Overview

This book, by a leading expert in urban agriculture, offers a genuine solution to today's global food crisis. By contributing more to feeding themselves, cities can allow breathing space for the rural sector to convert to more organic sustainable approaches

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9781911307082

Table of Contents

Reviews

'A critical and constructive contribution to current discourses on food system issues.' International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 'An excellent resource for anyone interested in what unsustainable and sustainable food systems look like and the biological, socioeconomic and political complexities that support them. It is relevant reading for students, academics and practitioners as well as policymakers. Whilst it is possible to dip into its chapters independently, the greatest benefit is derived from reading the book as a whole.' Environment & Urbanization 'Robert Biel's fascinating book on this topic is a breath of fresh air, taking, as it does, a strong and convincing political ecology argument into conversation with more scientific debates around food security in a way which manages to be both critical and constructive at the same time.' Journal of Political Ecology 'This is a very good book which deserves to be read widely by anyone interested in how food sustainability may be enhanced across the globe. As well as appealing to an academic audience, its politically engaged agenda and focus on practical solutions means that it will also appeal to the practitioner community working in the development and humanitarian fields, especially in urban areas. ...Biel's admirable insistence that the book is open-access (p. 3) means that it is indeed likely to be read widely and make a significant contribution to scholarly debates in this area, as well as, hopefully, contributing to what the author sees as the paradigm shift required in systems of food production world-wide. Whether this occurs and leads to positive change for the millions of people whose livelihoods are currently threatened by structural inequalities of production and consumption remains to be seen, but Biel's book starkly illustrates the urgency required in this endeavour.' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI) 'This is an impressive book, weaving a convincing narrative about the potential future food system that could overcome many of the tensions in today's food regime. Whilst a 'short' book, it covers a remarkable range of topics, drawing on physics, biology, history, anthropology and geography, all underpinned by a Marxist philosophy.' Agriculture and Human Values 'We highly recommend Robert Biel's Sustainable Food Systems. It is an in-depth discussion of the theoretical foundations of sustainability, in particular with relation to food production, drawing on the metasciences of dialectics, complexity and self-organization theory, utilizing the concept of entropy.' Journal of Labor and Society

Author Information

Robert Biel teaches Political Ecology at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL, and also runs a Master's module on Food and the City. His books include The Entropy of Capitalism (Brill/Haymarket Press, 2013). He is an allotment holder, with 15 years' experience in low-input, intensive food-growing, and is involved in several research projects exploring a specifically urban agroecology.

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