Urban crops and livestock: The experiences,challenges, and opportunities of planning for urban agriculture in two Canadian provinces

While many municipalities globally are currently undertaking initiatives to support urban agriculture, policies and zoning regulations can act as barriers, with the former usually not integrated with planning. Extensive research has been conducted on urban agriculture policies in the global South, but much less is known about associated practices and policies in the global North. This is especially true for the Canadian context and therefore the present study aims at improving our overall understanding of the urban agriculture situation in two Canadian provinces. Relevant policies, such as official plans or official community plans, alternate policy documents and guidelines, zoning by-laws, and animal-related by-laws were reviewed for 10 municipalities in Ontario and in British Columbia, all varying in socio-economic and climatological characteristics. Additional key informant interviews were conducted with municipal planners, community garden coordinators, and other municipal staff familiar with urban agriculture policies from six of the selected municipalities.In line with global trends, our results suggest that urban agriculture is becoming more widespread in the two provinces. However, even though all studied municipalities consistently support urban agriculture, they vary significantly in their approach, with some municipalities focusing much more narrowly on certain types of activities than others. Overall, community advocacy and municipal council support are the most important drivers in the policy process. Key informants expressed a need to bridge existing gaps between policy adoption and implementation of tools, emphasize public education and public awareness, create inventories of land available for urban agriculture, incorporate urban agriculture in the development review process, and focus on the commercial potential of the practice. Encouragingly, despite the many challenges that need to be addressed, we found that many opportunities exist that municipalities could consider when creating improved local urban agriculture policies and tools to enhance the urban food system.     

A review of spatial planning in Ghana's socio-economic development trajectory: A sustainable development perspective

This study provides a review of spatial planning in the context of Ghana's socio-economic development trajectory. Spatial planning has been integral to the economic policies of the country since colonial rule. Yet, its role has been overshadowed by the domain of socio-economic planning. Drawing from published literature, policy documents, legislative frameworks and interviews, this study reveals the different context and scope within which spatial planning has been implemented in Ghana, and the successes and failures thereof. While the colonial governments employed spatial planning on limited scale and for exploitative purposes, post-colonial governments have implemented broad-based planning grounded in the ‘genuine’ aspiration to promote a spatially balanced development. This study argues that post-independence planning has not been successfully implemented compared to pre-independence planning due to a myriad of factors including rapid urban growth, inadequate staffing, low capacity, lack of institutional coordination, political interference in planning, complex land tenure and evolving land markets among others. Consequently, urban centres in Ghana are beset with problems such as poor environmental conditions, poor infrastructure and service delivery, and uncontrolled growth; and these are inimical to sustainable urban development. The study lauds renewed efforts to transform planning in the spirit of sustainable development through the national urban policy framework and a proposed land use and spatial planning bill; the latter proposes planning based on spatial development framework, and a repeal of an obsolete 1945 planning ordinance that has underlain planning since. It is argued that if supported and harmonised the two initiatives present the best planning framework in the 21st century Ghana.     

Measuring urban sprawl and exploring the role planning plays: A shanghai case study

Measuring the degree of urban sprawl largely depends on the local context and available data. This research establishes a multidimensional index which combines city expansion, urban compactness and urban form to measure sprawl. Urban planning, as part of the state-led growth approach, has exerted dramatic impact on city growth in China. Recent studies have discussed the role of planning in city growth. However, measuring the impact of planning on sprawl, has not been conducted. Taking Shanghai as a case study, this paper builds a multidimensional index to measure the spatio-temporal characteristics of urban sprawl in Shanghai from 1990 to 2010. It finds that urban sprawl was more serious in 2000s than in the 1990s, and the sprawl also presents spatial heterogeneity within different areas of the city. While quantifying the role of planning in urban sprawl, this study adopts the Geo-Detector based on spatial variation analysis of the geographical strata in order to assess the impact of planning on urban sprawl. It finds that planning is strongly correlated with urban sprawl, in other words, urban sprawl is kind of a "planned sprawl" in Shanghai. The research concludes with future planning policies necessary for a more sustainable and compact development pattern.     

