Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2020·Mexico

La agricultura urbana y periurbana como ´segundo mejor uso´ del suelo en la ciudad. Retos frente a la urbanización y las políticas urbanas: Cuernavaca, México

Guillermo Olivera, Kenia Zavaleta

Repositorio Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires)

Urban Farm DB summary

This study argues that urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), along with intra-urban open spaces, constitutes a "second best" land use for 21st-century cities pursuing sustainable growth aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals — whether through FAO's Greener Cities Strategy, which promotes garden-based UPA against poverty and food insecurity, or through UPA absorbed by city expansion, much of it commercial in nature. Based on analysis of official statistics and fieldwork in the Ejido Tejalpa in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, the study finds that UPA persists there due to its historical trajectory and access to water and land, existing in commercial form rather than as urban gardens, but not without problems. Its main threat is identified as excessive urbanization and generational change among producers, and its main challenge as achieving greater involvement of urban governments through land management and urban planning, following the experience of other countries where agriculture is given more weight in metropolitan planning.