Urban Agriculture as a Socially Inclusive and Sustainable Post-Growth Urban Regeneration Strategy

The redevelopment of vacant land in post-growth and post economic crisis cities is a major challenge for public administrations, private investors as well as the increasing kaleidoscope of socially driven stakeholders; however, the imperative of pursuing inclusive urban strategies facing the exponential rising of migration phenomena have been rarely connected to the issue of limiting land consumption and boosting economic, physical and social regeneration in the most developed countries. Only quite recently within the general framework of “urban-rural” relationships, the “Urban Agriculture” is emerging as a practice which could prove successful both for giving new perspectives to blighted zones of the post-crisis cities and for tackling social malaise related to the massive migration phenomenon in western economy metropolitan areas. Within the scientific literature, the subject of “urban agriculture” itself has a long tradition in developing countries (see authors as Atkinson S. J., Braun, J. von, Maxwell D., Zziwa S.) and has been very much debated over the past 20 years with reference to major western world cities from New York to London, San Francisco, San Diego, etc. (see authors as Pothukuchi K., Kaufman J., Smit J.). Moreover, excessively high fresh-food prices and food related diseases in major cities' blighted low-income neighborhoods make the potential contribution of urban agriculture, as a re-zoning and land conversion planning practice within “food desert” areas, considerably valuable for social as well as health related objectives. Across the US, a growing consumer demand for fresh, local and healthy food is creating new markets for urban food production. Many of these efforts specifically address the needs of urban residents who are living in low-income neighborhoods to access food. Indeed, relevant research axes demonstrate the correlation between malnutrition diseases and low-income, socially disadvantaged areas which lack fresh food groceries (see Burton H.). Often identified as food deserts, “with limited access to affordable and nutritious food” (2008 USDA Farm Bill), or food swamps, domains marked by the abundance of unhealthy food sources, as fast-food and convenience stores, such areas are the most in need of efforts in the field of urban agriculture. Recently, the City of San Diego has changed its municipal zoning code in order to make it easier for its population to carry out urban agriculture and farming. Community gardens and raising of chickens, goats and bees have been allowed in backyards of multi-family and single-family zoned areas. Within the context of the EU FP7 Marie Curie Research Project CLUDs (Commercial Local Urban Districts), this work is aimed at assessing how urban agriculture can drive innovation in urban regeneration policies not only in physical and economic terms, but also and mostly under a social perspective. A specific case study of community garden run by a non-profit organization in San Diego deserves particularly to be highlighted. The “New Roots Community Farm” initiative is based in the distressed neighborhood of City Heights - “patchwork community” of immigrants - and it is highly interesting for its aim to revitalize “rurban” spaces through the involvement of refugee’s groups in urban farming. The whole neighborhood is considered a “critical food access” area and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an international non-profit organization, worked with other community-based associations, the City of San Diego and the San Diego County Farm Bureau to develop an urban farming initiative located on public vacant land. Analysis of statistics from the Census Bureau and interviews with involved stakeholders and community residents can help understand the value of the New Roots Community Farm initiative in bringing about regeneration and tackling food insecurity, health problems, and economic hardship through community-based food and farming projects within the city.