Spatial planning and urban agriculture: Spatial Planning and Food

Local and regional food systems planning

Multi-functional agriculture and food systems is an novel issue in spatial planning in developed countries. Over the last decade ‘local food systems planning’ and ‘mixed land use’ have developed into mature research fields in the academic domain of planning and in practice. A recent scan of prominent international planning journals by Broekhof and Van der Valk (2010) shows a rapidly growing body of literature and a proliferation of research in Europe and North America. Lately an academic community of practice focusing on regional food systems and multi-functional agriculture in the metropolitan landscape has emerged in Europe and North America.

During the twentieth century planning and agriculture have been strangers to each-other in the developed countries. In developing countries sustainable urban agriculture is a well publicized phenomenon, which has been largely ignored so far in mainstream planning journals. Planning has been equated to planning urban land use for decades. Agricultural land use was reserved for sectoral organizations and regimes. New policy and planning concepts promoting policy integration between landscape planning and agriculture have been around since the nineteen eighties and are recently entrenched in the CAP and the American Farm Bill.

This track aims at an update of the state of the art focusing in on recent in-depth studies in local and regional spatial planning. Although the number of papers in the field has grown substantially, the bulk of the publications is descriptive-analytical and devoid of theory. Planning as an academic discipline suffers from the consequences of undecided battles between a handful of competing paradigms. So discussions in this track will explicitly address promising theoretical perspectives in planning research, thus contributing to progress in planning.

Specific questions to be addressed in this track are:

To what extent is multi-functional agriculture included in urban, peri-urban and regional planning processes?

How do planners deal with and attempt to overcome competition between different land-use claims?

Which decision-making approaches (e.g. government command and control, collaborative planning, stakeholder consultation) are applied in the resolution of competing land use claims? 

Mapping the regional and urban food system

Recently planners, geographers and architects have discovered the domain of food and planning. The territorial dimension of food production and food consumption is labelled by some as foodscape. Foodscapes are perceived as an analytical device and a planning tool. The analytical dimension pertains to the mapping of flows in the regional and urban food system. Knowledge of flows of inputs (manure, water, seeds, fodder etc.), raw food products (cattle, vegetables, wheat, tomatoes), processed food (jam, french fries, steak) and waste (water, excrements, refuse, polluted air) is a necessary condition for the process of scanning the consequences of the past, actual and future food system. This implies analysing economic, ecological, socio-cultural and health impacts. Knowledge of the complex relationships between the flows may provide building blocks for planning models for sustainable regional and urban development.

The problem statement may refer to an analysis of the flows in a specific European city or region, an interpretation of the spatial patterns and some indicative proposal for development in line with the analysis and the interpretation. This type of analytical studies is particularly helpful in testing suppositions underlying a recent or forthcoming urban/regional vision. This subject is well suited for Msc thesis research of couples of students in spatial planning, social-spatial analysis, landscape architecture and other adjacent fields of study such as rural sociology, geographical information systems or land dynamics.

The theme is now on the research agenda of academic researchers due to the recent formation of an international thematic working party of the Association of European Schools of Planning and the International Society for Multiple Landscape.

The theme opens up ample scope for cooperation with PhDs of the land use planning group and the rural sociology group.

Slow Food, Planning and the Metropolitan Landscape

Slow food is the opposite of fast food. In Italy and France a slow food movement has gained prominence in gourmet food consumption and tourism. To day special labels for fresh regional and organic food are sprouting all over Europe as a consequence - among other things - of the re-awakening of a general interest in the origin and quality of food. In Western Europe and North America there is a growing interest  but the unfolding of slow food production is hampered by lack of best practices, loss of traditions and land use regulations fit for the promotion of industrial agriculture. Small scale regional production and organic foods are still associated in the northern hemispere with rural deprivation, poverty, bearded idealists and niche markets. Some of this may be correct but a growing body of planning literature shows the viability of so-called alternative food systems. Now we need research of the consequences of spatial plans, rules and regulations and financial impediments and inducements for slow food planning in order to develop sound spatial frameworks, which may be helpful in the advancement of slow food planning in the metropolitan landscape.

