Growing Better Cities: Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Development

A steadily growing awareness of urban agriculture on the international development agenda since the early 1980s has led to a growing collaboration by the United Nations funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). This book provides an overview of the current state of urban agriculture across the world, predominantly in lower- to middle-income countries, and describes IDRC’s approach to supporting urban agriculture through targeted research.

The book comprises six parts. Part I introduces the case of urban agriculture and emphasizes that in the South, where divisions between rural and urban are less clear, agriculture is a common reality in many growing cities. It highlights that, although urban agriculture is not a new practice, the increasing phenomenon of rural–urban migration in the South is leading to urban agriculture on a new scale. As a result, the potential contribution that urban agriculture can make to reducing urban food insecurity and improving urban livelihoods is also growing, although urban agriculture is often illegal in the cities that could gain most from these practices.

Part II summarizes the evolution of IDRC’s approach to urban agriculture research over the past 20 years, including the creation of the Cities Feeding People Programme in 1997, which brought urban agriculture to the forefront of IDRC’s programmes and promoted the integration of urban agriculture into the urban planning process. This programme also linked IDRC with research institutions, public agencies and urban producer organizations, and encouraged collaboration between development researchers and governments.

Part III reviews 11 urban agriculture research projects supported by the IDRC in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Through the documentation of these field experiences a cross-section of the major issues confronting urban agriculture are highlighted and related to solutions at technical and policy levels. The projects include: resolving conflicts over land access and use for urban agriculture in Kinondoni, Kampala and Harare; urban waste composting for urban and peri-urban agricultural use in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale; developing integrated horticulture–livestock systems in Senegal and the Gambia; and developing wastewater recycling systems for home garden use in Jordan.

Part IV examines the lessons offered by IDRC’s experiences in almost 100 projects in 40 countries. It suggests how city planners, politicians, policy makers and urban farmers can practically integrate these lessons into cities’ systems to promote urban agriculture. The lessons are divided into three areas: land and space; waste disposal and health; and food and nutrition. Part V examines how the fruits of collaborative experiences can be shared, and makes recommendations to governments. These include: asking the right questions – what can urban agriculture do for the city?; using urban agriculture to make suitable vacant space productive for all; experimenting with temporary occupancy permits for urban producers; and supporting organizations for poor urban producers. Part VI concludes the book with a summary, and provides the reader with a tour of a future city that has taken on board the book’s recommendations. It provides an opportunity to imagine how positive policies and systems can allow a city to anticipate and encourage urban agricultural practices in order to reduce food insecurity and poverty and to improve the urban environment.