Urban food trees

Recognition of care and belonging by local governments

Bibliographic Data

ID5877294
AuthorsAnastasia Gramatakos (0000-0002-3107-6572, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Catherine Phillips (0000-0002-2498-5508, University of Canterbury), Andrea Rawluk (0000-0002-9992-4662, The University of Melbourne)
Year2025
Volume63
Issue4
Pages656-670
Publication date2025-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-5863 • E-ISSN: 1745-5871
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1745-5871.70034
OpenAlexW4413303405
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited74

Within a context of pronounced attention towards urban greening, the inclusion of food-producing trees (FPT) in the public realm remains a marginal practice. In this paper, we consider why this may be the case. Building on recent scholarship investigating more-than-human care infrastructure (Alam & Houston, 2020; Power & Williams, 2020; Power & Mee, 2020), we consider the socio-material relations that enable (and limit) care of, and by, FPT in the urban context. To do so, we draw on document analysis and interviews with council staff in metropolitan Melbourne to unpack how FPT come to be understood as offering and deserving of care (or not), and how such characterisations impact if, and how, FPT come to be 'welcome' in urban public places. Our analysis, first, highlights dominant ways in which urban trees are understood through local government strategy and policy, and how an orientation towards (care-through) canopy works to exclude FPT. Second, we explore competing valuations of FPT and their capacity to contribute to sustainable cities. Across these accounts, FPT care and belonging remains ambiguous and contested. Third, we examine actual and imagined relations of FPT care and belonging, and how these work with but also remain limited by, dominant strategic directions and norms. Based on this analysis, we find that while an openness to FPT in council documentation is a significant step in enabling FPT inclusions, it is also necessary to recognise and value extant and/or potential care relations among people and FPT

Geography · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Organic Food and Agriculture · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability