Urbant landbruk i det offentlige rom: erfaringer fra Oslo

In this chapter we present case studies from Oslo (2018–2020), in which we explore ways of integrating urban agriculture in urban public spaces. We collected project initiators’ and managers’ experiences through interviews from eight urban agriculture projects representing a range of typologies, scales, and organizational models, from the city farm to small experimental cultivation projects. The objective is to uncover motivations, organizational issues of urban agriculture in public space, potential well-being impacts for city dwellers, and publicness aspects for a broader community. We find that the urban agriculture projects are motivated by the goal of creating social meeting places and learning arenas for cultivation and ecological knowledge. Urban agriculture is also used as a tool in local urban space development, activating and ensuring the safety of unused spaces by incorporating urban agriculture into public spaces. Additionally, these projects introduce innovative ways to integrate cultivation into green space management. We discuss supporting and challenging factors to succeed with practicing urban agriculture in public space. To ensure accessibility for large and diverse segments of urban populations, we found that perceived publicness of spaces could be increased through deliberate design.