Chapter 9 Urban horticulture
by Cory Whitney and Zoe Heuschkel
Urban horticulture is common on global scale. It is more important in the global south and is gaining popularity in western industrialized cultures. Areas for urban horticulture are often lost due to land use pressure, globalization, cheap market foods, etc. Let’s spend some time learning about urban horticulture together. To access many of the papers linked below you will need the module password from eCampus.
9.1 Materials
We have put together three videos for you. These will offer an overview of urban horticulture and the sustainability issues.
9.1.1 What is urban horticulture?
First we will try to get a general overview of urban horticulture. Due to the diversity of different types of urban horticulture we do not have a concise typology. This video from the European Forum on Urban Agriculture (EFUA) project is a good place to start. EFUA is a project that our colleague Zoe Heuschkel is working with.
Watch the video: Urban horticulture introduction
9.1.2 Urban horticulture and sustainability
Next we will explore the sustainability aspects of urban horticulture (ecological, social and economic).
Watch the video: Urban horticulture through a sustainability lens
Find all seven papers mentioned in the talk here.
9.1.3 Urban horticulture and common goods
Finally, we will learn about urban horticulture and sharing resources. As you have seen there are issues about how can this work. We will try to understand the key ingredients. We will think more about what urban horticulture has to offer beyond just food. As we have seen, it can also be about community, safe spaces and other issues. On our walk later we will also learn how urban horticulture can be a space for building community and supporting refugees.
Watch the video: Urban horticulture and the management of common goods.
9.1.4 Additional materials
Scharf, Nadine, Thomas Wachtel, Suhana E. Reddy, and Ina Säumel. “Urban Commons for the Edible City—First Insights for Future Sustainable Urban Food Systems from Berlin, Germany.” Sustainability 11, no. 4 (January 2019): 966. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11040966
Ferreira, António José Dinis, Rosa Isabel Marques Mendes Guilherme, Carla Sofia Santos Ferreira, and Maria de Fátima Martins Lorena de Oliveira. “Urban Agriculture, a Tool towards More Resilient Urban Communities?” Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, Sustainable soil management and land restoration, 5 (October 1, 2018): 93–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2018.06.004
Specht, Kathrin, Rosemarie Siebert, Susanne Thomaier, Ulf B. Freisinger, Magdalena Sawicka, Axel Dierich, Dietrich Henckel, and Maria Busse. “Zero-Acreage Farming in the City of Berlin: An Aggregated Stakeholder Perspective on Potential Benefits and Challenges.” Sustainability 7, no. 4 (April 2015): 4511–23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7044511. Find it in our class collection here
Dooling, Sarah. “Ecological Gentrification: A Research Agenda Exploring Justice in the City.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 33, no. 3 (September 2009): 621–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00860.x. Find it in our class collection here
Quastel, Noah. “Political Ecologies of Gentrification.” Urban Geography 30, no. 7 (October 2009): 694–725. https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.30.7.694. Find it in our class collection here
For German speakers:
Rosol, Marit. Gemeinschaftsgärten in Berlin: eine qualitative Untersuchung zu Potenzialen und Risiken bürgerschaftlichen Engagements im Grünflächenbereich vor dem Hintergrund des Wandels von Staat und Planung. Berlin: Mensch-und-Buch-Verl, 2006. Find it in our class collection here
Kumnig, Sarah, Marit Rosol, and Andreas Exner, eds. Umkämpftes Grün: zwischen neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung und Stadtgestaltung von unten. Urban studies. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2017. Find it in our class collection here.
Find more examples for projects and scientific research from all over Europe on the website of the COST action project that our colleague Zoe Heuschkel worked with.
9.2 Instructions
We will go together into the field to talk to some people about how urban horticulture in Endenich has changed lately. We will talk about changes in farming, in urban farms, in food and in land use. We will meet one of the organizers of the Bonn Stadtgartnerei in the Meßdorfer Feld near our Institute. It will take us about 15 minutes to walk there. Depending on weather conditions, the ground may be wet or muddy, and it may be raining/snowing/windy etc. so please come prepared.
During that walk you will form small groups and should come up with some good questions about the synergies and trade-offs in urban horticulture and the possible trade-offs and issues that might be found in an urban horticulture project. On the walk you will have small group discussions and on arrival your groups will present the main ideas of your walking discussion. Each group will present their ideas and then we will begin a discussion with the organizers at the Stadtgärtnerei.
Some possible talking points for your discussions:
- Activism, e.g. climate action etc.
- Gleaning and other harvest-related conflicts with communities
- Costs and urban horticulture as a business case. i.e. availability of markets
- About rules and regulations (German law/ Bonn law/ NRW law), risks and costs and benefits
- Political ecology and urban horticulture
- Conflicts in community
- Urban horticulture and conflict for land
- Need for housing and need for green space
- Urban farmers and how they interact with community / consumers
- Ecological vs social vs economic questions
- Consider the other uses for this land, e.g. as forest, as park, as urban space or for housing
9.3 Literature for discussion
Edmondson, Jill L., Hamish Cunningham, Daniele O. Densley Tingley, Miriam C. Dobson, Darren R. Grafius, Jonathan R. Leake, Nicola McHugh, et al. “The Hidden Potential of Urban Horticulture.” Nature Food 1, no. 3 (March 2020): 155–59. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0045-6 Find it in our class collection here
9.4 Term paper topics
“Urban horticulture as a common good”: Describe an urban horticultural scheme where the rules for common goods are implemented. See the overview of Ostrom’s work described in Urban horticulture and the management of common goods.
“Edible Landscaping in Urban Horticulture”: Contact Thorsten Kraska for more information.