Urban Farming in the Western Garden City

Abstract

The linear food supply chain is putting significant pressures on our resources and our environment. Moreover, global warming is leading to climate change, making our environment more uncertain and challenging food safety around the globe. Therefore new ways of producing food locally need to be researched. This paper investigates how food can be produced within the boundaries of the city of Amsterdam. It studies the suitability of different urban farming techniques within the infrastructure of the neighbourhood through three different scenarios. The scenarios are based on the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental) and measure a set of indicators (food production, monetary income, job creation, water retention, energy production, esthetic values, social values and biodiversity). The results of the scenarios are afterwards compared to the social and spatial needs of the neighbourhood, from which the most suitable scenario can be chosen. The research has been done for three neighbourhoods from the New West borough in Amsterdam: Geuzenveld, Osdorp Midden and Middenveldsche Akkerpolder. The results show that for Osdorp Midden and Geuzenveld, the scenario focusing on economics is the most suitable for helping with the high rate of poverty and unemployment in the neighbourhood. On the other hand, for Middelveldsche Akkerpolder the scenario focused on creating social values can help strengthening the missing social ties and create a sense of community in the neighbourhood.