Urban Agriculture as an Alternative for Disaster Resilience: Quantifying the Potential Contribution of Community Gardens to Food Security in Post-Disaster Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington, New Zealand, is highly vulnerable to disaster-induced food security crises due to its geography and geological characteristics, which can disrupt transportation and isolate the city following disasters. Urban agriculture has been proposed as a potential alternative food source in post-disaster scenarios. This study examined the potential of urban agriculture for enhancing post-disaster food security by calculating vegetable self-sufficiency rates. Specifically, it evaluated the capacity of current Wellington’s community gardens to meet post-disaster vegetable demand in terms of both weight and nutrient content. Data collection involved a mixed methodology approach of literature reviews, questionnaires, on-site observations and mapping, and high-resolution aerial imagery. Post-disaster food demand scenarios were developed based on different target populations. Results show that within a five-minute walking distance of existing community gardens, weight-based vegetable self-sufficiency was only 0.42% for the general population. This rate increased to 2.07% when specifically targeting only vulnerable populations, and to 10.41% when focusing solely on gardeners’ own households. However, at the city-wide level, the current capacity of community gardens to meet vegetable demand remained limited. Additionally, nutrient-based self-sufficiency was lower than weight-based self-sufficiency, emphasizing the greater challenge of achieving adequate nutrient levels. Beyond self-sufficiency, this study also addressed the role of UA in promoting food diversity and acceptability, as well as its social and psychological benefits. Findings indicate that community gardens contribute meaningfully to post-disaster food security for gardeners and nearby residents, particularly for vulnerable groups with elevated nutritional needs. While current self-sufficiency levels are low when considering only community gardens, the study suggests that Wellington has the potential to improve post-disaster food self-reliance by diversifying UA types and optimizing land use. Realizing this potential will require strategic interventions, including supportive policies, a conducive social environment, and diversification—such as the including private yards—all aimed at improving food access, availability, and nutritional quality during crises.