Can urban agriculture solve the issue of food security for city dwellers?

As food deserts and food insecurity have become increasingly urgent issues within urban communities, many organizations and individuals have started urban farms to attempt to combat the effects of these issues. Using rooftops, vacant lots, and indoor hydroponic gardens, urban farming has sprouted in cities such as Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Austin. Can fresh agriculture trends help cities grow and turn over a new leaf?

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Additional resources to think about

City Farm
In this game from GBH, grow crops and keep them alive through unforeseen circumstances while learning about small-space farming and sustainable practices to grow food in an urban setting.

Cultivating Failure
This piece from The Atlantic discusses the ways in which urban farming curricula in schools might be further disadvantaging already vulnerable students.

Why We Should Be Urban Farming
This video from The Good Stuff heads to Chicago to learn about how we can turn food waste into productive urban farmland.

Infographic: Food Security to Famine | Oxfam America
This infographic defines and illustrates terms on the spectrum from "food insecurity" to "famine" and visualizes the statistics for each.

How An Urban Farm In Philadelphia Is Transforming Lives
This video from the Huffington Post explores the effects of an urban farm on a Philadelphia neighborhood.

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Who created this message?

What kind of “text” is it?
How similar or different is it to others of the same genre?
What are the various elements (building blocks) that make up the whole?

What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

What do you notice (about the way the message is constructed)?
What’s the emotional appeal?
What makes it seem “real?”
What's the emotional appeal? Persuasive devices used?

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

How many other interpretations could there be?
How could we hear about them?
How can you explain the different responses?

What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?

What type of person is the reader/watcher/listener invited to identify with?
What ideas or perspectives are left out?
How would you find what’s missing?
What judgments or statements are made about how we treat other people?

Why is this message being sent?

What's being sold in this message? What's being told?
Who is served by or benefits from the message
– the public?
– private interests?
– individuals?
– institutions?

5 Key Questions of Media Literacy used with permission from the Center for Media Literacy.
Copyright 2002-2021, Center for Media Literacy, www.medialit.com

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