JAUE2017-009: Strategies and Guidelines of Introducing Agricultural Practices into Cities

Abstract

The lack of restorative environments in modern informationally overloaded society is a very acknowledged and 
treated upon topic. Although most of urban dwellers would like to interact more with greenery to cope with stress, 
gardening practices are seen mostly as inaccessible due to the lack of cultivating space, knowledge and necessary 
tools, lack of time and conflicting schedules, etc. Therefore, the capacity of self-sufficiency in food and to live in a 
more agreeable environment, is lost. This paper, basing upon the new agricultural techniques and principles of 
ergonomy and environmental psychology, will establish several guidelines to improve the inclusion of agricultural 
activities into everyday urban living. In particular, the limitations of space, time and lifestyle will be tackled. 
Firstly, ways to adapt growing spaces to restricted geometrical and lighting conditions and to human posture to 
avoid back-breaking heavy tasks will be described. Secondly, some ideas of automation for planting and 
harvesting, sowing and watering and maintenance schedules will be compared to the average agenda of an urban 
dweller to get to a sustainable temporal solution. And lastly, some psychological constraints related to changes in 
behavioral patterns and ways to overcome them will be treated. Even while recognizing all the benefits of 
agricultural practices, we cannot pretend to successfully introduce a traditional practice into modern cities without 
considering the routines of its inhabitants and without offering viable options and tools to do so.