From crisis to opportunity: exploring urban food growing in the UK during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of urban green spaces, connection with nature, connected communities, and resilient food supply chains.

Drawing on a range of data and insights from

In this chapter we draw on a range of data and insights from surveys and research studies and examine the impact that urban food growing has had on individual, household and community resilience, well-being, environment, and local food systems during the pandemic and through society’s recovery from it in the UK.

We discuss the potential role of urban food growing in post-pandemic food security, environment, health, and society and we end the chapter by considering how COVID-19 pandemic experiences of ‘crisis gardening’ are leading to calls for the development of new approaches to UFG in the UK.

This leads us to re-examine the value of urban food growing in light of the pandemic and consider the benefits of nurturing their future for social, environmental and economic benefit.