urban ruralism the culture of food production in urban areas
urban farms | community by leigh sherkin small scale agriculture neighbourhoods food gardens local intelligence
Food and Cities: Urban areas are expanding while labour migrates out of the countryside. Farms are becoming suburbs and a handful of companies control the supply chain. As a result, the city’s proximity to its food source is diminishing and there is increasing consumer distrust of industrial food practices.
If we produce food in the city can our relationship with food change? What are the spatial implications, and what sort of culture is created?
Backyard Farming in Toronto A street in the west end of Toronto is characterised by semi- detached houses and small yards. Slowly gentrifiers are moving in but for the time being a rich culture exists of food-growing and food-sharing throughout the street. One resident, Adam, new to the area, says most of the residents are of south-east Asian or Mediterranean descent from rural families with incredible skills in farming. They grow impressive amounts of vegetables in yards no bigger than 12’ x 12’. ‘Gardening knowledge is common currency around here’, says Adam, a part of this culture after just one summer. The family to the right brings Chinese vegetables and little to no English is spoken. The neighbours to the left offer gardening tips, kilos of cucumbers and the odd fresh fig from another family member’s garden a few rows west. At the end of the summer Adam harvested the grapes in his backyard and made the rounds with his contribution to the neighbourhood yield. Adam participated in growing to connect with his neighbours; ‘Exchanging food is the most basic kind of communal gesture… it encourages comradery and friendship. At the very least it gives us something to talk about’. In our mobile and busy lives the garden offers a meaningful excuse to talk to one another. It is not organised or planned by a steering group. It doesn’t receive funding or have a name. It is a collection of residents who simply grow food. They are promoting a residential farming identity which reconnects residents to cultural diasporas, and reconnects people like Adam to where their food comes from. Farm: Shop At the other end of the urban farming spectrum is an interesting project in London, UK. Farm:Shop is a store on a busy retail strip with highly technical food growing systems on the walls. It has indoor lettuce-growing, chickens on the roof and an aquaponic fish farming system where fish waste fertilises hydroponic plants. It began as a grant-funded project to engage people with food production processes. It aims to both cut the supermarket out of the food system and provide a social space for people. It is farmed by volunteers and community groups, including people suffering from mental health and drug and alcohol issues.
The shop also has office space, meeting rooms and a café. The diversity of use is an active attempt to bring as many different people into the shop as possible. This range of activity is also a result of limited funding which requires the founders to be creative with revenue streams. Co-founder Paul describes the shop as a hub in an interconnected network of urban, suburban and rural food growing. Like a supermarket it links different producers to the consumer, but unlike supermarkets it includes urban growers. The long-lasting foods, like potatoes, are grown in rural areas outside London and sold in the shop. The freshest food, like lettuce, is grown right in the shop itself. Farm: Shop is redefining the relationships between urban, suburban and rural. Paul and his colleagues have ideas to expand the network. They are helping a local housing association raise chickens for egg production. They are collaborating on a warehouse project with a disability charity which will grow mushrooms, something Paul thinks is a perfect thing to grow in empty urban buildings. All of these projects will become part of the urban food network and sold at the shop. Re-imagining Food Landscapes If we increase food production in the city, these two examples suggest that it creates jobs, helps vulnerable people, provides social space, supports diaspora communities, promotes cohesion and encourages consumers to question industrial farming practices. As architects, planners, geographers, policy makers, teachers, students and designers, can we respond to this trend? Might new developments be forced to offer growing plots that also encourage neighbours to get to know each other? Do we reconsider immigration policy for rural immigrants and provide professional support for urban farming? If urban farming projects are viable, could the government provide regular subsidies rather than piecemeal community grants? Could not-for-profit ‘shops’ replace supermarkets? By thinking strategically, spatially and creatively, urban farming can become an important cultural asset for cities and provide a new food landscape for consumers. –
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