Multifunctional Urban Agriculture: An Urban Planning Model for the Megacities of Tomorrow. The Case of Casablanca

Urban Farm DB summary

Taking Casablanca, Morocco as a case study, this work analyzes the development trends of growing megacities and the challenges they face, particularly in developing countries, and proposes approaches, methods and tools for integrating green, productive infrastructure based on urban agriculture as a multifunctional component of urban planning. Casablanca is characterized as facing an urban and ecological crisis driven by rapid urban and demographic growth since the early twentieth century combined with a chronic lack of integrative urban strategies, including a housing crisis, social segregation, high unemployment, persistent congestion, air and water pollution, and a near-absence of open and green space. The work repositions urban agriculture within the discourse on sustainable urban development and climate change impacts, proposes a new multifunctional model of urban management, and redefines the role of green open spaces in Casablanca's urban development context, focusing on regenerating inner-city brownfields and vacant spaces as multifunctional facilities built around urban agriculture.