Forging Research Pathways to Sustainable Farms and Food Systems with an Interdisciplinary Evaluative Framework for Urban Agriculture

Abstract

Urban agriculture manifests in a myriad of ways across the globe and is at the intersection of urgent contemporary issues, including social justice, environmental sustainability, community development, and climate change adaptation and resilience. The study of urban agriculture is inherently interdisciplinary as urban farms are a nexus where technological and design innovation, visionary urban land use and policies, and community-based social and economic organizing take place. New urban agriculture research and teaching strategies are needed that help to differentiate designs and practices, evaluate a wide spectrum of impacts, and prepare students to understand and participate in urban agriculture work that is linked to current events and challenges. This chapter describes how a custom urban agriculture research method was used by students in an undergraduate course at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to forge research pathways into topics that were compelling to them and that represent some of the most urgent sustainability challenges and existential threats currently facing communities worldwide. By providing the method, tools and coaching for students to develop seldom taught interdisciplinary skills, this course helped to prepare students to succeed in urban agriculture and sustainability professions and to demonstrate the vital role of urban agriculture in creating sustainable, equitable, and resilient communities in the context of twenty-first century challenges.