Urban foraging, resilience and food provisioning services provided by edible plants in interstitial urban spaces in Mexico City
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21690795 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Hare (The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, UK), Matt Hare (0000-0002-8508-0884, James Hutton Institute, corresponding author), Ana Peña del Valle Isla (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 825-846 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Local Environment (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-9839 • E-ISSN: 1469-6711 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13549839.2021.1922998 |
| OpenAlex | W3175497654 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 22 |
In the context of decreasing food security, and as part of the ‘100 Resilient Cities’ group, Mexico City (CDMX) has committed itself to achieving resilience through local food systems, green infrastructure and ecosystem services development. This paper reports on two surveys mapping the distribution of species of edible plants growing in publicly accessible interstitial spaces (e.g. central reservations and pavements) in subtropical, central CDMX. It also reports on an initial assessment of the feasibility of using such spaces for foraging. Rather than improving everyday food supplies, the maintenance of these spaces as areas for emergency foraging would ideally increase urban resilience in the face of extreme food supply shocks. The surveys used a direct species identification approach whilst walking ∼20 km of streets and identified thirty-six species of edible plants including not only fruits and herbs, but also vegetables. The results permitted the satisfactory assessment of three out of five feasibility conditions: (i) suitable growing conditions, (ii) provisioning capability and (iii) the existence of multiple plant dispersal pathways (including both natural processes and deliberate planting, as well as, more speculatively, unintentional human-mediated dispersal). Two other important feasibility conditions for foraging – (iv) usage and (v) a favourable planning environment – were not able to be judged based on the field data. CDMX promotes the planting of fruit trees in avenues, but this paper shows that local socio-ecological systems sustain a greater variety of edibles growing in a wider range of interstitial spaces. Ignoring this would represent a missed opportunity for urban resilience
Agriculture · Biological dispersal · Biology · Business · Ecosystem · Ecosystem services · Environmental health · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Food security · Foraging · Geography · Green infrastructure · Livelihood · Population · Provisioning · Psychological resilience · Engineering · Environmental Science · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Urban Green Space and Health · Ecology
Resilience of and through urban ecosystem services
Gathering “wild” food in the city
Null
Mexico-City, sustainability and culture
Climate change adaptation strategies and disaster risk reduction in cities
Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security
Forgotten Roots of the Green City
Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food System
Food, meaning-making and ontological uncertainty
Dealing with Uncertainty in Flood Management Through Diversification
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |