Growing in the City: Expanding Opportunities for Urban Food Production in Victoria, Canada

Growing in the City is a municipally led initiative developed to increase the amount of food grown within the City of Victoria. A comprehensive strategy to update and expand policies and programs enabling urban food production was launched in 2016. This paper describes the project background, the nature and goals of the policy and program changes, and the implementation process and early outcomes. It focuses on the specific initiatives that enable small-scale commercial urban food production, and on community programs that support urban food production in the public realm. These programs include community gardens, boulevard gardening, an inventory of city-owned land with community gardening potential, and a pilot program to plant food trees on city land. This paper explores if and how Growing in the City is achieving its goals to identify and discuss success factors, challenges and areas for improvement. The conclusion provides general observations and considerations for the ongoing integration of food systems into city planning.