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Is it feasible for Toronto to produce and market 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundary, without competing with existing Ontario vegetable producers? We used zoning maps, aerial photography, and numerous exclusionary and inclusionary criteria to identify potential food production sites across the city and, after identifying organic vegetable production yields, to calibrate supply potentials against current vegetable consumption estimates for the Toronto population. It was determined that Toronto required 2,317 hectares (5,725 acres) of food production area to meet current demand, if all production were organic to fulfill other municipal environmental objectives. Of this, 1073.5 ha (2,653 acres) of land could be available from existing Census farms producing vegetables, lands currently zoned for food production, certain areas zoned for industrial uses, and over 200 small plots (0.4-2 ha or 1-4.9 acres) dotted throughout the northeast and northwest of the city. In addition, 1243.5 ha (3,072.8 acres) of rooftop space would also be required. The land and rooftop space available suggests, however, that there would be difficulties meeting requirements for land-extensive crops such as sweet corn, squash, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and asparagus.

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This paper discusses the integration of soft systems methodology (SSM) within an ecosystem approach in research to support rehabilitation and management of the Cooum River and environs in Chennai, India. The Cooum is an extremely polluted urban stream. Its management is complicated by high rates of population growth, poverty, uncontrolled urban development, jurisdictional conflicts, institutional culture, flat topography, tidal action, blockage of the river mouth, and monsoon flooding. The situation is characterized by basic uncertainty about main processes and activities, and the nature of relationships among actors and elements in the system.SSM is an approach for dealing with messy or ill-structured problematic situations involving human activity. In this work SSM contributed techniques (such as "rich picture" and "CATWOE" tools) to description of the Cooum situation as a socioecological system and informed the approach itself at a theoretical level. Application of three general phases in SSM is discussed in the context of the Cooum River research: (1) problem definition and exploration of the problem situation, (2) development of conceptual models of relevant systems, and (3) the use of these to generate insight and stimulate debate about desirable and feasible change. Its use here gives weight to the statement by others that SSM would be a particularly appropriate methodology to operate the ecosystem approach. As well as informing efforts at management of the Cooum system, this work led the way to explore an adaptive ecosystem approach more broadly to management of the urban environment for human health in Chennai.

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