Urban agriculture, social cohesion and environmental justice. An action-research project to inform responsive policy making
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Geography
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Certomà C
(2015)
Political gardening. Transforming cities and political agency
in Local Environment
Certomà C.
(2019)
Urban gardening as politics
Tornaghi C
(2014)
Research-informed gardening activism: steering the public food and land agenda
in Local Environment
Tornaghi C
(2014)
Critical geography of urban agriculture
in Progress in Human Geography
Tornaghi C
(2016)
Urban Agriculture in the Food-Disabling City: (Re)defining Urban Food Justice, Reimagining a Politics of Empowerment
in Antipode
Tornaghi C
(2019)
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies
Tornaghi C.
(2017)
Giustizia e sovranità alimentare nella città neo-liberista: possibilità e limiti dell'agricoltura urbana
in Bollettino della società geografica italiana
VAN DYCK B.
(2019)
Urban Gardening as Politics
| Title | Making sustainable food paying (fairly) |
| Description | This is a of video of the presentation give by Helen Woodcock and Katie Brandon (Kindling Trust and Manchester Veg People) at the 7th workshop of the Urban Food Justice social platform. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Impact | The video has been uploaded on the project website and is available for the wider public. |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/economic-viablity/ |
| Title | Urban agriculture for a sustainable future: contemporary examples from Europe and the US |
| Description | This is the presentation given by Andre Viljoen at the launch event of "Urban Food Justice. A social platform on urban agriculture in the Leeds City Region", held at Shine, Leeds, on the 20th September 2012. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Impact | This video has been made to document the launch of the Urban Food Justice social platform and of the umbrella organisation Feed Leeds. This marked the beginning of public conversation between Leeds City Council and community groups around urban agriculture and food. The video is featured on the project website (www.urbanfoodjustice.org) as well as on the Feed Leeds homepage (www.feedleeds.org). |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/launch/ |
| Description | 1) The research undertook an exploration of emerging urban agricultural practices across the UK and identified a range of motivations, values and claims associated with them. These can be clustered in three groups: i) Socio-environmental justice. Many individuals working/volunteering in these projects are driven by an environmental ethic, and are concerned about climate change, world food regimes, exploitation of people/natural resources, and ultimately food sovereignty. ii) 'Green' jobs. A rising number of projects emerge out of a new awareness that funding is now available in this sector. This is especially the case of: a) artists, previously employed in the performing or public art sectors, and b) the public health sector that out of necessity - drastic cuts to public funding - looks for alternative ways of mobilizing "the Big Society" around health education and social cohesion. iii) The search for new community ties is also a goal, but usually comes associated with ideas about neighbourhood regeneration, beautification of derelict sites and in general a will to impact and claim ownership of the local environment. More details are available in the publications associated to this research. 2) The research has identified a number of exclusionary mechanisms related to food growing, for example: - The urban poor and people in food deserts, who are the ones who most need to access land for growing food often lack the capacity and resources (time, skills,) to navigate the system and benefit from existing opportunities - Vocational low income people, who are actually growing their own food to contribute to their family economy are increasingly experiencing obstacles due to austerity, corporate management and increase in land rents. - Across all the categories of growers, there is perception of lack of skills/time to transform the harvest into food: as a consequence, much of the food grown is not harvested or is wasted at home. - A range of UA advocates, knowingly or unknowingly, promote UA that contributes to dismantling the welfare state, advocating regressive self-sufficiency models and promoting further enclosures of the commons in the name of the 'big society'. A detailed discussion is available in "Critical geography of urban agriculture", published in Progress in Human Geography (2014) and in the paper "Urban Agriculture in the food-disabling city: (Re) defining urban food justice, reimagining a politics of empowerment" published in Antipode(2016); 3) The project has identified a range of opportunities and constraints around issues of land access, competing claims on land and the externality effects of UA that represent policy challenges. These are discussed in the research report 'policy brief'. 4) The project has created the Urban Food Justice social platform, aimed at bringing together different stakeholders in critical dialogue and action. This consisted of 11 learning events co-designed/co-facilitated with local stakeholders and participated by over 90 individuals. The platform has been key in the establishment of a number of initiatives, for example, the umbrella organisation Feed Leeds (www.feedleeds.org), a soil quality network, a working group aiming to establish a Leeds Food Hub, a working group for the creation of a city wide Leeds Sustainable Food Strategy. 5) The project has contributed to the establishment of a new branch of geography: a critical geography of urban agriculture. The key publication of this project (published in Progress in Human Geography in February 2014) has received more than 80 citations within the first three years from its publication.) Following the publication of this article, the author has been invited to a number of academic fora to present research or give keynote speeches. |
