Urban Farms for Neighborhood Improvement and Social Well-being of Urban Areas in Kandy

Abstract

In the latter half of the 20th century, as urban populations increased in the majority of emerging nations, the reliability of urban food production and delivery networks decreased. Urban hunger increased concurrently with the urban population, speeding up by in response, urban farms spread over a growing worldwide. However, later other purposes were added to it and urban farms were nurtured. Globally, urban farms are changing as a result of political, economic, environmental, and technical advancements. With time, urban farming activities are becoming a reason to improve the value and quality of life in terms of economic, social, and other elements. In this research, it was investigated how urban farming affects the social well-being and neighborhood improvements of urban areas. Furthermore, it focuses on urban farms' relative attachment to the neighborhood and confidence, their impact on agriculture literacy and youth development, and the economic and food crises in the urban areas. It was sought to understand community perceptions of how urban farms can benefit cities through a qualitative study conducted in two urban farms in Kandy. Interviews with visitors, laborers, and professionals related to urban farming revealed the pathways by which community members view farms as improving neighborhoods and social well-being. According to this study, six characteristics are highlighted and evaluated: neighborhood attachment, neighborhood confidence, youth development, food access, agricultural literacy, and economic development. Benefits stemmed from a primary changes urban farms made to neighborhood improvement: the creation of public project involvement, the physical improvement of degraded space, the production of local food, and the creation of new businesses. These changes led to multiple perceived benefits, including increased social connectedness, a transformed physical landscape, an improved neighborhood reputation, and employment opportunities. But there were some points that should be developed. especially in cases of food access and youth development. Urban farms with strong social aims may appear to contribute little to economic development if measured using traditional indicators of success such as job creation or fiscal impacts, but they provide numerous other benefits for community development.

Keywords: Urban farms, Social connectedness, Physical improvement, Food access, Youth engagement, Economic development