Världen står under en förändring med att en allt större andel av alla människor har flyttat eller flyttar in till städerna samtidigt finns en osäkerhet i hur klimatet kommer se ut i framtiden. Klimatet förväntas bli varmare, mer oförutsägbart samt få ett extremare väder. Detta ställer nya krav på framtidens matproduktion. FN har i Agenda2030 identifierat att jordbruket behöver bli mer motståndskraftigt mot dessa förändringar och samtidigt öka produktionen för att tillmötesgå den ökande efterfrågan på mat. Baserat på studiebesök på två odlingar i Stockholmsområdet (den ena en urban odling baserad under mark och den andra en kommersiell växthusodling ute på landet) samt på litteraturstudier jämförs odlingarna för att sedan diskutera hur de står sig med avseende på hållbarhet och hur de på ett hållbart sätt kan främja framtidens jordbruk och matförsörjning, framför allt med fokus på den urbana odlingen. Odlingen under mark uppfyller en del av FNs hållbarhetsmål men det finns stor potential för förbättring; bland annat med en ökad integration till byggnaden odlingen ligger i och med mer avancerad odlingsutrustning / The world is facing new challenges in the form of climate change and the fact that more and more people are moving to, and living in, cities. The climate is expected to become warmer, more unpredictable and trending towards more extreme weather conditions. These changes will undoubtedly have an effect on agriculture and food production all over the world which is one of the reasons that the UN has identified the need for more resilient agriculture and in Agenda2030 set goals for how to respond to these challenges and at the same time produce more food in order to meet the increasing demand. This study is looking at an urban farming project in Sweden and comparing it to a commercial greenhouse farm in order to identify similarities and differences between the farms and trying to relate them to sustainability. The urban farming project is based underground and relies solely on artificial light which sets it apart from its greenhouse counterpart. By analysing their different ways of producing crop, together with literature studies the sustainable opportunities of future food production is explored and related to the UN goals in Agenda2030. While the urban farm examined in this study might not be able to produce food in a sustainable way urban farming, especially in combination with an increased integration with buildings and industry, is identified as a farming method with great potential.

This study determined the concentrations of lead and cadmium in edible parts of Colocasia esculenta, Amaranthus spp.and Ipomoea batata cultivated on farms in industrially polluted sections of Nyabugogo Marsh in Kigali, Rwanda. The concentrations in all three crops exceeded European Union (EU) standards for metal concentration in food crops. C. esculenta roots (Taro) contained the highest concentration of lead (1.02 mg kg-1) and cadmium (0.56 mg kg-1), approximately ten and six times over the EU limits, respectively. Even though I. batata (sweet potato) contained the lowest concentrations of lead (0.75 mg kg-1), this is almost eight times the upper limit. The highest bioaccumulation factors (the ratio of plant metal concentration to that of the soil in which it is found growing) for both metals were observed in amaranth plants. The concentrations of lead and cadmium in the farm soils were all acceptable based on EU standards (300mg kg-1 for lead and 3mg kg-1 respectively. The average daily consumption by an adult in the community living around the Marsh and where some of the produce is sold is 50g of amaranth, 120g of taro and 180g of sweet potato. Based on the metal concentration and these rates of consumption, the daily dietary intake of lead by an adult in the community from amaranth, taro and sweet potato is 1 x 10-4, 3 x 10-4 and 4 x 10-4 mg kg-1 respectively. The daily intake of cadmium is 4 x 10-4, 1.7 x 10-4 and 1.2 x 10-4 mg kg-1 for amaranth, taro and sweet potato respectively. These metal intakes are well within the recommendations set forth by the World Health Organisation. The community also has access to multiple sources of dietary and non dietary zinc such as beans, milk and rain water collected from zinc coated roofing sheets, which serves to ameliorate the effects of cadmium. It is however worth noting that survey data may have yielded overestimates of these zinc sources, due to the conditions under which the surveys were conducted i.e. in the hearing of neighbors due to the cramped nature of housing, which may have prompted respondents to inflate consumption quantities of expensive food items. The calculated maximum recommended quantities for daily intake of the crops are very large and are unlikely to be consumed by the population i.e. >2kg of amaranth, >2 kg of taro and 3 kg of sweet potato per day for an adult. Additionally, because this is a poor community, access to such quantities of food on a daily basis is not likely. The community is therefore not exposed to health risks from consuming metal contaminated crops, largely because of the small quantities consumed. The local population is therefore at no immediate risk to exceeding metal consumption limits by consuming vegetables grown in the Nyabugogo Marsh, but the threats will likely increase if the pollution of the Marsh is not addressed.

