Community perception of animal-based urban agriculture within city greenspaces of the Global North: A survey of residents near Cornwall Park, New Zealand

Abstract

The ability of cities worldwide to feed themselves is of increasing concern to Urban Planning and Design professions. In recent years, interest in reintegrating agricultural production back into cities of the Global North has grown, particularly with regard to plant-based urban agriculture. Research focused on animal-based urban agriculture however has been notably absent from the literature and case studies set within cities of the Global North. This study aims to contribute to this emerging area of research and seeks to better understand the enablers and barriers to integrating grazing animals within urban greenspace from a ‘neighbor’ perspective. This paper presents survey responses from residents living around Cornwall Park, an urban greenspace in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, that integrates a working sheep and beef farm as part of the 172 ha urban greenspace. Findings revealed that the grazing animals were highly valued by the neighboring community with 99% of respondents feeling ‘positive’ towards the inclusion of grazing animals as part of the public park. Our findings have implications for cities of the Global North considering the reintegration of animal-based urban agriculture, providing support for decision-making when defining policies for enabling animal-based agriculture within public greenspace.