Consolidating the current knowledge on urban agriculture in productive urban food systems: Learnings, gaps and outlook

Weidner, Till; Yang, Aidong; Hamm, Michael W.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.004

Cited by 112 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 106 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…The results of this study seem to be consistent with a recent review which found critical issues of sustainability for UA, especially for cereals and calories provisioning potentials [47]. This view is supported by Martellozzo et al [48] who carried out a global analysis of the spatial constraint to meet the vegetable consumption on urban areas, asserting that UA cannot satisfy food self-provisioning, especially for densely populated cities.…”

Section: Practical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Strong evidence of vertical farming potential was recently reported by Sanjuan-Delmás et al [56] in a feasibility study, reporting productivity of 19.6 kg/m 2 /year of tomato simultaneously reducing CO 2 emissions and using rainwater collected from buildings. Promoting conversion to vegetable production could open new pathways for innovative growing practices (e.g., aquaponics, hydroponics, rooftop greenhouses, micro-scale anaerobic digestion) [47], upgrading resource-use efficiency and circularity by integrating composting and organic waste flows, as well as biodiversity enhancement and habitat conservation [57].…”

Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multitemporal Geospatial Evaluation of Urban Agriculture and (Non)-Sustainable Food Self-Provisioning in Milan, Italy

Pulighe¹,

Lupia²

2019

Sustainability

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Urban agriculture in Global North cities is strongly promoted as a sustainable solution to achieve different goals, such as food production, quality of life, and well-being. Although several attempts have been made to evaluate urban agriculture production, few studies have investigated food production in a multitemporal geospatial way and considered per capita population needs, gender, and age strata consumption. This study presents a spatiotemporal quantification of urban agriculture in the city of Milan (Italy) for assessing food self-provisioning potential. We utilized high-resolution Google Earth images and ancillary data to create a detailed cadaster of urban agriculture for the years 2007 and 2014. Based on four scenarios of food production and statistical data on vegetables and cereals consumption, we estimated current total production and requirements for the city dwellers. Our results showed that the actual extension of vegetable gardens (98 ha) and arable land (2539 ha) in the best scenario could satisfy approximately 63,700 and 321,000 consumers of vegetables and cereal products, respectively. Overall, current urban agriculture production is not able to meet vegetables and cereal consumption for more than 1.3 million city residents. Scenario estimates suggest rethinking land use promoting horticultural production to achieve more sustainable food systems.

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Section: Practical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multitemporal Geospatial Evaluation of Urban Agriculture and (Non)-Sustainable Food Self-Provisioning in Milan, Italy

Pulighe¹,

Lupia²

2019

Sustainability

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“…Depending on the type of UA, the product and the agronomic practices, such reductions result in the decrease of the environmental impact in the LCA indicators related to carbon emissions and air pollution associated with the food product [15,25,62,63]. However, the logistics of UA can lead to less efficient distribution models (e.g., smaller truck capacity, consumer transportation to the farm or to the pick-up point), and the environmental benefits depend on the logistics model implemented in each specific case [64]. Highlighting the positive aspects of the vegetative structure, the inclusion of diverse native plants and the re-naturalization of urban areas for sustaining biodiversity and pollination ecosystem services, Lin et al [65] reviewed the literature regarding biodiversity and UA.…”

Section: Contrasting the Evidence Of The Most Frequent Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

et al. 2019

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Compared to rural agriculture, urban agriculture (UA) has some distinct features (e.g., the limited land access, alternative growing media, unique legal environments or the non-production-related missions) that encourage the development of new practices, i.e., "novelties" or "innovations". This paper aims to (1) identify the "triggers" for novelty production in UA;(2) characterize the different kinds of novelties applied in UA; (3) evaluate the "innovativeness" of those social, environmental and economic novelties; and, (4) estimate the links between novelties and sustainability. The study was based on the evaluation of 11 case studies in four Western European countries (Italy, Germany, France and Spain). The results show that the trigger and origin of new activities can often be traced back to specific problems that initiators were intended to address or solve. In total, we found 147 novelties produced in the 11 case studies. More novelties are produced in the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability than in the economic. In most cases, external stakeholders played an important role in supporting the projects. The analysis further suggests that innovativeness enhances the overall sustainability in urban agriculture projects.Goldstein et al. [7] defined UA as follows: "Most broadly, urban agriculture refers to growing and raising food crops and animals in an urban setting for the purpose of feeding local populations." Guided by this definition, we focus our research on this type of agricultural or horticultural production that is taking place either within the city or in very close proximity to it. UA as an InnovationDespite the early origin of UA in cities, it has often been considered an "innovative" way to address current urban problems. Therefore, this raises the following question: If UA is not new, why is it so often considered innovative? Pfeiffer et al. [8] indicated that many aspects of urban agricultural production are indeed very similar to those of small-scale rural farms and not entirely new, while other factors set UA apart from traditional agricultural operations. In their study, Pfeiffer et al. also described the distinct features of UA, such as the limited and nontraditional land access, the usage of urban soils and alternative growing media, the unique legal and political environments, the non-production-related missions, and the involvement of nontraditional farmers, which force the development of new practices. Prain and De Zeeuw [9] confirmed and complemented those findings by elaborating that the key factors for innovation in UA are those factors, such as multiple livelihood strategies, lower community cohesion, fewer possibilities for integrated agriculture, and quick market access, which differentiate urban from rural agriculture. They identified a direct correlation between urban settings and innovation processes in UA. Those specific conditions and characteristics drive urban operations to develop unique new practices adapted to the urban context.

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“…Several benefits of urban agriculture (UA) have been mentioned in the literature, including ecosystem services provisioning, social values, and health benefits (Clinton et al 2018;Weidner et al 2019). In this article, however, we focus on the contribution of UA to urban household food security (FS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The geography of agriculture participation and food security in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana

2020

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The debate about the contribution of urban agriculture to urban household food security has not considered the possible differential effects by geography of production activities, focusing either on urban household's participation in agriculture irrespective of where the activity takes place, or restricting participation to production within urban and peri-urban areas, or more narrowly, production within build-up urban spaces. Using a sample of 2004 households in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana, this article contributes by disentangling urban household's participation in agriculture by geography of production activities and the implications for the food security of urban households. We find no evidence from our sample that participation in agriculture in general matters for the food security of urban households. However, urbanites who produced food in both urban and rural areas had better food security in the medium-sized city.

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Consolidating the current knowledge on urban agriculture in productive urban food systems: Learnings, gaps and outlook

Cited by 112 publications

References 106 publications

Multitemporal Geospatial Evaluation of Urban Agriculture and (Non)-Sustainable Food Self-Provisioning in Milan, Italy

Multitemporal Geospatial Evaluation of Urban Agriculture and (Non)-Sustainable Food Self-Provisioning in Milan, Italy

How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

The geography of agriculture participation and food security in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana

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