Restoring urban fringe landscapes through urban agriculture: the Japanese experience

This paper advocates the re-establishment of garden zones both in and around cities. Mixed land-use garden zones are conceptualized as spaces where urban residents can craft their own local food cultures and agro-biographies in response to the globalization of agriculture and food consumption. The case for creating garden zones is made by first outlining the legacy of post-war growth and planning policies, which attempted to clearly demarcate the line between urban and agricultural use. And, second, investigating the current demographic shifts which threaten the existence of domestic agricultural production and necessitate a new pro-urban agriculture planning paradigm. To develop this new planning paradigm, the third section looks back at the city of Edo to identify the urban agricultural heritage of what is now the modern-day megalopolis of Tokyo. The fourth section demonstrates the need for multifunctional green spaces by presenting a number of examples of agro-activities in both urban and suburban areas of the greater Tokyo area. The final section concludes the paper with a discussion of the need for a new type of garden zone: a hybrid zone where the mixing of urban and agricultural uses is encouraged.