The Interplay of Land Use Planning and Urban Food Systems: Narratives from Motimposo, Maseru, Lesotho

Urban food security in African cities remains a profoundly under-theorized and policy-neglected arena, particularly in contexts characterized by regulatory ambiguity, rapid urbanization, and complex land governance. This paper critically interrogates the nexus between food systems and land use planning in poor urban neighborhoods, using Motimposo in Maseru, Lesotho, as a case study. Drawing on in-depth qualitative fieldwork, including 40 semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and photographic documentation, this study explores how urban residents navigate zoning ambiguity, infrastructural neglect, and informal food economies. It reveals that while formal planning frameworks often disregard food systems, residents adaptively repurpose residential plots for small-scale agriculture, animal rearing, and street vending, forming what this paper theorizes as Patchwork Urban Agro-Scapes . These hybrid spaces challenge dominant planning paradigms by demonstrating how informality is not merely a coping mechanism but a situated practice of Negotiated Land-Use Citizenship . The paper employs an urban political ecology lens, complemented by assemblage thinking, to examine the contested interplay between regulatory frameworks, everyday spatial practices, and community-driven food provisioning. It introduces novel conceptual tools: Infrastructures of Ingenuity , Care Ecologies , and Shadow-State Food Governance , to capture the invisible labour, gendered care networks, and informal institutions that sustain urban food security amidst chronic state withdrawal. The findings expose profound epistemic invisibility in policy and planning, where vernacular knowledge systems are routinely marginalized. The paper argues for a reimagining of urban planning through Participatory Food Urbanism : an inclusive, justice-oriented approach that centers community voices, co-produces knowledge, and transforms marginality into resilience. The study contributes to emerging debates on food sovereignty, and urban informality in African cities, offering empirical and conceptual insights relevant to scholars, planners, and policymakers grappling with urban food insecurity in the Global South.