Presented by Dan Keech in the food and rurality nexus session at the 2016 RGS-IBG Annual Conference, 30th August to 2nd September 2016

1. No. 1
City horticulture – rural identity:
local food in Bath and Bamberg
Daniel Keech, Countryside and Community Research Institute, UoG
and
Marc Redepenning, Department of Geography, OFU
RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London 31st August 2016
Pics:VisitBath;www.a2ua.com

2. No. 2
Urban Agriculture: literature
UA: an area of deepening research and practice, covering issues including:
• UA potential to contribute to self-sufficiency in the global south (RUAF 2015)
• UA as a way to tackle food security associated with substantial rural-urban
migration in mega-cities (e.g. food policies in Medellín)
• UA planning for Smart Growth (Maye 2016)
• UA as a policy response to urban sustainability (Wiskerke & Viljoen 2012,
Sonnino 2016; food policies for Milan, Bristol, London, Sust’ble Food Cities…)
• UA spatial and functional distinctions – peri-urban (commercial) vs. urban
(social) (Opitz et al. 2015)
• UA and social movements (Tournaghi 2014, Reed and Keech 2016)
But: Limited appearance in these studies of small- and mid-scale provincial cities
which often have blurred and historical urban-rural identities (Redepenning
2010a, 2010b). Such cities are predominant in the EU.
And: UA work has focused on political, economic and technical aspects. We add
socio-cultural dimensions.

3. No. 3
Why Bath and Bamberg?
Similarities Differences
Similar population size and demographics
(ca. 70,000)
Federal state
Similar topography BA: 74 regional and small-sized breweries
in the county and city of BA serving local
markets
World Heritage status More £ and acceptability of municipal
intervention
Positions on major transport routes BA: ‘…a late medieval area of market
gardens with scattered houses and large
open spaces, which has retained this
character to the present day.’
Importance of tourism
Strong sense of identity/ independence

4. No. 4
Urban (?) horticulture
Bamberg
• 35 family-owned commercial nurseries
(often 3-4 ha, max. 20ha)
• Integral to WH status
• Strong kinship traditions, links to city
structures – city council, church and
horticultural associations.
• Sales: shops, restaurants/breweries,
street markets, direct marketing.
• Local varieties (garlic, liquorice, potatoes)
Bath
• Past history of commercial
glasshouses, orchards and
vineyards - largely disappeared
under housing. ‘Bath was largely
self-sufficient until the 1950s’
• Bath’s WH status: Romans and
Georgian buildings but also its
green landscape setting
• ‘Alternative’ food networks (e.g.
Transition Bath, Orchardshare )
Pic:BathOrganicGroup
Pic:www.blog-ums-bier.de

5. No. 5
Urban (?) horticulture
Bamberg
• agriculture and ‘rural green spaces’
in the city (Pics below: googlemaps)
Urban agriculture in Bamberg; OFU Bamberg.

6. No. 6
What did we do?
Reciprocal visits in September 2015
Over 20 interviews with 30+ individuals: councillors,
growers, heritage/tourism officials, brewers, civil
society food activists
Broad data analysis revealed some key themes:
 Distinctions in the ‘reach’ of local
 Local food associated with quality in both cities
but for different reasons
 Quality signifiers: price, taste, provenance
 Fraternity/co-operation/rivalry appear in distinct
ways but depend on culture and tradition (as
obstacle to co-operation)
 Role of ‘the local state’ (public administration)
and its understanding of promoting leadership
and initiation in local development
Above: Dan Keech with organic gardener Gertrud
Leumer. Below: Traditional entrance gate,
Gärtnerstadt. Pics by authors.

7. No. 7
Interpretations of Local
Bath Bamberg
Brewery All our beef comes from Wiltshire, fish
comes from St Mawes in Cornwall. [We
are] fully aware that our customers find
regional/local sourcing important, we
have printed menus with maps and
details about where ingredients are
sourced … (KA)
ST describes expanding export trade to
Scandinavia and Russia…
90% of our sales area is
within 15km (9 miles) …
our suppliers are local,
we have contact with
people going back
years, they know us,
they know what we
want, that’s important…
(CM)
Official In the Local Food Strategy, local = 30
miles from the border of the district (SK)
We want ‘local’ to refer
exclusively to the city-
region of Bamberg (MF)

