Beyond backyard chickens: A framework for understanding municipal urban agriculture policies in the United States

Urban Farm DB summary

Researchers built a framework covering authority, policy instruments, and topic areas to catalogue municipal urban agriculture policy in the 40 most populous US cities, compiling recommendations, city plans, regulations, guidance, and city-run programs. The catalogue found wide variation in policy instruments and topics, from accessory structures and composting to public land access and soil safety, and documented a growing use of public-private partnerships that shifts civil society groups from stakeholders to co-governors, raising questions about who leads urban agriculture advocacy and enforcement and how equity and food justice concerns are affected. The study also found most cities lack a clear synthesis of their scattered urban agriculture policies across departments.