Problem Statement:
Land access is a prerequisite for all urban agriculture, and is often a primary factor in evaluating equity (Black Yield Institute and Farm Alliance of Baltimore, 2021). Land access in urban agriculture is best understood as a socio-legal construction that dictates the rules, customs, and practices by which individuals, organizations, and communities claim and realize the capacity to cultivate and harvest food (Ribot and Peluso 2003). Understanding this construction therefore demands a study of the legal instruments that guide access, transfer, rights, and obligations relating to land as well as the social practices that structure access, exclusion, distribution and use. Analysis of land access can be broken down into formal and informal dimensions, where formal tracks the legal dimension and informal tracks the social. For example, a formal plan set out by a municipality may dictate certain types of land use, but a pressure to meet market demands may dictate some land user’s decision making. From a legal geographic standpoint (Braverman et al. 2019), of crucial concern is understanding how the legal and the social co construct the material outcomes of the assembled urban agricultural systems.
Formal dimensions of land tenure can be observed by examining lease arrangements, relevant property law (rules of resource allocation and/or distribution, rights and obligations related to land) (Calo, Shields, and Iles 2022), planning obligations, relations of debt, and land titling registrars. Informal dimensions of land tenure can be studied by analyzing access mechanisms, landlord tenant relations (Calo and De Master 2016), land quality assessments, speculative interests in land, perceptions of security, and observed distribution. One way to understand how these dimensions co-construct each other is through case study analysis of formal planning procedures related to land use. There, as Vinge (2018) has demonstrated, one can observe how authoritative actors derive legitimacy to make determinations about ‘best use of land’. This type of analysis can be compared with the informal and formal mechanisms that shape land tenure to see which indicators are included, which receive preference, and which are omitted.
Co-constructing these elements can be derived by establishing “access narratives” through semi structured interviews with land owners and land seekers. Bringing these groups together in workshops can determine known relevant dimensions to pursue and what needs future research.
Labor equity refers to the priority for understanding the labor dimensions of intensifying urban agriculture along different routes (Cohen and Reynolds, 2015). Labor requirements, remuneration, and conditions of labor are often overlooked or left out of otherwise systemic urban agricultural assessments (Nogeire-McRae et al., 2018), compounding existing marginalization of food system workers: for instance, unpaid work sustains many urban agriculture sites (Drake 2018). A participatory ethnography of labor in the food systems has proven to reveal the broader logics of production and consumption that prop-up food systems (Holmes 2013; Hightower 1972; Barndt 2008). These approaches build on social reproduction theory and feminist geographies (Rodríguez-Rocha 2021) to complicate understandings of skilled-versus unskilled work. At a base level, mapping the different modes of labor along axes of level of knowledge versus capital intensiveness in comparison to an axes of social exploitation provides a starting point for assessing the role of labor in urban food systems. In many cases of intensified agricultural systems, a governance assessment of migration and labor laws complements the focus on lived experiences.
Norsk
WP2 – Arbeid og areal i urbant landbruk
I Norge og Nederland vil vi særlig forske på arbeid og areal i urbant landbruk. Tilgang til areal er en forutsetning for alt urbant landbruk, og er viktig for rettferdighet i landbrukssystemer (Black Yield Institute og Farm Alliance of Baltimore, 2021). For å forstå hvordan urbant landbruk fungerer i byer, må man både se på hvilke lover og regler som finnes, og hvordan folk samarbeider, siden begge deler påvirker de konkrete resultatene. Dette kalles juridisk-geografi (Braverman et al. 2019).
Vi skal studere både formelle og uformelle dimensjoner. De formelle dimensjonene henger sammen med juss og lovverk, mens de de uformelle dimensjonene er alle sosiale praksisene, normene og kulturene i arbeidet på jorda. En kommunal arealplan styrer arealbruken formelt, mens sosialt kan press fra markedet påvirke beslutninger som tas om arealet. De formelle dimensjonene kan vi få vite mer om ved å undersøke leieavtaler, lovgivning for eie og drift av jordbruksareal (fordeling, rettigheter og plikter) (Calo, Shields og Iles 2022), plansystem og gjelds- og eiendomsregistre. Uformelle dimensjoner kan studeres ved å undersøke hvordan mennesker inkluderes og ekskluderes fra urbant landbruk, leietakers forhold til jordeier (Calo og De Master 2016), vurderinger av jordkvalitet, eiendomshandel og -spekulasjon, og ulike aktørers oppfatninger av forutsigbarhet, sikkerhet og fordeling.
Én måte å forstå mer om hvordan disse dimensjonene virker sammen, er gjennom å studere konkrete eksempler i arealplanprosesser. Der kan man observere hvordan autoritative aktører henter legitimitet til beslutninger om hva som er «den beste bruken av arealet» (Vinge, 2018). Her ser vi på hvilke indikatorer som blir inkludert, hvilke som får gyldighet og hvilke som utelates. Ved å intervjue både de som eier areal, de som bruker det og de som ønsker å bruke det, kan vi lære mer om hvordan systemet fungerer, og hva vi bør se nærmere på fremover.
Den andre dimensjonen vi særlig skal forske på, er rettferdige arbeidsvilkår i urban dyrking. Arbeid er ofte underkommunisert i urbant landbruk (Nogeire-McRae et al., 2018). Det er viktig å få mer kunnskap om de sosiale forholdene til bønder, frivillige, gartnere og andre som arbeider med jorda. Mange steder i verden er urbant landbruk avhengig av ulønnet arbeid (Drake 2018). Her vil vi i samarbeid med mennesker som jobber med urbant landbruk hver dag, samle kunnskap om hva som skal til for at arbeid verdsettes på en måte som oppleves rettferdig. Vi vil også studere hvordan lover påvirker arbeidsforholdene, og mer teoretisk søke å kartlegge hvordan ulike typer arbeid varierer i forhold til kunnskap og kapital.
Objectives:
Co-define appropriate land access and labor equity indicators for UAI
Evaluate data collection infrastructure needed to inform indicators in an accurate and timely way that meets local needs
Develop concrete, tailored recommendations to address limitations or gaps in this infrastructure.
Research Team
Heidi Vinge, PhD Heidi is an associate professor of social science in the Faculty of education and arts at Nord University. Heidi holds a PhD in Sociology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology where she studied farmland knowledge politics. She also holds a BA in journalism . She previously worked at Ruralis – Institute for Rural and Regional Research which is still a part of her collaborative network. She is the co-lead for WP2.
Adam Calo, PhD Adam is an assistant professor of environmental governance and politics in the Geography Planning and Environment Department at Radboud University. Adam received his PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley. He writes a blog called Land Food Nexus and produces a podcast called Landscapes. He co-leads WP2.
Beste Sabir Onat, PhD Beste is an urban planner and architect. Her research area traces sustainable urban development, critical urban pedagogies, democratic citizenship, productive urbanism and urban agriculture. She is working as a Postdoctoral researcher at Nord University
Stijn van den Oever, MSc Stijn is a masters student in the program Governance of Sustainability Transformations at the Wageningen University of Research. He has an interest in sustainable and democratic food systems and is writing his thesis on the role of Dutch food policy councils in local food policy
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