Sustainable valuation of land for development. Adding value with urban planning progress. A Spanish case study

This article presents a valuation model of land for development in a sustainable way, based on the design and execution of urban planning. Using this method, one can obtain, at any given point in time, the added value progress of the urbanization process. For each year during the plan’s execution, the value of land has been estimated. The free cash-flow method was applied in order to estimate the land valuation of any given year. From the estimate for each of those years, and using regression analysis, the most suited value added function was obtained, for the increase of value across time up to the point of finalized, fully urbanized land. The results show that this is an exponential growth function, such that during the initial years the progress of valuation is slow, but it accentuates during final years of execution as the land becomes urbanized, at which point the land achieves maximum value.     

Urban agriculture and land use in cities: An approach with the multi-functionality and sustainability concepts in the case of Antananarivo (Madagascar)

Urban planners are increasingly interested in agriculture around cities and have to decide whether to maintain or not areas of agricultural land use within and close to growing cities. There is therefore a need for researchers to design tools to guide public decision-making on land use. Various approaches, originating from different disciplines, may be adopted in this respect. We designed an interdisciplinary research program in order to test two related concepts: the “sustainability” and the “multi-functionality” of agriculture. We show that these concepts provide a useful framework for obtaining appropriate knowledge about urban agriculture, which urban planners could apply in real situations. In close collaboration with urban planners, we applied an interdisciplinary research methodology, based on common farm surveys and territorial approaches, to the Antananarivo area (Madagascar). The main functions analyzed were the food production and environmental roles of urban agriculture. Two aspects of sustainability were assessed: the farm sustainability and the territorial sustainability, with expert scores. This approach identified a wide diversity of farming systems that performed differently, depending on their intra- or suburban location. The food supply function appeared to be important not only for fresh produce but also for rice consumption. The function of protection against flooding is now important and this importance will increase with climate change. A diagnosis of sustainability was made and discussed with urban planners: several farming systems and zones were identified in which agriculture was considered important as a means of maintaining or developing the food supply, employment and incomes, and even landscape or environmental quality. We also identified other areas in which poor production conditions and/or the negative effects of urbanization on agriculture jeopardized its sustainability. This methodology appeared to be useful for determining the most appropriate role of urban agriculture in the land-use planning of this city. Our study raises new questions on the subject and should lead to more focused research programmes. We discuss several points of interest and the limitations and possible extension of this method.     

A quick scan tool to assess the relative prospects of European regions for sustainable agriculture in a liberal market

The European Union (EU) most likely will continue to adapt its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to a more liberal market policy. We assume that this process will take place in the next 20 years. A relevant question then is which European regions, under such conditions, have prospects to maintain a sustainable agriculture in terms of the objectives within the ‘People, Profit and Planet’ framework of sustainability. We explored the question by defining simple indicators for the 3 P-objectives, quantifying the indicators per region, ranking the regions per indicator and defining the prospect of a region in comparison to other regions. The approach is very robust, easy to update and indicative for quickly assessing future prospects of regions. The results are presented in three maps showing more than 160 regions of the EU-25 member countries classified according to their agricultural prospects for competitiveness (Profit), employment (People) and land use (Planet). By considering the three maps in combination, the overall prospects for sustainable agriculture under “liberalised” conditions can be assessed. Based on this quick scan, it is concluded that: (a) the few highly developed and highly productive regions in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany will out-compete the numerous still poorly developed and low-productive regions in the Southern and Eastern EU member states; (b) these regions in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany will maintain their already minimized and highly productive employment at the expense of the member states with a relatively high agrarian employment, notably Poland and the Baltic states; (c) the sparsely populated regions of France, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Czech Republic and Germany will maintain their agrarian land use, at the expense of densely populated regions with relatively small holdings in Poland, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain. Policy makers and entrepreneurs can obtain an integrative view by taking into account the three prospect maps to support decision-making on long-term policies and sustainable investments in terms of the 3 Ps.     

