LET’S GROWThe future of cultivation is in the city  Our urban world is growing rapidly - but are we keeping up with the pace?  The fast growth has led us to an unsustainable and ignorant relation to food and in the closest future this needs to change. If we gather local producers, knowledge, cultivation and public space under the same roof we can make the process visible in the city and change our unsustainable patterns. Re-introducing food production into the urban context is one step in the direction of a better and more sustainable future.The purpose of the project is to expose, inspire and educate our citizens by proposing a hub with intertwined public and productive spaces at the infrastructural site of Umeå Östra station.  A productive greenhouse managed by local experts and cultivators gives the visitor the opportunity to follow the whole process from sowing, cultivation, harvesting, processing, cooking, eating, recycling and composting. It’s a cyclic process that needs to be visible and easily accessible in our everyday life for us to take part in and feel a close connection to. The public greenhouse provides space for curiosity, creativity and relaxation. LET’S GROW provides the expertise, the inspiration and the tools needed for cultivation to spread in the city and to take place in the homes of the citizens. The aim of the hub is to expose the process of food production and re-establish the connection between the producers and the consumers. The hub aims to educate and raise awareness by providing space for social interaction; uniting children and grown ups, experts and beginners, with food production and urban cultivation as the common denominator. By providing space for creative learning and creative ways of urban cultivation the hub empowers the people to be more independent, involved, knowledgeable and aware.  So LET’S GROW!

Local food production movements have claimed a central role in proposals to mitigate some of the negative effects of economic globalization. Although not meant to be a panacea for the ills of the neoliberal order, local food production is advocated as a sustainable solution to a portion of the environmental degradation caused by global capitalism, and as a mechanism by which to rebuild community networks undermined by the globalization of commerce and culture and create the type of sustainable development necessary to restore and preserve the carrying capacity of the planet. This study seeks to develop a conceptual framework for assessing the potential for communities to create and sustain local food production by addressing three major factors that influence a community's ability to localize its food system: the physical capacity of the region or locality to produce enough food to feed its inhabitants, successful policy and trade adjustments by governments to create and enable the survival of local food production systems, and the willingness of consumers to participate in a localized food production system, which includes the community's willingness and ability to bear the costs of instituting and maintaining the local system. / Master of Arts

As urbanisation increases choices in how to use green areas within cities growin importance, determining how several urban sustainability issues will play out. In urban environment the role for forest, both inside and at the city borders, is most important for the well-being of city inhabitants from several species, as well as provider of numerous ecosystem services necessary for anthropogenic development. Despite this,urban green areas are often given a lower priority in city developing processes compared to new structures, meaning them being transformed into built environments. This makes a higher awareness of what urban forests provides, and can provide, evident. Thus, this bachelor thesis presents the idea of urban agroforestry. The focus is towards agroforestry systems as they can be adapted and applied in a Swedish context. Firstly, literature review is used for investigating the concepts of urban forest, ecosystem services and agroforestry, defining and connecting them. Some of the critique towards the ecosystem services concept is lifted, as well as some specific ecosystem services directly connected to urban forest. Also, recent Swedish development in the agroforestry field is mapped and briefly described. Further, knowledge from this is adapted to the settings in Östersund, developing suggestions for construction of actual urban agroforestry systems. This part describes the local possibilities for urban agroforestry, as well as suitable urban forest areas, species and things to take into consideration in terms of risk assessment. Finally, the thesis also presents some suggestions for how to account for the change in ecosystem services in a more mathematical way. This is followed by discussion of both general findings and the local agroforestry potential, as well as some suggestions for focus points in further studies. This study shows that despite the cold climate in Sweden, urban agroforestry provides an interesting potential for preservation of ecosystem services as well as reconstruction of historical landscapes. It further suggests that urban agroforestry systems within Östersund should be focused on cultural services rather than high yields, by this aiming to connect to numerous local interests seen as defining for the region.

