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Urban Agriculture as Growth Booster or Prefigurative Activism

Sat, August 11, 4:30 to 6:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 4, Franklin Hall 13

Abstract

Emerging scholarship on the role of urban agriculture (UA) in the city situates it in three distinct theoretical frameworks; Cooptation into neoliberalization of the city, prefigurative alternative land use activism, and a fad. Based on the in-depth interviews and archival data, the paper examines the development of UA in New Orleans over the decade following Hurricane Katrina to empirically apply these theoretical conceptualizations of UA’s place in transitional urban contexts by focusing on the motives and the processes of establishing UA projects. In particular, the paper illuminates the complexities with which each of the three tendencies manifest when examining various types of UA projects. I find that the explicit attempts to coopt UA into urban redevelopment do not always succeed in expanding gardens and farms, but community-based UA projects also face challenges in gaining community buy-in and retaining resources and land access. Thus, not all UA projects will cease as the fad cycle ends, though I argue that the projects that are most adaptable to the economic and demographic changes in the city have the best chance for longevity.

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