scholarly journals Formalizing Objectives and Criteria for Urban Agriculture Sustainability with a Participatory Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7503
Author(s):  
Paola Clerino ◽  
Agnès Fargue-Lelièvre
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Agriculture Sustainability ◽  
Global North ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
External Sustainability

The last few years have seen an exponential development of urban agriculture projects within global North countries, especially professional intra-urban farms which are professional forms of agriculture located within densely settled areas of city. Such projects aim to cope with the challenge of sustainable urban development and today the sustainability of the projects is questioned. To date, no set of criteria has been designed to specifically assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of these farms at the farm scale. Our study aims to identify sustainability objectives and criteria applicable to professional intra-urban farms. It relies on a participatory approach involving various stakeholders of the French urban agriculture sector comprising an initial focus group, online surveys and interviews. We obtained a set of six objectives related to environmental impacts, link to the city, economic and ethical meaning, food and environmental education, consumer/producer connection and socio-territorial services. In addition, 21 criteria split between agro-environmental, socio-territorial and economic dimensions were identified to reach these objectives. Overall, agro-environmental and socio-territorial criteria were assessed as more important than economic criteria, whereas food production was not mentioned. Differences were identified between urban farmers and decision makers, highlighting that decision makers were more focused on projects’ external sustainability. They also pay attention to the urban farmer agricultural background, suggesting that they rely on urban farmers to ensure the internal sustainability of the farm. Based on our results, indicators could be designed to measure the sustainability criteria identified, and to allow the sustainability assessment of intra-urban farms.

scholarly journals Meaningful, but effective? A critical evaluation of Ireland’s citizens’ dialogues on the future of Europe

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572199148
Author(s):  
Anthony Costello
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Political Will ◽  
The Future

On the 25 March 2017, leaders of the EU27 and European Union (EU) institutions ratified the Rome Declaration. They committed to invite citizens to discuss Europe’s future and to provide recommendations that would facilitate their decision-makers in shaping their national positions on Europe. In response, citizens’ dialogues on the future of Europe were instituted across the Union to facilitate public participation in shaping Europe. This paper explores Ireland’s set of dialogues which took place during 2018. Although event organisers in Ireland applied a relatively atypical and more systematic and participatory approach to their dialogues, evidence suggests that Irelands’ dialogues were reminiscent of a public relations exercise which showcased the country’s commitment to incorporating citizens into the debate on Europe while avoiding a deliberative design which could have strengthened the quality of public discourse and the quality of public recommendations. Due to an absence of elite political will for a deliberative process, as well as structural weaknesses in design, participants’ recommendations lacked any clear and prescriptive direction which could shape Ireland’s national position on the future of Europe in any constructive or meaningful way.

Key insights of urban agriculture for sustainable urban development

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
María Teresa Gomez Villarino ◽  
Julia urquijo ◽  
Miguel Gómez Villarino ◽  
A. I. García
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development

Participatory Design of Public Spaces for Urban Agriculture, Rosario, Argentina

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Marielle Dubbeling ◽  
Laura Bracalenti ◽  
Laura Lagorio
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
The City

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized for its potential contribution to more sustainable urban development. Urban agriculture includes the cultivation and raising, processing and marketing of food and non-food crops, medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruit trees, as well as animal products within urban and periurban areas. Urban agriculture positively impacts urban food security, local economic development, environmental management and community building. To reconcile the demands posed by urban growth with urban agriculture activities of high social and economic value, urban agriculture however should be included into land use planning and design, and regulated by municipalities, assuring its proper management and avoiding potential health and environmental risks. Open and green urban spaces could be designed for multifunctional urban agriculture and combine natural habitat, food production, educational, recreational and leisure activities. Such design processes would benefit from broad participation of urban planners and architects, urban farmers, citizens and slum inhabitants as to enhance ownership and engagement, more effectively use available local resources and give the process a higher credibility and wider outreach. This article shares the experience of Rosario, Argentina where the city planners and University staff collaborated with two low-income communities in the design and implementation of a multifunctional neighborhood park, public square and road reserve. A step-by-step participatory design process was followed: starting from initial visioning, defining and relating the various existing and multi-functional land uses desired, to elaborating the site plan, and agreeing on implementation procedures. The article briefly contextualizes the site and its inhabitants, illustrates the design process and the results achieved and highlights some of the problems encountered. Participatory design of open spaces for urban agriculture in Rosario- though a complex process- proved to have contributed to improving socio-economic and environmental conditions in the city, while also serving as a source of inspiration to other cities in the region.

Sustainable Urban Development

2011 ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Suharto Teriman ◽  
Tan Yigitcanlar ◽  
Severine Mayere
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Sustainable Resource Use ◽  
Urban Planning And Development ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Planning Development

Sustainable development has long been promoted as the best answer to the world’s environmental problems. This term has generated mass appeal as it implies that both the development of the built environment and its associated resource consumption can be achieved without jeopardising the natural environment. In the urban context, sustainability issues have been reflected in the promotion of sustainable urban development, which emphasises the sensible exploitation of scarce natural resources for urbanisation in a manner that allows future generations to repeat the process. This chapter highlights attempts to promote sustainable urban development through an integration of three important considerations: planning, development and the ecosystem. It highlights the fact that spatial planning processes were traditionally driven by economic and social objectives, and rarely involved promoting the sustainability agenda to achieve a sustainable urban future. As a result, rapid urbanisation has created a variety of pressures on the ecosystem upon which we rely. It is believed that the integration of the urban planning and development processes within the limitations of the ecosystem, monitored by a sustainability assessment mechanism, would offer a better approach to maintaining sustainable resource use without compromising urban development.

scholarly journals A New Crop Spectral Signatures Database Interactive Tool (CSSIT)

Data ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad M. Awad ◽  
Bassem Alawar ◽  
Rana Jbeily
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
High Spectral Resolution ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Spectral Signatures ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Interactive Tool ◽  
Physical And Chemical

In many countries, commodities provided by the agriculture sector play an important role in the economy. Securing food is one aspect of this role, which can be achieved when the decision makers are supported by tools. The need for cheap, fast, and accurate tools with high temporal resolution and global coverage has encouraged the decision makers to use remote sensing technologies. Field spectroradiometer with high spectral resolution can substantially improve crop mapping by reducing similarities between different crop types that have similar ecological conditions. This is done by recording fine details of the crop interaction with sunlight. These details can increase the same crop recognition even with the variation in the crop chemistry and structure. This paper presents a new spectral signatures database interactive tool (CSSIT) for the major crops in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin such as wheat and potato. The CSSIT’s database combines different data such as spectral signatures for different periods of crop growth stages and many physical and chemical parameters for crops such as leaf area index (LAI) and chlorophyll-a content (CHC). In addition, the CSSIT includes functions for calculating indices from spectral signatures for a specific crop and user interactive dialog boxes for displaying spectral signatures of a specific crop at a specific period of time.

scholarly journals Indicator-Based Sustainability Assessment Tool to Support Coastal and Marine Management

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donalda Karnauskaitė ◽  
Gerald Schernewski ◽  
Josianne G. Støttrup ◽  
Marija Kataržytė
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Marine Management ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Integrated Approaches ◽  
User Friendly

The applied Indicator-based Sustainability Assessment Tool (InSAT) serves as a user-friendly computer-aided tool to support coastal and marine management. Focus is on sustainable coastal development, including environmental, social, and economic aspects. We apply the InSAT to assess the changes in sustainability before, during, and after the implementation of management measures. The assessments address three case studies in Lithuania: the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Klaipeda, the renewal of the port of Sventoji, and the opening of a beach in Nida. The application of core and optional indicators highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the management measures. We analyze to what extent, how, and when the InSAT can be applied within a stepwise Systems Approach Framework (SAF) to support sustainable coastal and marine management. Further, we assess how the tool can be applied within other integrated approaches. The application of tailor-made indicators helps to identify potential conflicts and raise discussions about sustainable development between stakeholders and decision-makers and therefore supports the decision-making process. The tool indicates the management measures’ weaknesses, but the assessment results do not indicate what kind of solutions should be undertaken. However, it can still serve to support, guide, and supplement the participation and discussion processes.

A Critique of Localist Political Economy and Urban Agriculture

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 75-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Sharzer
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Land Values ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Urban Farm ◽  
Use Values ◽  
Global North ◽  
Mode Of Production

Abstract In the Global North, Urban Agriculture (UA) is being considered as a way to overcome malnutrition and promote local, ethical production. UA can be understood through two phenomena integral to the capitalist mode of production: capital centralisation and rent. Centralisation explains why capitalist agriculture industrialises, while rent provides a theoretical framework for understanding how social and spatial relations structure urban land uses. Urban farming can occupy niches of the capitalist marketplace; however, its prospects for replacing large-scale agriculture and providing similar use-values are limited. Its expansion is bounded by rising land values expressed in rent, as Detroit’s urban farm, Markham’s food belt, Los Angeles’s community garden, and initiatives in other cities demonstrate. The key tasks for political ecologists are two-fold: situating UA within capital’s drive to accumulate and proposing strategic perspectives that challenge these inherent tendencies.

Developing an Urban Residential District Plan Competition Assessment System for China

2013 ◽  
Vol 807-809 ◽  
pp. 1815-1818
Author(s):  
Xiao Peng Zhang ◽  
Bo Yang Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation System ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
The Status ◽  
Residential District ◽  
Sustainability Assessment Tools ◽  
Selection Of

The purpose of this research is to combine the sustainability evaluation system of China and put forward a sustainability assessment system based on urban residential district plan competition program. In this research, the status quo of the evaluation process was studied. As the core of the research, the establishment of URDPAS complements the assessment technology of residential district plan competition. The existing area scale sustainability assessment tools were analyzed. With the application of ANP method to determine the evaluation items and weighting system in urban residential district plan, decision-makers can use this evaluation process and assessment system to assess the residential district plans more comprehensively and rationally than using traditional methods and the selection of the best plan becomes relatively easier.

The Potential of Cultural Heritage Tourism to Promote Sustainable Urban Development: The Case of Tainan City

2013 ◽  
Vol 316-317 ◽  
pp. 446-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsing Ping Kuo ◽  
Kang Li Wu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Heritage Tourism ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Cultural Tourism ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Tainan City ◽  
Cultural Heritage Tourism

As cultural heritage tourism is widely regarded as a key element of promoting sustainable urban development and making a city competitive, allocating suitable budget for developing cultural heritage tourism thus becomes an important issue. Tainan City is an ancient cultural city with many cultural heritages, up to 112 attractions, in Taiwan. As the budget of local governments to promote tourism activities is limited, it is exceptionally important to assess the potential of cultural heritage tourism. Modified the cultural tourism assessment indicators proposed by Mckercher and Ho, this study assessed the potential of eight cultural heritage attractions in Tainan City by surveying visitors who have visited these attractions to verify the positioning of tourism development and to prioritize the resources for enhancing these attractions. The outcomes can provide a reference for decision-makers to promote sustainable tourism and allocate resources.

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