Urban Agriculture Research In The Process Of Urbanization

Urbanization is an inevitable process during the development of human society. However, whether in developed countries or in developing ones, there occurs a variety of "urban disease" in the process of urbanizing. The urban area keeps suffering from shortage of resources and environmental degradation, thus Howard's concept of "Garden City" gets more and more recognition and the importance of protecting and developing agriculture in the urbanization process has been realized. However, the traditional type of agricultural product is obviously no longer meeting with the needs of urban development. Based on the concept of "Garden City", the theory of urban agriculture has been developed in gradually. In Japan, Singapore, US and other developed countries, high-tech urban agriculture has been developed through continuous practice. To some extent, the productive functions of urban agriculture solved the contradiction between the lack of urban land resources and the growing demand for agricultural products in the urban area during the urbanization process. The ecological functions of urban agriculture also played a role in improving and maintaining the good ecological environment of the urban areas. The living functions of urban agriculture met the cultural needs of green tourism and leisure venues in the urban areas.Since the reform and opening up of China, the process of urbanization has been accelerated. Beijing, Shanghai, and several other international metropolises emerged. In these areas, the conditions of developing urban agriculture are mature. Actually, Beijing and Shanghai have already had their own urban agriculture now. To our country, the development of urban agriculture is important not only to meet the cultural needs of the urban population, but also to reduce the gap between urban and rural areas.Malu, a suburb area of Shanghai, is in the accelerated process of urbanizing, while a variety of problems also appeared and became to affect the sustainable development of the area. Malu has many experiences of growing grapes. The local government continues to focus on improving the quality, building local brand and developing technology. In recent years, urban agriculture of growing grapes in Malu not only increases the income of local farmers; but also creates a good environment for urban residents to enjoy a better life in rural places as eco-tourism. It should be said that the local government had given a positive support and correct guidance to the development of urban agriculture of growing grapes in Malu. However, as many urban agriculture farms, urban agriculture of growing grapes in Malu is also facing issues such as the limitation of seasonal agricultural products, the highly competition due to the similarity of local agricultural products. The urban agriculture in Malu needs to be further improved, and the role of the local government also needs to be enhanced.Based on the urban agriculture theories, as well as the representative case studies of urban agriculture in Malu, the author points out that the importance of the construction of urban agriculture to the Idyllic city and concludes that to develop urban agriculture, must have a powerful technology support, built brand reorganization, pay attention to specialty and diversity of products and seek the unity of ecological and economic benefits.