Urban agriculture and horticulture, although accompanying cities since the dawn of history, has become a newly defined issue of their development in the last quarter century. This applies to the development of the economic as well as social and spatial sphere. In Poland, urban agriculture, treated as a conscious activity of entrepreneurs and private individuals, as well as the subject of the authorities’ interest, has not yet acquired full citizenship. It still remains in the sphere of considerations of scientists who are thinking about how to define the phenomenon in Polish conditions, as well as the possibilities and limitations of introducing this type of enterprise into the economic, social and spatial structures of the city. The purpose of the article is to identify problems and issues related to the possibility of introducing urban agriculture issues to urban spatial planning.

The paper presents the student project created during the course of Urban Regeneration implemented in the first semester of the second degree in architecture at the Lodz University of Technology. It is the author’s development of a functional and spatial concept for degraded post-industrial areas of the former Widzewska Manufaktura made by two students. Until now, post-industrial facilities in Lodz have been adapted mainly for service and housing needs. The authors wanted to show another possibility that falls under the stream of ecological thoughts. The article presents the possibility of adapting post-factory facilities to the function of a city farm and the positive aspects of such a solution.

The article analyses different concepts of combining and interaction of agriculture with urban society. New academic and practice-based sources provide reliable information for early-stage holistic assessment of farming scenarios in various urban contexts. They acknowledge considerable social benefits and generally beneficial impact of urban farming. The new surveying methods and techniques to assess social and environmental impacts are mentioned in the article as well as the need of developing new indicators and standards which could be applied to improve the management of the urban green space.