Geschichte und Theorie der Landschaftsarchitektur

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Hennecke

Differences between urban agriculture in Latin America and
Europe - Examples: Medellin and Helsinki
Part 1: Medellin
Seminar: Urbane Landwirtschaft und Landschaftsarchitektur
Theodoro Mezger | 03083869
6. March 2013
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Introduction
In this paper two cities are going to be analyzed, explained and compared regarding their urban
agriculture context: Medellin, as an example of a developing city and Helsinki, as an example of a
developed city. These examples reect the reality of two extremes within the world, which are
intended to analyze. Many individuals throughout the world are talking about guerrilla gardening, urban
agriculture, gardening and farming and it has become the latest trend to grow your own garden. The
alimentation problem is becoming quite big in the world, the aliments are not equal reachable for
everyone and the prices and quality scare us. The goal is to understand the cultural background, the
intention of the existing projects regarding urban farming, and the way people and governments are
handling these themes. The differences between both countries (geographical, political, and cultural)
make the similarities and the common purposes of the projects more interesting to analyze.
Background
Medelln, ofcially called the Municipio de Medelln (Spanish for Municipality of Medelln), is the second
largest city in Colombia. It is located in the Aburr Valley, one of the northernmost of the Andes in
South America. In 2012, it had a population of 2.7 million. With its surrounding area, the metropolitan
area of Medelln (rea metropolitana de Medelln), composed by another nine cities, is the second
largest urban agglomeration in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.5
million people
1
.
In the 80s Medellin was known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world due to the intern
drug war happening in Colombia. As the consequence of this, a lot of farmers and countrymen were
forced to move into the cities and settled themselves in the margins forming precarious areas. The
growth of these marginal communities in slums of Medellins urban areas started affecting the shape
and development of the city. Most of the populations settled in these areas are IDPs (Internally
2
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn
FIgure 1.
FIgure 1: comparison between poverty and unemployemen (pobreza y desempleo), gross domestic product (Valoracion PIB) and
poverty impact (Incidencia de la pobreza) for Medelln
Displaced Persons) as described by UN-Habitat reports. Due to above factors, nowadays, the city is
one of the most unequal cities in the world, with a Gini coefcient of 0,54 points. As an consequence
of this, the difference of human development index between the best neighborhood and the worst
slum is about -18%. From 2001 to 2011 the extreme poverty index has a change of -4%
2
. Graphic 1.
makes a comparison between poverty and unemployemen (pobreza y desempleo), gross domestic
product (Valoracion PIB) and poverty impact (Incidencia de la pobreza) for Medelln. Nevertheless, the
city is today a model for social and urban development, awarded 2008 with the Holcim Golden
Award for Urban Planning in Latin-America
3
and in 2013 with the city of the year, making it the most
innovative city in the world.
Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern
Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city proper
of Helsinki is 602,200 (30 September 2012), making it by far the most populous municipality in
Finland. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometers (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometers
(250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometers (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
Project description
About ten years ago, the city of Medelln
started a new social policy with the purpose
to improve the quality of life of the
inhabitants. Most of the available economic
resources were used to help the precarious
areas, were the people need them the most.
An example of this is the Metro Cable, which
is a gondola system that connects the slums
with the main metro system and thus with
the whole city. Leisure, housing, environment
and public space are other aspects, that all
together with the transportation generate
the Master plan Medellin 2030, also called as
Bio 2030. This project is planned and impulsed by the mayoralty of Medellin, with cooperation of the
URBAM center (Centro de estudios urbanos y ambientales)
4
.
However, one of the specic problems is born from the lack of waste management in the slums. The
streets are so narrow there and the construction of the non formal houses are so unorganized, that
the city is unable to offer a proper waste collecting service. The improper placement of the waste
leads to several health problems and natural catastrophes.
Its also important to emphasize that this problem is also combined with famine, that is sadly present
in every Latin-American city, caused by the poorness and the low income of the inhabitants.
According to this, Corantioquia (Responsible for managing, protecting and promoting the ecological
resources of the State) started 10 years ago a pilot project that intends to solve these problems in a
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2
http://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/go/km/docs/wpccontent/Sites/Subportal%20del%20Ciudadano/Plan%20de%20Desarrollo/Secciones/Informacin
%20General/Documentos/DesarrolloEconomico/publicaciones/Boletin%20Mercado%20Laboral%20%202012/Pobreza%20y%20Condiciones%20de
%20Vida%20de%20los%20Habitantes%20de%20Medell%C3%ADn,%202011.pdf
3
http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1644/Urban_integration_of_an_informal_area_Colombia.htm
4
http://www.eat.edu.co/centros/urbam/Paginas/urbam.aspx
FIgure 2: typical constructions of the zone
multifunctional project. The project is called Solares ecolgicos which means ecological plots. With
plots are meant the roofs of the typical constructions of the zone. (Figure 2) They construct with the
possibility of enhance the dwelling upwards in case of some familiar moves in. The plots have been
always an important area for the inhabitants, on which they dry the laundry, grow some plants and
when the area is big enough, kids are tempted to play.
