Towards an Anthropology of Urban Agriculture: Agriculture and Ecology as Abandoned and Critical Components of the City

Abstract

From ‘Victory Gardens’ to high-tech rooftop farms, is urban agriculture new? Is there something new about it in its current form? Or is it just a trend? This paper addresses the uncertainty surrounding forms and practices of urban agriculture throughout human history and its relative absence from anthropology. It includes an anthropological and historical analysis on its origins and its evolution throughout the history of the American city as well as an autoethnographic account of a unique urban forest garden in the South Florida metropolitan area.