It has only been in recent decades (since the post World War II era), and particularly in most North American cities, that the division between urban and rural has been more sharply defined and upheld. Urban planning and regulatory practices of the last half century in North America have attempted to sever the natural ties between cities and food production, urban and rural, metropolis and farm. This tendency has grown out of a particular cultural bias viewing cities as “progress” and farming as “backward” and a misguided notion of public health viewing food production and the raising of animals as potentially dangerous, dirty, and infectious. Land use patterns, real estate speculation, and the emergence of the “global food system” have also contributed to the marginalization of urban agriculture in the past sixty years.
But this is changing once again as a global renaissance of urban agriculture is well underway. The United Nations Development Program reveals that in 1993, just 15% of food consumed in cities worldwide was grown in cities. However, by 2005, that number increased to 30%. In other words, urban food production has doubled in just over 15 years! What is driving this trend? There are several key factors that can be identified:
- Urbanization – More and more of the planet’s human population continues to migrate to urban areas. In fact, in 2010 we crossed the threshold to where over half (50%) of the world’d people now live in cities. This marks a dramatic shift in a pattern which began slowly several hundreds of years ago but which now shows no sign of slowing down. As most of our species live in cities, it follows that we will have an increasing need for food produced within or near to these citie
- Need – Urban migration patterns, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latina America, have also resulted in larger numbers of poor and desperately poor city dwellers. Many of these people have no choice but to try and grow some of their own food to meet their needs where they live. It is a matter of survival.
- Food Security – The global food system is showing many indications of strain and fragility at a time when demand continues to rise sharply. Food security is increasingly on the agenda for municipalities and communities world-wide. How will we feed the millions that live within our urban boundaries if the global food chain is interrupted by spikes in fossil fuel prices (not to mention other agricultural in-puts), severe climate events such as drought, flooding or unseasonal freezing, or political and economic upheaval? Growing our own food in and around where we live will certainly be on the table as a key response to this scenario.
- Grass Roots Interest – Individuals and communities around the world are showing a marked increase in connecting more directly with and participating in food production activities. Whether motivated by concerns for health, environmental sustainability or food security, or perhaps by a deeper emotional or spiritual need, an increasing number of North Americans are planting, hoeing, hatching and harvesting within the cities where they live. They are also demanding greater access to land and the right to raise their own food within city limits.
- Policy Changes – In response to the pressures from the above four factors and others, municipal governments and regulators are being forced to play “catch-up” by updating their by-laws, regulatory frameworks and programs relating to urban agriculture. Some municipal governments continue to do this begrudgingly, responding only to pressure from citizens, while others take a more proactive role in encouraging apropriate urban agricultural activites within their cities. Currently, there remains a tremendous variability in regulation of urban agriculture within cities in North America and around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment