Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research
1
Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
2
Department of Environmental Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA 19426, USA
3
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
4
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station, South Burlington, VT 05405, USA
5
School of Development, Azim Premji University, PES Institute of Technology Campus, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560100, India
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2017, 9(10), 1884; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101884
Received: 22 August 2017 / Revised: 9 October 2017 / Accepted: 15 October 2017 / Published: 20 October 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in an Urbanizing World: The Role of People)
Although hardly noticed or formally recognised, urban foraging by humans probably occurs in all urban settings around the world. We draw from research in India, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States to demonstrate the ubiquity and varied nature of urban foraging in different contexts. Across these different contexts, we distil seven themes that characterise and thereby advance thinking about research and the understanding of urban foraging. We show that it is widespread and occurs across a variety of urban spaces and places. The species used and the local practices vary between contexts, and are in constant flux as urban ecological and social settings change. This requires that urban foragers are knowledgeable about diverse species, harvest locations, and rights of access, and that their practices are adaptable to changing contexts. Despite its ubiquity, most cities have some forms of regulations that prohibit or discourage urban foraging. We highlight a few important exceptions that can provide prototypes and lessons for other cities regarding supportive policy frameworks and initiatives. The formulation of dynamic policy, design, and management strategies in support of urban foraging will benefit from understanding the common characteristics of foraging in cities worldwide, but also will require comprehension of the specific and dynamic contexts in which they would be implemented.
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Keywords:
actors; benefits; dynamics; tenure; urban foraging; urban spaces
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MDPI and ACS Style
Shackleton, C.M.; Hurley, P.T.; Dahlberg, A.C.; Emery, M.R.; Nagendra, H. Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1884. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101884
AMA Style
Shackleton CM, Hurley PT, Dahlberg AC, Emery MR, Nagendra H. Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research. Sustainability. 2017; 9(10):1884. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101884
Chicago/Turabian StyleShackleton, Charlie M.; Hurley, Patrick T.; Dahlberg, Annika C.; Emery, Marla R.; Nagendra, Harini. 2017. "Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research" Sustainability 9, no. 10: 1884. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101884
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