City Farming – Urban Agriculture in Swiss Cities.
Case studies about contributions of urban agriculture to urban society and space.
At a glance
- Project leader : Hans Wydler
- Project team : Lea Deborah Egloff
- Project budget : CHF 120'000
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Federal government (Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation SBFI)
- Contact person : Hans Wydler
Description
Agriculture in Switzerland is confronted with challenges concerning economic efficiency, food sovereignty, ecology and biodiversity. Furthermore agriculture should contribute to decentralized settlement of Switzerland. The project City Farming wants to figure out whether it is possible to uncouple these tasks and whether Urban Agriculture (UA) may contribute to it in an urban environment. The sustainabiltity of City Farming is examined with four exemplary case studies. The focus of the studies is on the social and societal dimension of sustainability – related to the companies, as well as to their social and public environment. How is social capital (SC) linked to business success? How does SC contribute to positive externalities of the business? The results are discussed in terms of innovative entrepreneurial strategies as well as in terms of the spatial effects of these initiatives for a sustainable and edible city.