New Urban Questions - Urban agriculture as a health strategy

AR3AT060

New Urban Questions, or Minor Infractions?

Sem. I 2017/2018

Lecturer for evaluation:

Andrej Radman

Urban agriculture as a health strategy

LOU KRABSHUIS

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Urban agriculture as a health strategy

Abstract In the last decades, urban agriculture has undergone various stages of development. There is a growing number of community-led initiatives and as a result of technological innovations, agriculture also takes place vertically indoors.

The essay explores the advantages of urban agriculture for urban food supply, social networks and individual health.

Local food production has the potential to reduce impacts of conventional agriculture in other parts of the world and can also contribute to the reduction of global transport flows. At local level, urban agriculture contributes to more liveability in cities, because high-quality green space has the capacity to reduce heat-stress, buffer cloud-bursts and increase biodiversity. From a personal health perspective the experience of natural contributes to less stress and better concentration. In addition, being involved in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables increase ones relation with food and may thereby positively affects a participants diet. Especially in the urban periphery, where inequalities are most prevalent, this could be a way to boost health and well-being. That is why this essay emphasises that urban agriculture should play a leading role in the health strategy of 'smart cities'. However, there are also challenges, because the latest high-tech urban farms do not have a relationship with the outside world and can therefore generate alienating experiences for people. That is why this essay states that new developments in urban agriculture must have strong social and environmental objectives. Only in this way can urban agriculture become an effective health strategy.

Introduction Amsterdam is a city of many faces. This I experienced in my research on Amsterdam's streetmarkets. At a weekday I took the 20-minute metro-trip from Nieuwmarkt to the Bijlmer. The urban and social differences when arriving could not have been greater. The grey high-rise flats are the decorum of a market that has a colourful collection of products, and that serves as an important meeting place for people. Before the urban renewal, that started at the end of last century, the Bijlmer was not the nicest place to be. Fortunately things are changing and they are on their way to really reflect the municipalities optimistic credo: ’the art of living together'1 . Yet the far distance to the inner-city can be seen as a metaphor for the work that is still ahead. A recent health report showed that the prevalence of obesity and diabetes is thrice as high in comparison to the innercity.2 Diseases that are usually the first step to develop multiple chronic diseases.

In its ambition to become a ‘smart city’, the city of Amsterdam is working with AMS Institute and other stakeholders to find innovative solutions to its metropolitan problems.3 As a graduation student I am part of a design studio developing energy, mobility and health strategies for Amsterdam in 2050. In this context, I wrote an essay that analysed the potential of digital technologies, i.e. wearables fitness devices, in improving health and well-being.4 Conclusion was that these innovations could be beneficial for many, but it also showed that stronger social support networks are needed to change unhealthy behaviour. In their efforts to improve well-being and participation, smart cities as Amsterdam can use their innovative forces to enable these networks. In the Bijlmer food appears to be a cross-cultural connector and the cause of health problems. What if we can develop a strategy that increases the access and knowledge about healthy food, while at the same time contribute to more inclusive communities?

This essay explores the role of food production in cities. Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to combine different aspects of sustainability with health and community building. In order to get an understanding of the contemporary food system, the first section is about the global food system and its relation to flows and places. Thereafter, in two sections, UA is defined and its 1

In 2006 this credo was communicated through billboards in Amsterdam Zuidoost.

In Bijlmer-Oost 24% has obesity and 11% diabetes; in Amsterdam Centrum 7% has obesity and 3% diabetes. (Amsterdamse Gezondheidsmonitor 2016, from http://www.ggd.amsterdam.nl/beleid-onderzoek/gezondheidsmonitors/amsterdamse-0/) 2

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Amsterdam partnered with the AMS Institute, which facilitates research and serves as a platform for public and private stakeholders.

This essay is called “Open Health: About the contribution of smart technologies to inclusiveness and well-being in societies” and published in 2017 in the AMS Mid-City Graduation research booklet.

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health benefits are discussed. The final part discusses the future challenges regarding the increasing trend of technologisation in UA.

