| Kommentar |
Exploring Urban Agriculture in Global North and South
This study project is a joint cooperation within the East African German transdisciplinary University Network on rural-urban transformations (EAGER Trans-Net). Together with University of Daressalaam, Ardhi University (Daressalaam), University of Nairobi, Karatina University (Kenya) and Chuka University (Kenya) Humboldt University of Berlin organizes staff, student and scientific exchange (mainly funded by Erasmus+). The network is working trans- and interdisciplinarily and involving among others the departments of Geography, African Studies, Human Settlement and Environmental Studies, as well as Agricultural Economics.
The course is aimed at students from all partnering institutions and will be jointly supervised from staff members from the partnering Universities. The overall goal is to enable joint international, interdisciplinary and intercultural (field) research and scientific exchange among students and staff in Berlin. The student teams will be international and the language spoken is English.
Urban agriculture is at the core of a sustainable development agenda (see Nicholls et al. 2020). In the Global South, food security is a prime goal with shortened transportation routes, reduction of post-harvest losses, and responsible consumption and production being important elements (Sheahan/ Barrett 2017). In the Global North, the focus shifts more towards strengthening links between city and nature, promoting social cohesion and fostering health (see a.o. Dobele/ Zvirbule 2020; Pinheiro/ Govind 2020; Tornaghi 2014). In the face of climate change, urban agriculture can be an adaptation strategy.
To understand and analyze urban agriculture projects and programs, it is first of all important to develop theoretical concepts and frameworks. The literature spanning the field of urban agriculture relies on many different framings and conceptual definitions. In a first block, an introduction will provide the background to the various concepts and approaches in the Global South and North. In discussions and working groups we will develop a common understanding and frame of analysis for the rest of the course.
In the second block, some case studies will be introduced for Daressalaam and Nairobi by partnering with EAGER Trans-Net staff. In group discussions we will reflect on how this relates to what we framed in the previous block and whether we see regional heterogeneity with respect to objectives, design and outcomes. Afterwards, international student teams will adopt cases in Berlin, for which they will do some first research - visiting the sites, documenting first insights for presenting and discussing them in a session on site together with the whole course group.
The presentations may already have resulted in ideas for the final project work. We will brainstorm and further develop possible research questions together in the third block. The fourth block will provide a set of methods and tools to tackle these research questions, including review techniques, qualitative methods based on interviews, remote sensing approaches, etc.
Based on the first four blocks, the international project teams will develop their research designs and present their projects to peers and HU staff. Partnering staff from EAGER Universities in Kenya and Tanzania will participate online in these hybrid meetings.
In a block of three weeks there will be time for joint field research in the international student teams (incoming Erasmus+ students from partnering EAGER Universities in Kenya and Tanzania will stay until 31.7.).
In a joint workshop, preliminary results will be presented and feedback for writing the final report (MAP) will be given by EAGER Trans-Net staff.
In a final joint excursion all results will be discussed on site with experts and/or practitioners.
The final report/ MAP has to be handed in until 30.9.2022.
Schedule:
|
Date
|
Activity
|
|
25.4.
9.15-12.45
|
Introduction, getting to know each other, (analogue, classroom)
presentation of the literature to be read, formation of teams
|
|
2.5.
9.15-12.45
|
Block 1: Team work on theoretical concepts based on reading-notes (analogue, classroom)
|
|
9.5
9.15-12.45
|
Block 2: Presentation of Nairobi/ Daressalaam case studies by (partnering) staff (online)
|
|
16.5.
9.15-12.45
|
Block 2: Presentation of student case studies in Berlin (online for staff in T/K; for others analogue, outdoor)
|
|
23.5.
9.15-12.45
|
Block 2: Presentation of student case studies in Berlin (online for staff in T/K; for others analogue, outdoor)
Block 3: Finding a research question (Short input on research design, guided brainstorming on research questions and building teams (analogue, outdoor)
|
|
30.5.
9.15-12.45
|
Block 4: Methods input by HU staff and Alumni (?) (analogue, classroom)
|
|
13.6.
9.15-12.45
|
Block 5: students present research design, feedback by staff in smaller group sessions (online)
Expose to be uploaded one week later
|
|
20.6.
9.15-12.45
|
Field research (+online consultation time for smaller groups if necessary)
|
|
27.6.
9.15-12.45
|
Field research
|
|
4.7.
9.15-12.45
|
Field research
|
|
11.7.
9.15-12.45
|
Workshop (together with partnering staff in Berlin): Presentation of preliminary results (analogue, classroom)
|
|
15.7. (Friday!)
Time tba
|
Joint final excursion (analogue outdoor)
|
|
30.9
|
Handing in MAP/ Report
|
|
| Literatur |
Dobele, M.; Zvirbule, A. (2020): The Concept of Urban Agriculture – Historical Development and Tendencies. In: RURAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH 2020, VOLUME 43 (338). https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2020-0003
Nicholls, E.; Ely, A.; Birkin, L.; Basu, P.; Goulson, D. (2020): The contribution of small‑scale food production in urban areas to the sustainable development goals: a review and case study. In: Sustainability Science (2020) 15:1585–1599. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00792-z
Pinheiro, A.; Govind, M. (2020): Emerging Global Trends in Urban Agriculture Research: A Scientometric Analysis of Peer-reviewed Journals. In: Journal of Scientometric Res. 2020; 9(2):163-173. https://doi.org/10.5530/jscires.9.2.20
Sanyé-Mengual, E.; Specht, K.; Grapsa, E.; Orsini, F.; Gianquinto, G. (2019): How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities. In: Sustainability 11 (15), S. 4221. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154221
Sheahan, M; Barrett, C.B. (2017): Review: Food loss and waste in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Food Policy 70 (2017) 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.03.012
Tornaghi, C. (2014): Critical geography of urban agriculture. In: Progress in Human Geography 2014, Vol. 38(4) 551–567. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132513512542 |
