Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
Over the next decades, green infrastructure initiatives such as tree planting campaigns, and ecological restoration will dramatically change the species composition, species distribution and structure of urban forests across the United States. These impending changes are accompanied by a demand for urban public spaces where people can engage in practices such as gleaning, gardening, and livestock production. This article analyzes the institutional framework that undergirds efforts in Seattle, Washington to normalize the production and use of edible landscapes. We focus attention on the role of grassroots fruit gleaning groups and highlight their bridging function between Seattle's agriculture and forestry policy arenas, creating an entry point for re-conceptualizing urban forests as sites of production. We conclude that a vision of urban forests as providers of goods as well as services may provide a more solid foundation for achieving urban sustainability than the current “hands off” approach to urban forest management. Gleaning and gathering in urban wild and cultivated landscapes provides opportunities for inhabitants to steward public natural resources and interact deeply with nature.
Recommended Citation
McLain, Rebecca J.; Poe, Melissa R.; Hurley, Patrick T.; LeCompte, Joyce; and Emery, Marla R., "Producing Edible Landscapes in Seattle's Urban Forest" (2012). Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications. 7.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/environment_fac/7
Included in
Environmental Studies Commons, Food Security Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Sustainability Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Comments
The item available for download here is the version of record originally published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 11, 2012, pp 187-194.
The final publication is also available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2011.12.002