The foundation of any food system is the production of the raw ingredients for food – agriculture. In an urban context, this is urban agriculture and edible or productive landscaping.
There is extensive information about urban agriculture available today as it has become a trend and the flashpoint of action for many in trying to develop an alternative to the dominant global food system.
Agricultural Urbanism has a balanced relationship with this movement, promoting the establishment of a strong agricultural element to developments and cities, while simultaneously trying to balance out the obsession with urban agriculture by profiling the many other elements of a food system that need as much attention.
Any Agricultural Urbanism project will include both land and organizational development to support the growing or raising of as much food as possible.
Below are a number of good resources on urban agriculture, edible landscaping, community gardens and permaculture.
Urban agriculture
- Urban Farming Guidebook – This is an excellent resource for communities wanting to promote urban farming – completed by the Ecodesign Resource Society for the Real Estate Foundation of BC. http://www.refbc.com/sites/default/files/Urban-Farming-Guidebook-2013.pdf
- Food Share Toronto – This is a large local food oriented website form a highly active NGO, including info on urban agriculture. http://www.foodshare.net/urban-agriculture
- Urban Agriculture Hub – This is a Vancouver Island based website offering an array of resources to those who want to pursue urban agriculture. http://urbanagriculturehub.ca/resources
- City Farmer Urban Agriculture Guidelines – City Farmer is a Vancouver-based NGO with a long history in supporting urban agriculture. This is a good resource of information from them. http://www.cityfarmer.org/uajustification.html
- Urban Farm.org – This is an active blog and resource site of urban farmers. http://www.urbanfarm.org
- The Urban Farmer – This is a site that offers information, perspectives and resources for urban farming. http://theurbanfarmer.ca/resources/urban-agriculture
- Farm Folk City Folk – This is an active group in Vancouver and a site that offers many resources on urban agriculture and related topics. http://www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca/resources/knowledge-pantry/urban/
- Urban Farming.org – This is an NGO offering information on urban agriculture and related topics. http://www.urbanfarming.org/welcome.html
- IRDC – This is a government resource on urban agriculture supported by some knowledgeable experts within the IRDC. http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=1068
- Five Borough Farm NYC – This is an interesting farm project in New York City.http://www.fiveboroughfarm.org/
- Scaling up Urban Agriculture in Toronto – This is an interesting report looking into how a major city can scale up urban agriculture significantly. http://metcalffoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/scaling-urban-agriculture.pdf
Edible landscaping
- Oregon State University edible landscaping overview – This is a nice two page summary of edible landscaping information from Oregon State.http://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/metro/sites/default/files/Edible_Landscaping.pdf
- Better Homes and Gardens edible landscaping summary – Another good summary of edible landscaping.http://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/edible-landscaping/
- Rosalind Creasy’s edible landscaping site – This is site offers a wealth of information and great photos from a leader in the field. http://www.rosalindcreasy.com/edible-landscaping-basics
- Avis Licht’s edible landscaping site – This is another site from a leader with a host of information. http://www.ediblelandscapingmadeeasy.com/
- Home grown edible landscaping – A site based on master gardener Geri Miller’s work with links, resources and a network of experts. http://www.groedibles.com/about/
- Edible Landscaping plant supply company – This is the site of a company in Virginia that supplies plants with edible elements – a great list. http://ediblelandscaping.com/products/buyPlants.php?func=showall
- Edible Landscape Design – This is a site is sponsored by a woman who is passionate about supporting edible plantings – lots of interesting information. http://www.edible-landscape-design.com/edible-plants.html
- Edible plants to consider – This is a resource of edible plants to consider by Ben Sharvy. http://members.efn.org/~bsharvy/edible.html
Community gardens
- City Farmer – This is the site of City Farmer and offers links and information on community gardens.http://www.cityfarmer.org/communitygarden7.html
- Farm Folk City Folk – This is a site offering a range of information on urban agriculture and community gardens, as well as many other sustainable food system issues. http://www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca/resources/knowledge-pantry/urban/
- Toolkit for Municipalities on Community Gardens – This is a good handbook published in British Columbia for municipalities on how to support community gardens. (An EDRS board member co-authored the report). http://www.ruralbc.gov.bc.ca/library/resource_corner/sdca/toolkits_guides/DigIt.pdf
- School Garden Network – A great resource for getting a community garden started and managed in the context of a school. http://schoolgardennetwork.ca/activities-and-resources/
- Australian City Farms and Community Garden Network – A good site with a lot of information from this movement in Australia. http://communitygarden.org.au/
- City of Vancouver Community Garden Guide – This document is a guide on how to start a community garden. http://vcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/cg-guide-lowres.pdf
- Toronto Community Garden Network – A site with information and links to many gardens and resources in the Greater Toronto area. http://www.tcgn.ca/wiki/wiki.php
- City of Ottawa Community Gardening Guidebook – This is a good guidebook on creating and managing a community garden. http://www.justfood.ca/foodforall/documents/CGN_Garden_Guide_2010_English.pdf
- Organic Gardening – This is the section of the large Organic Gardening website that discusses community garden. The site has extensive information on organic practices. http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/community-gardens
Permaculture
- Permaculture Institute – This Institute offers information, resources, courses and an overview of Permaculture’s key principles. http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/key_concepts/
- Permaculture Principles – This site outlines significant information on a wide range of permaculture principles. http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/
- Vege Permaculture – This site offers information and a lot of information on various aspects of Permaculture and related topics. http://vergepermaculture.ca/
- The Permaculture Research Institute – This site offers a lot of information, network connections, information on projects, resources and courses on permaculture. http://permaculturenews.org/about-permaculture-and-the-pri/
- Bill Mollison’s Permaculture Design Manual – This is the book that is considered the cornerstone of the Permaculture movement. http://www.amazon.ca/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015
- Pacific Permaculture – This is a group that offer courses and information on Permaculture. www.pacificpermaculture.ca/
Organics
- Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements – This is a portal site to information on organic agriculture around the world. http://www.ifoam.org/