Roots – the Countryside in the City

No. 17 MAY 2016

The countryside is in our cities. Roadside plantations and old shepherds live side by side with balconies filled with modern vases, true skyscrapers of plants. Vegetable gardens are a portrait of the country. There are those who need what the land gives to stave off hunger and get around the crisis that has filled Portugal with so much misery. But there are also those who plant thing to keep themselves busy after retirement, who grow plants on the balcony to forget about the grind of the daily routine. And there are plants for nostalgia. Worldwide, 800 million people survive on what they harvest from between buildings. This is a trip to the fields that live alongside Portuguese cities – what withstands the passage of time and the things that came with the urban agriculture trend. Accounts of the area of concrete and real estate speculation, the rural exodus and urban growth. Of fashion and concern for the planet. Stories of the return to earth. Of men. And roots.