Garden Hill is a remote fly-in First Nation community in Northern Manitoba with a very high incidence of food insecurity. This study examined food security and food sovereignty of the Garden Hill community by reinvigorating an environmental stewardship-driven food system. This research used community-based participatory research approach, and both qualitative and quantitative research tools to generate data and information. Findings reveal that only 3% households are food secure, 66% households are moderately food insecure, and 31% households are severely food insecure. Once self-sufficient with foods gathered from the local, natural foodshed, the community experienced a radical shift in food habits with a greater dependency on processed market foods. Such transformation in food habit and dietary balance, coupled with limited economic opportunities, made the inhabitants increasingly food insecure and vulnerable to multiple health complications. This research demonstrated the community has potentials for local food production. A pilot agricultural farm collaboratively established with a local social enterprise Meechim Inc. grew local food to help address the food insecurity situation. / February 2017

Austin has residents that have health and nutrition issues that are linked to a lack of access to healthy foods. Some urban agriculture experts believe that one way to help mitigate the issue of access is to increase the amount of food that is produced locally. This report will look at planning issues involving food production, examine the amount of food that is being produce at farms located in Austin, make an inventory of available agricultural lands that have the potential for food growth, and make a basic calculation of how many people food from those lands could feed. / text

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, based on a comparative study in Sweden, how vertical hydroponic farms can be implemented in urban environments and to identify the challenges with the implementation. The study examines various companies that work with hydroponic farms in Sweden and how the government can help the companies with the implementation of the innovation. Urban hydroponic farms can be a significant solution for solving the growing global population demand for locally grown fresh food, which includes good quality and nutrients. Previous studies, from a sustainability perspective, show that Sweden would benefit in several different ways if more hydroponic farms were implemented in the urban cities. The theory that the report is based on is the implementation theory. With this in mind, the empirics were analyzed from three different found themes; economy, political priorities & local involvement. Empirical data was collected from previous studies as well as from a qualitative methodological approach. This empirical study was based on multiple interviews with companies in the hydroponic farms industry located in Sweden and observations, to be able to analyze the findings based on our chosen theme. In this study we found that the result indicates that there are both advantages and obstacles to the implementation of hydroponic farms in urban areas. On the other hand, the benefits are predominantly from a sustainable development perspective with new innovative solutions, such as solar systems and upgraded district heating and district cooling systems.

