Urban Agriculture: Perceived Potentials and Critical Issues in Italy and Singapore

Urban agriculture (UA), the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in and around urban areas, is a process that can grow, mature, and become attuned to urban dynamics only by involving the citizenry, the people who invest energy, time, and skills to strengthen the presence of horticultural products in urban spaces, public and private, within parks and integrated into buildings. The active involvement of people is therefore strategic, and there is a need to inform people about the multiple benefits of urban farming to make the most of the potential of cities. The paper presents the results of a survey aimed at highlighting the role of UA in urban systems. The results of the same questionnaire administered in the Italian territory and in Singapore, two very different contexts in terms of climatic characteristics but also socioeconomic conditions and, therefore, motivation, are presented. This field survey is considered to be a way to analyze the level of familiarity towards UA and a useful tool to identify the policies and strategies that are able to diffuse this practice and engage people.