8. No. 8
Some quality narratives in Bath
Local food doesn’t necessarily reveal distinctive qualities:
Bath is a ‘foody’ place with farmers’ market, artisan restaurants and many niche
producers. ‘…what you’ve got to recognize is that a lot of the surrounding farmers are
essentially commodity producers. Take this estate: it’s corn, beef, a bit of sheep and
dairy. …their current way of selling … doesn’t do them any favours on price’. (NM)
There is tension around the inclusiveness of a ‘foody’ culture
[Bath’s vibrant food culture] ‘is good for the tourist industry and … helps to develop the
local economy. But what difference does this vibrant culture make to people living in
Twerton, for example, on low incomes? It just creates a bigger perception of the gap.’
(DB)

9. No. 9
Some quality narratives in Bamberg
In Bamberg, local food is familiar and reliable:
‘We try to communicate [local food quality] on the menu, … but I don’t think people
concern themselves too much with these messages… as long as it tastes good.’ (CM)
Niches are explored and used: re-cultivation of old locally distinct products,
enhancing direct marketing and sales
‘The majority of the gardeners market directly from their courtyards, from the site of
production.’ (DB)
Example Bamberger Sortengarten (2012): ‘We wanted to conserve old types of plants
and seeds; many locally distinctive varieties have been developed through the market
gardening culture. We have been able to save some, but many have been lost. We have
discovered and use old recipes and host cookery workshops to keep the use of old
varieties alive and to combine with new varieties’. (GL)

10. No. 10
Co-operation, fraternity and rivalry (1)
• Bath’s alternative networks are digitally
connected, mutually supportive but lack
numbers/labour
‘The problem is not the lack of land …
Transition Bath also had a garden share project
when it first started and that collapsed because
because we had far more gardens than
gardeners.’
• A strong emphasis is placed on sharing
knowledge and practice through social
events and talks. This has led some of Bath’s
networks to hold expertise and individuals
have been co-opted by the council to inform
and even draft land use strategies.
Pics:OrchardShare;TransitionBath

11. No. 11
Co-operation, fraternity and rivalry (2)
• Bamberg supply chain co-operations had to be re-
established since personal contact vanished a
generation ago due to general decline (TS/DB)
• Problem of path-dependent production without
market observation: ‘As the nurseries became less
flexible, the more difficult their commercial positions
became and more jealousy and rivalry emerged. Co-
operation suffered and it surprised us that almost no
personal contact existed between gardeners and that
cross-trading was dormant. (WH)
• Bamberg gardener fraternities are ancient and
exclusive rivalries, notably between the Obere and
Untere Gärtnerstadt.
Pic: Authors from walking trail signage.

12. No. 12
‘Officialdoms’ and their agency
• Bath Local Food Strategy – rural economy,
environmental performance of food industry, public
health. How effective? Perhaps only short-term –
strategy period expires in 2017. Integration to public
health from 2017 so may need to review scope of
objectives. Procurement, nutrition and food co-ops???
• Bath’s sub-regional context: Bristol Food Policy Council
and CUBA; Sustainable food cities; little appetite for
rural greenbelt development although increased
security in food production could be a good way to
ensure greenspace protection in the city.

13. No. 13
‘Officialdoms’ and their agency
• WH management plans and regional marketing – no explicit
mention of food at all in Bath; in Bamberg, since 2001 the city
and district councils have used the A21 framework to develop
pro-local marketing campaigns (Gütesiegel/quality seals) (e.g.
“Region Bamberg – weil’s mich überzeugt”, 2003) and to help
gardeners collaborate (see the Interessensgemeinschaft
Bamberger Gärtner, 2010).
• Urban gardening is part of a new (to be published) WH
management plan but still lacks further funding – despite
good but results of prior funding (1.2M €).
• Gradually, more gardeners are on the council in Bamberg – 4
currently (in different political parties), which help maintain
the profile of commercial, land use, succession, co-operative
pressures, and integrate WH and tourism objectives
(Museum, walking paths, inventory of buildings etc.).

14. No. 14
Socio-cultural (and more) aspects of UA
To conclude
• Socio-cultural dimensions supplement existing technical, political and
economic aspects of urban agriculture research. And reveal yet more hidden
geographies…
• In terms of structuring analysis, culture offers a particular self-description for
acting within routines (‘Handeln aus Routine’) (Nassehi 2003). In Bamberg
cultural tradition represents a challenge to co-operation and competitiveness.
Is the gardening tradition mainly preserving routines and established identities,
or does it prepare people for changes in routine?
• Cultures of government (governance) is important, too. “Strong” local state
(City, Kreis and WH) has driven local food marketing, tourism and cooperation;
in Bath civil society has been co-opted by a shrinking public sector.
• Cultures of food consumption pose problems to small-scale gardening: In
Bamberg the nexus of cheap but good food is deeply embedded in the
collective memory of the locals. But as the costs of producing food increase
(with expanding quality standards and regulations), profit margins are affected.
In Bath, this is a challenge for poorer consumers and public health officials.

