[Washington D.C., USA]
14 - 18 April 2010

Multiple Geographies of Urban Agriculture in the Global North: Integrating Perspectives from Planning and Design, Ecology, Public Health, and Political Economy

Urban Agriculture (UA) is undergoing a renaissance in North American cities. Over the past few years, communities and individuals have launched innumerable initiatives to farm and garden in empty lots, at schools, in back yards, and on roofs and stoops. This renaissance has led seed companies to report record sales, prompted Michelle Obama to plant a model garden at the White House, and motivated municipal governments to open public parks to UA. Far from being a new phenomenon, however, this renewed interest is building on a historical legacy of UA as a critical part of North American urban culture and landscape.

While geographers have contributed significantly to our understanding of the socio-political dimensions of UA in the Global South, we have just begun to explore the political, cultural and economic processes driving its return in the North. An emerging body of work suggests that the motivations and functions of UA are far from homogenous and that an undifferentiated critique of UA may no longer be appropriate. Serious dialogue is needed between practitioners, applied academics, and critical theorists to develop a more sophisticated scholarly understanding of the multi-functionality of UA while at the same time furthering the successes of UA as a collective project.

The goal of this session is then to bring critical human geography (political economy, urban political ecology, critical food studies) into conversation with applied research from planning and design, public health, and ecological and environmental sciences to both “ground” theory in on-the-ground UA experiences and provide critical insights into the histories and assumptions informing these initiatives.

Papers that incorporate theoretical and/or empirical approaches to UA in the Global North (especially the US and Canada) are welcome. Possible topics might include (but are not limited to):
• The successes and failures of UA to contribute to food justice and public health
• The politics of difference (eg, race, ethnicity, gender, class) in UA initiatives
• Integration of UA into “green jobs”, brownfields redevelopment, and other urban sustainability initiatives
• Environmental constraints to the expansion of UA (eg, soil contamination)
• UA’s historical role in the development of the North American city
• Policy and planning for UA (both obstacles and opportunities)
• The political economy of UA’s expansion in post-industrial “wastelands” and vacant lots
• UA as an experiential pedagogical tool (eg, for teaching global food politics, urban geography, biophysical sciences, and health and nutrition)

Please send abstracts of 250 words or less to mcclintock@berkeley.edu by October 20th, 2009.

More information can be found on: http://www.aag.org/