Homegrown in Detroit How Urban Agriculture has not only brought food security to Detroit but has also had social and political implications that resist the pressures of a consumer culture

Urban Agriculture is becoming a widespread trend amongst the city of Detroit. The reasoning for this has much to do with the lack of economic opportunities and food insecurities that haunt the city. This thesis will examine how current Urban Agricultural Projects in the city of Detroit, Michigan. While urban agriculture can be seen as a specific economic endeavor by serving as a social enterprise for local neighborhoods, it actually has much wider social and political implications that will be acknowledged and explored. These implications serve as a form of resistance against a consumer culture that has plagued the United States. This thesis begins with outlining the consumer culture that can be seen in the United States of America, and how the pressures of consumption can ultimately lead to a city that self-destructs. The city of Detroit is used to show how a city that was once filled with capitalist consumption can ultimately be destroyed by it. The deindustrialization and de-urbanization of Detroit is examined through the growth and decline of the automobile industry and the inherent racism that has embedded and caused severe poverty. This thesis then goes on to portray how Detroit's low-income neighborhoods are resisting the pressures of consumption by establishing Urban Agriculture projects on abandoned lots. The health, economic, environmental, and social impacts of Urban Agriculture is examined. Followed by how Urban Agriculture projects take shape in the city of Detroit with an analysis of current projects and how they have created social and political change or those involved. This thesis ends with suggesting the possibilities if taken seriously by governments that Urban Agriculture can have by promoting community empowerment and environmentally friendly cities.