This study examines the potential contribution market research could make to planning urban farm locations. Substantial research identifies access to healthy foods as a significant barrier for under-served communities. Under-served communities are those struggling with food insecurity, poor nutrition and poor community cohesion. Urban farm locations could be more strategically planned to connect healthy food access and other secondary benefits to these vulnerable communities. This market research based methodology is applied to Portland, Oregon, using GIS data to map where future urban farms should be placed. The final product of this study is a prioritized list of potentially suitable sites in Portland, Oregon, for a future urban farm. This methodology could be applied in other urban areas to increase access to healthy foods among under-served communities.

The majority of people in North America have lost not only the knowledge of how to successfully sustain themselves from the land but, even more troubling, the basic knowledge of where the food comes from, what real food is, or even what to do with it. It is not only basic knowledge of food that is being lost in the consumer culture; many of the private and public spaces that were central to the social fabric of the city, street, and family are changing and losing their significance. The mass marketing of the consumer lifestyle has led to the disappearance of home gardens, local restaurants, neighbourhood coffee shops, and farmers’ markets. It has altered the fine grain of our city, streets, and homes, thereby reducing the social interactions that once created lively streets in the past. This thesis examines both the historical and current relationship and influence of food in cities, streets and homes in relation to the growing issues of access to fresh whole food and the dispersed city form. In addition, it will investigate how food orientated developments such as Community Food Centres can act as a catalyst for urban revitalization in failing urban cores and provide a resiliency to the economies of the city. The analysis of the influence of food, challenges that midsized cites are facing, and a series of precedents will provide a set guidelines for architects and planners developing urban projects. Three main themes are explored as a means to revitalization of urban neighbourhood through food: reuse of under used or abandoned land, our cultural connection to food, and the activities and culture that the two create together. These themes will explore the use and cultural significance of kitchens, markets, and restaurants and public space as architectural spaces that create community as a means to better understand what mechanisms of these aspects are the keys to the building of vibrant communities. This concept will be explored through the design of a community food centre in St. Patrick’s Ward in Guelph, Ontario.

Urban agriculture (UA) is an increasingly popular land use concept emerging in industrialized nations of the world. Although the phenomenon of UA is a common and well-documented form of food production in developing nations of the global south as well as in North America historically, only a small but growing body of literature exists that discusses UA implementation practices in a North American context today. The purpose of this research was to determine what factors contribute to successful planning and implementation of UA in North American communities. The following questions were addressed: What factors contribute to successful planning and implementation of UA? What stakeholders were most and/or least enabling in achieving success? How do UA projects demonstrate success, and how can these factors be used as a guide for future implementations of agriculture in urban environments? Additionally, how could GIS be employed to aid in spatial decision support for UA planning? Two North American cases (one in Ontario, Canada, and one in Colorado, USA) were analyzed through open-ended, semi-structured interviews, observations, and other data sources. This study involved the researcher’s direct participation with a newly-formed community garden group and the Community Garden Council of Waterloo Region. Findings of this study demonstrate that successful UA planning and implementation is not only the result of several factors and multiple stakeholder involvement, but also that UA—to be successful—should comprise a socially relevant, economically resilient, and environmentally sound system of production.

This thesis is about researching methods/testing approaches to inhabiting/existing in a post-growth Norrland, the collective term for Sweden’s most northerly counties. With neo-liberal capitalism lurching from crisis to crisis, modernity, progress and the state are in trouble. Small shops close, iconic buildings are constructed, agriculture, the most vital of industries, is collapsing and competition is the watchword. If peak-oil, the consumer culture and individualism combine to lead us into a dystopian slough, what is the alternative? This work aims to investigate and show the existing conditions that are producing the current state of affairs in Norrland, with emphasis on Röbäck, one of Umeå’s agricultural satellites cum dormitory suburbs. This research will provide the necessities for dreamed proposals about a possible post-growth future, integrating alternative views of technology and modes of living with the ethos of the common and our use of shared resources.

