Using a Multimethod Approach to Define an Urban Farming Network

to Oporto Metropolitan Area

LUÍS LOURES*

Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (IPP), 7300 Portalegre, Portugal and VALORIZA-Research Centre

for Endogenous Resource Valorization,

7300 Portalegre, PORTUGAL

ANA PEREIRA

SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract: The multi-functionality inherent to the concept of Urban Agriculture (UA) can be associated with a

recreational occupation, a method of overcoming financial distress, and a requalification of the landscape.

However, urban development and the poor implementation of urban planning policies resulted in the loss of

agricultural land and the emergence of residual and interstitial empty spaces within our cities. This article uses

a case study of urban agriculture in Oporto City, as a guiding principle to recover and re-establish the

retrieving and introducing urban agriculture into open urban space. The paper concludes with a newly defined

urban farming network in Oporto, which focuses on connecting these rural areas within the city with the rural

areas outside the city.

Key-Words: allotment gardens; sustainable planning; urban agriculture; urban planning; urban ecological

structure

Received: June 23, 2021. Revised: December 19, 2021. Accepted: January 6, 2022. Published: February 2, 2022.

the city and the countryside allowed the life of the

rural landscape since the city acquired the assets that

the rural landscape produced [1-5]. Thus, during the

long period before the Industrial Era, the urban/rural

relationship reflected a functional balance between

these two distinct worlds. However, after the

Industrial Revolution, it was assessed an increase in

population density in the peri-urban areas, the

departure of the rural area, and the sharp increase of

the edification in this area [6]. For that matter, the

the urban world ignited the loss of the

multifunctional landscape and the values and

is essential to eradicate the disruption between these

two spaces. Many authors agree [8-12] that the

landscape must reflect the quality of both spaces and

new reality, which enables the continuity of the rural

space with the urban Man and creates the Global

Landscape. This landscape aims to connect the

passive and living elements, collapsing the

segregation between the urban and rural. It also

defends that the principles of the biological essence,

the buildings, and the soil used should be equally

distributed into the land, respecting the ecological

aptitude and environmental capacity and always

considering the existing landscape [8, 13-15].

green spaces, leisure areas, buildings, economy, and

landscape.

To obtain a more significant understanding of the

current condition and importance of quality of those

areas with agricultural aptitude as agricultural and

urban spaces, it is vital to consider an urban farming

network that connects those spaces and qualifies

their deliberate and suitable use as allotment

gardens. Thereby this is a crucial option that allows

of the cities with their inner center [11,16-20].

Drescher [21] points out that Urban Agriculture

complements rural agriculture and can reduce

pressure to cultivate new rural land, relieve stress on

marginal rural lands, and contribute to the

generation of income in the rural sector various and

multiple interactions between the areas and their

inhabitants.

of a compact city". These ideas are precisely the

primary purpose of this article: the development of

the proposal of a new conceptual and designing

agricultural practices have always been present in

the city, not only in an ideological context but also

in a functional one. Although the productive

component was never lost, the leisure component

only started to prevail stem from the Renaissance

[23]. Matos and Baptista [24] underpinned that until

the 20th century horticultural products were

cultivated along the streams and rivers of the city.

These former allotment gardens’ spaces started to be

occupied with highways, residential areas, and other

and urban fringe. Matos and Baptista [24] appoint

that today there are small agriculture explorations in

the interstitial spaces or of heavy use in suburban

areas in our vast metropolitan areas (Lisbon and

Oporto). In this context, Carvalho [25] pointed out

that these spaces can undertake several urban

functions, such as environmental, educational,

touristic, and leisure functions, considering that the

agricultural purposes are no longer reasonable to

justify its presence.

(iii) Social (leisure, stimulates social coexistence

and promotes social integration).

These spaces undertake a leading role for the

welfare of the citizens, for human alimentation, for

environmental awareness and urban ecosystems

emerged in Lisbon [29], due to the migratory flows

in the 60s and 70s [30]. In the past decade, the

implementation of urban allotment gardens has

increased significantly [29] in cities like Lisbon,

is one of the most considerable. This program was

created by LIPOR in 2013 and is currently formed

by 15 allotment gardens in different Portuguese

cities (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4). The program's main

goal was to create dynamic and useful green spaces,

progressively detailed information about the city,

especially about the agrarian land and existing urban

allotments. This analysis led to a substantial

characterization of Oporto City and an evaluation of

agricultural land throughout the last decades. Thus,

a general evaluation of urban agriculture and define

the current urban gardener profile. The survey was

established in two distinct groups. The first group

intended to characterize the gardener (age,

professional status, and family household). The

second group was about the allotment farmer, crops,

and the relation between the gardener and the

allotment.

