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DESIGNING EDIBLE LANDSCAPES
The Millennium Development Goals and Agenda
21 objectives have generated international
research initiatives in the emerging field of urban
agriculture (UA); these efforts in productive growing
and food production in the urban domain are
gaining pre-eminence. UA was first coined in the
80s by agro-economists who recognized informal
gardening practices in southern cities (Ba et all),
but it no longer is uniquely associated to the South.
UA includes a broad rage of activities: the cultivation
of plants, medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruit
trees, and the raising of animals, poultry and fish
to support the household economy, the site's ecology,
as well as social and cultural activities. Thus,
UA cuts across multiple disciplines - such as development,
urban geography, food security, city planning,
landscape architecture, urban design, housing,
farming and agronomy - all of which are
touched upon by the academic and professional
contributors in this special issue of Open House
International.
In 2005, following the UN Habitat JAM, UA
was identified for the first time as a main area for
action. Subsequently, it was recognised as a key
descriptor for the UN-HABITAT World Urban
Forum III held in Vancouver in June 2006, where
several of this special issue's contributors presented
their work. Since then, interest in UA has grown
immensely, especially given it elicits local responses
and strategies to two of the most pressing challenges
of the 21st century: sustainability of cities
and climate change.
Studies on the provisioning of cities have
highlighted the significance of UA in supplying
local markets, in contributing positively to the local
economies, in improving the environmental wellbeing
of its citizens, and in enhancing the quality
of the food consumed. In the context of developing
countries, one of the most dramatic economic
data is related to the proportion of income city
dwellers spend on food. The following table points
out the urge to identify more cost-effective sources
of food and suggests that, as a household supplement,
UA can counteract the worst effect of poverty
(Redwood, 2009: 6).
City Income spent on food (%)
Bangkok (Thailand) 60
La Florida (Chile) 50
Nairobi (Kenya) 40-60
Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) 85
Kinshasa (Congo) 60
Bamako (Mali) 32-64
Urban USA 9-15
Table 1. Percentage of income spent on food by low-income
residents in selected cities
Source: Akinbamijo et al (2002)
Urban and peri-urban food production provides
nourishment for cities as culturally and geographically
varied as Havana, Cuba, with a daily average
yield of 150 to 300g of herbs and vegetables per
person; Shanghai, China, where UA supplies the
city with 60% of its vegetables and 90% of its eggs;
and Brazzaville, Congo, where a quarter of the
city's households yield 80% of the leafy vegetables
consumed by the urban population (Mougeot,
2005: 6). This phenomenon is not limited to the
cities of the south. The Ile-de-France, one of
France's most vibrant regions with Paris at its centre,
is home to close to 12 million inhabitants out
of the country's total 63 million. This region measures
just 2% of the total area of the country,
hence, given its dense concentration of population
and elevated level of urbanization, one could reasonably
assume that the agricultural activities of
such a region might be marginal. Yet, it may come
as a surprise to many that, on the contrary they are
thriving: 45% of the Ile-de-France's land is under
agricultural use.1 Nationally, in terms of quantity of
production, the Ile-de-France ranked 1st in the
production of watercress, 2nd in the production of
decorative flowers like gladioli, tulips, lily of the
valley, 3rd for salads, carnations, and roses' production,
and 13th in the production of wheat much
sought after by local bakers (Les chambres d'agriculture
d'Ile-de-France).
Although modern cities are often perceived
as centers of food consumption and rural areas as
production areas, an increasing interest in growing
and consuming local food is spreading, especially
in the context of the current (2008-2009) economic
crisis. A symbolic example is United States'
First Lady Michelle Obama's decision in March
2009 to grow an organic vegetable garden on the
South Lawn of the White House - the first since
Eleanor Roosevelt's victory garden in World War II
(Burros, 2009: A1). Albeit highlighted by the social
and economic effects of economic and demo- This is
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