Food in a globalised world Jane Jacobs made clear that a city cannot exist on its own and that its food system includes the city into a network of other cities (Jacobs 1969, via Hemel 2017, p. 70). The larger the city, the more comprehensive these global networks. This is fundamental to globalisation, which is the continuous process of global economic, political and cultural integration, characterised by the global division of labor and the spread of production facilities around the world. Driving forces are the increasing innovations in telecommunication, transport and international trade since the 1970s. In the food industry, this process changed the role of governments, retail, processors, traders, producers and consumers (Oosterveer & Sonnenfeld 2012, p. 13-25). For example, in recent decades we have seen the growing dominance of supermarkets and a decrease in small local shops, such as greengrocers. In addition, the worldwide spread of fast food chains is also very illustrative of the emergence of ‘unified eating cultures’ (Ritzer 1996). This process of further homogenisation and scaling-up has also a major impact on the agricultural and natural landscape, in which monoculture farming has led to the decrease of crop- and bio-diversity (Oosterveer & Sonnenfeld 2012, p. 48).

Wendell Berry (2003, p. 250) describes in his book ‘The Art of the Common Place’ our direct relationship with the farmer and the land: “Every time you make a decision about food, you are farming by proxy.”5 By this Berry wants to make clear that individual consumers are too reliant on corporations ‘to produce and provide all of their food’. This growing distance from farm-to-table contributes to the fact that the social and environmental impact of production and transportation cannot easily be observed by consumers. For example, because of the year-round supply in the supermarket, most people are not aware of the impact of eating green asparagus in the winter.

The product must be imported by airplane from the Global South, from countries such as Chile, where there is also the chance that labor rights are not properly respected. Initiatives have been taken to create awareness by printing food miles on the product label, but Sirieix (2008) concluded that most consumers are not susceptible to this. That is why we need to find other, more local, solutions to let people reconsider their consumption patterns.

To conclude this section, I would like to argue that globalism and localism are not fixed definitions. Oosterveer & Sonnenveld (2012, p. 14) say that, “space must be thought of relationally, such that ‘global space’ is the sum of relations, connections and practices, constituted and negotiated through ‘(local)places’ rather than separate spatial sphere.” Yet we must also consider that there is a shift from ‘spaces of places’ to ‘spaces of flows’, after the concept of Castells (2004, p.36). Food is an organic material and there is an increasing global demand for fresh products, this places a strong emphasis on flows. In the relationships between flows and places we find the challenges for the sustainability of the urban food supply.

Local food production Today, more than half of the world's population lives in the city. As a result, the pressure on land and space is increasing, while at the same time there is a growing demand for qualitative green space and food that is produced locally. UA can contribute to these demands by linking local food production to societal objectives. It can contribute to environmental awareness and provide in space for urban residents who are looking for relaxation, care or educational opportunities. UA has many shapes, sizes and practices. For instance, people are growing vegetables on their balcony or rooftop for personal use. In addition, there are allotments that are traditionally 5

Via J.S. Foer’s ‘Eating Animals’ (2010) I am introduced to the concept of ‘farming by proxy’ and the writer Wendell Berry.

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cultivated by families6, but increasingly also by neighbourhood communities and schools. Besides non-commercial initiatives, there are also market-oriented urban farmers who grow outside, in greenhouses or vertical farms. Every type of UA has its own specific role in a city’s food-network and can contribute in its own way to food provisioning, urban sustainability and liveability, such as reducing the heat island effect, buffering water and increasing biodiversity (Pötz et al. 2012, p.

355-402).

In order to gain a better understanding of how UA initiatives relate to other components in the social and food network, interrelations between human and non-human actors can be mapped with an Actor-Network (ANT) analysis (Oosterveer & Sonnenveld 2012, p. 52). A theory and method developed by Latour (2005) that studies scientific knowledge and technology in its social context. Outcomes can be used to determine the value of a project in its context. In the case of my graduation research, interviews and observations regarding Ubuntu-farm in Zuidoost, helped to map their mutual relations with within the local context. For instance, a pathways is in this network is the garden’s relation with the AMC Hospital. Here they sell their products at the indoor farmers market and in this way patients come into contact with fresh organic food and the ideas behind permaculture. By mapping there local impacts and substantiate these to scientific theories, these kind of community initiatives cannot be undermined by planners and politicians.