These three distinct phases we intended to define an

This qualitative analysis enables a better

understanding of the dynamics between the urban

and rural spaces. Thus, we considered that urban

growth is inevitable and that it is essential to

establish sustainable measures to counteract this

relation and deploy the urban farming spaces, not

only to hold the genius loci and protect those spaces

but also to create multifunctional green spaces.

the rurality within the city and connect it to its

periphery. It also enables the city to keep the rural as

its heritage, legacy, and identity, inducting

agricultural fields into the contemporary city.

slow and socially active, tactile, seasonal and

healthy and, adds that any open urban space,

communal or private, inner-city or suburban, small

or big would benefit from the introduction and

spatial coherence to the infrastructural and

qualitative aspects of urban agriculture.

Nevertheless, to translate this concept into practice

will require further work; hence Viljoen and Bohn

be included in the city’s land-use plan;

(iii) The central area within the city can and must be

reserved;

(iv) Promotion of urban agriculture as a timeless use

of community and private land;

(v) Development of multifunctional use of the land

and encouragement of the community on the

management of urban open space;

(vi) The insertion of space to urban farmers or

community gardens in new housing public projects

sustainable in inadequate spaces. In this context, the

municipal policies must define guidelines to ease

access to capable land to produce horticultural

products [35]. In fact, the protection of agricultural

land is already present in countless urban planning

avoid the sustained destruction by the arising

undertakings.

Fig. 5: Oporto’s Urban Ecological Structure

Fig. 6: Lisbon’s Green Plan

bank of the Douro River and this metropolitan area

(Figure 7).

In the 19th century, Oporto city was a city entirely

overpowered by rural life. The agricultural fields

and rural areas were scattered across the entire city.

In this context, all the current parishes of the urban

space comprise full extensions of an agricultural

holding, feeding the whole city [39]. Yet, in the

of the urban space. As a result, the fierce dynamic

that highlighted the city during that period reflected

on the green structure, at the expense of the

destruction of the agricultural and rural land [40].

Fig. 7: Oporto’s municipality location

Therefore, the vulnerability of agricultural spaces

and the lack of interest of urban planning in the 19th

[42].

Thus, the single patch that endured until today is the

results from the reflex of the particularities of the

eastern side of Oporto, such as its steeped

topography and the north-south crossing of the

massive railway and highway infrastructures. It is

essential to mention the agricultural spaces in the

outer ring of the Via de Cintura Interna (VCI). The

gardens devoted to food production and allotment

gardens designed for recreational and pedagogical

activities. Parishes located on the Eastern side of the

city (Paranhos, Campanhã, Ramalde, Cedofeita,

and Bonfim) present a higher number of elderly and

unemployed. Therefore, the allotment gardens for

food production must be primarily located on these

parishes. These allotments must have bigger

production allotments and little markets where the

urban farmers could sell their horticultural products.

The western side of Oporto (Aldoar, Nevogilde, Foz

do Douro, Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos)

guidelines enable only the creation and definition of

needs, but a mix of these allotment gardens

typologies that can and should be encouraged.

Concerning lithology, the Oporto city is composed

mainly of Cambisol soil, which exhibits a high

agricultural aptitude [43]. This soil type is very

fertile and is ideal for agricultural use. Therefore,

the Oporto metropolitan area, especially the Oporto

city, is a territory that could be used more for

22% built-up areas, 48% for forest land, and 30%

agricultural land use.

The Oporto city is located exclusively on urban soil.

Therefore, the land-use map is divided into two

categories – the urban land and Ecological Urban

agricultural land, the spaces dedicated to urban

agriculture are included on the Ecological Urban

Structure, which is divided in:

and national heritage;

(iii) Private Green areas: include buildings, gardens,

patios, and villas, which, despite not being public

and promote urban environmental quality;

(iv) Other green areas: spaces dedicated to serving

as physical and visual protection, located alongside

the circulation corridor.

The analysis of the built-up areas allows concluding

enterprises existing in the city. Hence, the space

reserved for housing development is superior and

exceeds the population’s necessities [43]. On the

contrary, the agricultural land included in Mixed

important for the urban hydrologic system and are

undoubtedly the most important rivers within the

city [43]. The persistence of agricultural land within

urban areas is justified by the ancestral preservation

of the riparian edges for agricultural use.

Nevertheless, the decrease of the agrarian spaces is

related to the urban sprawl, highlighting the

territory's shattered and scattered character [40].

Nevertheless, the agricultural patches located in

structure of Oporto's city. In this sense, even though

it remained some agricultural land in the city, these

present itself as unqualified and, at times, as vacant

land. Therefore, it is most likely for these

agricultural areas to disappear. This depletion is a

natural process for its urban development, and it is

increasingly natural for the agriculture lands to

courtyards and little allotments, which are an

is important to uphold and protect. In this regard, the

definition and implementation of an urban farming

network are fundamental since the planning of these

spaces can prevent the consisting destruction of the

diverse agricultural patches still existing and their

replacement for new urban enterprises.