| Exploitation Route | I have published a paper highlighting how my explorative research lead to a new research agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture. This is the most read paper of the journal (Progress in Human Geography, which is one of the top human geography journals). I have also been invited to write an entry for the Wiley Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies on "Community gardening" and for an International Handbook on food and environment which will be very important ways of disseminating results. Findings can be put into practice by using the policy brief and community guide published on the project's website (Urbanfoodjustice.org). |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/ |
| Description | The research results have been used to date in four main ways: 1) Policy - Following the delivery of the draft of the policy brief to some council officer within Leeds City Council, I have been invited to prepare a document for the Director of Public Health, and later to prepare a supporting document for a Delegation to Leeds City Council. The delegation was led by Feed Leeds, a third sector umbrella organisation were I acted as Secretary, which I have co-founded and that was launched and consolidated through the Urban Food Justice social platform (an action of this project). The delegation was asking the establishment of a working group for the establishment of a Sustainable Food Strategy for the city of Leeds, and the request was approved unanimously by the 99 Councillors on the 10th of September 2014. Later the process has leed to the approval of a dedicated council officer to develop sustainable food plans and to Leeds forming a Sustainable food partnership and joining the Sustainable food cities network, as illustrated in this blog from 2017: (https://leedsfoodpartnership.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/funding-for-leeds-food-officer-approved/ ) 2) Citizens' blogs: The article "Critical Geography of Urban Agriculture" has been featured on a number of blogs and websites immediately after its publication, inspiring communities as well as researchers to look at urban agriculture more politically. See for example these blogs: http://www.cityfarmer.info/?s=Critical+geography+of+urban+agriculture ; http://www.citeulike.org/group/15407/author/Tornaghi:C A more thorough overview of my work (including all the outputs of the project) has been published here: https://medium.com/@wayneroberts/the-ways-and-the-way-to-urban-agriculture-digging-into-three-new-books-29d43b84c585 and here http://www.ufrgs.br/agriculturafamiliar/index.php?formulario=noticias&metodo=0&id=103&url=Zm9ybXVsYXJpbz1ub3RpY2lhcyZtZXRvZG89NA==&voltar=sim in 2017, later republished in January 2020: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-01-10/urban-agriculture-is-dead-cities-have-one-two-three-many-urban-agricultures/ . 3) Public Health. My work has attracted the attention of the public health sector in Leeds. The User Guide produced through this research has been distributed to public health workers following an invited presentation that I have given during a training workshop for them, organised by the Public Health Services (Leeds City Council). The feedback from participants was excellent and people asked for specific guiding documents where to read more about the topic. 4) Further dissemination to the public and the farmers/food sovereignty community. Following the publication of the article in Antipode, I have been asked to give a number of keynote speeches organised for the food sovereignty/food justice community (farmers, activists), held within academic contexts: University of Warwick, UK (July 2016), University of Maynooth, Ireland (February 2017). See links: https://urbanagnews.com/blog/critical-foodscapes-what-does-the-future-hold-for-urban-gardening/ and https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/creating-alternative-food-futures-food-sovereignty-ireland-and-beyond |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Document for the Director of Public Health |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | In November 2013 I have been invited to prepare a document for the Director of Public Health summarising the main policy direction emerging from my research. The document has been submitted in the 6th of June. As a consequence, the member of the Executive for Public Health within Leeds City Council) has suggested to take the document to the whole Council, through a delegation lead by Feed Leeds (an umbrella organisation of which I am co-founder and Secretary, launched and nurtured through the Urban Food Justice platform). The delegation has then been successful (see further impact items). |