This gives them the right to exist. To support the credibility of UA, the following section provides background information on its specific benefits in the area of physical, mental and social health.

Figure 1. Picture of Ubuntu Stadstuin Zuidoost (Alphons Nieuwenhuis, bijlmerenmeer.nl)

Health benefits of UA In relation to increasing globalisation, over-consumption and the diminishing of food cultures, we should first look at the social downsides of malnutrition in its broadest sense: “Food not only contributes to human health and well-being, but to the converse: to disease and the inability to enjoy and participate in meaningful social activities.” (Barton et al. 2015 p.179) The current ‘healthy food mania’ places a strong emphasis on food as a lifestyle or religion.7 In this way, In the Netherlands a collection of allotments is called ‘volkstuincomplexen'; used by families for the growing fruit and vegetables and for recreation. These complexes were often part of urban expansion schemes such as the AUP in Amsterdam by Van Eesteren.

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Dutch newspaper article about food als religion and bloggers as prophets: https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/voeding-is-religiegeworden-inclusief-profeten-duivels-en-heilige-boeken~a4505075/ 7

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healthy food is elevated to something elitist, where you need to spend much money on, while access to nutritious food should be within reach for every citizen. UA can demonstrate that eating fresh and varied food is feasible for everyone. It can let people experience and participate in the process of growing fresh food; from seed to harvest. This has nutritional and physical benefits to health, because a closer connection with the origin of food correlates to a greater and diverse consumption of fruits and vegetables (Lackey 1998, Zezza & Tasciotti 2008), which are also more nutritious when directly eaten (Shewfelt 1990). Moreover, gardening is a kind of exercise that is very diverse, varying from fine work during sowing, to intensive tasks when digging the land. This variety of tasks makes UA accessible to everyone.

From a mental health perspective cities are an important source of environmental stimulation, leading to stress that needs to be addressed (Bell et al. 2001, p. 140). Green environments, such as parks and urban farms, can have restorative and therapeutic effects on people. There are initiatives by health professionals who use gardening to treat patients with increased levels of anxiety.8 The psychological effects of natural environments have been actively researched and theorised by various academic disciplines. An important experimental study was carried out by Roger Ulrich (1984) in which he compared the postoperative recovery rates of patients who overlooked a brown brick wall or a group of trees. The group with a natural view recovered faster, had fewer complications and used fewer painkillers.9 The Biophilia hypothesis by Wilson (1984) gives us more insight into where the origin of this human connection with nature might comes from. The hypothesis suggests that people have a congenital preference for natural environments, in which they can fully experience their connection with other animals and plants. Wilson states that this preference for nature would be genetically determined by the evolution of man.

According to Bell et al. (2001) this naturalistic approach is in contrast to the constructivist idea of perceiving nature. This could best be explained with Berlyne’s (1973) model of aesthetics. He proposed an important role for complexity, novelty, incongruity and surprisingness in experiencing environments. These four aesthetic factors are defining a persons level of perceived arousal and pleasantness. Basically constructivist psychologist say that perception is an active process in which sensory input is analysed and manipulated before it is really perceived. The Biophilia hypotheses, and also the concept of affordances by Gibson, are based on the idea of direct action because of evolutionary transmittance. On top of this, the Kaplan model binds both viewpoints (naturalist/constructivist) and states that humans will just appreciate environments in which we are able to flourish best. For instance urban parks with a structured openness (legibility, coherence), like the Savannah, and coordinated diversity (complexity, mystery) are best valued. In a way landscape designers are trained to find these balances. In conclusion, natural environments, and thereby urban farming, can restore concentration and have a positive impact on the lives of those who have a hectic lifestyle.