Urban development versus wetland loss in a coastal Latin American city: Lessons for sustainable land use planning

Urbanization is a primary cause of wetland loss in coastal metropolitan regions. Therefore, it challenges the preservation of biodiversity and the provision of key ecosystem services for urban settlements. These services include leisure and recreation, climate and water regulation, water purification, and especially alleviation of natural hazards. Tsunami flood mitigation is a particularly valuable regulating service provided by these wetlands, as recently evidenced during the 2010 tsunami that hit the central coast of Chile.The Concepción Metropolitan Area (CMA), located on the central coast of Chile, has experienced noticeable wetland loss in recent decades. Our study focused on the Rocuant-Andalién wetland, which has been particularly affected by urbanization. This wetland strongly contributes to flood control, and has provided effective protection against the CMA’s latest tsunamis (1835 and 2010). Based on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), we have quantified urban growth over the wetland, both executed and projected under the Metropolitan Urban Plan of Concepción (MUPC). Recent loss in wetland area by urban growth has been quantified using land use and cover change (LUCC) maps from 2004 to 2014, obtained from the classification of Landsat images. Prospective changes (considering the complete MUPC deployment) have been inferred by combining the MUPC with the 2014 land cover map. In addition, we quantified the observed effect and planned urban growth on the wetland protected area, geoforms and potential flooding based on the area affected by the last Tsunami. Results show that urban areas have increased by 28% between 2004 and 2014, while future increase is expected to reach 238%. In contrast, wetland area has decreased by 10% from 2004 to 2014 and is expected to decrease by up to 32 %. Thus, the MUPC is not contributing to the mitigation of wetland loss nor the preservation of its biodiversity and ecosystem services. Implications for coastal planning are discussed.     

Taking context into account in urban agriculture governance: Case studies of Warsaw (Poland) and Ghent (Belgium)

This article explores the role of local particularism in relation to the global interest in urban agriculture (UA). A growing movement is advocating UA, but future prospects are limited by variability, unclear expectations, vague responsibilities and leadership in the UA movement. We wonder whether the poor understanding of UA governance is associated with a public discourse and academic literature that too easily adopt the generic and universally claimed benefits. We argue here that uncritical enthusiasm results in an overly instrumental approach to governance of UA with a main focus on stimulating formal (e.g., policy making) and informal advocacy (e.g., civic engagement in UA). We do not deny the importance of formal and informal advocacy in UA development, but rather claim that the potential of UA needs a more nuanced analysis. Study of the interplay between UA advocacy and a city’s contextual characteristics is a worthy pursuit, as it may provide significant and more profound explanations for the divergence observed in UA developments. Case studies performed in Warsaw (Poland) and Ghent (Belgium) serve to illustrate the importance of context. The results suggest that neither case is likely to benefit from a governance strategy that only stimulates greater advocacy and institutional support. The inclusion of city-specific needs, opportunities and pitfalls of UA in the governance strategy can help to move UA toward its full potential. We suggest a policy-making strategy for UA that expands beyond the realm of food production alone. Ultimately, the aim is to steer away from assessing (and critiquing) UA solely against the backdrop of these generic success factors.     

Natural Areas, the whole countryside approach and sustainable agriculture

Natural Areas are biogeographical zones which reflect the geological foundation, the natural systems and processes, and the wildlife in different parts of England, and provide a framework for setting objectives for nature conservation. This paper argues, with particular reference to agro-ecosystems, that there is a need for an integrated, whole countryside approach to Natural Areas based on the principles of ‘strong’ sustainable development. In practice, this means the delineation of conservation objectives for the whole of each Natural Area and the application of policy instruments designed to address the causes of environmental loss and deterioration. The latter requires, it is argued, a structural analysis of generic environmental issues. A generic issues approach is required in order to avoid the pitfalls of environmental ‘symptom management’ (environmental managerialism), an approach which dominates current environmental and agri-environmental policy. Necessary as such discrete action programmes and measures may be as short-term ‘fire-fighting’ responses to immediate threats, environmental managerialism as a policy framework epitomises a non-holistic and ‘disintegrated’ approach to nature conservation. The paper goes on to discuss the configuration of agri-environmental policy that will be required to address generic agricultural impacts on biodiversity and the constraints and opportunities for its implementation that are likely to arise within the context of further CAP reform and the forthcoming round of WTO negotiations.     