| Description | Elected Chair of AESOP Sustainable Food Planning thematic group |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The AESOP Sustainable Food Planning group organised regular conferences, phd workshops and recently successfully obtained ERASMUS+ funding to develop curricula on sustainable food planning, for both, practitioners (MOOC) and students. The conferences are important learning opportunities for both academics and civil servants, where to share state of the art research in a field (sustainable food planning) which require both, policy and educational upgrading. |
| URL | https://aesopsfp.wordpress.com |
| Description | Presentation of a delegation to Leeds City Council and consequent establishment of a City Council led working group (in partnership with third sector organisations) aimed at developing a Sustainable Food Strategy in Leeds |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Parnership Grant (Insight, Connection) |
| Amount | $30,000 (CAD) |
| Organisation | Government of Canada |
| Department | SSHRC - Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Canada |
| Start | 05/2014 |
| Description | Transformations to sustainability |
| Amount | € 30,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | International Social Science Council (ISSC) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | France |
| Start | 09/2014 |
| End | 02/2015 |
| Description | Urban transformations. Pathways from practice to policy |
| Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/L015781/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2014 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Collaboration with Prof. Andre Viljoen (Brighton University) and the AESOP Sustainable food planning group. |
| Organisation | University of Brighton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | During the life of the project the PI has presented work at a session chaired by Prof. Viljoen (Brighton University) during the AESOP Sustainable Food Planning group annual conference in Montpellier. The PI has also invited Viljoen as keynote speaker at the launch of the Social Platform "Urban food justice" (2012) and to an international workshop in 2013 (also in Leeds). Following these exchanges, we have respectively applied to funding to AHRC and SSHRC (Canada) and consolidated research collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partner has accepted the invitation to the Launch and the Workshop, participating actively and contributing to the success of the project. Viljoen has also applied to AHRC for a project that was successful (2014-2016) and has been the opportunity for further collaboration and funding bids developments. |
| Impact | There are a number of outcomes: - successful SSHRC funding - successful AHRC funding - current large AHRC in development - invitation to stand for the position of Chair of the AESOP Sustainable Food Planning group (position held by Prof. Viljeon between 2013 and 2016). - successful election to the position of Chair of the AESOP Sustainable Food Planning group - development of joint papers (in review) - strengthening of a core partnership formed by Viljoen during the AHRC project. This is a multidisciplinary collaboration involving urban/political geographers (Tornaghi), a landscape designer/architect (Viljoen), and other partners (urban designers, an artist and permaculturalist, a horticulturalist, a rural sociologist, an architect). |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | (Re)-defining urban food justice |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I gave a presentation at the Food Justice Conference, University of Reading, July 2014. The talk sparked questions and engaged audience in debate. This presentation gave wide visibility to my work, and had a number of impacts: - my paper has been subsequently invited to be part of a special issue; - I have met researchers at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, which have later in the year shortlisted my for a job interview (and they are now my new collegues); - I have been invited to give other presentations and become member of panels from people I have met in this conference. The paper has been selected for a special issue on Food Justice, submitted to the Journal Antipode and currently under review. During the conference I had the opportunity to get in touch with other conference presenters and with a group of other UK-based activist-scholars we have developed a project to create a new, open access, global magazine on Food Justice. This project is currently seeking funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://foodjustice2014.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/tornaghi.pdf |
| Description | Community growing - first steps |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Health professionals |
