ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the resource aspect of urban agriculture. The areas of cities, such as idle lands and bodies of water, can be converted to intensive agricultural production. The use of the legal system is crucial for institutionalizing farmers' access to idle land. The contribution of urban agriculture to the conservation and better use of energy, bioregional ecologies and human resources will be outlined next. Briefly, urban agriculture is the largest and most efficient tool available to transform urban wastes into food and jobs, with by-products of an improved living environment, better public health, energy savings, natural resources savings, land and water savings and urban management cost reductions. One of the most significant imports into urbanized areas is food. The chapter concludes that the place to begin urban agriculture as a programme towards ecologically sustainable cities is in the low-income neighbourhoods, for several reasons.
