Peri-urban agricultural transformations in Gothenburg, Sweden.

• Peri-urban agricultural transformations in Gothenburg, Sweden The study area, Hisingen, is the northern part of the municipality of Gothenburg, peri-urban to the city and comprising peri-urban residential, industrial and commercial areas as well as agricultural land. The study area has riverine shorelines to the Göta and Nordre rivers and coastal shoreline to the North Sea. The case study is primarily about the transformation of and the contemporary conditions for farming in a peri-urban area and with specific reference to dimensions of resilience and governance in relation to use of natural resources for land use. The focused time period is 1967-2014 using the situation in the mid-1930s as a reference for land use. The sources used for the study are interviews with farmers, city planners and other stakeholders, and land use data from land use map from 1934; an analysis of land use parcels (digital maps) from which are drawn statistics on agricultural production for each farm for the years 2001,2004, 2013. Additionally there are also analyses of municipality plans and national policy documents. Four challenges for current and future agriculture in this area were identified: 1.Farmer’s lease contracts (often short–term) means that land is in waiting stage to become con-verted to settlement areas or industries. 2.The establishment of a large number of small-acreage horse farms as renters replaces agricultural land use as horse enterprises are willing to pay higher lease then farmers are able to. This has direct bearing on land use changes since large parts of arable fields are used for grazing by horses, thus replacing other agricultural production. 3.Demand for land for housing and settlements increases the pressure on agricultural land. This is counteracted by a general municipality strategy of sustainable livelihoods which includes agricul-tural activities for local food production and active cultural landscapes. The contrasting demands and strategies create paradoxes and conflicts in municipal planning. 4.A rising number of conflicts of interests between farmers and urban dwellers, from uncomfortable smell to leisure activities has appeared and can be expected to increase. Three parallel transformation processes have been identified during the last four decades in the study area: (a) parallel development of intensification (specialized production of commodities) and extensifica-tion (horse farms) implying that significant arable land has been transformed into permanent pas-tures, (b) development of niche production and increase of farm size, and (c) abandonment of arable land including former grazing land.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

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