| Results and Impact | This is a presentation that I have given as part of the programme of workshops titled "Let's get to know about food ", organised by Leeds City Council - Public Health services. The workshop gave to the participants an overview of different motivations to food growing, issues of food justice and their links to urban agriculture, positive and negative potential effects of urban food growing, a typology of growing projects, basic info on soil quality, urban metabolism and closed food loops, and an overview of the additional support they can have from Feed Leeds and from the User Guide produced through this research project. The workshop was participated by a number of health professionals working across sectors in the council or within third sector organisations working in partnership with the Public Health department on issue of food and nutrition. The audience raised many questions and asked for further information during and after the workshop (research reports produced by the research have been disseminated by Public Health (workshop organisers) and the PI has provided further ad hoc information. Additionally, one of the speakers has recently invited the PI to present the research outcomes at regional event of the Leeds and York NHS Partnership Foundation Trust. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Food related Leeds-based initiatives to tackle Climate Change |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation given to Leeds City Council-led "Climate change partnership" regarding community initiatives and research focussing on urban agriculture and its contribution to tackle climate change. The presentation has been jointly prepared by: 1) myself, as coordinator of Urban Food Justice, a social platform on urban agriculture in the Leeds City Region and secretary of Feed Leeds; 2) John Preston, West Yorkshire TCV Manager (formerly BTCV), chair of Leeds Green Forum and vice-chair of Feed Leeds; 3) Tom Bliss, Feed Leeds publicity officer and teaching fellow at Leeds Metropolitan University; 4) Niels Corfield, permaculture design educator and treasurer of Feed Leeds. The Chair of the Climate Change Partnership started to attend Feed Leeds meetings on a regular basis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Leeds Urban Food Justice Platform and the Feeds Leeds Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of Urban Food Justice and Feed Leeds at the third Annual Schumacher North Gathering, Swarthmore Education Centre, Leeds, Saturday 9th February 2013 Wider knowledge about the initiatives. A participant expressed interest in being involved in one of the forthcoming workshops of the Urban Food Justice social platform (workshop 6). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://schumacher-north.co.uk/schumacher-north-annual-gathering/ |
| Description | Promoting food justice. Action-research and social engagement: Feed Leeds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This is an invited lecture given to the students of the Master in "Activism and Social Change" (School of Geography, University of Leeds), for the module 'Campaigning for social change'. The lecture gave an overview of the links between action research and social engagement in the promotion of urban food justice, and in particular explained the links between this ESRC funded research project, a SPINDUS funded project (http://www.spindus.org/) called Edible Public Space co-coordinated by myself in 2010, and the foundation of the umbrella organisation Feed Leeds (www.feedleeds.org). The lecture discussed role and identity of action-researchers, strategies and learning trajectories for social inclusions, and pathways towards policy impact. Two students became more involved in my work as activist-scholar. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Interim evaluation event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This interim evaluation event for the Urban Food Justice social platform on urban agriculture was hosted by Green Drinks Leeds, a very popular monthly evening event. At the event I presented the social platform goals and main achievements, and I asked for feed back and suggested directions to strengthen the policy impact of the project. The feed back received from the audience has contributed to my own decision making, shaping decisions related to the second part of the social platform, with particular regard with strategies to engage with policy makers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/green-drinks-leeds-april-2013-tickets-6226927909 |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 2 - Land access |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Land access is one of the most problematic issues for urban food growers. In this workshop we have presented and discussed various types of access to land, identified existing support that skilled organisations can offer to new growers or landless people, and given space to various local groups seeking for land, to come and present their projects/ideas. The workshop aimed at making visible and sharing experiences related to land access, and to create a dialogue on this matter between local authorities and community groups (including activists). A representative of Leeds City Council has join in to announce the decision to make 37 parks available for the establishment of community food growing projects. During the workshop a representative of Leeds City Council (Parks and Countriside) has announced the decision to make 37 parks available for the establishment of community food growing projects, and made the list available to everyone. The workshop has also produced a map of existing organisations (public institutions, third sector, businesses) that had a stake in various assets/land and could be approached regarding any land that they might make available for growers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/land-access/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 3 - Soil quality and rehabilitation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We are used to see the urban landscape changing and in particular to see urban green field developed into new retail parks or housing units. But we rarely imagine or even conceive of built spaces becoming urban food growing