Planning for Urban Agriculture: A Review of Tools and Strategies for Urban Planners

Urban agriculture may potentially pose hazards and provide benefits to urban dwellers. Given the
urban population growth world-wide, the phenomenon of urban agriculture as a food, income and
employment generator is likely to increase.
Urban planners (especially in less-developed countries) need to find ways to capture the benefits
and counter or prevent the potential problems of urban agriculture activities. Urban planners shape
patterns of land use and the built environment in and around cities to manifest a desired future
urban state, and to distribute public benefits to citizens. In recent years, traditional, often technical,
approaches to planning and managing urban areas have been altered by such trends as increased
public participation in community decision making.