From Inquiry to Academic Writing A Practical Guide, 3rd edition

204 CHAPTER 7 | FRom SummARy To SynTHESiS

available option, and the city of South Bend is ripe for alterna-

tive solutions. The city is primed for a cooperative effort that

could shift the paradigm for urban renewal from a quick, cor-

porate solution, to a long-term enterprise built on community

contributions and under local control.

Around the globe, many destitute urban areas have

found the means to reverse nutritional poverty through a literal

and figurative grassroots effort. In an effort to avoid packaged,

convenience store food, neighbors in the Bronx, San Francisco,

Los Angeles, London, and most successfully in Philadelphia,

have been planting their own crops right in the heart of the city

(Brown and Carter 3-4). Truly farming the food desert, coali-

tions that link community gardens, local farmers, and urban

markets are providing healthy, sustainable food sources without

a supermarket. Interestingly, in the process, such coalitions are

generating jobs, increasing property value, and, in some cases,

actually reversing the effects of poverty. The city of South Bend,

uniquely situated in the breadbasket of the United States, is

in the perfect position to launch a “greening” effort, modeled

after the successes in other parts of the world, which would

both solve the problem of food insecurity of LaSalle Square and

invigorate the local economy.

While modern Americans have the tendency to think that

food production should be, and always has been, industrialized,

countries around the world, especially economically disadvan-

taged nations, are exemplifying the possibilities of local garden-

ing efforts. Far removed from industrial farms, Cubans grow half

their vegetables within the city; vacant land in Russian cities

produces 80 percent of the nation’s vegetables, and specifically

in Moscow, 65 percent of families contribute to food produc-

tion. Singapore has 10,000 urban farmers, and nearly half of

the residents of Vancouver grow food in their gardens (Brown

and Carter 10). These habits are not simply a novelty; rather,

populations that garden tend to be healthier, eating six out of

the fourteen vegetable categories more regularly than nongar-

deners and also consuming fewer sweet and sugary foods per

capita (Brown and Carter 13). These data, compiled by the North

American Urban Agriculture Committee, were synthesized from

She cites a number of

examples as evidence

to demonstrate the

viability of the solu-

tion she offers.

The use of multiple

sources would make

her case even stronger

than using just one

source of information,

in this case Brown and

Carter.

Paul 6

10

11

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