Katrin Bohn is an architect and senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton, where she runs a design studio with Andre Viljoen. Within her urban design research, she has developed several architectural and landscape proposals, mostly centred around CPULs. Recent live projects relating to landscape and ecological building include the CUE Eco House in London (with the Low Energy Architecture Research Unit at London Metropolitan University) and proposals for community landscapes in Southwark, London.
Dr Hadrian F. Cook is a member of the Agroecology Research Group, at Wye Campus, Imperial College. Main Environmental Research Interests are: soil amendment using organic wastes; hydrology of grazing marshes and watermeadows; protection of surface and groundwaters from agrochemical pollution; protection policy development for soil and water and environmental history.
David Crouch is Professor of Cultural Geography, Tourism and Leisure at the University of Derby, Visiting Professor Geography and Tourism, University of Karlstad Sweden; author of several publications related to Allotments including (with Colin Ward) The Allotment: its landscape and culture (Faber and Faber/Five leaves Press 1988, 1994, 1997, 2001). He has contributed to a number of reports for NGO’s and government, as well as producing for BBC2 TV, ‘The Plot’ in 1994.
Herbert Giradet is a social anthropologist and cultural ecologist now working as a writer, consultant and film maker. His main focus in recent years has been the sustainable development of cities and contemporary lifestyles. He is widely published, a prolific documentary maker and has been invited to work on sustainability in many countries around the world. Herbert is the recipient of the UN Global 500 Award for Outstanding Environmental Achievement, an honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Chair of the UK Sustainability Alliance and Schumacher Society.
Dr Susannah Hagan trained as an architect at Columbia University and the Architectural Association. She is Reader in Architecture and head of the MA Architecture: Sustainability, at the University of East London and also teaches on the AA’s Environment and Energy Graduate Programme. Her book, Taking Shape, explores the relationships between the built and natural environments.
Phil Harris is Professor of Plant Science at Coventry University and International Research Consultant for the Henry Doubleday Research Association. Current research interests include tropical crop development, ‘organic’ or sustainable agriculture, forestry, and relevant techniques of plant biotechnology, often related to overseas development. Research and consultancy activities in sustainable agriculture and forestry have involved work in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cape Verde, China, Cuba, Ghana, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Oman, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Spain.
Dr Joe M. Howe is a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester’s School of Planning and Landscape. His research focuses on the relationship between sustainability and planning. This has encompassed work on urban food growing and recently on the relationship between water management and land use planning and management. He has advised numerous Government bodies (including DEFRA, ODPM, DTI and the Treasury) and NGOs on water and land use management issues.
Jeremy Iles’s career in the environmental sector has included roles at Friends of the Earth (Transport Campaigner), the London Wildlife Trust (Director), overseas work in Bangladesh and Eritrea as Field Director for VSO, and as a Regional Manager on the National Cycle Network Project at Sustrans. He took up the role as Director of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens in autumn 2000.
Dr Howard Lee’s interest is in sustainable agriculture. His contribution to this book stems from his work at the Agroecology Research Group, Wye Campus, Imperial College. His main research areas are: managing the water resource base in agroecological water catchment zones; nitrogen dynamics in farming systems and environmental impact; the environmental impact of organic waste management on farms and in the community and the use of geographical information systems to predict the environmental impact of farming.
Dr Margi Lennartsson is Head of the International Research Department at HDRA responsible for scientific research activities of the Association. HDRA is a registered charity involved in research, advisory work and promotion of organic food, farming and gardening. The aim of HDRA’s research programme is to develop the techniques used in organic agriculture and to advance the knowledge of organic production systems, focusing on commercial organic horticulture and domestic gardening in temperate areas and on small scale, resource poor systems in developing countries.
Dr Beacon Mbiba is the Co-ordinator of the Urban and Peri-Urban Research Network Peri-NET, South Bank University, London. Research interests include local level development planning, land transformations and sustainable human settlements. He has published a number of articles on urban and peri-urban agriculture and has taught at the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Sheffield.
