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Accepted Paper
As the city grows, what do African farmers do? Spatiotemporal transformations of urban and peri-urban agriculture under rapid urban growth
Alexander Follmann
(LMU Munich)
Rapid urban growth poses increasing challenges, but also opportunities for urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). This paper explores the nexus between UPA and urban growth through a meta-analysis of 60 research papers on UPA in Africa and detailed empirical insights from Kenya.
Paper long abstract
Rapid urban growth poses increasing challenges, but also opportunities for urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). This paper explores the nexus between UPA and urban growth through a meta-analysis of 60 research papers on UPA in Africa and detailed empirical insights from Kenya. Applying a framework focused on interactions between urban growth, agricultural production factors, and urban food markets, the paper highlights the challenges and opportunities of UPA. The findings indicate a complex, multi-dimensional challenge for planners and policymakers seeking to manage UPA in and around African cities. So far, few studies holistically address spatiotemporal dynamics, intra-urban variations, and complex multi-dimensional interlinkages of UPA under urban growth. Especially, little attention has been paid to market-oriented forms of UPA under rapid urban growth. The empirical insights highlight the spatiotemporal dynamics of UPA and market-oriented farmers’ responses to changing socio-spatial circumstances in two rapidly growing Kenyan cities: Nyeri and Nakuru. We show that market-oriented farmers are not inevitably pushed out of the city, but rather that they are – under certain conditions – able to actively respond to the pressures as well as opportunities that emerge during rapid urban growth.