The Netherlands is the ideal testing ground for case studies in slow food planning. First of all is the slow food planning brand ‘citta slow’ introduced recently in the metropolitan landscape region Midden-Delfland. Consulting firms are eagerly looking at the academic planning community to provide them with proper planning devices for the development of a viable planning strategy for the production, marketing and sale of slow food. The ministry of agriculture has taken up an interest in the Midden-Delfland case with an eye on the development and preservation strategy in other former bufferzones near Amsterdam, Utrecht, Arhem-Nijmegen and Apeldoorn-Deventer.

The problem statement will focus in on the coordination of land uses in the metropolitan landscape. This theme seems apt for a comparative study between pairs of regions. Also, action research may be an option, i.e. participating in the process of consultation, strategy development or implementation.

Agro-cities and the unfolding of  new green planning

Green planning is largely associated with traditional industrial agriculture and the development and preservation of new nature. One viable option is still largely ignored in traditional urban planning i.e. the preservation of open space for small scale farming and the production of slow food. So far pleas for the use of designated parks and recreation areas for farming are considered foolish because farming is perceived as a source of pollusion, a cause for uniformity in the landscape and an activitiy which cannot compete with real urban land uses for reasons of efficieny. Recently the underlying rationale of this anti-agriculture discourse has been disputed by experts. The municipal authorities of the city of Almere have taken up the challenge and have developed a planning framework which encourages the mix of land uses for agriculture, leisure, ecology and water retention in and adjacent to the built up area.

Now other European cities are deeply interested in the accomplishments of Almere. So case studies of the planning process and the implementation are wanted. Now Almere is a frontrunner. Wether or not other less courageous cities will follow the example remains to be seen. In the mean time a growing group of European experts in the domain of planning and landscape architecture starts preaching the gospel of agrocities. Wageningen seems the place par excellence to take the lead in the study of the ins and outs of the potential of agrocities. This is a promising branch on the tree of new green planning.

This theme is well suited for the development of new spatial concepts (images, metafors, storylines, discourses). Also existing concepts may be tested in concrete cities and regions. Agrocities much as other new spatial concepts are confronted with rigid rules and regulations in the field of spatial planning, environment and water management. Case studies can shed a light on the exact contours of the obstacles and the possible solutions.

Theorising the local and regional foodscape

Bookshops hold evidence that food is rapidly becoming a hype. Many books refer to a growing global movement for healthy food. Food has become the object of a social movement encompassing diverse groups such as the labour movement (good food for workers), social justice groups (good food for the poor), anti-globalists (locally produced food), heritage preservationists (keeping old traditions and local products intact), environmentalists (sustainable development), anti-obesity groups and farmers (better prices for agricultural produce).

In the literature on food systems two idealtypes are opposed i.e. an agri-industrial paradigm (the hyper modern food geography) versus the integrated and territorial agri-food paradigm (the alternative food geography). Although these models are not completely mutually exclusive they tend to diverge. So far the spatial consequences of both models have been under-theorised and empirically under-researched. One consequence of the lack of knowledge is the danger of stereotyping. Such has been the situation in our Wageningen University for quite a long time. Now planners and architects must consider the construction of empirical theory and design concepts for local and regional foodscapes. Testing the taken for granted positions of advocats of the agri-industrial paradigm, and developing an alternative integrated territorial paradigm are major challenges.

Writing a thesis under this heading implies a profound interest, a reflexive mind and some affinity with abstract reasoning.

Multi-functional agriculture and spatial planning in the Netherlands

Recently Wageningen rural sociologists have assessed the state of the art in multi-functional agriculture in the Netherlands.  The business has matured and is now ‘robust’ and ‘dynamic’ according to former RABO-bank president Herman Wijffels. A growing number of farmers opt for a strategy of ‘broadening’ and take up new tasks such as landscape management, care farming, on farm education, horse stables, child-care, allotment gardens, a farm-hotel, leasing buildings, growing fresh local specialties and more. Combining uses on the farm meets with difficulties in the domain of spatial planning. Quite often the municipal land allocation plan does not accommodate multi-functionality of land use and buildings.

What is particularly urgent is the conception of a list of issues and problems with relevance for spatial planning taken from reports and articles in agricultural papers. Some issues can be explored in depth by way of case studies.

This theme may be approached from disparate theoretical perspectives, depending on the students’ preference, such as a Actor Network Theory, Actor-relational Theory, Rational Planning and Impact Assessment Theory, Deliberative Policy Analysis or Discourse Analysis.

