1st Edition
Urban Agroecology Interdisciplinary Research and Future Directions
Today, 20 percent of the global food supply relies on urban agriculture: social-ecological systems shaped by both human and non-human interactions. This book shows how urban agroecologists measure flora and fauna that underpin the ecological dynamics of these systems, and how people manage and benefit from these systems. It explains how the sociopolitical landscape in which these systems are embedded can in turn shape the social, ecological, political, and economic dynamics within them. Synthesizing interdisciplinary approaches in urban agroecology in the natural and social sciences, the book explores methodologies and new directions in research that can be adopted by scholars and practitioners alike.
With contributions from researchers utilizing both social and natural science approaches, Urban Agroecology describes the current social-environmental understandings of the science, the movement and the practices in urban agroecology. By investigating the role of agroecology in cities, the book calls for the creation of spaces for food to be sustainably grown in urban spaces: an Urban Agriculture (UA) movement. Essential reading for graduate students, practitioners, policy makers and researchers, this book charts the course for accelerating this movement.
1. An expanded scope of biodiversity in urban agriculture, with implications for conservation by Sacha K. Heath, Nina S. Fogel, Jennifer C. Mullikin and Trey Hull
2. Complex ecological interactions and ecosystem services in urban agroecosystems by Stacy M Philpott, Shalene Jha, Azucena Lucatero, Monika Egerer and Heidi Liere
3. Climate factors and climate change in urban agroecosystems by Monika Egerer
4. Restoring soil and supporting food sovereignty in an urbanizing world: An interdisciplinary perspective by Coleman Rainey, Monika Egerer, Dustin Herrmann and Timothy Bowles
5. Urban foraging: Where cultural knowledge and local biodiversity meet by Leonie K Fischer, Jonah Landor-Yamagata and Ingo Kowarik
6. Agroecology as Public Health: The island example of Tasmania by Pauline Marsh
7. From individual seeds to collective harvests: urban agroecology as political action by Helda Morales, Bárbara Lazcano and Ana García
8. Surveying the landscape of urban agriculture’s land politics: Civic, ecological, heritage-based, justice-driven, and market-oriented fields by K. Michelle Glowa and Antonio Roman-Alcala
9. Co-producing agro-food policies for urban environments: towards agroecology-oriented local food systems by Daniel López-García and Manuel González de Molina
10. Holistic pedagogies for social change: reflections from an urban agroecology farmer training by Ana Galvis Martinez, Brooke Porter, Paul Rogé, Leah Atwood and Natalia Pinzón Jiménez
11. Growing Together: Participatory Approaches in Urban Agriculture Extension by Lucy O. Diekmann and Marcia R. Ostrom
12. How to study the ecology of food in the city: an overview of natural science methodologies by Theresa Wei Ying Ong and Gordon Fitch
13. Navigating Urban Agroecological Research with the Social Sciences by Evan Bowness, Jennifer A. Nicklay, Alex Liebman, Kirsten Valentine Cadieux and Renata Blumberg
14. Agroecological transformations in urban contexts: transdisciplinary research frameworks and participatory approaches in Burlington, Vermont by Martha Caswell, V. Ernesto Méndez, María A. Juncos-Gautier, Stephanie E. Hurley, Rachelle K. Gould, Denyse Márquez Sánchez and Storm Lewis
15. Multidimensional challenges in urban agricultural research by Joshua Earl Arnold and Alana Bowen Siegner
Biography
Monika Egerer is a tenure-track professor in Urban Productive Ecosystems in the School of Life Sciences at the Technical University of Munich. Her research investigates relationships between biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision, and human wellbeing in urban agroecosystems. Her work aims to bridge theory and practice to create productive systems in cities that offer food, habitat and community.
Hamutahl Cohen is a postdoctoral researcher in Entomology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research investigates drivers of insect declines in changing urban landscapes and the subsequent impacts to ecosystem services in farms and gardens. She leverages natural ecology and molecular and microbial methodologies to address questions of applied significance for promoting food security.
