The idea of growing food in the city seems preposterous and unproductive to urban planners and developers - for no good reason. This is a collection of non-original ideas about how we can go about creating space for growing food in city in a sensible manner.

1. Bringing Food into The City
LAND USE PLANNING
Prepared by Yogita Mehra and Karan Manral

2. GREAT IDEA!?
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WHY BOTHER…

3. Before we proceed,
a gentle reminder…
its supposed to be…
FOOD
SHELTER
CLOTHING
…in that order

4. Just in case you were missing the BIG picture

5. What food security means…

6. Approx. 4,000 acres
But there’s no space in the cities!!
Think about it – there’s a block
of about 4,000 acres of public
land INSIDE MUMBAI!

7. If its so neat, why isn’t any global city doing it?

8. But that’s valuable land which can’t be wasted
Eg. Gauteng, South Africa

9. Hey! Let’s build these – aren’t they supercool?!
Ummm…what do
you suppose THIS
would cost?

10. Hey! But let’s do that Aquaponics stuff?
This isn’t very cheap
either…for the bottom 90%

11. It’ll never work because of Real Estate dynamics
Hmmm…Maybe we should just
build over Central Park, NY
What would you say
the prices here are
like?

12. It’s just an elite – rich folks thing…not sustainable
Ummm…this is in
Cuba, since the
early 1990s

13. SO…now that we have that
out of the way,
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Should we move on to
address the issue of how?

14. #1 The LAND is there, FIRST lock it in for food
We could call it DEVELOPMENT
SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE
100 acres @ 15 Tons/Acre/Year
= 1,500,000 kgs of food produced
= Rs. 450,00,000/year
= Rs. 4500,00,000++/year in 10 years

15. #2 Don’t just think ‘OPEN space’, think ‘growing space’
100 acres @ X kgs/Acre/Year
= X amount of pollution “absorbed”
= X * Rs. Y/year
= Rs. XY/year in 10 years
It keeps ADDING UP

16. A 100-km radius is an
important marker for food
#3 Peri-urban areas are critical food basket
Peri-urban
100 km
30 km
100 acres @ X kms/Acre/Year
= X amount of fuel “saved”
= X * Rs. Y/year
= Rs. XY/year in 10 years
It keeps ADDING UP

17. This is the new NYC model
#4 Now look for land closely inside the city too…
Another 100 acres @ X
kgs/Acre/Year
= X amount of food “produced”
= X * Rs. Y/year
= Rs. XY/year in 10 years
It keeps ADDING UP

18. Rural folk can utilise their skills and provide
their kids opportunities in the city
#5 Perhaps this is Perspiration + Aspiration
100 acres @ X jobs/Acre/Year
= X amount of employment created
= X * Rs. Y/year
= Rs. XY/year in 10 years
It keeps ADDING UP

19. BTW, these are orange trees in
Athens’ STREETS
#6 Insert trees – replace equivalent ‘landscape’ plants
Can we make FRUITS
affordable again?
For even the MIDDLE
class?

20. #7 Change more of the rules – FSI/FAR
Create NEW incentives for food growing
Can we redefine space
efficiency without abuse
of rules?

21. #8 Make it compulsory in new/redeveloped layouts
Imagine this in Phoenix mills or
upcoming Dockyard areas of Mumbai
100 acres @ X kg/Acre/Year
= X amount of food subsidies “saved”
= X * Rs. Y/year
= Rs. XY/year in 10 years
It keeps ADDING UP

22. #9 REDEFINE “Efficient” and “Convenient”
“EFFICIENCY” AND “CONVENIENCE” HAVE BECOME
THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENTS TO SUSTAINABILITY

23. The Farmers
The Traders
Us

The Retailers
The Supermarkets
Restaurants
Join hands
with
Kitchen
Gardeners
CHANGING THE URBAN FOOD MODEL:
By creating an Alternative Food Network (AFN)
Form Food
Consumer
Groups
Better
Taste!
Better
Health!
#10 The Design? To create a new URBAN Food Network
FOOD SECURITY = AFFORDABILITY
+ AVAILABILITY + QUALITY + SAFETY
FARMER’S
MARKETS
PERI-URBAN
DSA
URBAN
GROWING
FARM
COOPERATIVES

24. There’s much more…
BUT WE’RE OUT OF TIME
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Karan Manral – karan@greenessentials.in
Yogita Mehra – yogita@yogifarms.com