Extracting Urban Food Potential: design-based methods for digital and bodily cartography

Sweden’s recent report on Urban Sustainable Development calls out a missing link between the urban design process and citizens. This paper investigates if engaging citizens as design agents by providing a platform for alternate participation can bridge this gap, through the transfer of spatial agency and new modes of critical cartography. To assess whether this is the case, the approaches are applied to Stockholm’s urban agriculture movement in a staged intervention. The aim of the intervention was to engage citizens in locating existing and potential places for growing food and in gathering information from these sites to inform design in urban agriculture. The design-based methodologies incorporated digital and bodily interfaces for this cartography to take place. The Urban CoMapper, a smartphone digital app, captured real-time perspectives through crowd-sourced mapping. In the bodily cartography, participant’s used their bodies to trace the site and reveal their sensorial perceptions. The data gathered from these approaches gave way to a mode of artistic research for exploring urban agriculture, along with inviting artists to be engaged in the dialogues. In sum, results showed that a combination of digital and bodily approaches was necessary for a critical cartography if we want to engage citizens holistically into the urban design process as spatial agents informing urban policy. Such methodologies formed a reflective interrogation and encouraged a new intimacy with nature, in this instance, one that can transform our urban conduct by questioning our eating habits: where we get our food from and how we eat it seasonally.

Universität und solidarische Ökonomie

RESUMO: A economia solidária é aqui apresentada como um movimento social emancipatório e como uma das formas de resistências das trabalhadoras e trabalhadores ao modelo de desenvolvimento capitalista. O movimento contemporâneo de economia solidária abrange o processo de produção, comercialização e finanças. A economia solidária é caracterizada pela posse coletiva dos meios de produção e pelo controle dos trabalhadores dos empreendimentos através de autogestão, cooperação e solidariedade. Os empreendimentos econômicos solidários se organizam sob a forma de cooperativas, associações e grupos informais. Um dos maiores desafios da economia solidária está no campo educativo, porque impõe a desconstrução dos princípios individualistas e privatistas preponderantes na maioria das relações econômicas, e exige a construção de outra cultura pautada na solidariedade. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa realizada, tem como objeto de estudo as metodologias de incubação fomentadas pelas universidades nas ações de economia solidária. Para isso, analisamos as experiências da Incubadora de Economia Solidária da Universidade Federal da Paraíba - Brasil e da Incubadora na Universidade de Kassel- Alemanha – Verein für Solidarische Ökonomie e.V. A pesquisa buscou conhecer e analisar as práticas de incubagem das universidades na economia solidária, como processos de mudança social. A coleta de informações foi realizada, tendo por base, uma revisão bibliográfica, relatórios das Incubadoras, registros fotográficos, observação participante e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Os resultados da análise indicam que as metodologias de incubação na economia solidaria, por terem um caráter aberto e participativo, por considerarem os condicionamentos históricos e as diferentes culturas, fazem-nas portadoras de mudanças sociais. Esta metodologia pode ser utilizada por diferentes atores, em lugares e situações distintas. A pesquisa indica ainda, a centralidade da questão ecológica como elemento que poderá unificar o movimento internacional de economia solidária.

Re-Framing Trade

Given the substantial and increasing encroachment of trade agreements into almost every aspect of economic and social life, there is a pressing need for research that provides a more coherent framework for understanding the source and effectiveness of organised labour ’s power and capacity to influence international trade policy. Taking the union protests against the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as a case study, this research uses core concepts derived from social movement theory to analyse the opportunities that existed for unions to influence these trade negotiations and their capacity to identify and take advantage of such opportunities. Importantly, it adds a power analysis designed to reveal the sources of power that unions draw on to take action. The research demonstrates that even where unions faced considerable constraints they were able to re-frame trade issues in a way that built broad support for their position and to utilise opportunities in the trade negotiation process to mobilise resistance against the GATS and further liberalisation of services. The theoretical framework developed for the research provides conceptual tools that can be developed for improving strategic campaign planning and for analytical assessment of past campaigns. The theoretical framework developed for this research has potential for further application as an analytical and strategic planning tool for unions.

Urban Agriculture Oriented towards Self-Supply, Social and Commercial Purpose: A Typology

Urban agriculture, a dynamic multifunctional phenomenon, affects the spatial diversification of urban land use, its valorization and its governance. Literature acknowledges its contribution to the development of sustainable cities. The dimension and extent of this contribution depends significantly on the particular form and function of urban agriculture. However, the complexity of interests and dimensions is insufficiently covered by theory. This paper proposes a typology for urban agriculture, supporting both theory building and practical decision processes. We reviewed and mapped the diversity of the types of agriculture found along three beneficial dimensions (self-supply, socio-cultural, commercial) for product distribution scale and actors. We distinguish between ideal types, subtypes and mixed types. Our intention is to include a dynamic perspective in the typology of urban agricultural land use because transition processes between types are observable due to the existence of complex motivations and influences. In a pilot study of 52 urban agriculture initiatives in Germany, we tested the validity of the typology and discussed it with stakeholders, proving novelty and relevance for profiling discussions.