The project intends to allow this population to be self-sustainable, cultivating and selling their own
products, using organic waste management as fertilizer and energy generator. The impact of this urban
agriculture in the urban landscape helps to improve not only alimentary needs but also life quality and
environmental protection. In this way, the new inhabitants of these territories learn how to integrate
with the surrounding communities and be productive in the city. The strategy they are using to cope
this problem is the implementation of ecological plots and roofs, together with an environmental
education campaign in this areas, allowing these communities to develop an ethical culture of the
territory, increasing community participation in environmental and economical enterprises.
Urban agriculture provides a complementary strategy to reduce urban poverty and food insecurity
and enhance urban environmental management.
The levels of hunger and poverty in the city require the development of policies and actions to
increase the supply and household access to basic food, safe and sufcient. Urban agriculture plays an
important role in enhancing urban food security since the costs of supplying and distributing food to
urban areas based on rural production and imports continue to increase, and do not satisfy the
demand, especially of the poorer sectors of the population. Next to food security, urban agriculture
contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation and social inclusion of the urban poor
and women in particular, as well as to the greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban
wastes.
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FIgure 3: An example of an ecological plot Solares ecologicos
Growing your own food saves household expenditures on food; poor people in poor countries
generally spend a substantial part of their income (50 70%) on food. Growing the relatively
expensive vegetables therefore saves money as well as on bartering of produce. Selling produce (fresh
or processed) brings in cash.
Urban agriculture is part of the urban ecological system and can play an important role in the urban
environmental management system. Firstly, a growing city will produce more and more wastewater
and organic wastes. Urban agriculture can help to solve such problems by turning urban wastes into a
productive resource.
Urban agriculture may function as an important strategy for poverty alleviation and social integration
and also Women may prot from this due to the positive stimulus it may bring.
Several examples exist of municipalities or NGOs that have initiated urban agriculture projects that
involve disadvantaged groups such as orphans, disabled people, women, recent immigrants without
jobs, or elderly people, with the aim to integrate them more strongly into the urban network and to
provide them with a decent livelihood. The participants in the project may feel enriched by the
possibility of working constructively, building their community, working together and in addition
producing food and other products for consumption and for sale.
Project implementation in Medellin
In this manner, the people from Corantioquia wrote a book, a guide for the slums inhabitants where
they can learn how to improve their environment as they use their plots and the available resources.
With the PRISA methodology (percibir el entorno, reconstruir la historia, imaginar el futuro, socializar
resultados y ejecutar compromisos) which translate perceiving the environment, reconstructing the
history, imagine the future, socialize and implement commitments results Corantioquia started 2004
working with 2000 IDPs of certain regions in Medellin that separate, manage, transform and use the
waste solids, reducing by 60% the pollution load per family to be disposed in the Landll. What they
are aiming with the book is to increase levels of community participation in environmental
management with emphasis on the management, use and disposal of domestic waste and the
adoption of agroecological practices more friendly to the environment. They are working directly with
the families which need it the most.
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FIgure 4: Growing tomatoes on a ecological plot with recycled pots and compost
So not only the macro aspects are being treated, but specic themes like waste management and
recycling, feeding and education. They formed a group of experts that visit the communities and offer
them sort of workshops, with very explicit themes:
How to reuse plastic bags, containers and other kind of plastic waste to make pots for growing plants.
How to make biological fungicides and pesticides only from waste resources
How to make fertilizer with the help of earthworms and how to feed them with, for example, potato
skins.
How to prepare the products, especially for children alimentation (healthy dietary practices).
How to store these products and give them a long validity.
How and where to sell the surpluses and prot from them.
Thesis:
The plots and roofs of the constructions in the slums of Medellin bring a new way of thinking. Means,
every square meter which was used to construct is now available again, with enough sun and water.
With the proper structural analysis, this can be a good way to see the city greener and solve the
issues that were treated in this paper. The starting point is already there, the municipality is investing in
the project and the people are very engaged liking it.
Although it sounds very functional and idealistic, there are still some aspects that needed to be
reviewed. Despite the aliments are produced on a base of biological principles, the plants are still
exposed to city pollution and acid rain. Consequently, there must be a proper research on what plants
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FIgure 5 Woman involved in the project taking care of her ecological plot
are really protable and strong enough for the conditions. Urban agriculture could be in a bigger scale
a competition to regular rural agriculture. Also, the legal restrictions are a moot point and have to be
discussed. I believe the municipality should look very close this projects, because improper handling
can lead to more, or bigger problems. Another aspect could be the dispute between urban agriculture
and urbanization. These last two aspects leads to the thesis: Do they have the same intentions
regarding urban gardening in Medelln and Helsinki? The answer is no.
So, is the concept urban agriculture applicable for every sort of urban/home grown veggie? Are they
aiming the same in nland and in colombia when they start one of such projects? No.
Urban farming and urban gardening, are indeed two different concepts. We realized that the proper
name for whats happening in Medellin should be called Urban Farming, because the main aim is
economical. People are looking here for an alternative way to survive in the economic crisis. What the
municipality trying to solve are the waste management problems. In contrast to this, what is
happening in Helsinki is more a social movement.
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