Proposed research issues, which can be taken up in isolation or in combination.

• What is the state of the art in multi-functional agriculture in the Netherlands and what are the challenges in the domain of spatial planning?

Actions: scanning plans, reports, books, scientific and professional papers, interviewing experts.

• Explore best practices for the accommodation of multi-functional agriculture in regional and municipal planning in the Netherlands.

Actions: explore literature, select cases, analyse municipal visions (gemeentelijk visie document) and land allocation plans (bestemmingsplannen), conduct interviews with planners, farmers and other stakeholder groups.

• Document cutting-edge innovations in Netherlands land use planning practice which are deemed particularly helpful for the promotion of multi-functional agriculture.

Actions: literature research, analysis of plan-documents and related texts, interviews with stakeholders and experts.

• Produce a list of major obstacles on the road to multi-functional agriculture in the context of spatial planning.

Actions: interviews with farmers, interviews with planners and politicians, literature research, research in documents.

• Map out the development of multi-functional agriculture over the last decade in a specific region or municipality and establish driving forces and major obstacles focusing in on spatial planning and area development.  Develop land use scenarios for the future development of multi-functional agriculture in a governance setting.

Actions: explore GIS-based land use data-bases, analyse reports plans and papers, compile maps showing trends, conduct interviews with farmers, planners and politicians, build scenarios.

Mapping the urban food system

Recently planners, geographers and architects have discovered the domain of food and planning. The territorial dimension of food production and food consumption is labelled by some as foodscape. Foodscapes are perceived as an analytical device and a planning tool. The analytical dimension pertains to the mapping of flows in the regional and urban food system. Knowledge of flows of inputs (manure, water, seeds, fodder etc.), raw food products (cattle, vegetables, wheat, tomatoes), processed food (jam, french fries, steak) and waste (water, excrements, refuse, polluted air) is a necessary condition for the process of scanning the consequences of the past, actual and future food system. This implies analysing economic, ecological, socio-cultural and health impacts. Knowledge of the complex relationships between the flows may provide building blocks for planning models for sustainable regional and urban development.

The problem statement may refer to an analysis of the flows in a specific European city or region, an interpretation of the spatial patterns and some indicative proposal for development in line with the analysis and the interpretation. This type of analytical studies is particularly helpful in testing suppositions underlying a recent or forthcoming urban/regional vision. This subject is well suited for Msc thesis research of couples of students in spatial planning, social-spatial analysis, landscape architecture and other adjacent fields of study such as rural sociology, geographical information systems or land dynamics.

The theme is now on the research agenda of academic researchers due to the recent formation of an international thematic working party of the Association of European Schools of Planning and the International Society for Multiple Landscape.

The theme opens up ample scope for cooperation with PhDs of the land use planning group and the rural sociology group.

Planning sustainable urban and regional food systems

Many European and North American cities and regions have recently developed food strategies and integrated them in a sustainable spatial planning strategy. In the Netherlands Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Almere have developed specific models following different planning and food doctrines. The common denominators are sustainability, enhancing regional identity and creating spatial quality. So far best practices are still a well kept secret for the community of food planning experts in Western Europe. Planning practioners have already gained ample experience. In North America the American Planning Association has put community food systems planning on its priority list. A rapidly growing number of universities has initiated food planning courses in the context of the planning and (landscape) architecture curriculum.

What is needed most at the moment, in order to make the food planning movement gain momentum, is an array of studies covering the planning process spectre from developing planning conceps, such as foodscapes, to the creation of scenarios, the analysis of impacts, the communication with the polity and pressure groups, the development of projects and the design of a toolbox for implementation. This type of research encompasses many diverse research techniques such as regional survey, impact analysis, action research, interviewing, discursive analysis of planning documents, actor analysis and design research.

The problem statement must be comprehensive, i.e. embracing mutually influencing activities such as food production, waste disposal, urban development, nature conservation, landscape development or water management. Land use planning is a coordinative entreprise par exellence.

The theme is gaining popularity rapidly in planning practice in the Netherlands.

The tutors are in for combined research efforts with Msc student of landscape architecture, forest and nature policy, social-spatial analysis or land dynamics.

