Urban Commons for the Edible City—First Insights for Future Sustainable Urban Food Systems from Berlin, Germany

Nadine Scharf, Thomas Wachtel, Suhana E. Reddy and Ina Säumel
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Nadine Scharf: Lokale Agenda 21 für Dresden e.V., Schützengasse 18, 01067 Dresden, Germany
Thomas Wachtel: Integrative Research Institute THESys Transformation of Human-Environment-Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Suhana E. Reddy: Integrative Research Institute THESys Transformation of Human-Environment-Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Ina Säumel: Integrative Research Institute THESys Transformation of Human-Environment-Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Urban planning is facing multi-layered challenges to manage the transformation towards a more sustainable and inclusive society. The recently evolved concept of an “urban commons” responds to the crucial need to re-situate residents as key actors. Urban food commons summarize all initiatives that are food-related (e.g., cultivation, harvest, and distribution), aiming at a visualization and utilization of value chains and the commons-based linkage between them. We explored first insights of food commons in Berlin based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Urban food commons strengthen identification, participation, self-organization, and social resilience, are steered by bottom-up processes, and can be a powerful tool for a transformation towards urban sustainability. However, a viable political integration of existing initiatives lacks due to structural implementation problems. Respondents recommend a pooling of all initiatives in a strong network and a mediation interface to coordinate between food commons and city administration and politics. A combined approach of commons and edible cities will be helpful for the development of future prove food systems.

Keywords: citizens engagement; cross-sectoral coordination; co-creation; sustainable urban development; urban agriculture; urban farming; urban gardening; urban transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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