Abstract
The Copperbelt region in Zambia experienced significant economic destabilization after the 1970s which led to massive job losses in the mining and manufacturing sectors, forcing the local population into a range of informal sector activities and food self-provisioning. Resilience thinking and the concepts of adaptation and adaptability in particular provide a lense through which to understand how the mining industry was re-established, albeit in a radical altered form and how local individuals and households have had to cope through creative local responses. The practice of urban agriculture serves as a case-study of how, in the absence of formal sector employment opportunities, households have had to strengthen their food security through their own actions.