Policy recommendations for enabling transition towards sustainable agriculture in India

Aligning existing agricultural polices with UN-Sustainable Development Goals is imperative for the transition towards a cleaner and planet friendly food production, especially for a geographically and demographically diverse country like India. In this context, the present study focuses on ascertaining the major social and environmental challenges affecting agriculture in India, while evaluating the potential of efficient policy restructure in boosting growth within this sector. The methodology incorporates a quantitative assessment of social, ecological and economic indicators of agricultural sustainability in India, coupled with a co-relation analysis between several nutrition and land-based indicators for leading agriculture states across the country. The results highlight that despite attaining sufficiency in terms of food production, access to food by all in the country remains a major challenge along with incoherence between certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators and their corresponding data values. Furthermore, a critical analysis of operational as well as recommended agriculture and farmer welfare policies indicate that formulation of an overarching policy influencing sustainable management of agricultural systems, combined with proper implementation of social welfare schemes, would lead to the timely realisation of SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), and SDG 3 (good health and well-being) in India. Consequently, an umbrella policy (National Policy on Eco-Agri-Food Systems) has been proposed by authors for sustainable management of the country’s entire agricultural value chain. Recommendations related to agricultural waste management and adoption of planetary healthy diets have also been suggested for enabling the smooth transition of agriculture as a sustainable enterprise in India.     

Peri-urban agriculture in Jabodetabek Metropolitan Area and its relationship with the urban socioeconomic system

Peri-urban agriculture (PUA) has been proposed as an important urban element to deal with the challenges of increasing poverty, food insecurity, and environmental degradation as particularly found in rapidly expanding cities of the developing world. However, farming in the peri-urban is under strong pressure from urbanization. The economic and social roles of farming need to be better understood in order to integrate peri-urban agriculture into urban planning. This study used multivariate techniques and Geographically Weighted Regression to analyze statistical data at a village and sub-district, to explore the varying relationships between agricultural activities and urban economic activities, urban poverty and informality, as well as food security. This method was applied in the Jabodetabek Metropolitan Area (JMA) with Indonesia’s capital Jakarta at its core, and it resulted in some important findings. First, PUA was more associated with the increasing low and middle class residential areas and the growing small-middle scale urban economic activities rather than development of tourism and larger traditional market facilities. Second, whereas PUA in the North of JMA was under pressure by the increasing poverty, in the Southeast of JMA it has expanded concurrently with increasing poverty. Third, PUA is strengthened by increasing informal activities in the peri-urban zone that offer alternative jobs and additional income for the farmers. Fourth, PUA in the surroundings of Jakarta as well as in the East and Northeast of JMA has contributed to increasing food affordability as well as strengthening food security policy. Based on these results, recommendations to maintain the PUA have been formulated to support its role for the peri-urban economy, reduce poverty, manage informality, and increase food security.     

The emergence of urban agriculture: Sydney,Australia

Across the world the phenomenon of urban agriculture (UA) is defining itself after emerging from a mainly grass-roots response, evidenced in the Sydney Metropolitan Region by the Hawkesbury Harvest phenomenon and the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, to powerful global forces which are negatively and paradoxically impacting on the quality of life of urban and farming communities. In the developed world these major forces include: (1) urban sprawl and its progressive sterilization of agricultural lands; (2) the supermarket dominance of food chains; (3) the fast food industry and associated health problems such as obesity; (4) globalization. The community-based promotion and marketing of local agriculture is causing some governments and public and private organizations throughout the world to recognize UA as a strategic mechanism to enable urban communities to deal with food security in the context of neo-liberalism, climate change, pandemics, natural disasters, human and environmental health, carbon footprint, biosecurity/terrorism, peak oil, waste management, and landscape and natural resource management. This paper explores the history of UA in the Sydney region. It is a narrative that allows for UA in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan area to draw on the experiences of other developed countries where UA is establishing its position.     

