These insights come from the Innovative Urban Agriculture Governance session at URBAGR’INN DAYS 2025, where experts from different regions shared their experiences and challenges in embedding urban agriculture into planning and governance frameworks.

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Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized not just as a tool for local food production but as a catalyst for redefining urban spaces, governance, and community engagement. At the URBAGR’INN DAYS 2025 conference, several speakers presented compelling cases from diverse contexts—ranging from the Dutch peri-urban experiment in Almere Oosterwold, to Montreal’s evolving policy frameworks, Brussels’ federated professional network, and community-driven market gardens in Toronto. Their insights reveal how urban agriculture governance is shifting towards participatory, multi-stakeholder models that balance innovation with practical challenges.

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Jan-Eelco Jansma’s presentation on Almere Oosterwold (Netherlands) highlighted a bold planning experiment that decentralizes urban development by legally requiring residents to dedicate at least half of their residential plots to food production. This “Do-It-Yourself urbanism” replaces conventional top-down planning with broad zoning “living-rules” that empower future residents to co-create their neighborhood. Motivated by housing demand, urban-rural transition goals, and the desire to reconnect food systems with city life, Oosterwold embodies food-sensitive urbanism as an infrastructural priority. Yet, Jansma noted significant challenges since 2016, including unclear shared visions, costly infrastructure changes, resident capacity gaps, and weak monitoring, all raising questions about long-term sustainability. Still, the project’s institutional learning and civic innovation offer valuable lessons for cities seeking to embed agriculture into urban planning, especially regarding governance equity, oversight, and clear responsibility sharing.

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n Montreal, Mohammed Boudache explored the governance complexities behind the City’s 2021–2026 Urban Agriculture Strategy. While the strategy ambitiously aims to consolidate existing practices and foster new community and entrepreneurial initiatives through multiple strategic orientations and actions, its implementation is complicated by governance fragmentation across boroughs. The city continues to experiment with various approaches to ensure coherent deployment, reflecting the delicate balance between policy ambition and operational realities.

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Laura Herman shared the story of Brussels’ Federation for Urban Agriculture Professionals (FedeAU), a coalition formed in 2021 by several nonprofits to unify the fragmented urban agriculture sector across the region’s 19 municipalities. FedeAU functions as a crucial intermediary—advocating for coherent long-term policies, mutualizing resources, and supporting members through training and networking. Its membership of around 50 projects spans food production, education, research, and social reinsertion. Herman emphasized both the successes—such as securing funding in austerity times and influencing political campaigns—and the challenges, including managing diversity within membership and navigating the precarious nature of public funding. FedeAU’s experience underscores the importance of institutional support for urban agriculture professionals and the ongoing struggle to build long-term structural solutions.

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Finally, Ronda Teytel-Payne presented the Community Engagement and Entrepreneurial Development (CEED) Gardens initiative in Toronto. Established to overcome land access barriers, lengthy public approval processes, and to highlight the community benefits of market gardens, CEED Gardens now thrive in two low-income neighborhoods. They serve as incubators for aspiring farmers—including immigrants—and provide youth outdoor education alongside culturally relevant fresh produce. Teytel-Payne raised critical questions about ethical issues in allowing private farmers to sell produce grown on public land and discussed the complex roles of municipal, provincial, NGO, and individual actors in sustaining such projects. As global trade uncertainties spur interest in local food, these gardens exemplify opportunities and challenges in scaling urban agriculture while navigating ethical and governance considerations.

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These presentations paint a vivid picture of urban agriculture as a multifaceted domain where innovation in governance, planning, and community engagement intersect. The experiences from Almere, Montreal, Brussels, and Toronto demonstrate that embedding food production into urban environments demands not only visionary policies but also adaptive governance structures, inclusive participation, and sustained institutional support. As cities worldwide grapple with urbanization, climate change, and food security, these diverse approaches offer a rich source of lessons to foster resilient, food-sensitive urban futures.