ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on food production and food provisioning as overlooked and neglected aspects of urban sustainability in developed countries. The focus is on peri-urban land and the restructuring of peri-urban land use that is occurring in the outskirts of urban regions. In these areas, agricultural production for urban consumption is routinely abandoned and substituted with numerous other uses such as urban sprawl and recreation activities, for example, golf courses and horseback riding. Moreover, protected areas and alternatives to this development are also discussed. The multiple dimensions of a sustainable food system as an alternative to the globalised food system are elaborated. Development of local food systems can be seen as steps towards a more sustainable society. The chapter includes results from a European research project on future food production, with a case study from a peri-urban region in Gothenburg, Sweden.
