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Cet article propose une réflexion collective sur l’engagement militant à partir de la recherche en agriculture urbaine en France et aux États-Unis. Il s’appuie sur une revue qualitative de la littérature, complétée par une série de séminaires. Ancrée dans la géographie critique et militante, la recherche sur l’agriculture urbaine aux États-Unis se concentre sur le jardinage communautaire et promeut la justice alimentaire. Dans le contexte français, les registres espaces et acteurs considérés sont beaucoup plus diversifiés et la réflexivité critique et politique comparativement moins développée. L’article se conclut par un appel à plus de réflexivité critique en ce domaine.

L’agriculture urbaine est en expansion dans de nombreuses villes du monde. Son analyse invite à dépasser les frontières séparant traditionnellement les études urbaines des études agricoles. Cet article souligne l’intérêt du concept de système agri-urbain pour penser la complexité des relations ville-agriculture. À partir de l’étude d’une ville d’Afrique de l’Ouest, son objectif est d’élaborer une grille de lecture de ces relations à l’échelle territoriale de la ville et de sa région. Trois groupes d’interactions ville-agriculture sont distingués : les interactions spatio-historiques entre nature, agriculture et ville, les interactions entre le système urbain actuel et l’agriculture, et enfin les interactions au sein du système agraire urbain. Il s’agit de repérer, dans l’ensemble de ces relations, ce qui explique la diversité des agricultures urbaines et les facteurs qui influencent leur devenir.

Urban agriculture, a widespread phenomenon across the world, invites us to new ways of analyzing two spheres traditionally considered separately: the city and agriculture. This article seeks to emphasize the importance of the agriurban system concept to analyze the complexity of cityagriculture interactions. Taking the case study of a West African city, its objective is to develop an interpretative framework of these interactions at the territorial level of a city and its region.We propose a systems approach based on the intersection of three groups of interactions: i) spatial and historical interactions between nature, agriculture and the city, ii) interactions between the current urban system and urban agriculture, and iii) interactions within the agricultural system. The aim is to identify how a variety of relationships between city and agriculture are developed and what is at stake for the durability of urban agriculture. Firstly, we show the historical contribution of agriculture to the development of the city: farmers have mobilized local resources to develop a diversity of urban or periurban farming activities. Secondly, analyzing the agriurban system reveals specific forms of urban governance and the weight of informality in the development of urban agriculture. Finally, our analysis highlights the weight of croplivestock and ruralurban interactions in the functioning of the agriurban system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interdisciplinary program (ADURAA) analyzes the sustainability and the urban functions of agriculture inside and .around Antananarivo. Its aim is to develop knowledge and to help public decisions about the interest, limits and conditions of the local maintenance of agriculture, compared with other land uses. Six research themes were identified based on a typology of urban farms; they contribute knowledge on three main functions of this agriculture, viz. food supply, land use and risk prevention, and the emerging role of urban waste reuse. A wide diversity of activities systems and agricultural production systems has been identified in relation to distance to the town and water availability. This urban agriculture significantly contributes to the vegetables supply of the district as well as toits rice supply. Flooding in the lowland and erosion in the hills are also efficiently contained by agricultural land use, but anarchic building and the use of agricultural soil for brick making largely counteract this role. Uncontrolled discharge of industrial liquid wastes into the irrigation network greatly reduces rice production and has even led to the desertion of some intra-urban rice-growing areas, while domestic pollution strongly affects the sanitary quality of intra-urban vegetables. However a positive externality could be developed by using some urban solid waste as fertilisers for the growing horticultural sector. Emerging questions such as the quality of urban produce and potential new risks open up new avenues for future research on this agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]