Duch Crosta, Guilherme; (2024) Urban Farming in the Built Environment: Unveiling its adoption and survival processes. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Ensuring a robust and effective food system is essential to meet the increasing food demands of urban populations. However, the current global food system has become increasingly vulnerable, particularly in the face of global nutritional deficiencies and food shortages. In response to these challenges, Urban Farming emerges as a promising solution for sustainable food production. It involves the integration of various resources within a city to create tailored opportunities suitable for specific urban settings. Urban farming offers numerous benefits, including improved access to fresh food, reduction of food insecurity, city revitalisation, and reduced transportation costs. Despite its advantages and potential importance in the future, more research is needed on Urban Farming. This thesis aims to fill this gap by examining the adoption of Urban Farming and the survival of urban farms. More specifically, this research discusses how institutionalisation practices influence the adoption of Urban Farming and how tactics and attractiveness affect the survival of urban farms. Social Movement, Institutional, and Stakeholder theories serve as the theoretical foundation of this research. Qualitative methodology was used to analyse the qualitative data collected through interviews with 40 participants from urban farms. The data were then analysed using the Gioia method, a qualitative grounded-theory-based interpretive research approach. The discussion is divided into two parts. The first indicates motivations behind the adoption of Urban Farming, showcasing how it is a viable way for organisations to practice sustainable development by adhering to sustainable values esteemed by its stakeholders without undertaking extensive changes in their products, services, or processes. Additionally, Urban Farming offers significant relational value to organisations by fostering improved relationships between their employees and food, the built environment, and within their own ranks. The second identifies the tactics and two primary sources of attractiveness of Urban Farming that are influential for its survival. Tactics concern the collaborations and distinctive business models used by urban farms. Attractiveness is divided between its competitive appeal, derived from the practical advantages and the increased attractivity of the farming activity, and the aesthetic appeal, based on enhanced desirability through the design of Urban Farming sites, buildings, production areas, packaging, and product display. A theoretical model outlines how tactics and competitive and aesthetic appeals play a pivotal role in urban farms’ survival through the benefits, values, legitimacy, and overall attractiveness they grant. By emphasising the importance of these topics, this thesis contributes to a better understanding of how Urban Farming can be leveraged as a sustainable and appealing solution to food production in urban settings.

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