Urban agriculture and place-making : Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol

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Authors

KOOPMANS Marlinde E. KEECH Daniel SOVOVÁ Lucie REED Matt

Year of publication 2017
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Moravian Geographical Reports
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Social Studies

Citation
Web článek
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/mgr-2017-0014
Field Sociology, demography
Keywords Urban agriculture; space; place; place-making; urban planning; governance; Ghent (Belgium); Brno (Czech Republic); Bristol (England)
Attached files
Description Despite rising enthusiasm for food growing among city dwellers, local authorities struggle to find space for urban agriculture (UA), both literally and figuratively. Consequently, UA often arises, sometimes temporarily, in marginal areas that are vulnerable to changes in planning designation. In the literature, spatial issues in relation to UA have either addressed structural questions of land use, governance and planning, or have highlighted social and personal benefits of UA. This paper aims to revisit and combine both streams of inquiry, viewing them as two co-constitutive forces that shape places through UA. The paper analyses three case studies in Brno, Ghent and Bristol, using a spatial lens that exposes important tensions as inherent characteristics of UA and conceptualises them as tensions within two space-narratives, namely abstract space and concrete place. It is suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places and thus contributes to place-making. This function should be recognised within urban planning circles, which should not only secure physical spaces to develop urban agriculture, but also create possibilities for local autonomous governance.
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