Class Year
2014
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2014
Department 1
Environmental Studies
Abstract
The tide is changing in food research and food movements. Both academic thought and grassroots mobilization have demonstrated a shift beyond merely the problems of industrial food, and toward an emphasis on issues of justice and equity within food systems (Sloccum, 2006; Alkon & Agyeman, 2011; Sbicca, 2012; Agyeman & McEntee, 2013). In examining the contemporary case of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore City, which is “a network of producers working to increase the viability of urban farming and improve access to urban grown foods, united by practices and principles that are socially, economically, and environmentally just” (Farm Alliance website, 2012), I pose the question: what are the historical, geographical, and socioeconomic factors of the city of Baltimore that create the demand for a food justice movement? The question is motivated by food justice (FJ) and urban political ecology (UPE) theoretical frameworks that situate current development trends within larger spatial and temporal—political, sociocultural and material—networks and legacies. In the following analysis, by exploring Baltimore’s industrial and racial history I attempt to explain why current socioeconomic and racial inequalities exist in the city’s current geographic and cultural landscape, and how those inequalities manifest in the city’s food system. The analysis takes on a threefold process of 1) discussing Baltimore’s industrial formation/post-industrial transformation, 2) assessing how these transformations have impacted the city’s spatial patterns and food system conditions, and 3) presenting action being taken at the grassroots level to improve the city’s current food situation. I find that not only are industrialization and institutional racism central forces in creating a demand for food justice in Baltimore, they are deeply intertwined in a way that shapes the city’s spatial conditions and its food system.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Croog, Rebecca L., "Baltimore and the Cherry Hill Urban Garden: Tearing Down and Building Up the Physical and Imaginative Spaces of Post-Industrial Urban Food Systems" (2014). Student Publications. 249.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/249
Included in
Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Food Science Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Comments
This paper was written for an Environmental Studies Independent Research Project (ES450).