A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Guerrilla Gardening? Urban Agriculture and the Environment
Authors: Rauno Lahtinen
Editors: Simo LaakkonenJ. R. McNeillRichard P. TuckerTimo Vuorisalo
Publisher: PALGRAVE, HOUNDMILLS, BASINGSTOKE RG21 6XS, ENGLAND
Publication year: 2019
Book title : The Resilient City in World War II : Urban Environmental Histories
Journal name in source: RESILIENT CITY IN WORLD WAR II: URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORIES
Journal acronym: PALG STUD WORLD ENV
Series title: Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History
First page : 105
Last page: 126
Number of pages: 22
ISBN: 978-3-030-17438-5
eISBN: 978-3-030-17439-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17439-2_6(external)
During World War II, all countries at war were threatened by a severe decline in agricultural production. Wartime urban agriculture is a well-known phenomenon, yet most studies discuss it in a highly cursory way, and the environmental dimension has been neglected. This chapter explores the situation in Turku, which was Finland’s third-largest city during the war. From a contemporary perspective, the wartime city could be considered an ecological society. City residents raised their food themselves, and all possible waste was recycled. But the shortages also led to negative phenomena, such as animal abuse, declines in hygiene, the poaching of fish and animals, and the stripping of forests. Lahtinen argues that the wartime urban agriculture was literally a loot-based economy, the sustainability of which proved untenable.