Marielle Dubbeling

The current global urban population is expected to double by 2050, with 90 percent of urban growth taking place in developing countries. Many cities are ill equipped to handle such large-scale expansion. Various cities are starting to recognise urban agriculture as an integral part of urban planning, upgrading and design. They are including urban agriculture in land use planning, social housing programmes and slum upgrading. This article
describes some examples of their strategies.

Thilak T. Ranasinghe

In: UA Magazine no. 19 - Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture

Home gardening is usually seen as a subsistence-oriented production system. However, in urban and suburban areas land is a precious
resource, which is why home gardening can be turned into a profitable production system. In this context the concept of the Family Business Garden was launched on World Environment Day 2000 in Sri Lanka.

Vide Anosike, Shakirudeen Odunuga and Mayowa Fasona

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Land use reflects the functional activities assigned to a particular piece of land. In the past fifty years of Nigerian National Agricultural Development Planning, urban agriculture has not been promoted as a feasible urban land use or activity. Its contribution to urban food security and employment has not been acknowledged yet because food production is often perceived as a rural-based activity.

Andre Viljoen and Katrin Bohn

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

This paper is written from a U.K. perspective and uses London as an example of an expanding city.

Marije Pouw and Joanna Wilbers

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Multifunctional land use and the Netherlands have become synonymous as the population of this small country on the rim of the North Sea has increased over the decades to a current density matched only by a small number of places on this earth (1). The experiences of two organisations involved in urban agriculture and multifunctional land use in the Netherlands show how both utilise their multifunctional character as an organisational strategy.

Vikram Bhatt

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

K.A. Jayaratne

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Traditionally, agriculture is not included as an activity in land use and zoning plans in urban development, although city greening is accepted as part of city beautification and landscaping. Still, people in urban areas in Colombo have always been involved in various agricultural activities, like growing vegetables, plants for curry leaves trees such as coconut, raising livestock and pigeons and fishing in inland waterways.

Paris Marshall Smith, Mohammed Junaid Yusuf, Urmilla Bob and Andreas de Neergaard

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

In an economically and racially segregated city, urban agriculture (UA) can be a tool for political and social transformation that modifies the physical structures by developing meeting grounds, linking areas and eliminating buffer zones. In transforming the physical spaces, UA can change the way people identify themselves and engage with one another. These are critical elements in the discussion of sustainable livelihoods and the alleviation of poverty.

Anne Floquet, Roch Mongbo and Juste Nansi

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Abomey and Bohicon are two cities in central Benin whose recent expansion has prompted their link-up in a conurbation of 180,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration is located at the junction between the North-South and the East-West roads.