Facilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city

Urban Farm DB summary

A paper examining Philadelphia's 2008 prioritisation of healthy food access as part of sustainable development, in a city where almost 25% of the population is considered food insecure, prompting government agencies, NGOs, and community leaders to try to increase food access through expanded food production and land access. The paper argues that urban agriculture, gradually incorporated into sustainability narratives over the preceding decade, both provides advocates a platform to inform policymaking and risks stripping away the political and activist origins of the struggle for access to food, land, and green space, contending that this depoliticisation through incorporation into sustainability planning may serve to increase existing inequities in the city. Examining measures enacted under the Philadelphia Greenworks Sustainability Plan at the policymaking level, the paper's preliminary findings suggest a disconnect between urban agriculture advocacy and policymaking, and it states that further work is needed to understand the impacts of formalising urban agriculture in Philadelphia.