No. 1

City horticulture – rural identity:local food in Bath and Bamberg

Daniel Keech, Countryside and Community Research Institute, UoGand

Marc Redepenning, Department of Geography, OFURGS-IBG Annual Conference, London 31st August 2016

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No. 2

Urban Agriculture: literature

UA: an area of deepening research and practice, covering issues including:

• UA potential to contribute to self-sufficiency in the global south (RUAF 2015)• UA as a way to tackle food security associated with substantial rural-urban

migration in mega-cities (e.g. food policies in Medellín)• UA planning for Smart Growth (Maye 2016)• UA as a policy response to urban sustainability (Wiskerke & Viljoen 2012,

Sonnino 2016; food policies for Milan, Bristol, London, Sust’ble Food Cities…)• UA spatial and functional distinctions – peri-urban (commercial) vs. urban

(social) (Opitz et al. 2015)• UA and social movements (Tournaghi 2014, Reed and Keech 2016)But: Limited appearance in these studies of small- and mid-scale provincial cities which often have blurred and historical urban-rural identities (Redepenning 2010a, 2010b). Such cities are predominant in the EU.And: UA work has focused on political, economic and technical aspects. We add socio-cultural dimensions.

No. 3

Why Bath and Bamberg?Similarities Differences

Similar population size and demographics (ca. 70,000)

Federal state

Similar topography BA: 74 regional and small-sized breweries in the county and city of BA serving local markets

World Heritage status More £ and acceptability of municipal intervention

Positions on major transport routes BA: ‘…a late medieval area of market gardens with scattered houses and large open spaces, which has retained this character to the present day.’

Importance of tourism

Strong sense of identity/ independence

No. 4

Urban (?) horticulture

Bamberg• 35 family-owned commercial nurseries

(often 3-4 ha, max. 20ha)• Integral to WH status• Strong kinship traditions, links to city

structures – city council, church and horticultural associations.

• Sales: shops, restaurants/breweries, street markets, direct marketing.

• Local varieties (garlic, liquorice, potatoes)

Bath• Past history of commercial

glasshouses, orchards and vineyards - largely disappeared under housing. ‘Bath was largely self-sufficient until the 1950s’

• Bath’s WH status: Romans and Georgian buildings but also its green landscape setting

• ‘Alternative’ food networks (e.g. Transition Bath, Orchardshare )

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No. 5

Urban (?) horticulture

Bamberg• agriculture and ‘rural green spaces’ in

the city (Pics below: googlemaps)

Urban agriculture in Bamberg; OFU Bamberg.

No. 6

What did we do?

Reciprocal visits in September 2015Over 20 interviews with 30+ individuals: councillors, growers, heritage/tourism officials, brewers, civil society food activists

Broad data analysis revealed some key themes: Distinctions in the ‘reach’ of local Local food associated with quality in both cities

but for different reasons Quality signifiers: price, taste, provenance Fraternity/co-operation/rivalry appear in distinct

ways but depend on culture and tradition (as obstacle to co-operation)

Role of ‘the local state’ (public administration) and its understanding of promoting leadership and initiation in local development

Above: Dan Keech with organic gardener Gertrud Leumer. Below: Traditional entrance gate, Gärtnerstadt. Pics by authors.

No. 7

Interpretations of LocalBath Bamberg

Brewery All our beef comes from Wiltshire, fish comes from St Mawes in Cornwall. [We are] fully aware that our customers find regional/local sourcing important, we have printed menus with maps and details about where ingredients are sourced … (KA)

ST describes expanding export trade to Scandinavia and Russia…

90% of our sales area is within 15km (9 miles) … our suppliers are local, we have contact with people going back years, they know us, they know what we want, that’s important… (CM)

Official In the Local Food Strategy, local = 30 miles from the border of the district (SK)

We want ‘local’ to refer exclusively to the city-region of Bamberg (MF)

No. 8

Some quality narratives in Bath

Local food doesn’t necessarily reveal distinctive qualities:Bath is a ‘foody’ place with farmers’ market, artisan restaurants and many niche producers. ‘…what you’ve got to recognize is that a lot of the surrounding farmers are essentially commodity producers. Take this estate: it’s corn, beef, a bit of sheep and dairy. …their current way of selling … doesn’t do them any favours on price’. (NM)

