Expert opinion from University of Auckland - Waipapa Taumata Rau
Opinion: The costs of living in New Zealand have been in the news for decades, with particular attention paid to food and housing. Food costs have been mostly blamed on the supermarket duopoly. The economics of the production and distribution of food and associated international commerce relationships and the food miles involved are an ongoing challenge for New Zealand.
Feeding our cities is underpinned by the difficulties of feeding an island nation-state specialised in animal farming where dairy production for export accounts for most of our greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers and policymakers have been exploring these socio-economic and political food dynamics for decades.
But more attention could be paid to another national asset regarding urban food provisioning – public land.
Why not expand our horizons and explore the possibility of using public spaces in the urban context, to provide free food for all, while enhancing biodiversity in our urban environments? Why not reimagine food production and distribution as a public service that would enable people to get many of their fruit and veg locally and free of charge while providing safe habitats for pollinators, such as bees and birds, to thrive?
Our research team implemented a project in which we created a public, edible landscape in the city of Waharoa in New Zealand in January 2023, in partnership with the Matamata-Piako District Council and a Māori Community group. The 400 square metre former bowling green was leased by the Matamata-Piako District Council. A Māori Community group, the Kaitiaki Trap’n Train Trust, is leading the planting and management of the land leased by the council. We co-designed a list of crops and non-edible plants with our partners in September 2022, which included culturally appropriate foods, such as kamo kamo, and different kinds of potatoes and flowers to attract pollinators.
‘What has been done in Waharoa and at Epicurious, where parts of ornamental landscapes have been turned into beautiful, productive and inclusive gardens, could be done in any city’
In January, the place was filled with annuals and perennials, such as ripened tomatoes, large cucumbers and colourful flowers. Community members told us they felt welcome to help themselves. More recently, our pollinator surveys confirmed 14 visiting species were drawn by our co-designed public, edible landscape in Waharoa.
This is distinct from community gardens as we know them. Community gardens are worked on by community gardeners, who quite reasonably want to enjoy the fruits of their labour. The Waharoa inclusive public, edible landscape welcomes everyone to harvest, even if the produce was grown by someone else.
My research has also focused on the Epicurious Garden in Brisbane as an example of how such spaces could be created and maintained by government. The Epicurious Garden resulted from a business case put forward across levels of government. South Bank Corporation oversees the ongoing maintenance of the Epicurious Garden, where visitors can take freshly harvested vegetables free of charge.
Unsurprisingly, Epicurious and Waharoa research participants told us how much they appreciated being able to take home freshly harvested, free vegetables, herbs and fruits without being asked to work on the land. They told us the gardens helped them teach their kids about where foods come from, including strawberries, bananas and herbs. It inspired them to try to cook new dishes and experiment with new ingredients, such as kamo kamo in Waharoa, and chard in Brisbane.
These human and non-human elements combined shed light on untapped opportunities to activate multiple values in public land in New Zealand and overseas. The socio-economic and political dynamics involved in feeding cities can be daunting, especially in an island-nation state. In postwar Cuba, for example, the creation of edible gardens demanded a dramatic transformation when the economic sanctions imposed by the United States forced them to transition from a sugar-production economy to a localised self-sufficient food production and distribution model. Suddenly, edible gardens taking over Cuba’s public spaces were a matter of survival.
Cities that aren’t faced with the socio-economic and political challenges Cuba faced can be inspired by the possibilities of food as a public service. What has been done in Waharoa and at Epicurious, where parts of ornamental landscapes have been turned into beautiful, productive and inclusive gardens, could be done in any city. These inclusive, edible landscapes connect people with healthy foods, and where our foods come from. We have public spaces, parks, gardens and so on, that are used largely for ornamental purposes, which could offer so much more if partly repurposed as a place to provide free food for all.