sites. This workshop looked into how we can take care of urban soil and bring them back to be fit for food growing. Urban agriculture and local food growing has actually to deal with contamination and soil fertility. Speakers from Leeds City Council, grassroots community groups, local businesses and third sector organisations gave us an overview of how we can improve soil structure and deal with urban contaminants in an accessible way, while also dealing with greenhouse gasses emissions. The workshop included practical demonstrations and hands-on activities. Participants have expressed positive feedback related to the learning experience and have expressed interest in constituting a "soil quality support group". They have been contacted again later on to support this. The PI and one of the speakers (a Leeds-based academic) have further developed collaboration and funding seeking (successful), to the establishment of a Leeds Biochar Initiative. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/soil-quality/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 4 - Food for free Design solutions, educational potential and managing challenges of edible public space |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this workshop we have started to explore attitudes towards foraging and free food available in public space. We had two very inspiring speakers: Siham Bortcosh (Writtle College), presenting the results of an investigation into landscape managers' attitude to plant and let people harvest edible plants in public parks, and Mina Said-Allsopp (Msitu, Leeds forager educator) showing the number of edible species already available in Leeds' public land. We then had small groups discussions exploring incentives, constraints and foreseeable scenarios of extensive urban edible spaces. The PI has established contacts with nation-wide initiative "Incredible Edible Todmorden". Participants have also pointed out a range of problematic issues as well as visions that constitute important point to take into account in the planning of edible spaces (these have fed into the Policy Brief for policy makers). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/food-for-free/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 5 - Gardening, health and wellbeing. Rethinking communities in the 'gardens' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this workshop two speakers from Leeds City Council (respectively from Public Health and from Parks & Countriside services) and an environmental activist and community grower have discussed different aspects of community engagement, empowerment and cohesion "in the gardens". One of the presentations anticipated the details of a new policy and regulation for the use of public space and green space for community events. During this workshop, community groups had the chance to draft plans for community-run activities and sensitising events in public space, around urban agriculture and sustainable food, and to discuss any doubt/concern arising from the new council regulation on this matter. Other participants had also the opportunity to get inspiration from the projects presented and to plan new initiatives. And finally, the event led to the drafting of a "volunteering calendar" that matches Leeds-related food growing projects with mental health, public health and educational services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/community-cohesion/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 6 - Agroecology and urban metabolism |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A day-long event, run in collaboration with the Leeds Biochar Initiative (Ross-Tornaghi). The day was dedicated to design outreach and a media strategy for a research project on urban agro-ecology, that would involve 10 partners in Leeds; to assess educational needs in agroecology and urban metabolism among local growers; to identify individuals interested in skills sharing and delivering training; and to start up a participatory data collection on Biochar and soil fertility in Leeds. The day was very engaging and participants have respnded and contributed well to all of the above. I am about to mobilise the individuals that have offered to share their skills in a new project of popular education that will be announced on Monday 17th of November at the Leeds Civic Hall. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/agroecology/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 7 - The economic viability of urban agriculture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Participants engagegd in questions and drafted a 'wish' plan for the constitution of a local food hub. The workshop led to the constitution of a working group for the establishment of a Leeds Food Hub |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/economic-viablity/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice - Workshop 8 - Sustainable food strategies and food systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this workshop we discussed how the old Leeds Food Strategy could be brought back to life, how it could be integrated and updated, what new priorities could be identified, what was possible to learn from other cities, and what resources and opportunities could help this process. Participants and Feed Leeds members recognised the need to organise a second, more in-depth meeting to take this initial outcomes forward. A draft report of this initiative has been given to council officers in the Public Health sector that have required further elaboration on the proposal. The draft has evolved in a 4 pages support document that has been presented in a delegation to Leeds City Council, on the 10th of September 2014. The delegation asked a commitment (i.e. dedicated officers across the sectors) from Leeds City Council to take part in a working group to design a new sustainable food strategy for the city. The proposal has been accepted unanimously. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/food-planning/ |
