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Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2018) | Viewed by 92472

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Dr. Esther Sanyé-Mengual

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Research Center on Urban Environment for Agriculture and Biodiversity (ResCUE-AB); Agricultural Sciences Department; Bologna University Alma Mater Studiorum
Interests: urban agriculture; plant physiology; abiotic stresses; food security
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue calls for papers that contribute to the assessment of the sustainability of urban agriculture, both by advancing methodological approaches and by providing results from case studies. Cities have been identified as an essential element in addressing global concerns, particularly due to the growing population, and food flow is key in the urban metabolism and in the design of future sustainable cities. Resulting from the environmental awareness of the globalized food system and urban social and economic gaps, urban agriculture has grown in recent years aiming at increasing food security while coping with climate change. Urban agriculture ranges from socially-oriented initiatives, which address social gaps (e.g., social inclusion, food deserts) employing low-tech techniques and educational programs, to high-tech for-profit farms, which focus on maximizing yields (e.g., rooftop greenhouse, aquaponics). The sustainability profile of such diverse forms of urban agriculture might consistently vary and contribute differently to the three dimensions of sustainability: Environment, society, and economy. To date, the environmental benefits of urban agriculture as a local production system, the ecosystem services of urban gardens (both environmental and socio-cultural services) or contribution to food security have been evaluated in specific case studies. However, studies covering sustainability assessments of social and economic aspects are limited, as are integrated methods for assessing urban agriculture.

This Special Issue aims at covering this gap by considering papers that evaluate the sustainability of urban agriculture, proposing new methodological approaches, and assessing new case studies that provide new data on the diverse nature of urban agriculture. New methods and data are essential to support decision- and policy-making for the design of sustainable cities. The consideration of the three dimensions of sustainability, integrated analyses, and quantitative approaches are of particular interest.

Dr. Esther Sanyé-Mengual
Guest Editor

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Keywords

environmental sustainability
social sustainability
economic sustainability
urban gardening
rooftop agriculture
life cycle assessment
ecosystem services
sustainable development goals
multicriteria analysis
social metabolism

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1399 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Revisiting the Sustainability Concept of Urban Food Production from a Stakeholders’ Perspective

by Esther Sanyé-Mengual, Francesco Orsini and Giorgio Gianquinto

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2175; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072175 - 26 Jun 2018

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 7724

Abstract

Urban Food Production (UFP) initiatives are expanding worldwide to enhance urban food production while contributing to the development of sustainable cities in a three-bottom perspective (environment, society, economy). Although the sustainability aspects of UFS have been addressed in the literature, there is a need to set a sustainability framework for UFP based on the concepts and the understanding of the stakeholders as a basis for quantifying their sustainability and for developing effective policy-making. This paper evaluates the concepts of the UFP sustainability from a stakeholders’ perspective through participatory methods and network analyses. Two different workshops were organized in the city of Bologna (Italy), where mind-mapping exercises to define the environmental, economic and social sustainability elements of UFP were performed. This bottom-up approach unveiled a comprehensive and complex vision of sustainable UFP, the relevance of certain sustainability elements and key aspects to take into consideration for the development of UFP and effective policy-making. The existence of bidimensional and tridimensional concepts indicated priorities, synergies and trade-offs among the dimensions of sustainability. The multi-scalar nature of UFP suggested that specific policies can be supported by global schemes (e.g., Sustainable Development Goals) and that UFP can be a local tool for democracy and equity at lower scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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25 pages, 4305 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

by Esther Sanyé-Mengual, Daniela Gasperi, Nicola Michelon, Francesco Orsini, Giorgio Ponchia and Giorgio Gianquinto

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2124; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072124 - 21 Jun 2018

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 8300

Abstract

In the expanding urban agriculture phenomenon in Europe, home gardens are a traditional form that have kept agriculture within cities, even becoming crucial in certain historical periods (e.g., war periods). However, horticultural practices in home gardens can also have negative consequences. The goal of this paper is to assess the eco-efficiency of home gardens as a type of urban agriculture. To do so, a case study in Padua (Italy) was evaluated following life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods. A home garden of 30.6 m² and 21 crop cycles were evaluated. The functional unit of the assessment was 1 kg of harvested fresh vegetable at the consumption point, and the ReCiPe method was employed for impact assessment. Environmental assessment indicated that organic fertilization, use of tap water, mineral fertilization and pesticides were the most contributing elements of the entire life cycle. Furthermore, the relevance of garden design and crop selection was a determinant in the eco-efficiency results. The assessed home garden could satisfy the food requirements of between 1 and 2 members of the household. Crop management and design recommendations are provided to improve eco-efficiency and food security potential of home gardens. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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13 pages, 2439 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards an Impact Evaluation Framework to Measure Urban Resilience in Food Practices

by Catherine Dezio and Davide Marino

Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 2042; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10062042 - 15 Jun 2018

