​understanding
​​urban agriculture policy & practice

​Welcome to the project website for Urban agriculture, policymaking, and sustainability, a comparative study of urban food production in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, British, Columbia. The project integrates geospatial analysis, surveys, interviews, and participation observation to answer the three research questions below.

We collected data between 2015 and 2017 and published a series of reports, academic journal articles, and book chapters.

The NSF-funded project builds on preliminary research funded by PSU's Institute for Sustainable Solutions.

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How do various forms of UA, the motivations of urban agriculturalists, and their engagement with policy-making, differ socio-spatially within and between Portland and Vancouver?

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How have the institutionalization and operationalization of municipal sustainability and food policies contributed to and/or perpetuated the socio-spatial differentiation of UA?

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How have Portland & Vancouver learned and borrowed UA policy models from each other and how has the enactment of these “mobilized” policies in the two cities opened and/or closed spaces for political engagement and justice and equity-oriented "counter-sustainabilities”?​