There is tension around the inclusiveness of a ‘foody’ culture [Bath’s vibrant food culture] ‘is good for the tourist industry and … helps to develop the local economy. But what difference does this vibrant culture make to people living in Twerton, for example, on low incomes? It just creates a bigger perception of the gap.’ (DB)

No. 9

Some quality narratives in Bamberg

In Bamberg, local food is familiar and reliable:‘We try to communicate [local food quality] on the menu, … but I don’t think people concern themselves too much with these messages… as long as it tastes good.’ (CM)

Niches are explored and used: re-cultivation of old locally distinct products, enhancing direct marketing and sales

‘The majority of the gardeners market directly from their courtyards, from the site of production.’ (DB)Example Bamberger Sortengarten (2012): ‘We wanted to conserve old types of plants and seeds; many locally distinctive varieties have been developed through the market gardening culture. We have been able to save some, but many have been lost. We have discovered and use old recipes and host cookery workshops to keep the use of old varieties alive and to combine with new varieties’. (GL)

No. 10

Co-operation, fraternity and rivalry (1)

• Bath’s alternative networks are digitally connected, mutually supportive but lack numbers/labour

‘The problem is not the lack of land … Transition Bath also had a garden share project when it first started and that collapsed because because we had far more gardens than gardeners.’

• A strong emphasis is placed on sharing knowledge and practice through social events and talks. This has led some of Bath’s networks to hold expertise and individuals have been co-opted by the council to inform and even draft land use strategies.

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No. 11

Co-operation, fraternity and rivalry (2)

• Bamberg supply chain co-operations had to be re-established since personal contact vanished a generation ago due to general decline (TS/DB)

• Problem of path-dependent production without market observation: ‘As the nurseries became less flexible, the more difficult their commercial positions became and more jealousy and rivalry emerged. Co-operation suffered and it surprised us that almost no personal contact existed between gardeners and that cross-trading was dormant. (WH)

• Bamberg gardener fraternities are ancient and exclusive rivalries, notably between the Obere and Untere Gärtnerstadt.

Pic: Authors from walking trail signage.

No. 12

‘Officialdoms’ and their agency

• Bath Local Food Strategy – rural economy, environmental performance of food industry, public health. How effective? Perhaps only short-term – strategy period expires in 2017. Integration to public health from 2017 so may need to review scope of objectives. Procurement, nutrition and food co-ops???

• Bath’s sub-regional context: Bristol Food Policy Council and CUBA; Sustainable food cities; little appetite for rural greenbelt development although increased security in food production could be a good way to ensure greenspace protection in the city.

No. 13

‘Officialdoms’ and their agency

• WH management plans and regional marketing – no explicit mention of food at all in Bath; in Bamberg, since 2001 the city and district councils have used the A21 framework to develop pro-local marketing campaigns (Gütesiegel/quality seals) (e.g. “Region Bamberg – weil’s mich überzeugt”, 2003) and to help gardeners collaborate (see the Interessensgemeinschaft Bamberger Gärtner, 2010).

• Urban gardening is part of a new (to be published) WH management plan but still lacks further funding – despite good but results of prior funding (1.2M €).

• Gradually, more gardeners are on the council in Bamberg – 4 currently (in different political parties), which help maintain the profile of commercial, land use, succession, co-operative pressures, and integrate WH and tourism objectives (Museum, walking paths, inventory of buildings etc.).

No. 14

Socio-cultural (and more) aspects of UA

To conclude• Socio-cultural dimensions supplement existing technical, political and economic

aspects of urban agriculture research. And reveal yet more hidden geographies…

• In terms of structuring analysis, culture offers a particular self-description for acting within routines (‘Handeln aus Routine’) (Nassehi 2003). In Bamberg cultural tradition represents a challenge to co-operation and competitiveness. Is the gardening tradition mainly preserving routines and established identities, or does it prepare people for changes in routine?

• Cultures of government (governance) is important, too. “Strong” local state (City, Kreis and WH) has driven local food marketing, tourism and cooperation; in Bath civil society has been co-opted by a shrinking public sector.

