The proliferation of urban gardens in the city is no circumstantial phenomenon: it responds to a series of needs - economic, planning, environmental and social - that reflect a profound change in the conception of the city and its relationship to the farmland surrounding it.

The present study analyzes the current situation of urban agriculture and provides concrete methodological proposals for introducing food growing in the city and the buildings in it. After addressing the relationship between agriculture and sustainability, the book describes the experience of a number of cities that have successfully introduced agriculture in urban planning (Vienna, Toronto, Havana, Rosario, Barcelona and Girona) and provides a set of criteria and strategies for intervening in the realms of urbanism and construction.

The proliferation of urban gardens in the city is no circumstantial phenomenon: it responds to a series of needs - economic, planning, environmental and social - that reflect a profound change in the conception of the city and its relationship to the farmland surrounding it.

The present study analyzes the current situation of urban agriculture and provides concrete methodological proposals for introducing food growing in the city and the buildings in it. After addressing the relationship between agriculture and sustainability, the book describes the experience of a number of cities that have successfully introduced agriculture in urban planning (Vienna, Toronto, Havana, Rosario, Barcelona and Girona) and provides a set of criteria and strategies for intervening in the realms of urbanism and construction.

Conceived as a basic guide for understanding and developing urban agriculture projects, the book is aimed at architects, landscape designers and city planners, as well as at all those interested in urban gardens.

Graciela Arosemena graduated in Architecture from the University of Panama. She did an Urban Environment and Sustainability Masters at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), where she received her Doctorate in the Research into Energy and Environment in Architecture programme. At present she works in Panama on the development of environmental and landscape projects, including the implantation of urban gardens.