Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Climate change has led to a number of implications for humans. One of the main challenges
for the future will revolve around the access to resources and food. In order to work towards
food security we have to rethink our agricultural system and our practices. Agroecology is a
concept that aims to create more sustainable food systems, and one occurring approach
within agroecology is localized food systems. With the growing trend of urbanization, there
is a need for better urban policies and strategies for urban agriculture. There are currently
several challenges potentially standing in the way of further development of urban
agriculture. This thesis identifies and investigates these challenges with the help of existing
research on the subject, as well as a case study with people involved in the commercial
urban agricultural scene of Malmö, Sweden. Furthermore, it will briefly investigate some
solutions to these challenges.
This thesis has been carried out as a qualitative study, conducted through
semi-structured interviews with an interview sampling within Botildenborg and Stadsbruk.
The analysis has been carried out with the help of triangulation, participatory observations,
SWOT-analysis, word clouds, and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A
literature study was carried out in order to build background information, and to compare
the challenges mentioned in literature to the information received from the interviews.
In short, the results indicated that the largest perceived challenge for the commercial
urban agriculture movement in Malmö is achieving profitability, mainly due to a low-price
market for vegetables. Another major challenges for this movement was connected to
policy and the inclusion and acknowledgement of urban agriculture practices. Furthermore,
the incubator Stadsbruk was perceived as a useful too for urban farmers to access land, and
to act as a bridge for communication between various stakeholders. A future desire for the
Malmö movement would be better lobbying and awareness creation coupled with further
education on the topic, in order for the urban agriculture movement to better spread in
Sweden and elsewhere.