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3718

Abstract

The relationship among agriculture, food and cities is experiencing profound transformations that led us to reflect on causes and processes. Our research questions regarded the role of agriculture and food in territorial resilience, the relationship between global problems and local solutions (i.e., urban scale), the relationship between the action scales and the results of a practice, and the means to measure the effectiveness of a practice. The following paper adopts the coevolutive approach, which recognizes territorial dynamics as products of biunivocal relations between social and environmental components. We also outline an impact evaluation framework for assessing territorial resilience of urban food systems. The paper includes an analysis conducted on 50 local practices regarding the relationship between food and city. This analysis was collected within the Observatory of Resilience Practices, a project funded by the Cariplo Foundation and conducted by the Polytechnic University of Milan. The paper concludes by suggesting implementation of the methodology for assessing the impact of practices, and includes broader reasoning regarding the role of local bottom-up practices in territorial governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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23 pages, 2835 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Validating the City Region Food System Approach: Enacting Inclusive, Transformational City Region Food Systems

by Alison Blay-Palmer, Guido Santini, Marielle Dubbeling, Henk Renting, Makiko Taguchi and Thierry Giordano

Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051680 - 22 May 2018

Cited by 160 | Viewed by 19656

Abstract

This paper offers a critical assessment of the value and utility of the evolving City Region Food Systems (CRFS) approach to improve our insights into flows of resources—food, waste, people, and knowledge—from rural to peri-urban to urban and back again, and the policies and process needed to enable sustainability. This paper reflects on (1) CRFS merits compared to other approaches; (2) the operational potential of applying the CRFS approach to existing projects through case analysis; (3) how to make the CRFS approach more robust and ways to further operationalize the approach; and (4) the potential for the CRFS approach to address complex challenges including integrated governance, territorial development, metabolic flows, and climate change. The paper begins with the rationale for CRFS as both a conceptual framework and an integrative operational approach, as it helps to build increasingly coherent transformational food systems. CRFS is differentiated from existing approaches to understand the context and gaps in theory and practice. We then explore the strength of CRFS through the conceptual building blocks of ‘food systems’ and ‘city-regions’ as appropriate, or not, to address pressing complex challenges. As both a multi-stakeholder, sustainability-building approach and process, CRFS provides a collective voice for food actors across scales and could provide coherence across jurisdictions, policies, and scales, including the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Habitat III New Urban Agenda, and the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21. CRFS responds directly to calls in the literature to provide a conceptual and practical framing for policy through wide engagement across sectors that enables the co-construction of a relevant policy frame that can be enacted through sufficiently integrated policies and programs that achieve increasingly sustainable food systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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18 pages, 600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Social Sustainability through Social Interaction—A National Survey on Community Gardens in Germany

by Nicole Rogge, Insa Theesfeld and Carola Strassner

Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 1085; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041085 - 5 Apr 2018

Cited by 49 | Viewed by 11302

Abstract

Community gardening has become a growing movement in cities all over the world, where these diverse collectively managed spaces provide various economic, ecological, and social benefits for urban residents. Particularly in developed countries such as Germany, social benefits are the motivation to participate in community gardens more so than the harvests. Although research on community gardens has grown, including the question of their benefits to a sustainable development, there is little literature studying the social importance and social sustainability of community gardens. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine social interaction, participation, and perceived success as a concept to assess social sustainability. The paper further aims to examine the conditions influencing social sustainability within community gardens. With the help of an online survey, we collect data from 123 community gardens throughout Germany, with which we assess diverse degrees of social sustainability. Causalities of gardens’ social sustainability are analyzed with a multiple linear regression model. Results indicate that there is no significant relationship between size of community and social sustainability, rather aspects of trust and management have a strong effect on social sustainability. Findings like these lead to a better understanding of social interaction in urban communities that contribute to more social sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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13 pages, 6551 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From Cascade to Bottom-Up Ecosystem Services Model: How Does Social Cohesion Emerge from Urban Agriculture?

by Anna Petit-Boix and Defne Apul

Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 998; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040998 - 28 Mar 2018

