In recent years, the interest in urban agriculture has exploded, driven by growing concerns about food prices, food miles, and the environmental impact of industrial farming. This surge reflects a desire for better access to healthy, affordable food and a fundamental need to connect with green spaces and our communities. This shift is not just a trend; it’s a movement toward a more sustainable and resilient future. However, achieving this requires a new way of thinking—one that moves beyond traditional definitions and embraces a holistic, systems-based approach.
Beyond Traditional Definitions: Urban Agriculture as a Holistic System
The way we define urban agriculture is evolving. A traditional view, like that of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), sees it as an industry that produces, processes, and markets food and fuel within and around cities. While this definition acknowledges its economic role, it doesn’t fully capture the broader benefits of community health, environmental restoration, and social well-being.
A more comprehensive, environmental definition, adopted by the Council on Agriculture, Science and Technology (CAST), expands this view. It includes urban agriculture as a complex system that provides recreation, promotes economic vitality, and contributes to both individual and community health. This environmental perspective elevates urban agriculture from a simple practice to a vital component of a city’s green infrastructure, promoting ecological biodiversity and social sustainability.
A New Vocabulary for a New Approach
- Food Landscapes, Edible Landscapes, Productive Landscapes: These are interchangeable terms used to describe spaces that integrate people, their living environments, and food. They can be anything from a street planted with fruit trees to a rooftop farm or a simple window box.
- Agtivist: This term refers to people who champion urban agriculture in their communities. They are advocates focused on policy change, grassroots action, and promoting healthy food and green jobs.
- Edible Urbanism: While not an official term, it describes a planning methodology for incorporating “food sheds” and their systemic connections into a city’s infrastructure. A food shed is the geographical area that produces the food for a specific population and is analogous to a watershed, tracing the flow of food from its origin to consumption.
- Agro-ecology: This is the application of ecological principles to the design and management of sustainable food and farming systems. It blends traditional knowledge with modern principles to create healthy environments and viable food communities.
- Bioregionalism: This philosophy suggests that social organization and environmental policies should be based on a bioregion—an area with natural boundaries like watersheds and consistent flora and fauna—rather than on political or economic ones.
- Permaculture: Developed in the 1970s, permaculture is a design approach that mimics flourishing natural ecosystems using a set of principles derived from systems thinking. It focuses on mutually beneficial relationships found in nature to create resilient, self-sustaining systems.
Systems Thinking: The Core of Sustainable Design
At the heart of this new approach is systems thinking, a problem-solving method that views all elements as part of a larger, interconnected whole. Instead of seeing problems in isolation, this perspective understands that an event affecting one part of a system will impact the entire system. In a natural system, sustained life is a property of a thriving ecosystem where all parts are interdependent and work together in dynamic balance.
For urban planners and designers, this means thinking in terms of relationships, patterns, and context. A city’s food system, for example, is not just about farms; it includes distribution, waste management, education, and policy, all of which are linked.
Case Study: The River Falls Eco Village
The River Falls Eco Village in Wisconsin demonstrates how systems thinking and community engagement can be applied to a new development. A Habitat for Humanity project, the eco village is designed to be environmentally responsible and affordable, combining energy-efficient technology with innovative community design practices.
The project features:
- Edible Landscapes: Residents can choose from a palette of edible plants like fruit trees and berries for their yards.
- Community Plots: Shared garden plots are located in common areas.
- Water Management: Rain barrels and cisterns collect rainwater from roofs for irrigation, and pervious paving systems along with bioswales and rain gardens prevent runoff.
- Community Engagement: The developers used methods like “The World Café” and “Open Space” to build relationships and facilitate conversations with the existing community. This process created a “social fabric” built on trust and collaboration, transforming potential confrontation into cooperative problem-solving.
The project’s success lies in its ability to not only provide ecosystem services but also to build long-term relationships and community ownership. It shows that when new communities are integrated into the existing social fabric, they can become a porous entity that adds richness to the entire neighborhood.
The Role of Ecoliteracy in Building a Sustainable Future
For this systems-based approach to succeed on a larger scale, we need a more ecoliterate society. Ecoliteracy is the understanding of the connection between ecological and human health. Organizations like The Center for Ecoliteracy, located in Berkeley, California, are dedicated to teaching these principles to K-12 students. Their programs, like “Rethinking School Lunch,” combine healthy, local food with experiential learning in school gardens and kitchens. This education provides a foundation for a new, integrated model of living that understands how nature sustains life and how human actions have consequences.
Ultimately, the future of our cities depends on our ability to think and act like an ecosystem. By embracing systems thinking, promoting ecoliteracy, and designing landscapes that are both beautiful and productive, we can build communities that are not only sustainable but also deeply resilient and interconnected.
