Sustainable Urban Agro Ecology and Its Implications With Food Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-166
Author(s):  
José G. Vargas-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Analytical Review ◽  
Environmental Development

This chapter has the aim to analyze the implications and interrelationships between a sustainable urban agro ecology and the food system. The beginning assumption of this analytical review considers that sustainable urban agro ecology has positive implications in the development of a sustainable urban food system. The analysis is based on the theoretical and empirical literature review confronted with common spatial-functional observations of urban development and configurations. The analysis concludes that the sustainable urban food system based on agro ecology is growing as an alternative movement towards the building and maintenance of a fairer and healthier urban sustainable environmental development.

Sustainable open innovation for the agri-food system: sorghum as healthy food to deal with environmental challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Pontieri ◽  
Francesco Saverio Mennini ◽  
Domitilla Magni ◽  
Fabio Fiano ◽  
Veronica Scuotto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Functional Food ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Grade ◽  
Definition Of

PurposeThe paper provides a new definition of healthy and functional food considering the case of sorghum, which is dealing with environmental challenges, calling for exploration of eco-conscious consumers' behavior in the free-from food innovative market.Design/methodology/approachThrough a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, this article offers a deep and broad outlook on a sustainable open innovations approach for agri-food systems. The bibliometric analysis includes a total of 198 scientific papers, deeply analyzed through Bibliometrix package.FindingsResults show increasing academic interest in sustainable innovations for the agri-food system, where the relevance of the food-grade sorghum is noticed. An open innovation approach is called for to deal with environmental challenges.Originality/valueTheoretically, the research offers a new definition of healthy and functional food in line with current environmental challenges. It also provides a deep literature review on eco-conscious consumers and food-grade sorghum as functional food in the context of the free-from food market.

From Urban Agriculture to Urban Food

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-134
Author(s):  
Heidrun Moschitz ◽  
Jan Landert ◽  
Christian Schader ◽  
Rebekka Frick
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Boundary Object ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Systems Transformation

Urban agriculture is embedded in an urban food system, and its full potential can only be understood by looking into the dynamics of the system. Involving a variety of actors from civil society, policy, and the market, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the food system of the city of Basel, Switzerland, including policy and actor analysis, analysis of perceptions on urban agriculture, food flow analysis, and a sustainability assessment. The article presents the results of these analyses and discusses how research can contribute to the societal debate on food systems transformation. We particularly reflect on how the research project became a boundary object in a dynamic process to develop new ideas and activities, as well as to create a space for future debates in the city’s food system.

scholarly journals Urban Food Systems: A Bibliometric Review from 1991 to 2020

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 662
Author(s):  
Qiumeng Zhong ◽  
Lan Wang ◽  
Shenghui Cui
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Subject Categories ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Bibliometric Review ◽  
The Uk

The increase of urbanization is affecting the urban food system (UFS) in many areas, primarily production, processing, and consumption. The upgrading of the urban food consumption structure not only puts forward higher food production requirements, but also poses a challenge to resource consumption and technological innovation. Considerable case or review studies have been conducted on UFS, but there is no bibliometric review attempting to provide an objective and comprehensive analysis of the existing articles. In this study, we selected 5360 research publications from the core Web of Science collection from 1991 to 2020, analyzing contributions of countries, institutions, and journals. In addition, based on keyword co-occurrence and clustering analyses, we evaluated the research hotspots of UFS. The results show that global research interest in UFS has increased significantly during these three decades. The USA, China, and the UK are the countries with the highest output and closest collaborations. UFS research involves multiple subject categories, with environmental disciplines becoming mainstream. Food security, food consumption, and food waste are the three main research areas. We suggest that food sustainability and resilience, food innovation, and comparative studies between cities should be given more attention in the future.

scholarly journals Food Connects Washington DC in 2050—A Vision for Urban Food Systems as the Centerpieces of a Circular Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7821
Author(s):  
Marian Stuiver ◽  
Sabine O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Food Economy

This article presents a vision for an urban food system in Washington DC in 2050 that serves as the centerpiece of a circular economy for the capital region of the United States. Food serves as the connecting link for an inclusive, adaptive, and resilient urban economy embedded in the region. This food economy values natural resources, cultural diversity, and commitment to nature-based innovations. The vision is the result of a three-pronged methodology of: (1) community engagement; (2) a thoughtful, process-focused transformation; and (3) the scaling up of existing urban food initiatives. We argue that small, hyperlocal, neighborhood-based initiatives can become crucial game changers and catalysts of change for entire neighborhoods, cities, and regions. Therefore, we propose a design-based approach to advance our 2050 vision of a circular food system. Our design-based approach consists of three building blocks: (A) systems thinking; (B) the ability to manage wins and tradeoffs; and (C) transitional leadership and cooperation. We explain these building blocks and the way in which they are incorporated in the 2050 vision of Washington DC. We further argue that the food economy is an ideal sector to embark on such a design-based approach due to its systemic nature, its critical position as an indispensable economic sector, and the complex connections it brings to multiple other sectors of the economy. An urban food system can therefore offer the ideal starting point for a transition towards a circular economy.

