Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

esilient, powerful by being locally adapted to the regional food system. Cities canmove towards zero waste goals by using UA to utilise the organic fertilitygenerated by the city. The ‘waste’ will be captured and kept within the regionalsystem in form of carrying capacity of the region. Urban Agriculture is also aneconomic and social tool which in very simple ways will provide employmentopportunities, opportunities for social networking and working together as acommunity. It will reduce the carbon footprint of city dwellers and decrease theirdependence on fossil fuels. (p. 15)Dietary benefits are recognised by Kortright & Wakefield (2011) in their study of ediblebackyards:The most significant impact of home food gardening on food security found wasits ability to enhance the accessibility and nutritional value of the diets of thegardeners interviewed. Although affordability of food was not a key issue, havinga garden allowed respondents a greater diversity of fresh and nutritious producethan they might purchase otherwise. This is an important benefit of foodgardening for all households, regardless of income level. The process ofeveryday engagement with food gardens also changed the gardeners’ approachto food. It is likely that all of the gardeners improved the sustainability andenvironmental impact of their diet, another key element of community foodsecurity, by growing at least some of their food at home, entirely outside theindustrial food system. (p. 51)However, these benefits are more individual than social:Food gardening is immediate and personal, forcing us to deal not only with whatand how much we eat but also where it comes from and what it means to us.Home food growing can contribute to community food security not only by helpingto address issues of nutrition and access but also by improving the sustainability,health, and well-being of individuals and families. The increased level of selfrelianceand of food system knowledge seen among research participants bothprovide important supports to community food security. However, theindividualised nature of much of the home gardening seen here suggests thathome gardening does not, in and of itself, contribute to community development.(p. 51)Conceptually, urban agriculture reflects not only a spatial locale for food growing, but are-localised system of production characterised by short supply chains. Academic andpolicy debate remains over the relative vulnerabilities and strengths of short and longsupply chains in general in terms of resilience to ‘systemic shocks’ such as climatechange, oil shortages, strikes and extreme weather events. Similar debate continuesover the benefits and costs of localising food production and supply and over theapplication of concepts such as ‘food miles’ to these processes (see for exampleBarclay, 2012; Desrochers & Shimizu, 2008; Keogh, 2012; Smith, Watkiss, Tweddle etal., 2005).The emergence of long national and international supply chains is a particularlysignificant element in terms of food security and resilience. Long supply chains areUrban food security, urban resilience and climate change 24