Ghetto go green: small scale urban farming for youth health and wellbeing in informal settlements in Kampala, Uganda

ABSTRACT

This is a visual essay about small-scale urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda. It starts by introducing the context of Kampala, particularly, the K-zones, which are informal settlements with limited access to services, infrastructure and public spaces. This creates an urban environment where the health and well-being of dwellers in the K-zones are compromised. In this context, a partnership between Danish non-profit organisation, Dreamtown, and Ugandan non-profit organisation, Network for Active Citizens, has facilitated the creation of eight green, public spaces. These are spaces for urban agriculture, while additionally functioning as public space for the communities, spaces for skills training, livelihood activities and non-formal education. While a vision with the green, public spaces has been to provide training in urban agriculture for increased food security and to foster green livelihoods, residents explain that urban gardens must reach a certain scale to be economically sustainable for households. In conclusion, the essay showcases small-scale, low-tech urban gardening to optimise scarce urban space in informal settlements. Gardens which are more than just a space for urban agriculture, but also act as communal spaces for health and well-being in the communities, are more sustainable in the long term, especially during times of crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• Grassroots
• public space
• urban gardening
• health
• wellbeing
• Uganda

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stine Kronsted

Stine Kronsted is a Urban Designer working with the NGO, Dreamtown. With Dreamtown, she is focusing her work on youth-led public space as an entry point to create new imaginaries about what the urban future can look like in informal and low-income settlements. She works between Denmark and South Africa, with an interest in understanding and facilitating the process of the urban through insurgency and counter-hegemonic practices. She works with decolonisation of thinking and practice, and moves within the intersection of these spaces both within academia and through her urban practice.