From the 100 gardeners inquired during the survey,

age of the gardeners is 62 years old, and most

gardeners are retired and have a household of two

elements on average. Although everyone profit from

these spaces, we can emphasize the elderly and

disadvantaged families. Those groups embrace those

gardeners. When this is not possible, those areas

must be close to public transportation lines to allow

them access to those spaces. The inquired gardener

also appointed the integration of the allotment

gardens in green spaces and spaces with particular

areas for children. The gardener also named the

need to practice biological agriculture and monitor

gardeners and proximity relationships.

4.1 Oporto Urban Farming Network

The definition of this network intends to absorb and

(Figure 8) and add the allotment gardens in green

public spaces, which would uphold its consistency

throughout the city.

Fig. 8: Soils with agricultural and forest aptitude in

Oporto

It is possible to notice that the areas with agriculture

aptitude prevail above the VCI, with occasional

spaces within. These spaces are centered in

agricultural land used to embed and comprise the

former rural ring of the city. Currently and,

regardless of its agricultural aptitude, those spaces

are susceptible to fierce speculative processes.

On the other hand, the spaces located in Contumil

are featured by its heightened disqualification. This

is an abandoned rural area, waiting to be embraced

and deployed by the urban tissue. In fact, it has

become increasingly essential to structure and

This measure enables to assist of the unemployed

farmers produce their own food, selling it in local

markets and supplying it to a restaurant and hotel

chain. It can be build up as well as several sale

points and markets in the allotment gardens to sell

the produced seasonal products.

The definition of an urban farming network allowed

establishing a connection between this and the

inquired enhanced the importance of the new UA

spaces being implemented in the proximity of bus

stop stations. Nevertheless, it was considered

essential to offer other options for the urban farmers

and users of those places. It is proposed the

definition of bicycle paths and pedestrian routes that

interconnect the different allotment gardens.

It is also vital to establish a continuity of UA spaces

within Oporto city and the remaining municipalities

The proposed urban farming network promotes the

rehabilitation and recovery of void spaces with high

agricultural aptitude. This is an essential measure

since It uses the natural resources of those spaces,

increases the total of green areas in the city, and

improves the ecological footprint by depressing the

transportation costs inherent to the agricultural

production corroborated with the ideas presented by

Gomes [44]. Besides, the application of this measure

reduces noise, increases the infiltration of water in

contact with nature, enhancing the biodiversity in

the urban space [45].

To counteract the high density of buildings that

exists in the urban center, it is suggested the

contained, providing the necessary tools to act

reordering the urban landscape, the relationship with

food, and life in a community. This measure would

be enforced on rooftops of municipal buildings,

such as Trindade’s subway and the buildings in the

Oporto Business Area.

Figure 9 represents a diagram where the proposed

urban farming network is combined with a few

allotment gardens already existent, establishing

By overlapping the urban farming network (Figure

10) with the constraints plant, it was possible to

notice that various spaces with agricultural aptitude

some might be adapted and used for the

enforcement of the urban farming network.

Fig. 10: Urban farming in Oporto

The definition of this urban farming network

represents a fundamental strategy for the

deployment of an articulated system of green

agricultural areas, connecting the countless patches

of rustic spaces, owned to the former rural ring and

seen as a global system.

The conversion of the agricultural landscape into the

urban landscape had a few repercussions in the

territorial planning and the management of the

available natural resources and, therefore, ignited

significant changes and restrained the environmental

environment [46]. Hence, the rural ring that

which did not include any clause regarding the

agricultural lands in its spaces. Thus, land with

agricultural aptitude had to be eliminated because it

was planned for countless urban interventions,

which do not include the definition and structure of

green areas. However, numerous spaces with

agricultural aptitude are located in areas called

planning units. It is foreseen the definition of green

spaces, due to its location in spaces with agricultural

aptitude planning strategies and urban development.

activity emerges as an interaction between the rural

culture and the improvement of public services in

[46].

urban space.

The main purpose of this article was to define an

urban farming network and, to accomplish that it

was identified the favorable spaces for the

development of this activity, based on its

agricultural aptitude, natural values, and land-use. In

this sense, it was intended to gather those spaces in a

continuous network, including the dense urban

center, which proposed the definition of allotment

It was intended to enforce a continuous productive

simultaneously contribute to food security, the

reduction of ecological footprint, and environmental

education. To fulfill these purposes, it is suggested

that the urban space design inducts the UA in the

existing and proposed green areas.However, due to

the lack of legislation and measures that protect the

agricultural soil and encloses the agricultural

activity in the urban tissue, it is suggested that the

the placement of a more significant number of

allotments. By contrast, the introduction of UA in

urban planning policies is not enough to preserve

the soils with agricultural value in the urban space.

Hence, it is suggested that those regulations

acknowledge the allotment's gardens value as a

multifunctional space.

It is expected with the definition of this urban

farming network warns to its natural purpose and