Highlights
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- Mixed methods study on role of farmland preservation policy and local food activism in developing agriburban zones in Canada.
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- Agriburban zones key for development of regional food systems.
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- Farmland preservation policies developed in response to urban sprawl.
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- Urban local food movements play a significant role in the development of agriburbia.
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- Agriburban zones exhibit complex mix of commercial and educational agricultural activities in close proximity to the urban core.
Abstract
Post
World War II suburban growth in Canada and the US has created concern
over the long-term availability of farmland to meet food production
needs. Subsequent efforts to provide legal protection to agricultural
land continue to shape the development of the fringes of nearby urban
areas. This paper employs the concept of “agriburbia,” suburban
landscapes in which agriculture maintains a significant presence, to
investigate the relationship between peri-urban farmland preservation
efforts and local food movements. Through a case study analysis of
Vancouver, British Columbia's suburb of Richmond, we assess the impact
of a strict agricultural land use restriction on urban development. We
highlight a dialectic between rural and urban that includes fruitful
interactions between large-scale and commercial agriculture, small plot
agriculture, and local food movements in both the agriburb and its
neighboring city.
Keywords
- Farmland protection;
- Rural-urban interface;
- Agriburbia;
- Local food;
- Peri-urban agriculture
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