Marginal periurban agricultural areas: A support method for landscape planning

The significant proportion of often abandoned marginal/enclosed agricultural land in city peripheries has given rise to the need for studying the delicate relationship between built-up areas and rural land. These issues are exacerbated where metropolitan settlement has no bounds and begins to invade the rural space juxtaposed between cities and urban areas.This marginal land, in particular where a minimum of agricultural activity persists, could provide support to urban activities for recreation, farm services and local production of goods, reducing energy consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions, global warming and packaging, conserving biodiversity. These actions will allow the composting and the reuse of treated waste waters for irrigation.In particular, urban agriculture can play an educational role by contributing to reducing crime and improving community/ethnic relations, encouraging time spent in the open air and ensuring food safety.This study describes a methodology related to the analysis, to the identification, of the residual agricultural areas, differentiating them in accordance with the various levels of rurality to indicate the models of use, which allow to enhance the local landscape situations (preservation of the agricultural function or insertion of integrated activities) obtaining the pertinent valorisation. This methodology has been applied to the metropolitan area in the North zone of Catania.The method has three distinct phases: (1) land analysis and GIS construction consists of acquiring and georeferencing cartographic data, field studies to check and update the maps, and carry out a questionnaire on farm data; (2) data processing with GIS to create some thematic maps; (3) proposal of suitable land-use models.     

The quest for a sustainable spatial planning framework in Zimbabwe and Zambia

Over the years, the Zimbabwean and Zambian governments have been facing severe spatial development inequalities. They have therefore put in place various policies and strategies in a bid to ensure equitable spatial development. Spatial planning, which refers to the distribution of land uses and people, not only focuses on the physical aspects of land but also on national economic, environmental and social policies. This paper examines spatial planning frameworks in Zimbabwe and Zambia and how they have influenced spatial planning. The effect of spatial planning frameworks on development reveals a close relationship between spatial plans and spatial planning outcomes. The study shows how changes in institutional and legal frameworks affects development in different sectors of the economy and that a holistic approach to planning promotes sustainable development without neglecting other sectors. The data for the study was drawn primarily from secondary sources through a review of documents such as statutes, local development plans and other statutory instruments. The study found that in order to achieve sustainable spatial planning, there is need for a sustainable framework to guide spatial planning. Sustainable spatial planning frameworks also control and promote spatial development in both Zimbabwe and Zambia. Both institutional and legal frameworks guiding spatial planning should be sustainable for the benefit of future generations.     

Empowering change for sustainable agriculture: the need for participation

Sustainable agricultural development (SAD) requires empowerment and engagement of all actors in the agricultural production and supply chain to enable change. This paper proposes a novel framework for Participatory Sustainable Agricultural Development (PSAD) that distinguishes four main classes of factors that influence participation in SAD: environmental, economic, social and governance-related. The factors in each of these classes are analysed in relation to their effect over time, on the basis of 49 SAD programmes reported in the literature. Findings show that the social factors of engagement and empowerment, not often addressed in existing SAD programmes, are of significant influence to effect over time, as are the environmental factors of food safety, and the economic factors of production and capacity development. As such this paper shows that in in addition to the well-acknowledged need for knowledge and skills related to food safety, production and capacity development, SAD programmes also need to address the social factors of engagement and empowerment to enable sustainable change over time for SAD through participation.     

Methodology to calculate the carbon footprint of household land use in the urban planning stage

The growing concerns of climate change require implementing measures to quantify, to monitor and to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nonetheless, most of the measures available are not easy to define or execute because they rely on current emissions and have a corrective character. To address this issue, a methodology to characterize GHG emissions that allows implementing preventive measures is proposed in this paper. The methodology is related to household urban planning procedures and considers urban infrastructures to characterize GHG emissions and to execute preventive measures based on sustainability design criteria. The methodology has been tested by applying it to a set of medium-sized municipalities with average GHG emissions from 6,822.32 kgCO_2eq/year to 5,913.79 kgCO_2eq/year for every residential unit. The results indicate that the greatest pollutant source is transport, especially in the issuance of street network design, followed by gas and electricity consumption. The average undevelopable land area required for the complete GHG emissions capture amounts to 3.42 m² of undevelopable land for every m² of urbanizable land and 9.02 m² of undevelopable land for every m² of built land.     

