By 2050, the year most cities around the world aim to achieve net zero, the UN estimates that around 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. It’s not surprising then, that many cities are looking to increase urban food production to support their environmental and social sustainability ambitions.

In 2019, London was among fourteen cities to sign the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration, a movement that aims to mitigate emissions related to the food sector, which are anticipated to increase by nearly 40 per cent by 2050.

Having identified the carbon impact of food transportation, Copenhagen, another Declaration signatory , launched an urban farming programme that would cut food miles while providing organic vegetables to serve its kitchens and nurseries and residential care homes. The 1,000 kitchens that produce 70,000 plant based meals a week, also aim to promote good health among  residents, in turn reducing healthcare interventions.

But reducing food miles is not the only benefit to local food production. In Singapore, urban farming sits alongside other planting strategies, delivered in part through community gardens on roof tops, including municipal car parks, introduced as part of the City’s approach to tackling the urban heat island effect - the increase in temperature experienced by urban locations compared to adjacent rural areas.

It's widely acknowledged that community gardens can create a significant amount of social value by improving the mental and physical wellbeing of users. They enable residents to engage in activities such as growing fresh fruit and vegetables, providing them with healthy and nutritionally valuable foods to consume and share with others, as well as bringing people together within communities. Community gardens in urban areas, often perceived to be food deserts where it’s hard to source and afford fresh fruit and vegetables, can be particularly beneficial.

The social impacts of community gardens can include children participating in gardening which raises awareness and educates them on growing produce and healthy eating. This would have longer term benefits for children’s health and wellbeing by supporting their mental and physical development, as well as offering educational benefits illustrating and informing classroom based lessons in a range of subjects from science to art. A report published by the UK Department for Education found that 68 per cent of primary schools had vegetable and fruit gardens but that this dropped to 34 per cent at secondary schools.

Providing a community garden as part of a development scheme helps to foster community cohesion by providing a space for people to socialise and meet with neighbours, reducing social isolation and creating a sense of belonging. Some housing developers are taking this a step further: Redrow, for example, will provide 16 acres for allotments across its sites in 2022 to 2023 aiming to help address the demand for allotments.

Formalised by legislation following the First World War, allotments in in the UK cover 28,000 acres but current demand for allotments is rising. A National Allotment Society review reports that a third of allotment providers had waiting lists of over 1,000 applicants, with Covid-19 prompting an 87 per cent increase in applications.  While councils expect to increase allotment provision, it is clear that we need to identify opportunities in the spaces and places around us as the role of greenspaces and nature based solutions in cities has never been more important, not only for our own health and wellbeing, but also to address climate change. 

Further information

Contact Kat Martindale or Gina Lewis

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