The Importance of Social Programming in Urban Agriculture: A Practitioner’s Experiences from Norway

This contribution presents Norwegian experiences of the urban agriculture pioneer Nabolagshager and its founder Helene Gallis. The chapter takes the form of a selected memoir of the development of urban agriculture projects in Oslo and presents the case for a more systematic application of placemaking principles in urban agriculture in order to enhance the social well-being aspects of these projects. Gallis argues that her experience in combining placemaking with urban agriculture can enable community members, residents, and fragile and undesirable groups to participate in the co-creation of urban agriculture in public spaces, where they could be empowered to their full human capabilities. The project stories particularly highlight the transformative impact of using the placemaking principle of triangulation in urban agriculture projects and can be of inspiration for innovative new forms reappropriation and co-production for more accessible, inclusive, and democratic cultivated public spaces in the compact city.