MSc RPD Thesis Defence: Alberic Marginet

Alberic Marginet, a Master of Science in Rural Planning and Development student, will defend their thesis research titled “Urban is the New Rural: Performance Measurements for Urban Agriculture”. A brief description of their thesis research is listed below: 

Urban Agriculture (UA) is a historical planning practice that re-emerged in the Global North following the economic crisis of 2008 (Lovell, S., 2010; Vitiello, D., Brinkley, C., 2014a; Morgan, K., 2015). Capturing academic attention with social justice and sustainability features, UA remains poorly understood and blocked by a planning culture opposing it (Hendrickson, M., Porth, M., 2012; Vitiello, D., Brinkley, C., 2014b; Opitz, I., et al., 2016). Thus, despite an increasing demand for UA, few urban centres are prepared to handle it.

Given that UA has received little academic attention in Canada, this research examines Vancouver, British Columbia. Focusing on themes of i) social justice, ii) agricultural capacity, and iii) food systems planning, the goal of this research is to investigate measurements that describe UA development in Vancouver and provides data on UA performance in Canada. 

This research follows an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. It beings with a closed-ended qualitative research using surveys with community gardens in Vancouver, British Columbia. This is followed with qualitative research by semi-structured interviews to capture detail and explanation for quantitative results.

Revealing similar problems identified in academic literature, social justice development, land equity, and water sustainability features can be identified. Despite these poor performances, positive development of land capacity and access to water indicate progress towards UA development, revealing the complex nature of UA development.

Members of the examination committee will include: Prof. Leith Deacon (advisor, SEDRD), Prof. Nicolas Brunet (Graduate Faculty, SEDRD), Prof. Leia Minaker (University of Waterloo), and Prof. Sheri Longboat will serve as chair.  For instructions to join the defence please contact rpd@uoguelph.ca