LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPTS
Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPULs, pronounced See Pulls) are
• the theme of this book, and do not yet exist in cities.
• a coherently planned and designed combination of Continuous Landscape and Productive Urban Landscape.
• open urban landscape.
• productive in economical and socio-cultural and environmental terms.
• placed within an urban-scale landscape strategy.
• constructed to incorporate living and natural elements.
• designed to encourage and allow urban dwellers to observe activities and processes traditionally associated with the countryside, thereby re-establishing a relationship between life and the processes required to support it.
Continuous landscape is
• a current idea in urban and architectural theory, short sections of which have been established in various cities.
• a network of planted open spaces in a city which are literally spatially continuous, such as linear parks or inter-connected open patches, sometimes referred to as an ecostructure or green infrastructure.
• virtually car-free, allowing for non-vehicular movement and encounters in open urban space.
• an alternative use of open urban space if compared to existing spatial qualities of roads and dispersed patches of used and unused open urban space.
• an enormous walking landscape running through the whole city.
Productive urban landscape is
• open urban space planted and managed in such a way as to be environmentally and economically productive, for example, providing food from urban agriculture, pollution absorption, the cooling effect of trees or increased biodiversity from wildlife corridors.
Urban agriculture is
• agriculture which occurs within the city.
• in most cases high yield market gardens for fruit and vegetable growing.
• found on the ground, on roofs, facades fences and boundaries.
• if economic conditions are difficult, likely to include small animals.
• developing to include aquaculture (fish production).
Peri-urban agriculture is
• agriculture occurring on the urban-rural fringe, or within peripheral low-density suburban areas.
• similar to urban agriculture, although the size of sites is often larger.
• UPA refers to a mix of urban and peri-urban agriculture.
Ecological footprint is
• the theoretical land and sea area required to supply the resources needed to sustain an entity (city, person, organism, building, etc.)
• partially reinstated in urban areas if CPULs are successfully implemented
Ecological intensification is
• an increase in local urban biodiversity.
• a compensation for an existing loss of biodiversity found in many urban areas.
• one of the benefits of CPULs.
Vertical and Horizontal intensification is
• increasing the number of activities or uses of a particular piece of land by overlaying one above the other.
• for Vertical intensification: usually achieved by constructing a building or series of platforms on the site, some or all of which may be used for vegetation or agriculture.
• for Horizontal intensification: applied directly on the ground by increasing the number of uses for a particular piece of land at different times and by providing access and spaces for a variety of activities and uses.
• also found in market and home gardens, layers consisting of tall to small trees, shrubs and bushes, field crops, root crops, water crops, plus fish, poultry and rabbits.
• possible, by planting on fences and walls of all types.
• multicropping, season extension, rooftop use, basement mushroom growing and floating islands (Kashmir and Burma).
• an important feature of CPULs.
TYPES OF URBAN AGRICULTURE Sprawl is
• the expansion of cities outwards, generally at suburban densities and reliant on the car for access to work, culture and recreation.
Brownfield sites are
• plots of land which were previously occupied by industry, e. g. factory sites.
• often contaminated by chemical waste products from their previous industrial use.
• generally considered to be a primary source of new land for development in existing, and especially post industrial cities.
• currently being used as sites for new urban buildings.
• suitable for CPULs, if appropriate soil conditions exist, or if contaminated soil is treated or renewed in areas where edible crops will be grown.
The CPUL model challenges the notion that all brownfield sites should be built upon, but does not challenge the principle that all land should be used to maximise its sustainable return.
Greenfield sites are
• pieces of land which have never been built on before, e. g. farmland, forests, parks and wilderness.
• often the preferred sites for new suburban development (sprawl).
Allotments are
• found in the United Kingdom.
• for the non-commercial growing of food and flowers, rented to individuals by local authorities.
• typically 250 m2 in area.
• clustered together in groups, a small allotment site having about 20 plots and a very large site containing several hundred plots.
• avilable from local authorities to individuals who request them.
Schrebergarten are
• found in Germany.
• similar to allotments, but not only for food growing.
