Keeping up appearances: Conflicting values in state opposition to growing food in public

Abstract

Australian local government regulation of residents growing food on city and suburban land which is visible to the public varies from progressive encouragement and support through to destruction of food plants and threats of fines. This chapter examines the destruction of mature fruit trees on the verge (nature strip) by the local council, in the Urban Food Street community project in Queensland, Australia, as a case study in the way postwar values attached to specific modes of public landscaping continue to inform local authorities’ regulatory response to visible urban gardening activity. Conflicts in regulatory decision-making, between postwar values and emerging priorities in sustainability and public health produce contested spaces at sites of public food gardening.