292
K. Specht et al.
Keywords Alternative Food Networks (AFN) · Co-Production · Sustainability ·
Consumer-producer relationships · Urban gardening
15.1 Background on Urban Agriculture
There has been an enormous increase in UA activities throughout the world in the
recent past, as evidenced by the growing interest in allotment gardening and urban
gardening (BMUB 2015). And yet the production of food in the city is not a new
phenomenon – it has been common practice ever since cities evolved. According to
Colding and Barthel (2013), the emergence of UA is closely linked to crisis-prone
developments in the city. The term “crisis” refers primarily to times of economic
upheaval, although it can also be extended to social transformations (Fox-Kämper
2016). Thus allotments emerged around the mid-nineteenth century in response to
the poor housing and supply conditions experienced by the urban population of
European cities that swelled as a result of industrialisation, whereas the growing
popularity of community gardens since the mid-1970s is partly a response to the
growing polarisation, fragmentation and segregation of the urban population (CalvetMir et al. 2016). In view of globalised food markets, the development of current types
of urban agriculture also reflects an increasing desire for traceability and knowledge
about the origin of food and the interplay involved in its production.
Especially in view of shrinking cities and regions – for example owing to postreunification phenomena in Germany or structural change – people are currently
in search of approaches that can bring about stabilisation and improvement. New
ideas and approaches are needed to embrace today’s urban reality, which is marked
by the coexistence of shrinking and growing regions. The concept of “Continuous
Productive Urban Landscapes” (CPUL), proposed by architects and urban designers
Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen, seeks to integrate agriculture into urban planning,
and to make it an essential element of sustainable infrastructure (Schulz et al. 2013;
Viljoen et al. 2005). This example illustrates today’s continued relevance of UA for
urban planning. In contrast to the past, however, UA is only rarely pursued to enable
the urban population to become self-sufficient (Schulz et al. 2013). As indicated
above, UA was popular whenever populations suffered deprivation and hardship. It is
therefore all the more surprising that UA has become such a widespread phenomenon
in prosperous cities in developed countries of the Global North, resulting in the
evolvement of a “new urban agriculture” (Karge 2015). Appel et al. (2011) identify
the emerging green movement in the 1970s and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster
in the mid-1980s as starting points for the renaissance of UA (Appel et al. 2011). This
was a time when alternative lifestyles and economic systems were being debated and
put to the test, particularly in Germany, because the Western economic model had led
to mistrust and uncertainty among the population, owing to an increase in fragility.
In the light of concerns about the finite nature of fossil resources, growing numbers
of people asked themselves how they, as individuals, could lead more sustainable
lives (Lohrberg 2011). Growing food can therefore be regarded as an alternative to
K. Specht et al.
Keywords Alternative Food Networks (AFN) · Co-Production · Sustainability ·
Consumer-producer relationships · Urban gardening
15.1 Background on Urban Agriculture
There has been an enormous increase in UA activities throughout the world in the
recent past, as evidenced by the growing interest in allotment gardening and urban
gardening (BMUB 2015). And yet the production of food in the city is not a new
phenomenon – it has been common practice ever since cities evolved. According to
Colding and Barthel (2013), the emergence of UA is closely linked to crisis-prone
developments in the city. The term “crisis” refers primarily to times of economic
upheaval, although it can also be extended to social transformations (Fox-Kämper
2016). Thus allotments emerged around the mid-nineteenth century in response to
the poor housing and supply conditions experienced by the urban population of
European cities that swelled as a result of industrialisation, whereas the growing
popularity of community gardens since the mid-1970s is partly a response to the
growing polarisation, fragmentation and segregation of the urban population (CalvetMir et al. 2016). In view of globalised food markets, the development of current types
of urban agriculture also reflects an increasing desire for traceability and knowledge
about the origin of food and the interplay involved in its production.
Especially in view of shrinking cities and regions – for example owing to postreunification phenomena in Germany or structural change – people are currently
in search of approaches that can bring about stabilisation and improvement. New
ideas and approaches are needed to embrace today’s urban reality, which is marked
by the coexistence of shrinking and growing regions. The concept of “Continuous
Productive Urban Landscapes” (CPUL), proposed by architects and urban designers
Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen, seeks to integrate agriculture into urban planning,
and to make it an essential element of sustainable infrastructure (Schulz et al. 2013;
Viljoen et al. 2005). This example illustrates today’s continued relevance of UA for
urban planning. In contrast to the past, however, UA is only rarely pursued to enable
the urban population to become self-sufficient (Schulz et al. 2013). As indicated
above, UA was popular whenever populations suffered deprivation and hardship. It is
therefore all the more surprising that UA has become such a widespread phenomenon
in prosperous cities in developed countries of the Global North, resulting in the
evolvement of a “new urban agriculture” (Karge 2015). Appel et al. (2011) identify
the emerging green movement in the 1970s and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster
in the mid-1980s as starting points for the renaissance of UA (Appel et al. 2011). This
was a time when alternative lifestyles and economic systems were being debated and
put to the test, particularly in Germany, because the Western economic model had led
to mistrust and uncertainty among the population, owing to an increase in fragility.
In the light of concerns about the finite nature of fossil resources, growing numbers
of people asked themselves how they, as individuals, could lead more sustainable
lives (Lohrberg 2011). Growing food can therefore be regarded as an alternative to