Mental health and social relations are closely related. According to Adli (2013) when social density and social isolation are occurring at the same time individuals are at extra risks. Community projects, like UA, can help mitigating this urban paradox of ‘loneliness in crowds’10 . On the social level, the collective aspects of gardening, sharing ideas and harvest, can help to build relationships across cultures and boundaries of a neighbourhood (Smit & Bailkey, 2006). This can be essential in times of social or personal crisis and can lead to more participation in community

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An example of this is Boederij Klarenbeek: https://www.boerderijklarenbeek.nl/

As a student assistant I support Clarine van Oel with her research on the ‘green view’ of the new ErasmusMC extension. The set-up of the study comparable to that of the study by Ulrich (1984).

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More about the work of Adli, the urban paradox and its relation to neuroscience can be read in the Guardian article by Benedictus (2014) 10

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care and democratic processes. In addition, UA also requires teamwork, specific farming skills and knowledge about natural processes. These learning aspects can contribute to new job opportunities among participants. People with a distance from the labor market can benefit from this, but this learning aspect can also contribute to a career switch from being an amateur to a professional urban farmer.

Future challenges According to Potz (2012) a complete self-sufficient vegetable garden should be 170 square meters per person.11 This requires a lot of manual labor, planning, and no long holidays during the summer season. If you live a modern life in the metropolis, it is almost impossible to become selfsufficient within the boundaries of cities and social life. Some critics say that urban agriculture is just a ‘green hobby’. But the case for local food production is clear and entrepreneurs are looking for opportunities to innovate in UA. This results in more and more high-tech concepts, one of them is the ‘The Vertical Farm’ advocated by Despommier (2010). Vertical farming is agriculture in closed buildings with multiple levels, coloured LED lightning, hydroponics and smart climate control. According to Despommier, the advantage is crop production throughout the year, with less environmental impact, water and fertiliser use. A decade ago, these ideas were still sciencefiction, but since the technology has evolved and has become cheaper by the year, capital is intruding the world of vertical farming and innovate projects are emerging.12 The challenge lies in the question of how UA remains inclusive for people, while at the same time the sector is increasingly becoming technology driven. Will the future majority of the urban food supply look like the closed-off datacenters of today?

Figure 2. Picture of AeroFarms who received a 40 million dollar investment (inhabitat.com)

This process of further technologisation is discussed by Steel (2013, p. 318) in ‘The Hungry City’ “Technology has released us from some of our geographical bonds - has at least opened up new possibilities for the way we live. The merging of city and country is far from a new idea; on the contrary, one could say it is endemic to civilisation.” Moreover, she refers to two paradigms in urban development: the compact and the spread. The first refers to the Garden Cities of Ebenezer Howard: connected compact urban entities surrounded by green productive space. The later refers to Frank Lloyd Wright’s concept of Broadacre City: a vision of self-sufficient suburban communities. Both utopian concepts gives us a different idea of how urban development can relate to agriculture and the countryside. Are we introducing the idea of Broadacre City into our suburban communities and turn the available free space in food forests and allotment? Detroit’s A total of 120 m2 of which 20 m2 for vegetables and direct consumption, 40 m2 for potatoes and produce for pickling, 100 m2 for fruits and nuts and 10 m2 for paths and composting.

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More information on capital in UA: https://www.businessinsider.nl/food-investment-vertical-farming-2017-8/ 5

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urban farming renaissance has shown that this can have a positive effect.13 Or do we combine the ideas of Howard with the ideas of Despommier? And move the production to the core of our cities, exactly where the demand for food is greatest. The challenge will be to develop a solution that finds a balance between the social, technical, environmental, economic and political dimensions of the food system.14

Left: Figure 3. Picture of a scale-model of Broadacre City (arquiscopia.com)

Right: Figure 4. Diagram from the book of Garden Cities of To-morrow (scodpub.wordpress.com)

Conclusion This essay has examined whether UA is an important strategy for the development of healthy cities. Our current food system is out of balance. Due to its decentralist character, UA can contribute to the reduction of global food flows and the environmental and societal impacts at the places of production. At local level, UA contributes to more liveability in cities, because highquality green space has the capacity to reduce heat-stress, buffer cloud-bursts and increase biodiversity. In addition, working at urban farms has a positive effect on the physical and mental health of individuals and it may also contribute to stronger social networks.