The majority of people in North America have lost not only the knowledge of how to successfully sustain themselves from the land but, even more troubling, the basic knowledge of where the food comes from, what real food is, or even what to do with it. It is not only basic knowledge of food that is being lost in the consumer culture; many of the private and public spaces that were central to the social fabric of the city, street, and family are changing and losing their significance. The mass marketing of the consumer lifestyle has led to the disappearance of home gardens, local restaurants, neighbourhood coffee shops, and farmers’ markets. It has altered the fine grain of our city, streets, and homes, thereby reducing the social interactions that once created lively streets in the past. This thesis examines both the historical and current relationship and influence of food in cities, streets and homes in relation to the growing issues of access to fresh whole food and the dispersed city form. In addition, it will investigate how food orientated developments such as Community Food Centres can act as a catalyst for urban revitalization in failing urban cores and provide a resiliency to the economies of the city. The analysis of the influence of food, challenges that midsized cites are facing, and a series of precedents will provide a set guidelines for architects and planners developing urban projects. Three main themes are explored as a means to revitalization of urban neighbourhood through food: reuse of under used or abandoned land, our cultural connection to food, and the activities and culture that the two create together. These themes will explore the use and cultural significance of kitchens, markets, and restaurants and public space as architectural spaces that create community as a means to better understand what mechanisms of these aspects are the keys to the building of vibrant communities. This concept will be explored through the design of a community food centre in St. Patrick’s Ward in Guelph, Ontario.

Urban agriculture (UA) is an increasingly popular land use concept emerging in industrialized nations of the world. Although the phenomenon of UA is a common and well-documented form of food production in developing nations of the global south as well as in North America historically, only a small but growing body of literature exists that discusses UA implementation practices in a North American context today. The purpose of this research was to determine what factors contribute to successful planning and implementation of UA in North American communities. The following questions were addressed: What factors contribute to successful planning and implementation of UA? What stakeholders were most and/or least enabling in achieving success? How do UA projects demonstrate success, and how can these factors be used as a guide for future implementations of agriculture in urban environments? Additionally, how could GIS be employed to aid in spatial decision support for UA planning? Two North American cases (one in Ontario, Canada, and one in Colorado, USA) were analyzed through open-ended, semi-structured interviews, observations, and other data sources. This study involved the researcher’s direct participation with a newly-formed community garden group and the Community Garden Council of Waterloo Region. Findings of this study demonstrate that successful UA planning and implementation is not only the result of several factors and multiple stakeholder involvement, but also that UA—to be successful—should comprise a socially relevant, economically resilient, and environmentally sound system of production.

The premise of the thesis is that current food systems are unsustainable. In fact, as the global population continues to rise, food systems are under greater strain to deliver quality output in a sustainable way. In sustainable food systems, effective use of agricultural land and reducing food waste are central, as stipulated by Agenda 2030 target to reduce food waste by 50 % to 2030. Insects have gained attention for their ability to effectively convert feed, including feed from food waste, to edible products. Framed by a literature review and an analysis of food waste data from a Swedish supermarket, the ability to rear three insect species, House Cricket (Acheta Domesticus), Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio Molitor) and Black Soldier fly (Hermetia Illucens) on food waste is examined. The three insect species with the addition of laying hens are also the grounding for evidence-based scenarios. The results indicate that the Black Solider Fly can be reared on unprocessed food waste while the House Cricket requires food waste treated for higher levels of protein and phosphorus and the Yellow Mealworm food waste supplemented by external products such as yeast, carrots or wheat bran. The result from the scenarios shows that substantial amounts of edible output can be produced by providing the insects and laying hens vegetable food waste from the supermarket. The conclusion of this thesis highlights the potential of using insects and laying hens as feed converters in integrated production systems to recover energy and nutrients from food waste and thereby contribute to a food system that produces more output using less land and with less negative environmental impact.

The practices that have allowed farming to be separated from the city, with the resultant food security concerns, are being globally challenged. Simultaneously, low levels of employable skills in South Africa are magnifying unemployment levels in the country. Concurrently Pretoria has embraced urban programmes to unify urban areas which were previously effectively fragmented by apartheid’s Group Areas Act. This dissertation finds its genesis in this context of multiple concerns where the concurrent issues provide architecture with a unique challenge to interpret and to respond to the revised relationships: • between farming and the city, • between citizens and their cities, and • between unemployment and economic development. This dissertation undertakes the multi-function of addressing these conditions not only in terms of technical intervention, but more importantly by the examination of the changing urban context and by re-embracing food production within the city. The situation created by the crossroads in which the world, the nation and the city of Tshwane find themselves provides an unprecedented opportunity for an architectural expression which is influenced by a fresh re-assessment of local, national and global concerns. This dissertation therefore addresses the proposal not merely as a building but as an active change-generating catalyst. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted