Urban Agriculture: Environmental, Economic, and Social Perspectives

Urban agriculture represents many different things to different people in different places. This chapter acknowledges the difference between urban agriculture in small and large cities as well as the Global North and South, and discusses sustainability issues from each of the economic, environmental, and social perspectives. Urban farms and community gardens can have both positive and negative environmental impacts. They can, for example, either reduce or increase energy consumption, improve water infiltration, and beautify neighborhoods, or produce odors and contaminate water. The chapter considers technological innovations that have contributed to the recent excitement surrounding urban agriculture, and attempts to frame policy recommendations that might help guide its development. Urban agriculture was actively and vigorously supported by governments in the west during the First and Second World Wars, during which time it surged in importance and productivity, sometimes developing on urban plots that had been initiated during the Great Depression.