Integrating Urban Agriculture into City Planning for Enhancing Urban Community Food Provision: A Case Study of Bhubaneshwar

Abstract

Rapid urbanization in Global South cities has intensified pressure on urban food systems, resulting in increasing dependence on long-distance food supply chains, fragmented distribution networks, and declining spatial integration of food production within urban planning frameworks. Despite growing recognition of urban agriculture as a Nature-Based Solution (NBS) capable of strengthening food resilience, its integration within statutory planning systems remains limited in rapidly urbanizing Indian cities. This study examines the spatial, institutional, and planning feasibility of integrating urban agriculture into the urban planning structure of Bhubaneswar, India. The research adopts a mixed-method planning framework combining spatial interpretation, policy analysis, household surveys, vendor assessments, peri-urban farmer surveys, institutional surveys, and stakeholder consultations. The analytical framework evaluates urban land availability, rooftop feasibility, food accessibility, supply-chain dependency, institutional readiness, and decentralized food-production potential across the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area. The findings reveal that nearly 80% of surveyed households possess rooftops, balconies, or backyard spaces suitable for decentralized food production, while approximately 70% demonstrate high willingness toward urban farming adoption despite limited existing practice (35%). Vendor assessments indicate strong dependence on peri-urban and external food inflows ranging between 10–50 km, contributing to seasonal price instability (80–90%) and food wastage (10–25%). Institutional surveys further demonstrate substantial implementation potential, with 56% of institutions possessing usable open land and 67% demonstrating rooftop suitability for urban agriculture integration. Spatial analysis identifies institutional corridors, peri-urban interfaces, waterbody edges, mixed-use wards, and transportation corridors as high-potential urban agriculture intervention zones The study proposes a planning-oriented framework integrating urban agriculture into zoning regulations, master plans, decentralized food infrastructure systems, and urban resilience strategies through interventions such as rooftop farming, edible campuses, community nutrition gardens, aquaponics, vertical farming systems, decentralized food hubs, and farmer-to-city supply networks. The framework contributes toward strengthening urban food resilience, reducing food miles, improving food accessibility, enhancing socio-ecological sustainability, and promoting climate-responsive urban development within rapidly urbanizing cities.

Introduction

The text examines the growing challenges in urban food systems caused by rapid urbanization, which has increased dependence on long-distance, centralized food supply chains. This spatial disconnect between food production and consumption makes cities more vulnerable to disruptions, higher costs, and reduced sustainability.

To address these issues, the study highlights urban agriculture as a key resilience and planning strategy, integrating food production within cities through rooftops, vacant land, peri-urban areas, and community spaces. It is presented as part of Nature-Based Solutions and circular urban metabolism, supporting environmental sustainability, resource efficiency, and local food security.

Focusing on the Indian context, especially Bhubaneswar, the text notes that urban agriculture is still informal and poorly integrated into official planning systems, with minimal land allocation and weak policy support. Despite strong potential, food systems remain largely disconnected from urban development frameworks.

The study identifies a key research gap: limited integration of urban agriculture into formal spatial planning in Indian cities, especially at ward-level planning, institutional readiness, and peri-urban linkage systems.

The aim of the research is to evaluate how urban agriculture can strengthen decentralized food systems in Bhubaneswar and develop a planning framework to integrate food production into urban spatial planning.

The literature review further explains that urban agriculture is increasingly recognized globally as part of food urbanism, circular urban metabolism, and Nature-Based Solutions, contributing to food security, sustainability, and climate resilience. International examples like Havana and European cities show successful integration through policy and planning support, while Indian cities still lag due to weak institutional frameworks.

Conclusion

The study examined the potential of integrating urban agriculture within the spatial planning framework of Bhubaneswar in order to strengthen decentralized urban food systems, food resilience, and sustainable urban development. The findings demonstrate that Bhubaneswar possesses substantial spatial, institutional, and social feasibility for integrating urban agriculture through rooftops, institutional campuses, peri-urban interfaces, transportation corridors, waterbody influence zones, and underutilized urban spaces. Despite this potential, the existing urban food system remains highly dependent on external supply chains, intermediary-driven distribution systems, and centralized market structures vulnerable to transportation disruptions, seasonal instability, and price fluctuations. The analysis reveals that urban agriculture within Bhubaneswar is constrained primarily by governance fragmentation, weak planning integration, limited institutional support, and knowledge gaps rather than by land scarcity. Household survey findings indicate strong willingness toward urban agriculture adoption despite relatively low implementation levels, reflecting substantial latent potential for decentralized food production systems. Simultaneously, vendor and peri-urban farmer analyses highlight structural vulnerabilities associated with long-distance food inflows, food wastage, market dependency, and inefficient supply-chain integration. The study further demonstrates that institutional corridors and peri-urban agricultural belts possess strong implementation potential for scalable urban agriculture interventions and decentralized food infrastructure systems. The proposed planning framework emphasizes integrating urban agriculture into zoning regulations, master plans, urban resilience strategies, and decentralized infrastructure planning through interventions such as rooftop farming, edible campuses, community nutrition gardens, aquaponics, vertical farming systems, food aggregation hubs, and farmer-to-city linkage networks. The framework positions urban agriculture not merely as a food-production activity but as a multi-functional planning instrument capable of enhancing socio-ecological resilience, strengthening localized food accessibility, reducing food miles, and supporting climate-responsive urban development. The study contributes toward emerging planning discourse concerning food urbanism, productive landscapes, circular urban metabolism, and Nature-Based Solutions within rapidly urbanizing Global South cities. It further demonstrates that integrating food systems into urban planning structures is essential for developing resilient, inclusive, and sustainable urban futures. The findings may assist planning authorities, urban local bodies, and policy institutions in formulating resilience-oriented planning strategies capable of embedding decentralized food systems within future urban development frameworks.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Gitanjali Nanda, Mr. Bhabani Shankar Sa, Dr. Piyush Ranjan Rout. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.