The growing attention for UA has led to more innovation and capital investment recently. The first vertical farms have become reality and due to the high degree of technology and need for ultimate control, they are closed of from the outside world. This can generate alienating experiences for staff, visitors and people on the street. This raises further questions about the role of high-tech farms in the city. UA initiatives can, on the one hand, be part of a densification strategy, and on the other hand, be part of urban sprawl. These two views must be taken into account when developing new strategies for urban food supply. In order for UA to retain its inclusive character, environmental and social objectives must be used as a counterweight in times of further technologisation and capitalisation. In this way, UA could increase its efficiency in the urban food supply, while contributing to a better environment, more social cohesion and the health of individuals.

Finally, in the case of the Bijlmer, where this story started, UA has the potential to make a connection between the lively markets and the under-utilised green spaces. If neighbours are enabled to grow their own fruit and vegetables together, this will probably contribute to a decrease in food-related diseases. I expect this will again give a positive spin to the ‘art of living together’. That is why I find it is time to integrate UA, low-tech and high-tech, into Amsterdam’s 'smart city’-strategy.

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xxx more in, >> Colansanti et al. (2012)

Futurologist use the STEEP method in-combination with cross-impact-analysis, Delphi and other forecasting techniques to develop scenario’s for the future. This would be useful a strategy to predict the future of UA. 14

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Literature Adli, M. (2013, December 09). Stress in the city: Mazda Adli at TEDxBerlin. Retrieved January 31, 2018, from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmRjQP8-e0

Barton, H., Thompson, S., Burgess, S., & Grant, M. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge handbook of planning for health and well-being: Shaping a sustainable and healthy future. Routledge.

Berlyne, D. E. (1973). Aesthetics and psychobiology.

Benedictus, L. (2014, February 25). Sick cities: why urban living can be bad for your mental health. Retrieved January 31, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/25/city-stress-mental-health-rural-kind

Berry, W. (2003). The art of the commonplace: The agrarian essays of Wendell Berry. Counterpoint.

Castells, M. (2004). The network society A cross-cultural perspective. Edward Elgar.

Colasanti, K. J., Hamm, M. W., & Litjens, C. M. (2012). The city as an" agricultural powerhouse"? perspectives on expanding urban agriculture from Detroit, Michigan. Urban Geography, 33(3), 348-369.

Despommier, D. (2010). The vertical farm: feeding the world in the 21st century. Macmillan.

Foer, J. S. (2010). Eating animals. Penguin UK.

Hemel, Z. (2016). De toekomst van de stad: een pleidooi voor de metropool. Amsterdam University Press.

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford university press.

Jacobs, J. (1969). The economy of cities. Vintage Books.

Oosterveer, P., & Sonnenfeld, D. A. (2012). Food, globalization and sustainability. Routledge.

Pötz, H., Bleuzé, P., Sjauw En Wa, A., & Baar, T. V. (2012). Groenblauwe netwerken voor duurzame en dynamische steden: Urban green-blue grids for sustainable and dynamic cities. coop for life.

Ritzer, G. (1996). The McDonaldization thesis: Is expansion inevitable?. International Sociology, 11(3), 291-308.

Sirieix, L., Grolleau, G., & Schaer, B. (2008). Do consumers care about food miles? An empirical analysis in France. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 32(5), 508-515.

Smit, J., & Bailkey, M. (2006). Urban agriculture and the building of communities. Cities farming for the future: Urban agriculture for green and productive cities, 145-170.

Steel, C. (2013). Hungry city: How food shapes our lives. Random House.

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421.

Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia: The Human Bond to Other Species.

Images Figure 1. Picture of Ubuntu Stadstuin Zuidoost (Alphons Nieuwenhuis, bijlmerenmeer.nl)

Figure 2. Picture of AeroFarms who received a 40 million dollar investment (inhabitat.com)

Figure 3. Picture of a scale-model of Broadacre City (arquiscopia.com)

Figure 4. Diagram from the book of Garden Cities of To-morrow (scodpub.wordpress.com)

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