{"id":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","oai_identifier":"oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/75267"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/auckland-ms/oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/75267","repository":{"repo_id":"auckland-ms","name":"University of Auckland","base_url":"https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Urban Agriculture for Future Worlds? Just Imagine! A Study of Transformation Looking at Auckland’s Alternative Food","abstract":"To respond to climate change, scholars argue society needs to be transformed. However, efforts to convey this need have failed to encourage sufficient action – driving calls for more imagination, and more detailed explorations of what transformation actually means. Focusing on Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland, and adopting a multi-levelled understanding of transformation, this thesis combines critical qualitative perspectives with action research to consider the various roles urban agriculture might play; a celebrated but marginal ‘alternative’ to the dominant (and much critiqued) industrial food system. Drawing on two years of intensive researcher participation and 20 interviews with urban agriculturalists, I first consider change at the ideological level, outlining detail-rich future visions of Auckland changing through urban-grown food, spanning physical, economic and cultural realms. I then draw on the same interviews to explore the institutional level, describing the collective processes of change that might realise these visions: a narrative where grassroots groups collaborate in various ways, increasing their power and impact, and raising a number of tensions about where those involved are best to work. Lastly, I consider the individual level, drawing on autoethnographic data collected while establishing an urban forest garden; combining critique of the modern-colonial habit-of-being with psychological research on cognitive frames, and describing seven tentative cognitive shifts facilitated my agroecological practice. The thesis concludes with a broad synthesis, reflecting on my method and defining important aspects of transformation raised throughout, including how urban agriculture can and cannot support this work, and what framing imagination as a key limitation means for practice today.","abstract_html":"To respond to climate change, scholars argue society needs to be transformed. However, efforts to convey this need have failed to encourage sufficient action – driving calls for more imagination, and more detailed explorations of what transformation actually means. Focusing on Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland, and adopting a multi-levelled understanding of transformation, this thesis combines critical qualitative perspectives with action research to consider the various roles urban agriculture might play; a celebrated but marginal ‘alternative’ to the dominant (and much critiqued) industrial food system. Drawing on two years of intensive researcher participation and 20 interviews with urban agriculturalists, I first consider change at the ideological level, outlining detail-rich future visions of Auckland changing through urban-grown food, spanning physical, economic and cultural realms. I then draw on the same interviews to explore the institutional level, describing the collective processes of change that might realise these visions: a narrative where grassroots groups collaborate in various ways, increasing their power and impact, and raising a number of tensions about where those involved are best to work. Lastly, I consider the individual level, drawing on autoethnographic data collected while establishing an urban forest garden; combining critique of the modern-colonial habit-of-being with psychological research on cognitive frames, and describing seven tentative cognitive shifts facilitated my agroecological practice. The thesis concludes with a broad synthesis, reflecting on my method and defining important aspects of transformation raised throughout, including how urban agriculture can and cannot support this work, and what framing imagination as a key limitation means for practice today.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kelly, Daniel Clifford"],"institution":"ResearchSpace@Auckland","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Harré, Niki","Groot, Shiloh"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-03-10","date_published":"2026-03-10","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:06:29Z","subjects":["climate action","decolonisation","agroecology","food system change","urban agriculture","imagination","social change","community psychology","liberation psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."],"rights_urls":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2292/75267","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Harré, Niki","Groot, Shiloh"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kelly, Daniel Clifford"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-04-13T03:14:28Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026-03-10"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["ResearchSpace@Auckland"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The University of Auckland"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["climate action","decolonisation","agroecology","food system change","urban agriculture","imagination","social change","community psychology","liberation psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2292/75267"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["To respond to climate change, scholars argue society needs to be transformed. However, efforts to convey this need have failed to encourage sufficient action – driving calls for more imagination, and more detailed explorations of what transformation actually means. Focusing on Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland, and adopting a multi-levelled understanding of transformation, this thesis combines critical qualitative perspectives with action research to consider the various roles urban agriculture might play; a celebrated but marginal ‘alternative’ to the dominant (and much critiqued) industrial food system. Drawing on two years of intensive researcher participation and 20 interviews with urban agriculturalists, I first consider change at the ideological level, outlining detail-rich future visions of Auckland changing through urban-grown food, spanning physical, economic and cultural realms. I then draw on the same interviews to explore the institutional level, describing the collective processes of change that might realise these visions: a narrative where grassroots groups collaborate in various ways, increasing their power and impact, and raising a number of tensions about where those involved are best to work. Lastly, I consider the individual level, drawing on autoethnographic data collected while establishing an urban forest garden; combining critique of the modern-colonial habit-of-being with psychological research on cognitive frames, and describing seven tentative cognitive shifts facilitated my agroecological practice. 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Lastly, I consider the individual level, drawing on autoethnographic data collected while establishing an urban forest garden; combining critique of the modern-colonial habit-of-being with psychological research on cognitive frames, and describing seven tentative cognitive shifts facilitated my agroecological practice. 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