While widespread urban farming remains pipe dream in the United States, dwindling arable land and a mass shift to cities might make it a necessity in China.
Danny Hudson explores the question, "If China's farmers are leaving the countryside - due to both eviction and personal choice - then who is to cultivate all the food for a traditionally self-sustaining culture with over a billion mouths to feed?"
China has a long history of finding innovative ways to feed large populations. But the scale of today's challenges is unprecedented. "Citizens find themselves displaced and obligated to become part of an urban (and to them foreign) community, forcing the government to come up with a new system of urban farming that would not only help to solve the issue of diminishing farmland and food supply, but also assist in regulating urban air qualities and green space for those who want and need it."
The photo-rich article discusses how Chinese cities might become "a new typology of urban design whereby the artificial is the new planting bed for the contemporary farm."
FULL STORY: china paves the way for a new definition of urban farming
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research