Presentation short abstract

Urban Agriculture (UA) in slums reflects struggles over land, power, and survival. This study shows how slum residents use UA to secure food and shape urban space despite insecure tenure, pollution, and exclusion, highlighting its role in resilience and justice.

Presentation long abstract

Urban Agriculture (UA) is increasingly recognized as vital to sustainable city development, yet its practice within informal settlements remains marginalized in urban policy and scholarship. This paper explores the political ecology of UA in slum environments, examining how power, governance, and socio-environmental inequalities shape the ability of residents to cultivate food and manage urban space. Using political ecology as a guiding framework, the paper analyzes how access to land, water, and environmental resources is negotiated amid overlapping interests of local authorities, informal landholders, private developers, and community actors. Despite being depicted as environmentally degraded spaces, slums often host dynamic forms of environmental care. Residents repurpose vacant plots, riverbanks, and roadside margins into productive UA sites, using cultivation as a strategy for survival, food security, and income generation. However, these efforts are constrained by insecure land tenure, restrictive municipal regulations, exposure to pollution, and periodic evictions driven by redevelopment and land speculation. The paper highlights how gendered labor roles, informal governance networks, and socio-spatial inequalities influence who participates in UA, under what conditions, and with what risks. These findings underscore that slum-based UA is deeply political, embedded in broader struggles over land, legitimacy, and environmental justice. By situating informal UA within wider urban political economies, the paper contributes to debates on resilience, food systems, and inclusive urban development. It argues that integrating community-led UA into municipal planning is essential for enhancing food security, improving environmental conditions, and supporting equitable climate adaptation in rapidly urbanizing cities.