Food and urban design: Urban agriculture as Second Nature?

This chapter examines evolving relationships between the city and agriculture, focussing on the re-emergence of urban agriculture as a "new" urban typology. It traces the drivers and motivations that have led to this phenomenon and that together constitute a "wicked problem". Key concepts and protagonists of urban agriculture in the Global North are presented in the context of to popular desires in relation to food production and food culture. The concept of Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) is introduced as an example of an urban design strategy capable of synthesising complex cultural, environmental and spatial objectives of the increasing practice of urban agriculture. It is argued that the idea of Second Nature could provide a cultural framework for articulating underlying desires within popular culture that are supportive of the wider-spread introduction of productive landscapes into cities. The chapter concludes with a review of issues affecting the success and reliability of enterprises that have pioneered the creation of urban agriculture initiatives within Germany, the UK and the USA.