Peri-urban and urban agriculture have the potential in achieving food security for many people in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Available evidence indicates that there has been a lot of focus on peri-urban agriculture with less attention given to urban agriculture despite the many barriers that make it less productive. Given the rapidly increasing population in urban areas in Ethiopia, addressing constraints to urban agriculture has high prospects of improving the food and malnutrition challenges. This study was conducted to analyse the barriers to urban agriculture through application of five of the seven steps in Soft System Methodology (SSM). The SSM entailed components of Force Field Analysis for which individual questionnaire interviews is widely accepted for generating qualitative priority rankings. Data were collected using open-ended (non-structured) questionnaires. Findings from force field analysis indicated that growth in the industry and service sectors, lack of land, farm equipment and input, farmers’ and policy makers’ knowledge, public health issues and market shade access were the restraining forces to urban agriculture growth. Results reveal that poverty reduction initiatives, farmer motivation, market and labour force availability, are the major driving forces for peri-urban and urban agriculture.