Date of Award

Winter 12-20-2019

Advisor(s)

John Van Buren

Abstract

The positive benefits of urban agriculture go beyond just providing fresh and healthy food to metropolitan areas. As the practice of urban farming has become increasingly more popular over the last decade or so, it has proven to develop community relations and aide with metropolitan and global issues such as poverty. Children and teens especially benefit from urban agriculture, specifically those that comes from underprivileged homes that may not have the resources to obtain fresh food every day. A shocking number of kids can go hungry every day due to lack of available food. Many children that live in metropolitan areas also live in food deserts which do not provide them with access to healthy food. This paper addresses the potential to use urban agriculture as a means of increasing food security and education for underprivileged kids within New York City. Chapter 1 explores the issue of food insecurity among children, citing information regarding the number of children without access to healthy, fresh food and other information concerning food security. Chapter 2 delves deeper into the history of urban agriculture in New York City and how it developed from one person’s rooftop into a sustainability evolution. Chapter 3 looks at the potential outcomes of integrating urban agriculture into social justice for children on issues such as food security, education, and physical and mental health. Chapter 4 analyzes how incorporating urban agriculture into future sustainable infrastructure can benefit everyone, not just children. Drawing from information and analyses in the previous chapters, Chapter 5 provides recommendations on how to create greater access to urban agriculture for children.

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