Fields, Meadows, and Gardens – an Integral Part of the City

Urban Farm DB summary

A historical study by the University of Vienna focused on Södermalm, a central part of Stockholm, Sweden, that for a long time combined industrial production, trade, craft and cultivation. It shows that agricultural fields there did not disappear until after World War II, challenging the common assumption that nineteenth-century rectilinear town planning was the main factor that ended urban agriculture. The study argues that the view of agriculture as incompatible with modern city life, together with the "green city" concept built on parks and other green spaces, was tied to interpretations of modernity in the Swedish welfare state's emphasis on rationality and efficiency, which produced a dichotomy between urbanity and rurality.