We are investigating the various types of AGURA that are emerging in Monsoon Asia, where they are concentrated. We consider the potential of these areas to address the overarching challenges of urbanisation and agricultural intensification. We adopt the term ‘agropolitan’ to signal the ideal mix of conditions that would serve that goal.
World cropland cover intersected with areas of high population density
Current interconnected processes of urbanisation and agricultural intensification are unsustainable. In the abstract, this phenomenon stems from escalating city appetites for land, food, and resources. It is conventionally illustrated by urban sprawl that both consumes arable land and industrialises the countryside.
Together, these processes are exacerbating social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities, locking cities, towns, and regions into carbon path dependency which, if unaddressed, will devastate human and nonhuman habitats alike. However, not all urbanisation follows this pattern. In many parts of the urbanising world new kinds of hybrid settlement are emerging at the interface of the city and countryside that are neither fully urban nor rural but combine aspects of both. We refer to these as agrarianurban areas, abbreviated as AGURAs.
Case study locations. World cropland cover intersected with areas of high population density
We are investigating the various types of AGURA that are emerging in Monsoon Asia, where they are concentrated. We consider the potential of these areas to address the overarching challenges of urbanisation and agricultural intensification. We adopt the term ‘agropolitan’ to signal the ideal mix of conditions that would serve that goal.
To achieve this, we focus on the following objectives:
The rise of Agrarian Urban Regions (AGURAs)
The portions highlighted in teal on the maps represent what we refer to as agrarian-urban areas (AGURAs). These are quantitatively delineated zones that exist along a land cover gradient that includes urban (white) and rural (brown) attributes at opposite ends. AGURAs serve as broad brush contours that indicate the presence of agropolitan conditions – be they emergent, thriving, or residual – and guide us towards specific areas where more qualitative and in-situ case studies can be concentrated.
AGURAs are identified by specific population density, agricultural productivity, and economic activity threshold indicators. According to this comparative metric, rural attributes include higher agricultural productivity, sparse population density, and lower economic activity, while urban attributes demonstrate the opposite pattern. In contrast, AGURAs exhibit relatively high population density and agricultural productivity, coupled with higher-than-rural economic activity.
AGURAs are concentrated in the Global South, specifically in Monsoon Asia, although they are also present in other parts of the world, providing an opportunity to think comparatively across regions through this lens. The prevalence of AGURAs in Monsoon Asia is correlated with the region’s exceptionally high rates of urbanisation, large rural populations, and its pivotal role as a primary cultivation area for the world’s staple cereals, including 90% of global rice, 45% of wheat, and 25% of maize.
We selected five case study sites within AGURA zones in Indonesia, China, and India. This selection allows us to examine distinct ecological and land-use dynamics within and along the urban-rural gradient. Our contention is that these selected sites may incubate potential for innovative forms of sustainable agropolitan settlement, uniquely adapted to their specific geographical and historical contexts. Moreover, they offer insights that extend beyond their immediate settings, suggesting a more widely adaptable form of agropolitan urbanisation.
Technical note: The maps that we use to study AGURAs and their interaction with field-gathered data are generated in ur-scape, an open-source planning support tool developed by our research group with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). It is designed to both support our own comparative and multi-scaled research needs, and to assist cities and regions experiencing rapid urbanisation. It helps planning teams address urgent and complex challenges that arise in AGURAs by harnessing the available geospatial data, however diverse and varied in quality, and making them available through intuitive and interactive formats.
Transformation of Agropolitan Food System operation (Linear to circular)
Application of Agropolitan Food System Framework for studying different cities
We focus on spatialising food systems to better understand the distinct ecological and land-use dynamics within AGURAs and our selected case study sites in Indonesia, China, and India. This helps us consider how future circular agropolitan processes might come into play. However, this task is not so straight-forward. Food systems are seldom framed in spatial terms, giving rise to challenges in understanding the interactions between food-related activities and other forms of land use. Furthermore, conventional urbanisation agendas continue to be centred around cities, relegating rural areas to passive roles primarily as production sites and sources of food, water, land, and labour. These agendas perpetuate and intensify nutrient flows from rural to urban areas, exacerbating issues such as soil degradation, environmental contamination, socio-economic disparity, and malnutrition in rural zones.
