In this video ‘Garden city’s farming habits', the UPAGrI project team discusses the experiences, perceived benefits, and contributions of urban farming to ecological, social, and economic sustainability. This virtual tour showcases the practices of three urban farmers based in Bengaluru, India, who discuss their journeys of urban agriculture and its outcomes on their personal well-being.

Ashwini Gajendran's terrace garden

Ashwini is an entrepreneur and a home gardener living in Vidyaranyapura, Bengaluru. She nurtures a 30 x 40 sq. feet terrace garden comprising 400 plants, which includes more than 50 vegetable plants, herbs, and exotic flowers. In this video, Ashwini explains that her terrace garden offers deeply personal benefits, satisfaction, and learnings, giving access to her own greenery, safe nutritious food, and a new outlook where she views garbage as a valuable resource.

Farming with and for the community: The story of ANANAS

ANANAS is a permaculture design company from Bengaluru, who design and create different types of urban farms ranging from small kitchen gardens to large community gardens. With a background in environmental and social sciences, Kiri Meili is one of the co-founders of ANANAS. Of the many projects, their restoration work at Jakkur lake along with Jala Poshan trust and fishermen community brings out permaculture to the urban commons. Kiri's narrative clearly indicates that Jakkur community garden holds promise for environmental sustainability in urban areas. With local fishermen, garden workers, regular walkers and volunteers getting engaged in buiding and maintaining the community garden, this becomes a unique example of nature in the city.is a permaculture design company from Bengaluru that designs and creates different types of urban farms, ranging from small kitchen gardens to large community gardens. With a background in environmental and social sciences, Kiri Meili is one of the co-founders of ANANAS. Of their many projects, their restoration work at Jakkur Lake, undertaken along with the Jala Poshan Trust and the fishing community, brings permaculture to the urban commons. Kiri's narrative clearly indicates that the Jakkur community garden holds promise for environmental sustainability in urban areas. With local fisherfolk, garden workers, regular walkers, and volunteers getting engaged in building and maintaining the community garden, this becomes a unique example of nature in the city.

Urban Mali: engaging the migrants through Urban Farming

A social enterprise, Urban Mali Network empowers farmers from rural areas around Bangalore to pursue their livelihood and find regular employment in the city. An urban botanist and a nature lover, Vandana along with her team of gardeners help in setting up and maintaining different types of gardens in Bengaluru city.

Urban Mali presents a unique business model that provides job opportunities to the migrants who are coming to cities from rural, farming background. This social entrepreneurial model tends to match the growing demand amongst the urban middle and upper-middle class for malis or gardeners - this group increasingly want to have their own gardens (and even farms at times), but do not have the time to invest and are more than willing to employ people to set up and take care of their gardens; on the other hand you have increasing number of people/specifically farmers moving to the city as urbanization lead to loss of agricultural land and jobs in rural and periurban areas.