Urban agriculture in terms of food geography: The case of Eskişehir

It is estimated that two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities in the next three decades. This raises concerns about the sustainability of food supply and resources, especially in crowded cities. Food systems are a complex structure in which the production, processing, distribution, logistics, marketing and recycling processes of food are considered together with social, economic and environmental conditions. Food geography is the association of all processes starting from the production of food to distribution, logistics, marketing and waste methods with the concepts of place, space, time, region and scale. The sustainability of plant and animal production activities in and around the city is possible through the organization and planning of urban food systems. In this thesis, the food systems of urban agriculture are examined by taking Eskisehir as an example. In the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 46 farmers engaged in urban agriculture and relevant institutions and organizations and the data obtained were evaluated by content analysis. According to the findings of the study, the organizational structure of urban farmers and institutions and organizations, spatial distribution of urban agriculture, production patterns, main motivations of farmers and the problems they face, and food supply chain models of urban agriculture were discussed. As a result, the current situation of urban agriculture in Eskisehir was revealed and recommendations were presented for the regulation and planning of food systems.