Taking context into account in urban agriculture governance: case studies of Warsaw (Poland) and Ghent (Belgium)

This article explores the role of local particularism in relation to the global interest in urban agriculture(UA). A growing movement is advocating UA, but future prospects are limited by variability, unclearexpectations, vague responsibilities and leadership in the UA movement. We wonder whether the poorunderstanding of UA governance is associated with a public discourse and academic literature that tooeasily adopt the generic and universally claimed benefits. We argue here that uncritical enthusiasm resultsin an overly instrumental approach to governance of UA with a main focus on stimulating formal (e.g.,policy making) and informal advocacy (e.g., civic engagement in UA). We do not deny the importance offormal and informal advocacy in UA development, but rather claim that the potential of UA needs a morenuanced analysis. Study of the interplay between UA advocacy and a city’s contextual characteristics is aworthy pursuit, as it may provide significant and more profound explanations for the divergence observedin UA developments. Case studies performed in Warsaw (Poland) and Ghent (Belgium) serve to illustratethe importance of context. The results suggest that neither case is likely to benefit from a governancestrategy that only stimulates greater advocacy and institutional support. The inclusion of city-specificneeds, opportunities and pitfalls of UA in the governance strategy can help to move UA toward its fullpotential. We suggest a policy-making strategy for UA that expands beyond the realm of food productionalone. Ultimately, the aim is to steer away from assessing (and critiquing) UA solely against the backdropof these generic success factors.