Slow Food, Planning and the Metropolitan Landscape

Slow food is the opposite of fast food. In Italy and France a slow food movement has gained prominence in gourmet food consumption and tourism. To day special labels for fresh regional and organic food are sprouting all over Europe as a consequence - among other things - of the re-awakening of a general interest in the origin and quality of food. In Western Europe and North America there is a growing interest  but the unfolding of slow food production is hampered by lack of best practices, loss of traditions and land use regulations fit for the promotion of industrial agriculture. Small scale regional production and organic foods are still associated in the northern hemispere with rural deprivation, poverty, bearded idealists and niche markets. Some of this may be correct but a growing body of planning literature shows the viability of so-called alternative food systems. Now we need research of the consequences of spatial plans, rules and regulations and financial impediments and inducements for slow food planning in order to develop sound spatial frameworks, which may be helpful in the advancement of slow food planning in the metropolitan landscape.

The Netherlands is the ideal testing ground for case studies in slow food planning. First of all is the slow food planning brand ‘citta slow’ introduced recently in the metropolitan landscape region Midden-Delfland. Consulting firms are eagerly looking at the academic planning community to provide them with proper planning devices for the development of a viable planning strategy for the production, marketing and sale of slow food. The ministry of agriculture has taken up an interest in the Midden-Delfland case with an eye on the development and preservation strategy in other former bufferzones near Amsterdam, Utrecht, Arhem-Nijmegen and Apeldoorn-Deventer.

The problem statement will focus in on the coordination of land uses in the metropolitan landscape. This theme seems apt for a comparative study between pairs of regions. Also, action research may be an option, i.e. participating in the process of consultation, strategy development or implementation.

Agrocities and the unfolding of new green planning

Green planning is largely associated with traditional industrial agriculture and the development and preservation of new nature. One viable option is still largely ignored in traditional urban planning i.e. the preservation of open space for small scale farming and the production of slow food. So far pleas for the use of designated parks and recreation areas for farming are considered foolish because farming is perceived as a source of pollusion, a cause for uniformity in the landscape and an activitiy which cannot compete with real urban land uses for reasons of efficieny. Recently the underlying rationale of this anti-agriculture discourse has been disputed by experts. The municipal authorities of the city of Almere have taken up the challenge and have developed a planning framework which encourages the mix of land uses for agriculture, leisure, ecology and water retention in and adjacent to the built up area.

Now other European cities are deeply interested in the accomplishments of Almere. So case studies of the planning process and the implementation are wanted. Now Almere is a frontrunner. Wether or not other less courageous cities will follow the example remains to be seen. In the mean time a growing group of European experts in the domain of planning and landscape architecture starts preaching the gospel of agrocities. Wageningen seems the place par excellence to take the lead in the study of the ins and outs of the potential of agrocities. This is a promising branch on the tree of new green planning.

This theme is well suited for the development of new spatial concepts (images, metafors, storylines, discourses). Also existing concepts may be tested in concrete cities and regions. Agrocities much as other new spatial concepts are confronted with rigid rules and regulations in the field of spatial planning, environment and water management. Case studies can shed a light on the exact contours of the obstacles and the possible solutions.

Theorising the local and regional foodscape

Bookshops hold evidence that food is rapidly becoming a hype. Many books refer to a growing global movement for healthy food. Food has become the object of a social movement encompassing diverse groups such as the labour movement (good food for workers), social justice groups (good food for the poor), anti-globalists (locally produced food), heritage preservationists (keeping old traditions and local products intact), environmentalists (sustainable development), anti-obesity groups and farmers (better prices for agricultural produce).

In the literature on food systems two idealtypes are opposed i.e. an agri-industrial paradigm (the hyper modern food geography) versus the integrated and territorial agri-food paradigm (the alternative food geography). Although these models are not completely mutually exclusive they tend to diverge. So far the spatial consequences of both models have been under-theorised and empirically under-researched. One consequence of the lack of knowledge is the danger of stereotyping. Such has been the situation in our Wageningen University for quite a long time. Now planners and architects must consider the construction of empirical theory and design concepts for local and regional foodscapes. Testing the taken for granted positions of advocats of the agri-industrial paradigm, and developing an alternative integrated territorial paradigm are major challenges.

Writing a thesis under this heading implies a profound interest, a reflexive mind and some affinity with abstract reasoning.