Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2017·Europe

Urban agriculture and place-making: Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol

Marlinde Koopmans, Daniel Keech, Lucie Sovová, Matthew Reed

Moravian Geographical Reports

Urban Farm DB summary

This paper analyzed urban agriculture (UA) and place-making in Ghent, Brno, and Bristol, using a spatial lens across three case studies. It revealed that local authorities struggle to find space for UA, leading to its frequent, often temporary, emergence in marginal areas vulnerable to planning changes. The analysis exposed inherent tensions within UA, conceptualized as tensions between abstract space and concrete place narratives. It was suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places, contributing to place-making, and urban planning should secure physical spaces and create possibilities for local autonomous governance.