Decision support for sustainable urban renewal: A multi-scale model

Developed cities are troubled by various challenges, including urban dilapidation, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, lack of facility provision, and economic decline. Urban renewal, as an important agenda in most countries, holds the aim of addressing these urban problems. With the inherent complexity of urban renewal, renewal initiatives do not always follow an unsustainable path, which has obtained much criticism from both academia and the public. Therefore, an informative decision-making process would contribute to better renewal outcomes. Previous research has mainly focused on one aspect of urban renewal, in which a comprehensive perspective is lacking. The multi-scale feature of urban renewal initiatives also adds complexity and uncertainty to decision-making. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi-scale model that supports decision-making on realizing sustainable urban renewal. Three sub-modules and a supporting database are included in the model. City, district, and neighborhood scales are the foci of the three sub-modules. Both temporal and spatial data are included in the database. Through experimental study and expert interview, the effectiveness of this model is validated.     

The carrying capacity imperative: Assessing regional carrying capacity methodologies for sustainable land-use planning

While some existing carrying capacity methodologies offer significant insights into the assessment of population carrying capacities, a comprehensive model is yet to be developed. This research identifies, examines and compares a range of methodological approaches to carrying capacity assessment and considers their relevance to future spatial planning. A range of key criteria are employed to compare various existing carrying capacity assessment models. These criteria include integrated systems analysis, dynamic responses, levels of risk, systemic constraints, applicability to future planning and the consideration of regional boundary delineation. It is suggested that by combining successful components from various authors, and collecting a range of interconnected data, a practical and workable system-based model may be achievable in the future.     

Synergy between urban planning, conservation of the cultural built heritage and functional changes in the old urban center—the case of Tel Aviv

The old urban center of Tel Aviv, like other urban centers in the western world, is undergoing accelerated development processes. Together with the trend towards gentrification are processes of urban renewal and infrastructure development and increasing demand for land and buildings, all of which increase the value of the land. The difference between Tel Aviv and other cities in the western world, as well as in Israel, is its young age and its quick pace of change. The old urban center of Tel Aviv is unique in that it is less than one hundred years old and is changing rapidly. Tel Aviv, which in 1909 was a small suburb of Jaffa, has evolved into an independent city, which is today the center of economic and cultural activities in Israel. Tel Aviv's short but significant history, together with its rapid changes, creates its image as an active and vivid metropolis with embedded heritage values. However, rapid development brings with it dilemmas. On the one hand, urban planners, tourists and entrepreneurs identify the center of town with its historical nucleus and heritage values. On the other hand, the rapid development and need for urban renovation are clearly in conflict with the need to preserve Tel Aviv's historical values and unique qualities. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that conservation of built heritage and urban development in ‘Young Tel Aviv’ can coexist and synergistically support each other, and that the historical values have economic potential, which may contribute to urban development. Heritage values can be formulated and even artificially produced to promote urban development. Although Israel has many very old cities with universal historical values, the young city of Tel Aviv is at the forefront of conservation.     

Agriculture on the edge: strategies to abate urban encroachment onto agricultural lands by promoting viable human-scale agriculture as an integral element of urbanization

In the Greater Vancouver region (Canada) tensions exist where urbanization encroaches onto agricultural land. A recently issued white paper proffered ideas to stimulate discussion on land-use plans and public policies to encourage and enhance agriculture while accommodating a doubling of the region's population. It evoked a visceral response from local and regional politicians, planners and agrologists who saw it as an heretical attempt to undermine land conservation. Proponents saw innovative strategies to ameliorate entrenched antipathy between competing perspectives. The core arguments and corresponding critique, outlined in this paper, bring to light elements of a broader debate about the vitality and sustainability of agriculture in British Columbia, as elsewhere, centring on issues of food security (supply) and food sovereignty (control) within two competing agricultural paradigms: human-scale agri-food systems and conventional industrial agri-business. Municipal enabled agriculture (MEA) is advanced as a catalyst for the full integration of the agri-food system within the planning, design, function, economy and community of cities and vice versa. MEA can make significant contributions to local and regional economies and has the potential to alter the way communities are designed to reduce unsustainability, planned to incorporate resilience, and organized so that they flourish socially and culturally.