What is Urban Agriculture?

In the pre-industrialization period, agricultural production was common in the cities. With modernization, production centers shifted to rural areas, and cities became centers of consumption. Today, urban agriculture is on the rise again, because people are searching for ways to access food in a more sustainable manner.

World population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. This means that global food needs will increase as much. Food security has become an important matter. It has also become more vulnerable due to reasons such as current agriculture systems, climate change, and water crises.

Therefore, urban agriculture has great importance. Urban agriculture shortens the supply chain by carrying food production into city centers and enables cities to become self-sufficient systems.

One of the most significant benefits of urban agriculture is that it enables environmental sustainability. Shorter supply chains minimize food waste and carbon emissions originating from transportation. While the intense water utilization, chemical fertilizers, and long handling distances in conventional agriculture increase environmental impacts, the agricultural practices conducted in the city can alleviate these problems. Furthermore, roof gardens, vertical agriculture systems, and community gardens contribute to the urban eco-system.

Urban agriculture can open ways for the city dwellers to earn some additional income. Neighborhood gardens and local production projects can enable small businesses to flourish, and restaurants can access fresh and local products more easily. Moreover, big scale vertical agriculture ventures have the potential to create employment opportunities.

Foods produced in the cities can be sold in bazaars, restaurants, and cooperatives, thus being included in the economic cycle. The movement of "from the farm to the table", which is increasingly popularized in the big cities, enable consumers to make more conscious choices as well as supporting small producers.

For more information about sustainable agriculture, you can check out our blog post here.​

There are more than one way to practice urban agriculture, here are some of those:

• Community Gardens: Community gardens, which are open to common use of the neighborhood residents, strengthens urban ecology as well as social bonds.

• Vertical Agriculture: Vertical agriculture is an innovative model which ensures high productivity in a small space. Hydroponic and aeroponic systems are used in general. In hydroponic systems, plants are cultivated inside water instead of soil with nutritious solutions (soilless agriculture). In aeroponic systems, on the other hand, plant roots are suspended in the air, and nutrients are given through spraying. ​

• Roof Gardens: In cities where conventional agriculture fields are limited, unused building roofs can be considered for agriculture. Roof gardens mitigate the urban heat island impact, enable energy saving, and contribute to the insulation of the building. ​

One of the biggest challenges of urban agriculture is the limitation of areas in the cities appropriate for agriculture. Intense urbanization and unplanned growth lead to decrease in green areas in the cities. Especially in big metropolises, lands are generally used for housing, commerce or industrial purposes. Lands appropriate for agriculture are generally either too expensive or open to construction. This creates a serious challenge for the ones who want to engage in agriculture and ventures.

However, transforming the unused or non-productive areas in the cities can be a solution to this problem. Practices such as roof gardens, vertical agriculture, recovering abandoned lands, and community gardens play a significant role in overcoming the problem of area. For example, unused parking spaces, abandoned factories, or even the upside of metro stations can be considered for agricultural production.

Another important obstacle for urban agriculture is the lack of infrastructure appropriate for agricultural production. The soil inside the city can generally be polluted by heavy metals and chemical waste. And this creates a big problem for conventional agriculture based on soil. As alternatives, techniques such as hydroponic (soilless) agriculture, permaculture and container agriculture can help to overcome these limitations. However, these systems need time to be popular as they require high technology and financial investments at the beginning.

The air pollution and intense concretion in the cities make production even more challenging. Plants may not grow in a healthy way due to high carbon emissions and low air quality. Therefore, urban agricultural areas should be designed by considering ventilation, sunlight access, and proximity to water sources.

Although it is one of the countries with the highest population rate, Singapore has become one of the leading countries adopting urban agriculture. Due to the limited number of agricultural fields, the country make big investments in vertical agriculture solutions. For example, Sky Greens, an agriculture company, builds giant vertical agriculture towers, and aims to obtain maximum efficiency using small spaces. These systems enable year-round production, using climate-controlled conditions in closed spaces. Vertical agriculture increases Singapore’s rate of meeting its own food need while decreasing its dependency on importation. Singapore attracts attentions as a model country which encourages high-yield production within the city.

The Netherlands is considered as one of the countries with the highest agricultural productivity in the world. The country is listed among the first ranks in the global agriculture importation despite its small surface area. One of the prominent reasons for this is the adoption of efficient and sustainable production models using urban agriculture techniques. The smart greenhouses in the Netherlands are managed through automatic irrigation mechanisms and data analysis. Furthermore, community gardens and roof agriculture projects conducted in the city centers in the Netherlands are increasingly popular nowadays.

In Türkiye, urban agriculture practices are being popularized through the support of municipalities. In certain areas of the city, community gardens are created to encourage local people to produce their own produce. Beylikdüzü Municipality’s 'Life Garden’ project and similar projects attract attention.

Various projects in coordination with universities and NGOs are conducted to develop urban development in Türkiye. For example, METU Bostan is an example of ecologic urban gardening project at the METU campus, conducted in cooperation with the Wheat Association.​

Another example is Mutlukent and Ata Neighborhood City Gardens under Çankaya Municipality in Ankara which offers the opportunity to engage in agriculture in urban life. There are other city gardens open to public use in many cities, including Izmir, Istanbul, Bursa.

There are many steps to take to popularize urban agriculture in Türkiye. However, the increasing number of projects shows a great promising potential.

Urban agriculture is not only a trend, but a transformation model that shapes the sustainable future of the urban life. Technological advancements increase the efficiency of urban agriculture, and its future depends on the investments to be made by the states and municipalities.

Agricultural production in cities can be increased by municipalities allocating vacant lots as community gardens, encouraging vertical agricultural projects, and adding regulations into the building directives for roof gardens. For urban agriculture to grow, it is critical to have not only individual efforts, but also public and private sector’s support.​

Transformation of the cities into self-sufficient eco-systems and ensuring food security are only possible through the right planning and collective consciousness!