Community Orchards

Daniel Keech explores the benefits of community orchards to people and wildlif

Building a Bristol Food City Region from the Grass Roots up: Food strategies, action plans and food policy councils

The City of Bristol, in the southwest of England, is blazing a trail in trying to integrate sustainable and healthy food production within its vision as the 2015 European Green Capital. If the topic of food and urban agriculture is to form a part of Bristol’s Green Capital programme and legacy, it will be as a result of a long and complex process of organising and lobbying within the city by networks of community food activists. In many ways the networks of food activists in the wider Bristol area are creating a food city region from the grass roots upwards. This article explores the problems perceived by Bristol activists in relation to “mainstream” agriculture and food as well as regarding the formation of their networks; it also highlights two case studies of innovative and multifunctional initiatives. In addition, the article analyses how grass-roots networks have attempted to influence food policy in the city

Diverse business models support urban farming and food marketing in Bristol

The City of Bristol has a long history and well-established practices in urban farming and city food system planning. Farms apply different urban business models that take advantage of the proximity to the city by providing food to city dwellers. Dedicated retailers and restaurants specialize in local food, and a variety of organisations facilitate and promote a resilient and sustainable urban food system.Diverse business models support urban farming and food marketing in BristolpublishedVersio

Urban agriculture and place-making : Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol

Despite rising enthusiasm for food growing among city dwellers, local authorities struggle to find space for urban agriculture (UA), both literally and figuratively. Consequently, UA often arises, sometimes temporarily, in marginal areas that are vulnerable to changes in planning designation. In the literature, spatial issues in relation to UA have either addressed structural questions of land use, governance and planning, or have highlighted social and personal benefits of UA. This paper aims to revisit and combine both streams of inquiry, viewing them as two co-constitutive forces that shape places through UA. The paper analyses three case studies in Brno, Ghent and Bristol, using a spatial lens that exposes important tensions as inherent characteristics of UA and conceptualises them as tensions within two space-narratives, namely abstract space and concrete place. It is suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places and thus contributes to place-making. This function should be recognised within urban planning circles, which should not only secure physical spaces to develop urban agriculture, but also create possibilities for local autonomous governance

Selling local food in the city. A comparative study of short food supply chains in Oslo and Bristol

This report presents findings from a qualitative survey among actors involved in the production and sale of local food in Oslo and Bristol, with a focus on sales models and challenges and opportunities for direct sales. The actors in Oslo and Bristol had largely the same motivation for local food sales, including environmental sustainability, transparency in the supply chain, creating community, supporting farmers, sharing knowledge about food and agriculture, as well as being a counterweight to the mainstream food system. Climate crisis and food safety were stronger motivational factors among actors in Bristol than in Oslo, while in Oslo there was more emphasis on the importance of local sales channels for food diversity and quality. Several interviewees pointed to lack of economic profitability as one of the most important challenges for the local food producers. It requires a great deal of work both with production, marketing and sales to be economically successful as a small-scale producer. At the same time, buying local food often requires more time, effort and money from consumers compared to shopping in grocery stores. The report points to several possible solutions to these challenges: increased demand for local food due to changes in attitudes, increased cooperation between producers, sales channels, organizations and public authorities to reduce competition and find common solutions, as well as the development of common digital platforms that can create economies of scale and make marketing and deliveries more efficient. It is also important to look at how the public sector, both through grants, procurement and guidance, can facilitate increased production and sale of local food.Selling local food in the city. A comparative study of short food supply chains in Oslo and BristolpublishedVersio

Making the city smart from the grassroots up: The sustainable food networks of Bristol

Smart cities are known for their top-down focus on technology. This paper argues that emergent aspects of food policy in the UK can be understood as a social movement, which sustains development by way of bottom-up, horizontal networks of urban groups, and business associations. It suggests that as platforms of food provision, such on-line food networks offer a counter-point to top-down smart city development predicated on high-tech infrastructure. Such complex arrangements demonstrate how the city needs to be understood as a networked field of action, not simply an administratively bounded construction. Within the field of action movements emerge, whose activism is successful in influencing policymaking, and in shaping the municipal strategies assembled to build the regional structure of food provision. The caveat this paper highlights is that, although successful in influencing policy and municipal strategies, the activism of these movements has not been as effective as might have been anticipated from such a democratic impulse. This lack reflects the limited power of cities in the UK over the structure of food provision, but also the troubled extension of public participation into a territory marked by corporate and agricultural policy. The paper bases its claims about the nature of urban food policies in cities on a case study of networks in Bristol, including interviews with key activists, analysis social media networks and documents. The evidence supports claims that urban food developments represent a form of social movement, whose activism is democratic in its attempts to be both sustainable and inclusive