Urban Agriculture Education
& Civic Engagement
BACKGROUND
10.000 years ago, agriculture created food surpluses that enabled the creation of cities.
Later, cities and urban communities started to face enormous ecological, social, and sustainability challenges.
Today, agriculture is expanding in cities to provide healthy local food, reduce urban ecological footprint, provide jobs training, respond to the climate change crisis, and more.
We are exploring the impact of urban agriculture education in New York City on youths' civic engagement (their ability to address social and environmental issues).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
How does urban agriculture education influence youths' civic participation?
2.
Which conceptual and practical ideas can strengthen civic participation among youth in urban agriculture education programs?
In New York City, numerous organizations involve students in urban agriculture education. They include NGOs, schools, community farms, museums, botanical gardens, and more. While these organizations have various goals, many of them empower young people to become active community members who care about social and environmental issues.
Learn more about this project:
Project PI:
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Alex Kudryavtsev, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University
Project advisors:
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Marianne Krasny, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University
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Jackie Davis-Manigaulte, Cornell Cooperative Extension–NYC
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Mary Leou, Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education, NYU
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Samuel Anderson, Harvest NY, Cornell Cooperative Extension
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Thaddeus Copeland, Office of Sustainability, NYC Department of Education
This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food 747 and Agriculture, Hatch Project 1021530, and Smith-Lever Project 1477701. This project is approved by the Cornell University Institutional Review Board for Human Participants on October 10, 2019, protocol ID 1909009057.