Interest in urban agriculture (UA) has considerably increased during the last decade. Research has shown that UA can have several positive impacts on the social
and environmental health of a city. Increasingly, the question of the role of professional farmers is raised. The Food Urbanism Initiative (FUI; see www.foodurbanism.org/lausanne) explicitly looks at this via its use of Lausanne, Switzerland as a case study site. In the first phase, the research team assessed the
population’s attitude towards UA by means of a public survey. It concludes that although UA is not the most important publicly perceived urban issue, it is well
supported. Presently, the case study work includes the assessment of the existing physical opportunities and the possible various typologies of urban farming that
could apply to the site. Current research is investigating the potential of urban farming for professional farmers. Additionally, the success of a series of city
initiated pilot projects (micro community plots/plantages, traditional family gardens, sheep keeping and the pedagogic farm of Rovéréaz Domain) reinforces the
importance of UA and its implementation via diverse methods. However, the FUI Lausanne urban analysis so far indicates that although there are many potential
sites for UA, many of them are small, privately-owned, and disconnected parcels. There are serious constraints for traditional professional farming in urban areas as
far as economic and agronomic aspects are concerned, leaving agricultural production in urban areas to be tended by urban “gardeners” or quasiprofessionals.
Principal issues concern both the legal limits to professional farming and restrictions related to the scale of a successful agricultural operation. Urban and
peri-urban farmers may have increased opportunities for commercialisation and partnerships with urban population. Consequently, the FUI challenge is to find the
most applicable array of realistic UA project typologies while at the same time doing so with an expanded notion regarding the future role of professional, semiprofessional and “hobby” farmers.