• Cultures of food consumption pose problems to small-scale gardening: In Bamberg the nexus of cheap but good food is deeply embedded in the collective memory of the locals. But as the costs of producing food increase (with expanding quality standards and regulations), profit margins are affected. In Bath, this is a challenge for poorer consumers and public health officials.

No. 15

Thank you for your attention

Please get in touch with us

dkeech@glos.ac.uk

marc.redepenning@uni-bamberg.de

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No. 16

No. 17

Conclusions

• We have found in our work that the existing literature on self-sufficiency, social innovation or spatial differentiation within urban agriculture is limiting for smaller cities with prominent (dominant?) heritage narratives and modernised agricultural hinterlands.

• Using food, and specifically commercial gardening and socio-cultural aspects of food in two medium-sized provincial cities, we have noted the ways in which a sense of rurality (the rural) is represented in the middle of the city, and how identity, municipal policy, custom, tradition, and entrepreneurialism have all adapted competing notions of quality.

• Social/cultural analysis techniques, for example linked to routines or social systems may help supplement understandings of UA preoccupied with scale, land use and output efficiencies.

Pic: The authors

No. 18

thoughts on cultureCulture: Dieser Begriff knüpft an die klassische Bedeutung von Kultur an, an jene des Schützens und Pflegens, um etwas zu bewahren und zu erhalten (vgl. Baecker 2003: 37).Dirk Baecker vermutet hierin eine gesellschaftlich bedeutsame Funktion von Kultur, die darin besteht, „die Unwahrscheinlichkeit, das Bedrohte, das Prekäre, das Ungewisse einer sozialen Ordnung dergestalt darzustellen, daß Maßnahmen zur Sicherung der Kultur wahrscheinlich und legitim werden. Die Kultur stellt innerhalb einer sozialen Ordnung diese soziale Ordnung als bedroht und erhaltenswert dar“ (Baecker 2003: 37).aus Redepenning 2010: 383

Kultur kann auch das heißen, was sich einmal bewährt hat und von dem man nur sehr schwer Abschied nehmen möchte. Kultur als alles, was wir nicht bereits sind, zur Disposition zu stellen (Baecker 2003: 59f.), die Verletzung der kulturellen Gültigkeit kann Irritationen auslösen. Die Kulturarbeit kontrolliert nicht, sondern sie verführt zum Gewohnten, indem sie mit dem Ungewissen droht. Kultur kann auch als Arbeit an zwei Fronten gelesen werden bzw. im Spannungsfeld von Identität/Redundanz und Varietät/Differenz, um die systemtheoretische Variante zu wählen (Baecker 2003: 74)

Kulturelle Bedeutungssysteme entlasten uns, indem sie uns mit Fraglosem versorgen. Sie sind sowohl Teil jener vibrierenden creatio continua, die sich in den Feldern kultureller Bedeutungsproduktion abspielt, wie auch Hort der Kontinuierung und Tradierung unserer kulturellen Selbstverständnisse, die Orientierung in einer sich wandelnden Welt versprechen (Nassehi 2003: 231).Das Konzept Kultur scheint einen Beobachter mir einem Schema zu versorgen, das Eindeutigkeiten verspricht und Muster erkennbar macht, Regelmäßigkeiten und Erwartbarkeiten (Nassehi 2003: 233).

No. 19

• Research on ‘food in the city’ must also address the cultural dimension besides political and economic considerations.

• Hence, we suggest to pay attention to multi-scalar governance, and socio-cultural factors such as identity and institutions.

• As the Bamberg example has shown, researching und reflecting the multiplicity of different Eigenlogiken of each actors, we suggest to pay some more attention the complexity theories and concepts such as Luhmann’s theory of social systems. They might help illustrate how different groups in cities communicate with each other through and around a culturalized food nexus and how the produce and embed culture into their actions

Conclusions (2)

No. 20

Additional slides

I found this sign – and did a photo – showing the old traditional boundary between the Obere und Untere Gärtnerstadt about which Gertrud Leumer told us.This is still a vivid cultural feature inhibiting cooperation, obviously (see slide no. 9).

No. 21

Pictures – just in case

No. 22

Pictures – just in case