Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Credit: Pia Laborgne
Initiative: Belmont Forum CRAs (SSCP 2022)
Project: COSFSC
Story: The old gardens of Istanbul form a unique urban niche where local food production persists within the protective embrace of historic ruins. Nestled alongside ancient walls and remnants of past empires, these cultivated spaces reflect a living continuity between heritage and everyday sustenance. The weathered stone structures not only frame the gardens physically but also shield them from urban pressures, enabling small-scale, community-based agriculture to endure. Yet, this fragile space is increasingly under pressure, becoming more and more squeezed between modern buildings, sports facilities, and processes of gentrification.
The picture was taken at a site visit of the international COSFSC team in Istanbul when the Turkish COSFSC team explained and showed us the potentials and risks of urban community gardens there. From the perspective of a transdisciplinary research project on sustainable food supply chains and food system democratization, these gardens offer a compelling case of locally embedded, low-threshold food production. They illustrate how access to land, knowledge, and cultivation practices can remain in the hands of local actors, fostering inclusive and place-based food systems. At the same time, their ongoing marginalization highlights the structural tensions between urban development trajectories and the preservation of commons-like spaces that can enable participation, equity, and resilience within urban food systems.