Abstract
This thesis analyzes interstitial urban agriculture through its forms and actors, in the fragmented city of Metro Manila in the Philippines, which is characterized by a wide disadvantaged population and an ultra-dense urban environment. The research problem is to understand the involvement of families and inhabitants in intra-urban agriculture, in the field of Social Geography, which aim is built on analyzing actors’ practices and representations toward the space. The inhabitant scale is seized within the family dynamic.Considering urban dynamics and systems of actors involved allows to introduce a typology of the interstitial forms of urban agriculture in Manila metropolitan area: an emerging aboveground farming carried by “organizational actors” and a spontaneous family open-field urban farming, which is distinguished according to its residual or resurgent position within the metropolitan dynamics.Postulating the intrinsic and forgotten spatial dimension of the notion of involvement, the thesis introduces a situational definition according to dwelling. The approach highlights the importance of considering the families practices, objectives and projects related to their involvement in urban agriculture. The notion of tactics is mobilized referencing to the daily diversionary practices and endeavors to counteract the poverty determinism emphasizing the capacity of being actor as vulnerable families.The challenge is to identify the involvement tactics of family in urban agriculture based on their complex practices to access resources. In a rather non-formal context, where material resources are scarce, the involvement of families and inhabitants in urban agriculture is based on a combination of socio-spatial, economic and political tactics to access the land and other everyday life resources.Using a diachronic approach, involvement tactics of families in urban agriculture are considered within their life pathways pointing both the settlement in urban agriculture as process and the everyday living through urban agriculture in the city. The involvement of families in urban agriculture means a better living, improving both their poverty situations and quality of life, but does not secure their Right to the city.The methodology is qualitative and mobilizes a battery of anthropo-geographic tools relying on round trip between the field and the data collected. The launch of the field survey identifies urban agriculture land use in the metropolitan area on aerial views and urban farming practices quoted in the bibliography. Direct observation and participatory observation are mobilized during the exploratory phase in order to stabilize the detection and to allow the field survey to reach families, living on “sensitive urban areas”. Then, comprehensive interviews inspired from life stories interview method are collected by repeated meeting with the members of the family. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with public and civil society actors.