Urban Agriculture | Harvard University

What do gardens in cities do for people? Urban agriculture is a catch-all term that covers community gardens, vegetable plots at prisons, didactically-minded gardens in schoolyards, gardens planted illegally on vacant lots, high-tech hydroponic companies, and farmers' markets. Students develop knowledge about how these spaces differ across variables like legality, goals, and actors. Students in this course learn about how growing food in Global North cities has a long past. We debate whether urban agriculture is an excellent way for city dwellers to reduce hunger and assert their control over urban space, or whether it's just another subtle manifestation of neoliberalism. A core goal of this course, above and beyond the content, is to develop research skills in multiple disciplines that will be useful for other courses.