Advancing Food Security and Sustainable Living in Southern African Urban Communities

Urban Farm DB summary

In the Melusi informal settlement of Tshwane, South Africa, researchers used a mixed-methods approach -- semi-structured questionnaires, focus group interviews, and photo-elicitation, analyzed with SPSS and Atlas.ti -- to examine socio-cultural perceptions of modular living wall systems planted with African vegetables as a way to enhance household food security. Key barriers to urban agriculture identified included high maintenance costs, pest control problems, spatial constraints, exposure to extreme weather, and limited access to water and fertilizer, while the community supported living walls with African vegetable crops for their space-saving and biophilic value, with success depending on low-tech, cost-effective, modular systems built from recycled materials using nutrient-dense, compact crops.