Simon Michaels is a landscape architect, urban designer and environmental planner. He works as an independent consultant, and is a director of f3, the UK’s Foundation for Local Food Initiatives. He also runs Environment Go, an internet information service for environment professionals, and advises on internet strategies for environment sector organisations.
Angela Paxton works at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales and is currently setting up a community scheme with community composting, organic nursery and demonstration gardens. She is author of The Food Miles Report, The Food Miles Action Pack and A Feast Too Far, all available from Sustain.
Jorge Pena Diaz is an architect, lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Urban Studies, School of Architecture, City University Jose Antonio Echeverrfa (CUJAE) in Havana. His research has focused on the integration of urban agriculture in Havana. He has been a visiting academic at the University of Brighton and has collaborated with a number of international research and academic partners.
James Petts has a background in economics and the food industry. He is currently working for the Countryside Agency in England and has previously worked for Sustain (where his chapter was written) as a policy officer, co-ordinating the East London Food Futures project which aimed to initiate local food projects and develop a network of projects in East London, as well as working on a number of other projects to develop a more sustainable and just food economy.
Nina Planck opened London’s first farmers-market in 1999.Today London Farmers Markets operates a number of weekly farmers-markets, which provide home-grown food to city dwellers and crucial income for family farms in the Southeast. Her goals for the farmers-markets are more food produced within the M25 (London’s ringroad), and more organic food. She is the author of the Farmers-Market Cookbook and was an advisor to the Prince of Wale’s Rural Task Force.
Graeme Sherriff graduated from Keele University with an MA in Environmental Law and Policy. His MA dissertation, based on an extensive survey of food growing projects in the UK, looked at permaculture and its relevance to sustainable agriculture. After graduating, Graeme worked on practical environmental improvement and community building projects as part of Groundwork and then became involved with research on related subjects at the University of Manchester.
Jac Smit, between the ages of 12 and 22, held jobs in a diverse range of peri-urban agriculture fields including production, processing and sales of: poultry, vegetable, livestock [goat, cow and horse], orcharding [apple, cherry and maple], and ornamental horticulture. He acquired a first degree in agriculture and a master’s degree from Harvard University in city and regional planning. As project manager, technical director and principal planner he incorporated agriculture into the regional plans for Baghdad, Calcutta, Chicago, Karachi, and the Suez Canal Zone. In the early 1990s he carried out a worldwide study for UNDP to define the current and potential role of urban agriculture, which was launched at the Global City Summit in 1996. Since 1992 he has been the president of the Urban Agriculture Network and is a founding member of the global Resources Center for Urban Agriculture that has eight information centers on the five continents. He is a frequent conference presenter and is frequently published in a wide diversity of media.
Andre Viljoen is an architect and senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton, where he is undergraduate architecture course leader and runs a design studio with Katrin Bohn. Previously he was Deputy Director of the Low Energy Architecture Research Unit, based in the School of Architecture and Spatial Design at London Metropolitan University. He has participated in a number of European research studies for low energy buildings and his work in urban agriculture and urban design stems from an interest in architecture and environmental issues. Recent research and practice has concentrated on the design implications of the integration of urban agriculture into urban landscape strategies.
Arturo Perez Vazquez is completing a PhD in the Department of Agricultural Sciences Wye Campus, Imperial College. Its subject is the future role of allotments in England as a component of urban agriculture. He has received an Agropolis Award from the Cities Feeding People Program run by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Richard Wiltshire is a senior lecturer in Geography at King’s College London and Research Officer for QED Allotments Group, a Local Agenda 21 Initiative in Dartford. His recent research focuses on the development of allotments and community gardens in Japan, and he is the co-author (with David Crouch and Joe Sempik) of Growing in the Community (Local Government Association, 2001) and Sustaining the Plot (Town and Country Planning Association, 2001) with David Crouch. He is a Steering Group member for the Allotments Regeneration Initiative.
