Presenting my Colombian case study area

During the last two weeks, I was in Bogotá to talk to experts from the IER at the Javeriana University as well as the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to find out about public support for joint capacity building in rural Colombia. Now, I am back in the department of Santander to start my [...]

“I bike, so I am” (or was it…”I am, so I bike”?) – Jan Schakel in Rennes – Part 3

Tomorrow I will leave Rennes and go the  countryside (to Villarceaux) to assist a field practical on sustainable indicators in the rural area. But I already miss the city. As I wrote before, Rennes is an special city: it has character, class and culture. And after three weeks you’re getting to feel at home: I [...]

PUREFOOD research and training network

The Rural Sociology Group has been granted the coordination of a Marie Curie Initial Training Network  entitled ‘Urban, peri-urban and regional food dynamics: toward an integrated and territorial approach to food (PUREFOOD)’ funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework PEOPLE program. The PUREFOOD research and training programme aims to reduce the enormous knowledge and skills deficit that [...]

Cursus ‘Voedsel en Stedelijke Ontwikkeling’

Op 29 en 30 november 2010 en 24 januari 2011 verzorgen Carolyn Steel en ik voor Wageningen Business School een cursus over de relatie tussen voedsel en stedelijke ontwikkeling. Deze cursus is toegankelijk voor een breed publiek: beleidsmakers, architecten, landschapsarchitecten, stedelijk ontwerpers, eco-ontwerpers, docenten en mensen die in de landbouw, voedingsmiddelen- of gezondheidsindustrie werken. Daarnaast [...]

Food, agriculture and cities

Recently the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has published a brochure and briefing note about food and agriculture in and around cities. Like many international public bodies, national governments and NGOs the FAO is concerned about the social, economic, ecological and health consequences of the concentration of the world’s population in and around large cities. In [...]

Farming the City: thesis possibilities

Thesis possibilities at the Rural Sociology Group Contact person: Petra Derkzen. Petra.derkzen@wur.nl Growing food in and around cities is gaining momentum (see urban agriculture on our blog). From allotment gardens to vertical farming and rooftop production, new initiatives are appearing on a daily basis. Reasons are divers but urgent; the fight against obesity, the need [...]

Boeren in de stad; Afstudeer mogelijkheden

Mogelijke afstudeer opdrachten bij Rurale Sociologie (RSO) Contact persoon: Petra Derkzen. Petra.derkzen@wur.nl Voedselproductie in en om de stad is dé trend van het moment (zie urban agriculture op deze blog). Van volkstuintjes tot vertical farming en eetbare daken, er ontstaan aan de lopende band initiatieven. De redenen zijn divers maar urgent; het bestrijden van obesitas, [...]

The tension between rural and regional development

Last week I participated in a conference in Vienna entitled “Rural potentials for regional development“. One of the issues discussed in one of the workshops at that conference was the field of tension between rural development and regional development policies. Rural development policies focus on the sustainable provision of agriculture’s primary products (food, feed and [...]