Edible Streets, Oxford

Edible Streets Oxford is a research project at Oxford Brookes University aiming to explore the feasibility of creating edible streetscapes in Oxford. It is a collaboration between the School of Architecture (m.samangooei@brookes.ac.uk and Kuhu Gupta), Centre for Nutrition and Health (pthondre@brookes.ac.uk), Centre for Psychological Research (edavies@brookes.ac.uk), Chris Blythe our Edible Streets PhD student (19233184@brookes.ac.uk), Sow Space Architecture Practice, Oxfordshire County Public Health and Elizabeth Parker - Impact management public engagement expert. Contact us if you would like to hear more/collaborate.

What is an Edible Street? 

Our working definition so far: Edible Streets integrate food production on publicly owned and publicly accessible land on streets, where people live and work by using underused urban areas bordering urban streets. The edible plants are visible by anyone walking in the street, easy to access by occupants of the street for maintenance and harvesting - making it easier to participate in food production. Edible streets can promote mental and physical health and help increase agency over food of marginalised groups. It is a tool for advocacy of how residents interact with their urban landscape and take ownership of it, individually, as a group or as an entire community.