Dagens matproduktion har fått ökad uppmärksamhet kring hur den kan anpassas för att försörja en växande befolkning, utan att negativt påverka klimatet. Att ställa om till ekologiskt är en presenterad lösning och politiker på nationell och europeisk nivå har satt tydliga mål och åtgärder gällande ekologiskt jordbruk, dels om andelen ekologiskt jordbruk, dels om hur det ska uppnås. En åtgärd EU presenterat är ekodistrikt, som är ett geografiskt område där flera aktörer i livsmedelskedjan hållbart förvaltar de lokala resurserna genom ekologiska metoder och principer. Det har lett till ökad uppmärksamhet för redan befintliga ekodistrikt samt till etableringar av nya ekodistrikt, däribland det första svenska ekodistriktet i landskapet Södermanland, “Ekodistrikt Sörmland”. Rapportens syfte är att ge ökad förståelse för vad som definierar samt möjliggör ekodistrikt samt studera förutsättningar som finns för etableringen av Ekodistrikt Sörmland. I rapporten genomfördes en litteraturstudie om ekodistrikt med bland annat en tematisk analys där relevanta faktorer för etablering av ekodistrikt identifierades: “myndigheter och organisationer”, “bottom-up tillvägagångssätt”, “kultur och turism”, samt “jordbruksmöjligheter”. Även en fallstudie om Ekodistrikt Sörmland utfördes som inkluderade en litteraturstudie med en kompletterande intervju. Resultatet visade att ekodistrikt bygger kring dimensionerna ekologisk, social och ekonomisk hållbarhet och i Europeiska kommissionens definition av ekodistrikt framgår det att lokala resurser ska förvaltas hållbart i ett ekodistrikt. Mat i ekodistrikt ska produceras från ekologiska gårdar som minskar påverkan på miljön, jordbruket ska bli lönsamt genom nya marknadsmöjligheter och det sociala kapitalet stärks genom att ekodistrikt främja ökad sysselsättning på landsbygden. Möjligheten att etablera ekodistrikt skiljer sig mellan områden och olika förutsättningar kräver olika tillvägagångssätt. Tillgängliga litteraturen hänvisade till första etablerade ekodistriktet, Biodistretto Cilento, som anses som ‘best practice’ för ekodistrikt idag. Resultatet tyder på att det finns indikatorer som i generella fall tyder på goda förutsättningar att etablera ekodistrikt, men att dessa kan variera utefter lokala förutsättningar. Bilden som erhölls kring frågan vad möjliggör ekodistrikt är att ekodistrikt förlitar sig på kommunikation nerifrån och uppåt - från bönder till beslutsfattare, lokala samarbeten aktörer emellan mot annars icke identifierade gemensamma mål, samt innovativa lösningar och system utefter lokala förutsättningar och ekologiska principer. Ekodistrikt Sörmland planeras att omfatta landskapet Södermanland, bestående av Södermanlands län och södra delarna av Stockholms län. Vid rapportens tidpunkt var inte samtliga kontaktade. Ekodistriktet är del av och delfinansieras av ett treårigt EU-projekt. Initiativtagarna för ekodistriktet vill åstadkomma ett hållbart matsystem som baseras på Södermanlands lokala resurser och att öka allmänhetens kunskap om ekodistrikt. I nuläget är 21 procent av Södermanlands totala jordbruksareal ekologiskt och allmänheten har ett tidigare intresse för ekologiskt och lokalproducerat mat, vilket tyder på områdets potential för utveckling av ett ekodistrikt. Däremot det tidiga stadiet i etableringsprocessen, är det svårt att avgöra i denna rapport huruvida verksamheten kommer att fungera. Resultatet diskuteras därefter utefter de identifierade faktorer i relation till Ekodistrikt Sörmland, samt i vilken mån de kan appliceras och generaliseras på kommande ekodistrikt. / The current state of food production faces challenges, as to how it can be adapted to the increase in the global population, without the least impact on the earth's climate. The given course of action is an organic transition in order to achieve sustainable farming. One course of action, presented by the EU, are biodistricts (Swedish: ekodistrikt), a geographical area wherein stakeholders in the value chain sustainably co-manage the local resources through organic farming principles. EU’s recognition has enabled an increased focus on already established biodistricts, as well as the establishment of new ones, including the first Swedish biodistrict in the region of Södermanland, called "Ekodistrikt Sörmland". The purpose of this report is to provide an increased understanding of what defines and enables biodistricts, as well as to study the conditions for establishing a biodistrict in the region of Södermanland. This was achieved through a literature review on biodistricts, wherein thematic analysis was applied and revealed relevant factors for establishing ecodistricts: “authority and organization”, the “bottom-up approach”, “culture and tourism” and “agricultural capacity”. A case study on Ekodistrikt Sörmland was also performed, which included a complementary interview. The report findings showed that biodistricts are founded on the three dimensions of ecological, social and economic sustainability, through decreased environmental impact, increased market opportunities, and an increase in the local social capital through increased employment opportunities in the countryside. In identifying enabling factors for establishing a biodistrict, findings revealed that local conditions for establishment can vary widely, but that different conditions call for different solutions. Biodistricts rely on the bottom-up approach, wherein farmers communicate their needs to authority, and local cooperationco-management is encouraged through discussion, towards otherwise unidentified common goals, via innovative solutions and organic farming principles. Ekodistrikt Sörmland will include the region of Södermanland: Södermanland county and the south part of Stockholm county, as part of a 3 year EU financed project, wherein the founders aspire to create a sustainable food-system based on local resources and educational principles. As 21 % of the agricultural area in Södermanland is organic farmland, alongside a popular culture of environmental awareness and organic food, the area seems promising for the future development of the biodistrict. It is however too early to speculate on the inner workings of the district, as it is in its early planning phase. Conclusively, the identified enabling factors are discussed in relation to Ekodistrikt Södermanland.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone / The mesquite-harvesting project at the University of Arizona was in practice from 2011-2013. During the development of the project, students, faculty, and staff were engaged in harvesting, designing harvesting methods, milling, baking, researching, and selling mesquite flour at the campus. After discovering a common toxin in mesquite-pods, a strict harvesting method was obtained and followed throughout the seasons. However, because of the high-maintenance process of harvesting, the mesquite-harvesting project at the University of Arizona could not economically sustain on campus, and therefore, had to come to an end. This document explains the process of harvesting, the research of aflatoxin, best practices, and other events that happened during the UA mesquite-harvesting project.

This paper interweaves narrativized readings and experiential narratives as personal and cultural resources for counterhegemonic cultural critique within our historical context of globalization and ecological crisis. Framed by perspectives on epistemology, everyday life, and place, these reflections seek to engage and revitalize our notions of community, creativity, and the individual, towards visioning the human art of community as a counternarrative to globalization. Such a task involves confronting the meanings we have come to ascribe to work and economy which so deeply determine our social fabric. Encountering the thought of key 19th and 20th century social theorists ranging from William Morris, Gregory Bateson, and Raymond Williams, to Murray Bookchin, Martin Buber, and Wendell Berry, these reflections mark the indivisible web of culture in the face of our insistent divisions, and further, iterate our innate creativity as the source for a vital, sustainable culture that might reflect, in Bateson’s terms, the pattern that connects.