Towards defining tools and methods for the development of urban agriculture: the METH-EXPAU itinerary and its transfer modes

Urban agriculture emerges as a lever for action that drives the social and ecological transition. Many key players in urban development (local authorities, real-estate promoters, providers of social housing) are implementing urban agriculture projects such as community gardens, eco-grazing, participatory micro-farms, mushroom in-door farms, beehives, etc. However, these actors are often unable to define the forms of urban agriculture with regard to the specificity of urban spaces and the territorial dynamics that characterize their territories. The implementation of urban agriculture projects raises many questions related to their relevance and their feasibility in the territories concerned. To support local actors in implementing these projects, the project managers of the Urban Agriculture Research and Expertise Office (Exp’AU) as well as a few researchers from the Urban Agriculture team (AgroParistech/INRAE) designed and tested a methodological itinerary (METH-EXPAU). The article focuses on the narrative of Exp’AU experiences both in the local authorities support to develop an urban agriculture project based on the METH-EXPAU method deployment as well as in its transfer to make local authorities autonomous. Concerning the first aspect the article highlights the importance of territorial diagnosis as a tool for sharing and co-producing knowledge of and about urban agriculture among local stakeholders. Producing these data and information is essential to building an urban agriculture project at the territorial scale in a still fluid context characterised by lack of legal, regulatory and methodological references. Concerning the second aspect (transfer) the main object is achieving a wide distribution on a French scale and bypassing the need for an intermediary (as Exp’AU project manager), which would limit its distribution and handling.