To address these difficulties, we are in the process of conceptualising an Agropolitan Food System that builds upon recent advances in this area, such as the FAO’s City Region Food System. Our framework, which has been shaped by an extensive review of theoretical and policy literature, is encapsulated in three interconnected diagrams:
1. City-region map Jakarta
2. Farmer deterring birds from the ‘scarecrow’ hut at harvest time.
3. Brick processing stripping topsoil
4. AGR team inspecting mixed cropping
5. AGR team members at Seed Town opening reception
6. Hydroponic trials at Seed Town by Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB)
(Stephen Cairns 2019, AGR) (Andreaswidi 2023) (Jasper Phang 2019, NUS)
1. City-region map Palembang
2. Agropolitan settlements become minapolitan (aquacultural) in the wet season in North Palembang
3. Minapolitan settlement on the banks of the Musi River
4. Stakeholder meeting chaired by Palembang Deputy Mayor and ADB representatives.
5. Planning meeting in Regencies East of Palembang
(Stephen Cairns 2019, AGR)
1. City-region map Chengdu
2. Chengdu Agropolitan condition
3. Lin-pan: traditional Agropolitan settlement with high agroecological values
4. Re-settlement of rural villages
5. Agro-tourism / Pastoral Complex Development
6. Urban greenway cycling park integrated with agriculture field landscape
7-8 Company-managed, standardised productions near high-dense urban sites
(Helen Fan Lei 2023, AGR)
1. City-region map Kalkata
2. Home garden in the Maheshtala municipality, East of Kolkata
3. Deteriorated pond with an eroded bund
4. Incremental densification
5. Former common or shared pond not only cultivated by the owner for aquaculture
(Victoria Marshall 2020, AGR/NUS)
1. City-region map Jaipur
2-3 AGURAs in Jaipur
4. Engagement with the Government of Rajasthan and the Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Project (RUIDP) as part of a project in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) 5. Public transport and logistics hub
6. Brick and construction materials marketplace
(Niraly Mangal 2017, AGR) (Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan 2022, FCL) (Stephen Cairns 2017, AGR)
The Seed Town is a prototype agropolitan settlement and a further element of our design-research approach. Part of the prototype was mocked up at full scale using materials such as bamboo, mycelium, timber, steel, and printed fabric on a 14-ha site in the AGURA (teal zone) of Jakarta, near the town of Cikarang. The site is owned by developer PT Jababeka, who supported the project’s development in collaboration with the local village community and leaders of Sertajaya Regency. This core group was supported by a wider consortium that included other companies, government agencies and community organisations.
The design of Seed Town combines high-density mixed-use eco-neighbourhoods, incremental and high-density housing models, vertical gardens, and community-supported farms. It. features advanced biomaterials, electric mobility, renewable energy and rainwater harvesting technologies. These elements are integrated with the existing kampung and industrial fabric within an agropolitan development framework.
The insights gained from the Seed Town, combined with findings from the other case studies conducted in India and China, as well their potential applicability to other AGURA regions, will be detailed in our planned book Becoming Agropolitan: A Field Guide.
Agropolitan Seed Town & Expandable House
Food and Territories / [AGR] Agropolitan Territories of Monsoon Asia
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr Stephen Cairns
Co- Investigators: Prof. Dr Arno Schlueter, Prof. Dr Johan Six, Prof. Dr Kay Axhausen, Prof. Paola ViganÒ, Asst Prof. Dr Dorothy Tang, Asst Prof. Dr Jessica Ann Diehl, Asst Prof. Lee Ser Huay Janice Teresa
Researchers: Helen Fan Lei, Niraly Mangal, Isabella Meo, Jasper Phang, Daliana Suryawinata, Toh Zi Gui, Joshua Vargas, Lee Huimin Denise
Module Coordinator: Dr Yuhao Lu, Evi Syariffudin