage the community treasure. • a small decentralised solution to • Neighbourhoods seeking to nurture household and office food waste. community cohesion. This case study is part of a series highlighting how Cape Town is building resilience in order to: SURVIVE | ADAPT | THRIVE Cape Town’s Resilience Strategy is a commitment to ensure that the City thrives in the future regardless of what shocks and stresses it faces. Resilient Cape Town offers a roadmap for a 21st Century metropolis to enable the city to become more resilient to growing physical, social and economic challenges. It envisions Cape Town as a compassionate, connected, and capable city where Capetonians collaborate across households, communities and institutions, to build collective responses to the current and future social, environmental and economic challenges. CS14 | 2020 Stresses / Shocks Qualities of a resilient city Rapid urbanisation Food insecurity Unemployment Robust city Fexible city Resourceful city Background The recent drought revealed how severe Africa, celebrating local food, culture and the Independent (UK). The market plays the impacts of climate change can be, community through urban agriculture. It a key role in consumer awareness about causing significant disruption across a wide is part of the SA Urban Food & Farming the local food system, and is a leader in variety of city systems. Similar extreme Trust, which works through food and innovative retailing practices to reduce climatic events are expected to become farming to strengthen South Africa’s urban food waste, packaging and plastic use. more frequent and intense in the future. communities and the ecosystems that It also provides a range of business The impacts of climate change, which sustain them. development support and mentoring for can manifest as a variety of shock events, the artisanal food traders operating their have the ability to be amplified by existing In 2013, the OZCF founded the Oranjezicht small businesses and entrepreneurial societal stresses such as poverty, food City Farmers Market. The community ventures. The market and the OZCF insecurity and a lack of social cohesion. market was established as a farmer-style continue to work together closely. market place for specifically independent The City of Cape Town’s Resilience local farmers and artisanal food producers The OZCF established its Bokashi Brigade Strategy highlights that: “Well-designed to sell produce to the community. to receive food waste from households places can bring people together from and small businesses. The ultimate different communities to improve social purpose of the initiative is to provide a cohesion, they can create economic decentralised solution to community food opportunities, they can reduce crime, and Whether the spaces are parks, waste whilst at the same time bringing they can ameliorate shock events.” central business districts, community members together. The markets, streets, rivers, public initiative leans on the Bokashi composting Whether the spaces are parks, buildings, campuses, method that employs micro-organisms central business districts (CBDs), to anaerobically ferment food waste. or sports fields, there are markets, streets, rivers, public buildings, These micro-organisms are applied to campuses, or sports fields, there are multiple opportunities to improve food waste (including problematic animal multiple opportunities to improve resilient placemaking. based products) via an inoculated wheat resilient placemaking. bran and/or sawdust. The two-week fermentation process breaks organic Exploring the development of spaces matter down in a process that reduces that bring people together, like the The WCG supported the market in its the generations of odours. The fermented/ provision of land to develop urban farms, second year with funding for a tent and partly-fermented organics are then and supporting the related economic bakkie, which was crucial infrastructure for dropped off by the generator at the OZCF opportunities like organic markets, growth. In 2017, the market was sold and for mixing into the onsite compost heap. presents opportunities for partnerships has been operating as an independent The compost is mixed into the garden or between community organisations, private company using the OZCF brand sold to the community. businesses and the City government. under license. Since its establishment, the OZCF To this end, The OZCF was established By 2019, the market supports 80 traders, has expanded its urban farming support in September 2012 as an educational 40 independent local farmers (including beyond just Oranjezicht, to over 20 other non-profit project under the wing of the the OZCF), and welcomes between 6 000 community gardens throughout Cape Oranjezicht-Higgovale Neighbourhood -9 000 of visitors per week from all corners Town, including in Khayelitsha, Lavender Watch. The OZCF is an educational of the globe. It was rated one of the top Hill, Mitchell’s Plain, Langa, Somerset non-profit project in Cape Town, South 20 farmer’s markets worldwide in 2019 by West and others. 03 CS14 | 2020 Stresses / Shocks Qualities of a resilient city Rapid urbanisation Food insecurity Unemployment Robust city Fexible city Resourceful city KEY INSIGHTS What is resilience? The OZCFs community-centric approach builds resilience by: In human terms, resilience refers to “the ability of an individual to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change and to keep going even when facing difficult circumstances”. Providing a space to educate residents on small scale organic food production. Chronic stresses weaken the fabric of a city on a day-to- Increasing access to nutritious fresh vegetables day or cyclical basis, for example, high unemployment, for the community. inadequate public transport systems, endemic violence, food insecurity and substance abuse. Acute shocks are sudden Increasing the number of organic gardeners sharp events that threaten a city, for example, drought, fires, in the City bowl. floods, diseases outbreaks and infrastructure failure. Nurturing outdoor activities and healthier lifestyles. Building resilience to shocks and stresses matters because Building urban farming capacity for youth disruptions or disasters of any sort, whether regional or and adults. distinctly local in scope, short or long in time scale, can be costly to those they impact. They can result in the Connecting and fostering relationships among loss of livelihoods, they can severely impact citizens’ individuals, communities and NPOs. mental health, they can result in injuries and death, Improving under-utilised public green space to and they can drive apart communities. preserving / protecting undeveloped land. A resilient Cape Town is a compassionate, connected, and capable city, where Capetonians collaborate across Key lessons include the importance of: households, communities and institutions, to build collective responses to the current and future social, environmental Passionate leaders: The OZCF project was and economic challenges. Embedding a circular economy founded on the premise of community. Its board view and extracting the economic value of builder’s rubble members are volunteers, much of the support in general, and bricks in particular, can help to mitigate the risk of running out of landfill airspace. is provided by volunteers. Locality: The OZCF is located, used, and supported by community members of Oranjezicht and surrounding suburbs. Land use: In 2012, the OZCF entered into an agreement with the CoCT’s Parks Department for the use of a disused community bowling green in the upmarket suburb of Oranjezicht. This allowed the OZCF to circumnavigate red tape associated with procuring land. Section 18A registration: The OZCF project is under the Section 18A PBO