A majority of the world's population lives in cities. Urban areas have largely been disconnected from the processes associated with producing food. A broad range of community efforts have emerged to reconnect people in urban areas to fresh foods with expected benefits for public health. These efforts can be found in cities across the country and cross both economic and ethnic lines. They have been led by the non-scientific community and are best characterized as social movements. Expansion of agriculture to non-traditional areas including community or kitchen gardens in urban or peri-urban environments has the potential to provide a range of ecosystem services as well as reduce stressors on non-urban environments. These services/benefits include improved public health, improved human nutrition and diet, large-scale production of renewable resources, increased food security with less resilience on traditional agricultural landscapes and seascapes, enhanced ecosystem function in urban areas, and increased public appreciation for and understanding of ecosystem services.
Preface
Chapter 1, Introduction: Faces of Agriculture
Part I: Perspectives on Food Security and the Impacts of Urban Agriculture
Chapter 2. Food Security and Urban Agriculture
Chapter 3. Urban Agriculture as a Resiliency Strategy
Chapter 4. The Long Tradition of Urban Agriculture in the U.S. - and its Future.
Part II: Individual and Community Health Benefits of Urban Agriculture
Chapter 5. Harvesting Health in the Garden
Chapter 6. Social Health and Social Capital
Chapter 7. Urban Gardening Practices and Culture
Chapter 8. Nature Contact, Health, and the Built Environment
Chapter 9. A Case Study: The Discourse of Obesity and Public Health in Planning and Participation in New York City Gardens
Part III: Managing the Risks of Urban Agriculture
Chapter 10. Assessing and Communicating the Risks (and Benefits) of Community Participation in Urban Agriculture
Chapter 11. Modeling to Predict High Pb Areas
Chapter 12. Screening for Soil Lead Using a Common Soil Test Method
Chapter 13. Mechanisms to Reduce Risk Potential
Chapter 14. A Case Study: Potential Health Risks Posed by Eating Eggs from Free Range Chickens in New York City
Part IV: Democracy, Ethics, and Sovereignty in Urban Agriculture
Chapter 15. Common Roots: Urban Agriculture's Potential for Cultivating Deep Democracy
Chapter 16. Ethics of Urban Agriculture
Chapter 17. A Case Study of Spatial and Economic Sovereignty: Reclaiming Space and Building Community in Philadelphia One Vacant Lot at a Time
Part V: Research on Urban Agriculture and Food Security
Chapter 18. Case Studies of Urban Food Security Research: A Focus on Methodology
Chapter 19. A Case Study: Native Perspectives of Gardening
Chapter 20. A Case Study on Learning Gardens in an Urban Indigenous Community: Expanding the Scope of Learning
Chapter 21. A Case Study: Growing Community Through Gardens on Chicago's Southwest Side
Part VI: Urban Agriculture Programming and Education - Non-Profit Organizations
Chapter 22. Intense Urban Agriculture as a Tool to Educate and Build Communities: A Glance at What Farmer Frog is Doing in the Pacific Northwest
Chapter 23. Ranier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands: Urban Farm Enterprise Creates Community Connections
Chapter 24. Everyone at the Table: A Case Study of Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB)
Chapter 25. Seattle Youth Garden Works Empowers Urban Youth
Chapter 26. Community Managed Open Space: A Case Study of Community Greening Resource Network, Baltimore, MD
Part VII: Urban Agriculture Programming and Education: Cities, Universities, Entrepreneurs, and Religious Groups
Chapter 27. Adult Education: A For-Profit Model at the Williams Street Farmhouse
Chapter 28. Washington State University Pierce County Extension Master Gardener program: Volunteer Educators in Home Gardening and Environmental Stewardship
Chapter 29. Seeds of Hope: An Integrated Vision of the Role of Agriculture for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
Chapter 30. Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) Horticulture Programs
Chapter 31. A Case Study: Integrating Urban Agriculture into the Municipal Infrastructure in Tacoma, WA
Sally L Brown is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Forest and Environmental Science. She is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America, was a two- term member of the National Academy of Science Standing Committee on Soil Science and a member on the National Academy of Science Committee on the Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediments. She has won multiple awards for her work on residuals use in soils. Dr. Brown writes a monthly column for Biocycle Magazine, a journal that focuses on sustainable management of organics. She has a BA in Political Science from Williams College (1980) and a MS (1993) and PhD (1996) from the University of Maryland. Before returning to graduate school, she worked as a chef in New York City, New Orleans and Connecticut. In 1986 she started a business delivering locally grown vegetables to stores and restaurants in New York City and Connecticut. She currently grows greens, onions, potatoes and currants on two plots near her home with the assistance of her husband and Tagro, the biosolids based soil amendment from Tacoma, WA.