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7824

Abstract

Given the expansion of urban agriculture (UA), we need to understand how this system provides ecosystem services, including foundational societal needs such as social cohesion, i.e., people’s willingness to cooperate with one another. Although social cohesion in UA has been documented, there is no framework for its emergence and how it can be modeled within a sustainability framework. In this study, we address this literature gap by showing how the popular cascade ecosystem services model can be modified to include social structures. We then transform the cascade model into a bottom-up causal framework for UA. In this bottom-up framework, basic biophysical (e.g., land availability) and social (e.g., leadership) ecosystem structures and processes lead to human activities (e.g., learning) that can foster specific human attitudes and feelings (e.g., trust). These attitudes and feelings, when aggregated (e.g., social network), generate an ecosystem value of social cohesion. These cause-effect relationships can support the development of causality pathways in social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) and further our understanding of the mechanisms behind social impacts and benefits. The framework also supports UA studies by showing the sustainability of UA as an emergent food supplier in cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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18 pages, 11120 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Typically Diverse: The Nature of Urban Agriculture in South Australia

by Georgia Pollard, James Ward and Philip Roetman

Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 945; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040945 - 23 Mar 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6954

Abstract

In our visions of the future, urban agriculture has long been considered an integral part of the ‘sustainable city’. Yet urban agriculture is an incredibly diverse and variable field of study, and many practical aspects remain overlooked and understudied. This paper explores the economic sustainability of urban agriculture by focusing on the physical, practical, and economic aspects of home food gardens in South Australia. New data from the Edible Gardens project online survey is presented on a broad range of current garden setups, including a figure illustrating the statistically typical South Australian food garden. The differences between the survey data and a recent optimized garden model further highlight the gap in knowledge regarding existing home food gardens. With regard to the financial accessibility and economic sustainability of home food gardens, there is also still much more work to be done. Although saving money is a top motivation, with many survey respondents believing that they do succeed in saving money, it remains to be seen whether their current gardening practices support this aspiration. Measurement of the full costs of different gardens would allow for better predictions of whether growing food can save household’s money and under what circumstances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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27 pages, 12972 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Resilience with Mixed Agricultural and Urban Land Uses in Tokyo, Japan

by Giles Bruno Sioen, Toru Terada, Makiko Sekiyama and Makoto Yokohari

Sustainability 2018, 10(2), 435; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020435 - 7 Feb 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 15972

Abstract

Urban agriculture can enhance the resilience of neighborhoods by providing fresh food in times of natural disasters; however, there is little empirical evidence to support this. Therefore, this study proposes a methodology to identify patterns of agricultural production in urban areas by quantifying self-sufficiency rates in vegetable weight and key nutrients. A spatial grid cell analysis using a geographic information system (GIS) identifies the current and potential self-sufficiency of each land use pattern in Tokyo. In a total of 1479 grid cells, the dominant land use and locations of 49,263 agricultural plots led to the categorization of six distinguishable land use patterns. The results showed that Tokyo has a fruit and vegetable self-sufficiency of 4.27% and a potential of 11.73%. The nutritional self-sufficiency of selected nutrients was the highest in vitamin K (6.54%), followed by vitamin C (3.84%) and vitamin A (1.92%). Peri-urban areas showed the highest resilience in relation to aggregated risks and population density because of the mixture in agricultural and urban land uses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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11620 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fostering Multi-Functional Urban Agriculture: Experiences from the Champions in a Revitalized Farm Pond Community in Taoyuan, Taiwan

by Rung-Jiun Chou, Chen-Ting Wu and Feng-Tzu Huang

Sustainability 2017, 9(11), 2097; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9112097 - 15 Nov 2017

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 9670

Abstract

Urban agriculture (UA) with its multi-functional roles has recently become a globally important topic, as it is considered as an approach to address the emerging challenges to societies seeking greater sustainability. In Taiwan, the Hakka community of Gaoyuan in Taoyuan City, where a traditional farm pond was recently transformed into a public, multi-functional UA resource, is widely regarded as the first successful bottom-up, community-led, farm-pond-based UA in Taiwan, yet its actual performance is rarely explored in any depth. Little work has been done to provide details on the socio-ecological benefits of UA in the community redevelopment process. Through in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and participant observation, this specific qualitative study aims to explore the community champions’ experiences in the transformation leading to a revitalized community. First, by linking nearby nature to people, a green network of diverse spaces, low-impact landscaping, and an agricultural-community-like pondscape, the specific landscape character that makes UA in Gaoyuan distinctive is formed. Second, through active engagement, participation, and the agency of local people, the UA implementation process features cooperative working, mutual learning, and experience-sharing. Third, UA plays a crucial role in building social cohesion that promotes people’s participation in community affairs, and strengthens the community’s social network, which involves agricultural life, crop production, the ecological environment, and community care. It is revealed that the farm-pond-based UA with its multi-functional roles acts as a catalyst for the Gaoyuan community’s progress toward sustainability. The desired end-state of the agricultural landscape, as a synthesis of natural features and human interventions, is a more sustainable, characteristic, well-maintained and united place to fulfill people’s needs and enhance people’s overall health and well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture: Methodological Advances and Case Studies)

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