Digging up the past: urban agriculture narratives in Melbourne and São Paulo

ABSTRACT

As urban agriculture becomes increasingly recognised as a contributor to nutritional and civic wellbeing, real estate developers and community associations have promoted it to advance distinct agendas. The article analyses this phenomenon in Melbourne and São Paulo, where colonial and industrial legacies have set the stage for urban agriculture’s resurgence and resulting “internal contradictions.” Developers of upmarket condominiums in both cities advertise urban agriculture as a purchasable commodity capable of recovering customers’ lost connections with nature and each other. However, the gentrifying effects of these developments deepen rather than alleviate social and environmental ills. By contrast, community projects profiled in four case studies emphasised urban agriculture’s ability to confront the long-term neglect of land, employment, and environment. We conclude that the capacity of urban agriculture to improve food systems is enhanced when proponents develop historically informed narratives that engage and inform consumers and municipal governments.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban agriculture
• Australia
• Brazil
• historical narratives
• marketing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The park remains to this day, now commemorated as Australia’s oldest industrial garden under the name H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens. It is noteworthy that three years prior to the park’s creation McKay lost a court case brought by his workers, who demanded conditions commensurate with “the normal needs of the average employee regarded as a human being living in a civilized community” (Parliament of Australia 1907, 3). The ruling was the basis for Australia’s minimum wage law and, though no evidence confirms it, may have motivated McKay’s experimentation with the garden city concept.

2. Currency values are in USD throughout unless indicated

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DP170101782]; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [2015/50081-2].

Notes on contributors

Adrian H. Hearn

Adrian H. Hearn, professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Melbourne. His work compares urban agriculture projects in Australia, China, and Latin America. Adrian’s recent books consider how local development agendas articulate with China’s emergence as the primary global consumer of commodities.

Thaís Mauad

Thais Mauad, Professor at the Department of Pathology, São Paulo University Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil. Coordinator of the Urban Agriculture Study Group, Institute of Advanced Studies of São Paulo University. Coordinator of the Urban Garden at the São Paulo University Medical School.

Chris Williams

Chris Williams, Lecturer in urban horticulture at the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne, specialising in urban agriculture. Chris developed the Novel Crops Project in 2014, which works to bring new or unusual edible species into cultivation, with an emphasis on perennial plants of high aesthetic value and with links to migrant communities.

Luis Fernando Amato-Lourenço

Luis Fernando Amato-Lourenço, Environmental Engineer and Doctor of Science (ScD). Researcher at São Paulo Medical School and Institute of Advanced Studies, the University of Sao Paulo. Current research initiatives include biomonitoring of air pollution and health outcomes; healthy urbanization; food safety and sustainable food production.

Guilherme Reis Ranieri

Guilherme Reis Ranieri, Bachelor in environmental management, Master in environmental science. Current work focuses on cultural heritage dimensions of urban agriculture and urban backyards, including unconventional food plants.