ABSTRACT
In Small Island Developing States, urban sprawl and gardening are in competition for the same landscape resources. The expansion of the urban edge has resulted in a spectrum of built patterns ranging from well-regulated sub-divisions to haphazard informal settlements. Like peri-urban urban development in Anglo-Western cities, urban sprawl inevitably displaces agricultural and horticultural enterprises on productive landscapes. Unlike the West, the fragmented nature of urban sprawl creates a far more permeable edge, inter-dispersed with residual landscapes that are temporarily reclaimed for gardening following disasters. Using gardening as an example, this chapter analyzes the political and regulatory challenges of environmental planning on the rural-urban fringe of Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu.
