Land Use Policy 29 (2012) 429–439 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Land Use Policy jou rn al h om epa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Urban agriculture and land use in cities: An approach with the multi-functionality and sustainability concepts in the case of Antananarivo (Madagascar) C. Aubry a,∗ , J. Ramamonjisoa b , M.-H. Dabat c , J. Rakotoarisoa d , J. Rakotondraibe e , L. Rabeharisoa f a INRA, UMR SADAPT, 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France b University of Antananarivo, Department of Geography, BP 907, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar c CIRAD, UPR Politiques et Marchés, 01 BP596 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso d FOFIFA, Department of Rice Research, BP 1690, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar e University of Antananarivo, Department of Science, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar f ESSA (High School of Agronomy), LRI, BP 3383, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 3 February 2010 Received in revised form 29 August 2011 Accepted 31 August 2011 Keywords: Urban agriculture Sustainability Multi-functionality Urban planning Madagascar a b s t r a c t Urban planners are increasingly interested in agriculture around cities and have to decide whether to maintain or not areas of agricultural land use within and close to growing cities. There is therefore a need for researchers to design tools to guide public decision-making on land use. Various approaches, originat- ing from different disciplines, may be adopted in this respect. We designed an interdisciplinary research program in order to test two related concepts: the “sustainability” and the “multi-functionality” of agri- culture. We show that these concepts provide a useful framework for obtaining appropriate knowledge about urban agriculture, which urban planners could apply in real situations. In close collaboration with urban planners, we applied an interdisciplinary research methodology, based on common farm surveys and territorial approaches, to the Antananarivo area (Madagascar). The main functions analyzed were the food production and environmental roles of urban agriculture. Two aspects of sustainability were assessed: the farm sustainability and the territorial sustainability, with expert scores. This approach identified a wide diversity of farming systems that performed differently, depending on their intra- or suburban location. The food supply function appeared to be important not only for fresh produce but also for rice consumption. The function of protection against flooding is now important and this importance will increase with climate change. A diagnosis of sustainability was made and discussed with urban plan- ners: several farming systems and zones were identified in which agriculture was considered important as a means of maintaining or developing the food supply, employment and incomes, and even landscape or environmental quality. We also identified other areas in which poor production conditions and/or the negative effects of urbanization on agriculture jeopardized its sustainability. This methodology appeared to be useful for determining the most appropriate role of urban agriculture in the land-use planning of this city. Our study raises new questions on the subject and should lead to more focused research programmes. We discuss several points of interest and the limitations and possible extension of this method. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Urbanization is increasing worldwide, but particularly in devel- oping countries, which had an annual urban growth rate of 3.6% between 1950 and 2005, versus only 1.4% in industrialized coun- tries (Mougeot, 2005). In both the North and the South, researchers and planners are increasingly focusing on the role of agriculture in growing urban spaces (Bryant and Johnston, 1992; Bryant, 1997; ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 1 44 08 16 86; fax: +33 1 44 08 16 57. E-mail address: christine.aubry@agroparistech.fr (C. Aubry). Mougeot, 2000; Bontje, 2001; van Veenhuizen, 2006). In the devel- oping countries, in particular, the productivity of agricultural areas close to towns – which often produce mainly perishables such as vegetables (Bricas and Seck, 2004; Temple and Moustier, 2004; Moustier and Danso, 2006; Weinberger and Lumpkin, 2007) – must be increased to meet the growing urban demand for food. The conflict is however intensifying between the maintenance of local agricultural production in these areas and the rapid and often uncontrolled consumption of land by growing urban activi- ties and infrastructures (Rural, 2006). At the same time, the status of agricultural areas within or near towns is changing: such areas are no longer considered simply as a reserve of land for future 0264-8377/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.08.009