Urban Farming for the Future

Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas. It encompasses a complex and diverse mix of food production activities, including fisheries and forestry.

Beginning in 2009, the City of Vancouver started to Work on the  Greenest City Action Plan (GCAP)  with the Greenest City Action Team. The plan is an urban sustainability initiative aiming to make Vancouver the greenest city around the world by 2020.

Local food projects count 173 out of 324 greenest city projects, showing that it is one of the most significant portions in the plan. Local food is defined as food that is produced nearby to the point of consumption and frequently comes with a social structure and supply chain that differs from the large-scale retail system. It stands in contrast to the global food model, which frequently involves food traveling great distances before it is consumed.

Urban agriculture, including several types such as community gardens and urban farming, is the most important and widely used way to achieve more local food consumption for an urban area such as Vancouver. But why urban agriculture? The term is trendy in various subjects such as geography, architecture, and urban planning, but why? Here are the benefits of urban agriculture and the case study of the City of Vancouver.

The City of Vancouver is an urban area filled with tons of buildings, and most of the parks and green spaces are integrated with the building footprints. Community gardens and urban farms are perfect add-ons to the parks in the city, contributing to the area of green space significantly. By integrating into the building footprints, they also act as a prevention of heat island effect.

Urban gardens and farms are good "buffer zones" for high concentration of built-up areas in cities such as rooftops and parking lots, which absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat. In contrast with urban environments, they produce freshness while improving air quality. Having community gardens and urban farms on the ground or rooftops is an efficient way to address the heat island effect, absorb carbon dioxide, and make the city greener.

The deployment of urban agriculture initiatives enables the development of local, sustainable, and resilient food systems. By transforming unused and underutilized spaces into urban farms, we are transforming the landscape of our cities and giving it an edible value to pave the way to food self-sufficiency.

Moreover, community gardens are also tied with farmers markets, where local productions are sold. This can also boost local economies.

The multiplication of urban agriculture zones favors the preservation of biodiversity in cities. As a place to eat and live, these initiatives contribute to the diversification of living organisms in the urban environment. The establishment of several varieties of fruits, vegetables, fine herbs and edible flowers in the vegetable garden encourages the support of these insects and organisms which are essential to life. Cultivating in cities is a concrete action that supports both the fauna and flora of urban centers, while contributing to the development of rich and diversified ecosystems.

The implementation of community gardens and urban farms makes it easier for people to enjoy the proximity to nature which could improve mental health. Also, Community gardens are places inviting people to join, either for work or for fun, and thus improve social engagement in the community.

In the case of Vancouver, we can see from the map below that the location of some of the community gardens, free and local food programs, and most of the homeless shelters are concentrated in downtown eastside. Here a new local food cycle is forming--community gardens produce food for free and local food projects such as local farmers markets and food banks, they in turn provide affordable and healthy food for people in shelters, and people in shelters could work at nearby community gardens to contribute to the production of local food and engage with the community.

Urban agriculture initiatives connect people with nature and with their food. Vegetable gardens become learning platforms that raise community awareness of the importance of adopting healthy eating habits. The proximity to fast food restaurants and convenience stores and lack of access to supermarkets has led to the increasing rate of obesity and other diseases in North American communities. With many communities living in environments that prey to food insecurity, urban farm initiatives help to counter this phenomenon by providing access to fresh, healthy, locally grown food. The following video shows how urban agriculture saved a Dallas community in terms of food crisis and health, and offers not only fresh produce to the community but also jobs, nutrition programs, cooking classes, and more.

Urban farming and community gardens are significant in various aspects of Vancouver's city development toward the greenest city around the world. They are not only perfect green space in the concrete jungle, but also help to improve social engagement, well-being, equity, and access to fresh and healthy food.

Data sources and references:

 https://opendata.vancouver.ca/pages/home/ 

 https://opendata.vancouver.ca/pages/vandashboard/dbcat39 

Adam, K. L. (2011). Community Gardening. National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, Retrieved from  https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=351 

Bellows, A. C., Brown, K., & Smit, J. (2004). Health benefits of urban agriculture. Community Food Security Coalition’s North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture. Portland, OR: Community Food Security Coalition.