15. No. 15
Thank you for your attention
Please get in touch with us
dkeech@glos.ac.uk
marc.redepenning@uni-bamberg.de
Pic:TheAuthors
Pic:www.bathpubs.co.uk

16. No. 16

17. No. 17
Conclusions
• We have found in our work that the existing
literature on self-sufficiency, social innovation or
spatial differentiation within urban agriculture is
limiting for smaller cities with prominent
(dominant?) heritage narratives and modernised
agricultural hinterlands.
• Using food, and specifically commercial gardening
and socio-cultural aspects of food in two medium-
sized provincial cities, we have noted the ways in
which a sense of rurality (the rural) is represented
in the middle of the city, and how identity,
municipal policy, custom, tradition, and
entrepreneurialism have all adapted competing
notions of quality.
• Social/cultural analysis techniques, for example
linked to routines or social systems may help
supplement understandings of UA preoccupied
with scale, land use and output efficiencies.
Pic: The authors

18. No. 18
thoughts on culture
Culture: Dieser Begriff knüpft an die klassische Bedeutung von Kultur an, an jene des Schützens und Pflegens, um
etwas zu bewahren und zu erhalten (vgl. Baecker 2003: 37).
Dirk Baecker vermutet hierin eine gesellschaftlich bedeutsame Funktion von Kultur, die darin besteht, „die
Unwahrscheinlichkeit, das Bedrohte, das Prekäre, das Ungewisse einer sozialen Ordnung dergestalt darzustellen,
daß Maßnahmen zur Sicherung der Kultur wahrscheinlich und legitim werden. Die Kultur stellt innerhalb einer
sozialen Ordnung diese soziale Ordnung als bedroht und erhaltenswert dar“ (Baecker 2003: 37).
aus Redepenning 2010: 383
Kultur kann auch das heißen, was sich einmal bewährt hat und von dem man nur sehr schwer Abschied nehmen
möchte. Kultur als alles, was wir nicht bereits sind, zur Disposition zu stellen (Baecker 2003: 59f.), die Verletzung der
kulturellen Gültigkeit kann Irritationen auslösen. Die Kulturarbeit kontrolliert nicht, sondern sie verführt zum
Gewohnten, indem sie mit dem Ungewissen droht.
Kultur kann auch als Arbeit an zwei Fronten gelesen werden bzw. im Spannungsfeld von Identität/Redundanz und
Varietät/Differenz, um die systemtheoretische Variante zu wählen (Baecker 2003: 74)
Kulturelle Bedeutungssysteme entlasten uns, indem sie uns mit Fraglosem versorgen. Sie sind sowohl Teil jener
vibrierenden creatio continua, die sich in den Feldern kultureller Bedeutungsproduktion abspielt, wie auch Hort der
Kontinuierung und Tradierung unserer kulturellen Selbstverständnisse, die Orientierung in einer sich wandelnden
Welt versprechen (Nassehi 2003: 231).
Das Konzept Kultur scheint einen Beobachter mir einem Schema zu versorgen, das Eindeutigkeiten verspricht und
Muster erkennbar macht, Regelmäßigkeiten und Erwartbarkeiten (Nassehi 2003: 233).

19. No. 19
• Research on ‘food in the city’ must also address the
cultural dimension besides political and economic
considerations.
• Hence, we suggest to pay attention to multi-scalar
governance, and socio-cultural factors such as
identity and institutions.
• As the Bamberg example has shown, researching
und reflecting the multiplicity of different
Eigenlogiken of each actors, we suggest to pay
some more attention the complexity theories and
concepts such as Luhmann’s theory of social
systems. They might help illustrate how different
groups in cities communicate with each other
through and around a culturalized food nexus and
how the produce and embed culture into their
actions
Conclusions (2)

20. No. 20
Additional slides
I found this sign – and did a photo
– showing the old traditional
boundary between the Obere und
Untere Gärtnerstadt about which
Gertrud Leumer told us.
This is still a vivid cultural feature
inhibiting cooperation, obviously
(see slide no. 9).

21. No. 21
Pictures – just in case

22. No. 22
Pictures – just in case