| Description | Urban Food Justice and Feed Leeds. A joint launch event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A day long event with presentations (including keynote speaker Andre Viljoen, from the University of Brighton), workshops, excursions, and tree planting. An opportunity for envisioning the future of urban agriculture in Leeds. The social platform Urban Food Justice (UFJ) has been launched together with Feed Leeds (FL), as it aimed to support the consolidation of a network of urban agriculturalists (such as FL), its development and empowerment with a series of learning events. This event had a number of impacts. It has boosted the future development of the Urban Food Justice social platform, it has publicly announced the intention of Leeds City Council to engage with food growing, it has started a wide networking process across organisations in Leeds involved in food growing and public health. Some council officers have been briefed to facilitate small groups discussions, and this has both enhanced future collaboration with them over the next months, as well as given |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/launch/ |
| Description | Urban agriculture, food justice and alternative urbanism. Contested cities conference presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I have been invited to give an overview of my research work on urban agriculture and contested urbanism, with the aim of opening up collaboration between myself and members of the Contested Cities network. The presentation sparked debate and raise the interest of a number of participants, particularly from Mexico and Argentina. I have started to exchange academic papers and reading with an Argentinian academic, and I am now discussing possible collaboration with one of her PhD student which is now visiting my institution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://contested-cities.net/CCleeds/contested-cities-research-network-upcoming-events/ |
| Description | Urban agriculture, social cohesion and environmental justice |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This is the presentation given at RGS-IBG Conference in Edinburgh, in July 2012. I have presentented the very preliminary outcomes of my research, and I used the emerging key questions to frame the whole conference session (I was the session organiser and chair) Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Urban food justice - Concluding event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The concluding event of the social platform has been held in the Civic Hall, and run in collaboration with the AGM of Feed Leeds. After the presentation of some of the main outcomes of the discussions held during last year, the participants had the opportunity to feed back on this initiative and discuss if and how to take it forward, and what policy outcomes could be expected. Feedback has been very positive, remarking the appreciation for the incremental approached adopted in designing the workshops (linking each discussion and leading towards a progression in skills building and policy impact). One year on from the launch, Feed Leeds is now an independent organisation, and many participants to the social platform events are also FL members. However, the learning element of the UFJ platform has been recognised as a key driver, and stronger motivator for attendance. Many participants have expressed interest in volunteering - if needed - to ensure the continuation of this experience. A number of council officers have taken part in this event and provided support to take some of the ambitions expressed in the workshops forward, to the political arena. In particular, council officers from Public Health have asked me to prepare a document for the Director of Public Health with a summary of the proposed policy directions. This has instigated collaboration and feedback over the preparation of the document, that has been presented at Leeds City Council In September 2014 and accepted unanimously by the 99 Councillors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.urbanfoodjustice.org/social-platform/conclusions/ |
| Description | Urban food justice. A social platform on urban agriculture in the Leeds City Region - Conference paper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented a paper at the AESOP Sustainable Food Planning Conference in Montpellier (October 2013). The presentation, focussed on the methodological aspects and the policy impacts of the ESRC funded social platform, sparked questions and discussion. I have also been invited by the session chair (Prof. Viljoen) to join nascent network of researchers - later funded by AHRC After this presentation, the session chairs asked me to become part of a new network of academics working on "pathways form practice to policy" and to apply or funding to the AHRC. The proposal has been successful and was funded in June 2014. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/aesop5/ |