The Implications of the New Geography Framework of Urban Agro Ecology on Urban Planning

Introduction: The New Geography Framework

The new geography is a new theoretical and analytical framework that adds new layers of meaning of urban agroecology and security in the food system based on the interrelationships between economic, social, political, ecological, technological, and public health factors threaten human survival—the analysis of policy formation and consolidation relationships for policy action of the food system. Sustainable food systems can be approached from other interdisciplinary research beyond agro ecology such as economics, environmental sciences, ethics, sociology, etc. Theoretical and practical analysis of local food strategies is relevant to developing a more sustainable food system vision.

Agroecology is an integrative discipline that includes other elements and principles from agronomy, ecology, sociology and economics (Dalgaard, Hutchings, & Porter, (2003). Urban agroecology has been analysed from multidisciplinary perspectives and meanings, giving urban forms while reconnecting urban green areas, vacant spaces and food growing, supporting new geographical and sociopolitical configurations. Food ascetics (Osti, 2006), a new geography of food (Cook, 2008), ethical foodscapes (Morgan, 2009), and alternative food networks (Harris, 2009) are analytical streams emerging from the critical geography of urban agroecological systems.

The critical geography of urban agroecology practices is beyond the urban food production to analysing the embedded economic-social and environmental dynamics from a transdisciplinary dialogue to propose alternatives of policymaking (Marcuse, 2009; Moulaert, MacCallum, &Mehmood, 2013). Agroecology tends to become more transdisciplinary knowledge and practice. The critical geography of urban agroecology and agroforestry are alternative paradigms more suitable for an urban context beyond market-driven sustainability (Gliessman, 2012).

Agroecological forests using organic fertilisers protect water springs that provide clean water for irrigation. Urban agroforestry and intercropping are viable agroecological practices used to improve higher soil fertility and better moisture. An agenda for a critical geography of urban agroecology initiatives must analyse the cultural and political identity meanings, their values, objectives and claims of practitioners in the emerging projects in current times.

In the new geography of food security, sustainability and food security concerns are potential elements for urban innovations in the complexity of socioeconomic and environmental dynamics. New geography adds new layers of meaning of security in the food system based on the interrelationships between economic, social, political, ecological and public health factors that threaten human survival. The new geography of food security has to design strategies and policies to deal with inequalities, exclusion and poverty in urban areas, addressing variations across the different socioeconomic groups where available food is expensive (UN Habitat 2010; FAO 2011; Holt‐Giménez2008).

Agroecology practice, movements, and scientific perspectives are discursive assessments of the emerging interactions in the context of yield maximisation models to elucidate a responsive agricultural approach. In this sense, urban agroecology practices and activities explicitly reject the corporate food system (McClintock, 2010; McClintock & Simpson, 2017; White, 2011).