With millions of people in close proximity, a number of cities in the United States are ripe for the development of high value local aquaculture industries. This on both the commercial and artisanal levels. However, how does one grow aquaculture in urban areas?
By definition, transformative planning creates marked changes in institutions and people including performance, direction or impact. So, perhaps the problem needs to be redefined, not only to support the local food system. But also perhaps, to examine how a new industry could address the wide variety of urban issues it may impact?
Over the past 10 years our work in Phoenix Arizona has provided a number of valuable insights on strategies necessary for successful industry development. These include the recapturing the value in brown fields, community and family economic development, family nutrition and health, STEM education, new opportunities for diverse populations (DEI), mitigating climate change including heat islands, reducing food deserts and food swamps, skills training and job creation, assisting the unhoused and mitigating poverty, new financing (access to capital), new business assistance institutions, and much more.