Michael Hardman

Michael Hardman is Senior Lecturer in Urban Geography in the School of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Salford (Manchester, United Kingdom). He holds a degree in Physical Geography, a Masters in Human Geography and a PhD in Planning, the latter from the Birmingham School of the Built Environment. He is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in the broad area of sustainable urban environments. His research predominantly focusses on the idea of ‘urban agriculture’ and explores ways to introduce agricultural activities into cities, particularly through informal means such as ‘guerrilla gardening’. He leads a wide variety of externally funded projects which explore the potential for urban agriculture, has keynoted at a range of international events and has published widely on the topic; his book ‘Informal Urban Agriculture’ was the first in the Springer international urban agricultural series. Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and co-founder of their Food Geographies Working Group. Alongside this he is a member of the Town and Country Planning Association, ISUF, the British Sociological Association and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; he is also the only UK academic on the international Carrot City Research Group based in Toronto, Canada. Michael’s research has featured heavily in the media, with appearances in BBC News, BBC radio/tv, The Independent, The Times, The Telegraph and other international news outlets.