• also used as weekend leisure gardens, often with a small summer house.
• with different names, spread all over Europe, further east used more for food growing.
• generally bigger than allotments but with similar situation and organisation.
Parcelas and Huerto intensivos are
• found in Cuba
• similar to allotments, though an individual plot may be larger and may be farmed by a family or group of individuals.
Organiponicos (popular and de alto rendimiento) are
• high-yield urban commercial market gardens, found in Cuba.
• based on the Chinese bio-intensive model.
• producing food for sale to the public, using raised beds and intensive organic farming methods.
Autoconsumos are
• similar to Organiponicos, but located within state enterprises with the main purpose of supplying food for employees; their yield is less than for an Organoponico.
Community gardens are
• managed and used by local communities or neighbourhoods for recreation and education.
• sometimes found on unused or abandoned urban sites, or in grounds of public buildings, e. g. public housing, hospitals, retirement homes.
• often have a small building for use by the community, in particular children and disadvantaged groups.
City farms and urban farms are
• similar to a community garden, but with animals, usually horses, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks and chickens. Their significance is educational rather than productive, although a limited quantity of produce may be generated.
Home gardens/back gardens are
• plots found behind detached or semi-detached houses, traditionally used for leisure and/or vegetable growing.
FOOD
Food security
• is defined as giving populations both economic and physical access to a supply of food, sufficient in both quality and quantity, at all times, regardless of climate and harvest, social level and income (WHO Europe, 2000).
Seasonal and local food
• is basic or core, backed up or supplemented by the globally based food system.
• is dependant on local climate and conditions for growing period, and uses the minimum of artificial stimulants, i. e. a greenhouse might be used to extend the growing season, but heating and manufactured growth promoters are avoided.
• can contribute to a reduction in imported food.
• is not going to replace all imports of fruit and vegetables.
• is an alternative to a multitude of semi-ripe imported crops currently available in developed countries.
Organic food
• is grown without the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides.
• can contribute to reducing urban waste creating a circular urban metabolism by using compost produced from organic, domestic and farmyard waste.
• is a feature of CPULs.
Supermarket food
• relies on the importation of crops from around the world to provide the maximum choice for consumers.
• cities provide different environmental, social and economic contexts for CPULs.
Box schemes are
• a commercial service delivering a selection of organic fruit, vegetables and sometimes other products to individual homes or to a neighbourhood depot for collection.
Food miles are
• the distance food has been transported between primary production and consumption.
ECONOMIC TERMS Factors of production
• the entities required to produce a good or service, often thought of as land, labour, and capital, but more recently widened to include human capital, social capital, physical capital, environmental capital, and financial capital.
Household
• a group of people who live in the same dwelling and share common housekeeping and eating arrangements.
Opportunity cost
• the nearest alternative cost of a factor or activity.
Fungible income
• the indirect income gained from the substitution of market-bought produce.
Formal/informal
• distinction between recorded commercial activities (formal) and unrecorded semi – or non-commercial activities (informal).
Shoe leather costs
• the incidental costs associated with travelling to and from locations of work or activity.
Barriers to entry
• the obstacles preventing new businesses entering a market.
Usufruct
• the use of land not owned by the users themselves.
Utility
• the usefulness of a product or service, the satisfaction which a consumer gets from a good or service he or she has bought, or the way in which a good or service contributes to a consumer’s welfare (Collin, 2003).
Elasticity
• the responsiveness of either demand or supply to changes in price or quantity.
Externalities
• the external economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of an activity.
Food access
• both geographical and monetary degree of access to food, determined by income, supply, transport, public provision, storage, and other factors.
Acronyms
CAP – The Common Agricultural Policy (EU)
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
GDP – Gross Domestic Product
GNP – Gross National Product
PPG – Planning Policy Guidance (UK)
UA – Urban Agriculture
UNDP – United Nation’s Development Programme
UPA – Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture
WHO – World Health Organisation of the United Nations
REFERENCES
Collin, P. H. (2003). Dictionary of Economics. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.
WHO Europe (2000). WHO food and nutrition action plan. WHO Europe.
