Setting the Stage: Urban Agriculture, Public Space, and Human Well-Being

In this chapter the editors reflect on the thematic scope of this publication, situating it in a wider background of urban agriculture research. They claim that to leverage its greatest impact, opportunities to engage in urban cultivation should be widely accessible to all segments of urban population, close to everyone’s home. Worldwide, due to the scarcity of and high costs of land in dense urban inner-city areas, integrating urban agriculture in already existing and planned public spaces seems like the most feasible strategy to achieve this objective. This book wants to support this process by providing theoretical and practical insights on the integration of urban agriculture in public space development – addressing its well-being impacts, design, organization, educational contexts, and urban planning aspects.