Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an
An ongoing urbanization process is changing the landscape of contemporary China. Agricultural lands are being used for real estate development, resulting in a further dependency of agricultural products from the global market. Additionally, a cultural offset is taking place, from being based on the...
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| Formato: | H3 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
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SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development
2017
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571911023525888 |
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| author | Levin, Tarina |
| author_browse | Levin, Tarina |
| author_facet | Levin, Tarina |
| author_sort | Levin, Tarina |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | An ongoing urbanization process is changing the landscape of contemporary China. Agricultural lands are being used for real estate development, resulting in a further dependency of agricultural products from the global market. Additionally, a cultural offset is taking place, from being based on the old agricultural society to conforming to western ideals and traditions. One example of this is the adoption of the short-cut, monocultural grass lawn. The lawn consists of grass species unfamiliar to the Chinese climate and the usage of it results in negative environmental effects. However, there are a multitude of examples in China where agriculture is being practised in urban environments, often on what used to be lawns.
This master thesis concerns urban agricultural practice in the Chinese city Xi’an, Shaanxi province. The aim of conducting this study was to assess the existing situation concerning urban agriculture (UA) in Xi’an and its place in the city’s green infrastructure by analysing the UA effects and potentials. Furthermore, this thesis aims to determine some design principles, which could support environmentally and culturally beneficial practice of UA for food production in Xi’an. The methods used to achieve this were literature studies, map studies, site visits, interviews and field observations. Collected data was documented through writing, photography and recordings.
UA was concluded to have many potential benefits in addition to being a source of food. Examples of these potential benefits are; community building properties, enrichment of urban biodiversity and specifically for China, the potential to reconnect to the country’s agricultural roots. However, these benefits are not absolute. UA can among other things be a source of conflict as well as a source of environmental pollution and contaminated food. Furthermore, there are many uncertainties surrounding the subject. Because UA is often neglected in governmental planning processes, these issues can be difficult to address. Hopefully this master thesis and the determined design principles, can be a small contribution to guide future organisation and design of UA towards a beneficial result. |
| format | H3 |
| id | RepoSLU11640 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU116402017-10-04T12:37:39Z Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an Urbant, grönt och ätbart : en undersökning av stadsodling i Xi’an Levin, Tarina urban agriculture landscape architecture productive cultivation in cities urban agriculture in Xi’an An ongoing urbanization process is changing the landscape of contemporary China. Agricultural lands are being used for real estate development, resulting in a further dependency of agricultural products from the global market. Additionally, a cultural offset is taking place, from being based on the old agricultural society to conforming to western ideals and traditions. One example of this is the adoption of the short-cut, monocultural grass lawn. The lawn consists of grass species unfamiliar to the Chinese climate and the usage of it results in negative environmental effects. However, there are a multitude of examples in China where agriculture is being practised in urban environments, often on what used to be lawns. This master thesis concerns urban agricultural practice in the Chinese city Xi’an, Shaanxi province. The aim of conducting this study was to assess the existing situation concerning urban agriculture (UA) in Xi’an and its place in the city’s green infrastructure by analysing the UA effects and potentials. Furthermore, this thesis aims to determine some design principles, which could support environmentally and culturally beneficial practice of UA for food production in Xi’an. The methods used to achieve this were literature studies, map studies, site visits, interviews and field observations. Collected data was documented through writing, photography and recordings. UA was concluded to have many potential benefits in addition to being a source of food. Examples of these potential benefits are; community building properties, enrichment of urban biodiversity and specifically for China, the potential to reconnect to the country’s agricultural roots. However, these benefits are not absolute. UA can among other things be a source of conflict as well as a source of environmental pollution and contaminated food. Furthermore, there are many uncertainties surrounding the subject. Because UA is often neglected in governmental planning processes, these issues can be difficult to address. Hopefully this master thesis and the determined design principles, can be a small contribution to guide future organisation and design of UA towards a beneficial result. Kinas pågående urbaniseringsprocess förändrar kontinuerligt landskapet och ersätter jordbruksmark med fastigheter. Detta förstärker Kinas beroende av livsmedelsprodukter från den globala marknaden. Dessutom sker en kulturell förskjutning, från att vara baserad på Kinas agrikulturella historia till att successivt ta efter västerländska ideal och traditioner. Ett exempel på det är Kinas ökande användning av de kortklippta, monokulturella gräsmattorna. Gräsarterna som används i gräsmattor är obekanta för Kinas klimat och användandet av dem får negativa miljöeffekter. Det finns dock en mångfald av exempel där urbana gräsmattor i Kina tagits i anspråk för att istället användas till stadsodling. Detta examensarbete handlar om precis stadsodling och mer specifikt, stadsodling i den kinesiska staden Xi'an, i den västra provinsen Shaanxi. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att utvärdera den nuvarande situationen rörande stadsodling i Xi'an och dess plats i stadens grönstruktur, genom att analysera stadsodlingens konsekvenser och möjligheter. Vidare syftade denna studie till att bestämma riktlinjer för design som kan stödja ett miljövänligt och kulturellt fördelaktigt bruk av stadsodling för livsmedelsproduktion i Xi'an. De metoder som använts för att uppnå detta är litteraturstudier, kartstudier, besök på plats, intervjuer och fältobservationer. Insamlade data dokumenterades skriftligen, genom fotografering och inspelningar. Stadsodling konstaterades ha många potentiella fördelar utöver att bidra med mat. Exempel på dessa potentiella fördelar är; en integrerande effekt som kan stärka gemenskapen i ett samhälle, berikning av den biologiska mångfalden i städer och speciellt för Kina, möjligheten att återkoppla till landets agrikulturella historia. Dessa fördelar är dock inte absoluta. Stadsodling kan bland annat vara en källa till konflikt såväl som en källa till miljöföroreningar och förorenad mat. Dessutom finns det många osäkerheter kring kunskaperna om ämnet. Eftersom stadsodling ofta försummas i de offentliga planeringsprocesserna kan problem vara svåra att ta itu med. Förhoppningsvis kan denna mastersuppsats och de bestämda riktlinjerna vara ett litet bidrag till att i framtiden kunna organisera och utforma stadsodling med ett fördelaktigt resultat. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2017 H3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11640/ |
| spellingShingle | urban agriculture landscape architecture productive cultivation in cities urban agriculture in Xi’an Levin, Tarina Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title | Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title_full | Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title_fullStr | Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title_full_unstemmed | Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title_short | Urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of Xi’an |
| title_sort | urban, green and edible : an investigation of the urban agricultural landscape of xi’an |
| topic | urban agriculture landscape architecture productive cultivation in cities urban agriculture in Xi’an |