{"id":416,"date":"2020-05-05T09:50:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T09:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/?p=416"},"modified":"2020-05-05T15:58:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T15:58:00","slug":"workshop-report-how-to-urban-farm-a-healthy-equitable-sustainable-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/2020\/05\/05\/workshop-report-how-to-urban-farm-a-healthy-equitable-sustainable-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Workshop report: How to urban farm a healthy, equitable, sustainable future?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
At the beginning of March the Rurban team met with new collaborators and partners at the Storey Institute in Lancaster for a couple of days of brainstorming. We met to discuss what was needed to enable a Rurban transformation \u2013 a world where urban farming is strategically expanded to support our health and wellbeing and address our urgent climate and environmental crises. We had a productive and enjoyable two days, with time spent thinking and talking in the early spring sunshine in the Storey\u2019s Garden.<\/p>\n
We hadn\u2019t factored in a global pandemic. Two months on from this meeting the World has changed. Meeting face-to-face has become a past mode of working, and the gates to the Storey Garden stand shut for the time being.<\/p>\n
Yet the concept of rurbanisation we discussed and developed together is more important now than ever. Food, access to nature, mental health and wellbeing, local living are all high on the global agenda and at the forefront of our daily lives.<\/p>\n
The potential power of rurbanisation as a solution has been confirmed by some new research from the team, undertaken shortly after we entered lockdown. The early results suggest that those who have been engaged in urban farming have felt more shielded against food shortages and stress \u2013 underlining the importance of this activity as a means for creating resilience and supporting health.<\/p>\n