Agriculture urbaine et habitat humain

Urban Farm DB summary

The Brundtland Report, in its chapter on "The Urban Challenge," recommended developing urban agriculture. Subsequent research has emphasized urban agriculture's contribution to food production, poverty reduction, and improved soil, air and water quality, but it appears as a marginal activity involving only a small fraction of middle- or low-income populations. The experiences of Russia and other European countries reveal a larger-scale phenomenon that can involve most city dwellers. Individual plots of 300 to 1,000 square meters within garden and dacha collectives involve roughly a quarter of Russia's urban population, with smaller proportions in other countries; the right to build a small house for weekend and holiday stays extends their multifunctionality. This non-market, extra-professional activity was a social achievement under the Soviet regime and constitutes an alternative to the polluting, soil-destroying detached-housing model. It cushioned the systemic crisis of the 1990s by helping populations cope with stress and avoid famine. Contrary to the view, dominant since 1929, that individual gardening carries a "petit-bourgeois" spirit, it is described as enabling lifestyles more compatible with people's existential needs, with this family-based urban agriculture serving as a means of building a more autonomous, social and ecological urban society, necessary for the resilience of individuals, families and society.