Transition of Ecosystem Services Based on Urban Agroecology

2021 ◽  
pp. 373-391
Author(s):  
José G. Vargas-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Social

This chapter has the aim to analyze the implications of the transition of ecosystem services based on urban agro ecology. It advances on the debate over the negative effects of the traditional and industrial oriented agricultural production on the ecosystem services, food systems, climate change, etc., and analyses the principles, methods and some practices that supports the transition to urban agro ecology. The method employed is the analytical of the theoretical and empirical literature review. It concludes that a transition from traditional and industrial oriented agriculture towards more urban agro ecology is inevitable to improve the ecological and environmental services, the economic efficiency, the social equity and justice, and the environmental sustainability of cities.

scholarly journals Food Systems Sustainability: An Examination of Different Viewpoints on Food System Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Haysom ◽  
E. Gunilla Almered Olsson ◽  
Mirek Dymitrow ◽  
Paul Opiyo ◽  
Nick Taylor Buck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
System Research ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Perceived Needs ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Global Food

Global food insecurity levels remain stubbornly high. One of the surest ways to grasp the scale and consequence of global inequality is through a food systems lens. In a predominantly urban world, urban food systems present a useful lens to engage a wide variety of urban (and global) challenges—so called ‘wicked problems.’ This paper describes a collaborative research project between four urban food system research units, two European and two African. The project purpose was to seek out solutions to what lay between, across and within the different approaches applied in the understanding of each city’s food system challenges. Contextual differences and immediate (perceived) needs resulted in very different views on the nature of the challenge and the solutions required. Value positions of individuals and their disciplinary “enclaves” presented further boundaries. The paper argues that finding consensus provides false solutions. Rather the identification of novel approaches to such wicked problems is contingent of these differences being brought to the fore, being part of the conversation, as devices through which common positions can be discovered, where spaces are created for the realisation of new perspectives, but also, where difference is celebrated as opposed to censored.

scholarly journals Mapping the production-consumption gap of an urban food system: an empirical case study of food security and resilience

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Jensen ◽  
Caroline Orfila
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Context ◽  
City Region ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Sufficient Energy ◽  
Food Imports

AbstractUrban food systems are complex and increasingly recognised as not being sustainable, equitable or resilient. Though globalisation and lengthening of agrifood supply chains has brought many benefits, such as year-long availability of fresh produce and modernisation opportunities for some developing regions, they have increased reliance on food imports and reduced the food and nutrition resilience of many cities. This premise has been widely witnessed following recent financial, climatic and pandemic driven disruptions to food supplies. A greater understanding is thus needed of the lived reality of a modern city’s ability to sustainably and equitably feed itself in a crisis situation or otherwise. In a changing world, such knowledge is valuable on a variety of strategic planning levels. Employing publically available data, the scale of food security and resilience, and options for their improvement, are holistically assessed through a case study spatial analysis of the urban food system of the city of Leeds in the United Kingdom. The case study found that the Leeds city region is home to a significant and diverse food production and provision system, but it is not food secure in terms of providing sufficient energy or macronutrients, or functioning in an equitable manner for all of its residents. Options for improving the performance of the system, including urban farming and industrial symbiosis, were found to be nuanced and would only be effective alongside a range of complimentary interventions as well as high levels of investment, multi-sector cooperation and strong governance. Though food system evolution and development are grounded in local context, the methods, general findings and circular economy focussed recommendations emanating from the case study, are widely applicable.

Transformations of Urban Agro Ecology Landscapes in Territory Transition

2022 ◽  
pp. 32-59
Author(s):  
José G. Vargas-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Analytical Review ◽  
Territorial Transformation ◽  
The City

This chapter has the objective to analyze the transformation process of the urban agro ecology landscape in territory transition. It begins questioning the implications that the agro ecological practices and territorial transformation and transition have on food systems sovereignty and security as well as other effects on land uses, climate change, environmental services, etc. The method used is based on an analytical review of the literature to elaborate a critical perspective of benefits and challenges. It is concluded that agro ecology is the key element in the construction of food system sovereignty and security which requires the transition towards the urban agro ecology based on the transformation of social and political power structures moving away from corporate control towards community governance aimed to achieve improvement ecosystem services and environmental sustainability of the city.

Transition of Ecosystem Services Based on Urban Agro Ecology

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
José G. Vargas-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Social

This chapter analyzes the implications of the transition of ecosystem services based on urban agro-ecology. It advances on the debate over the negative effects of the traditional and industrial-oriented agricultural production on the ecosystem services, food systems, climate change, etc. and analyses the principles, methods, and some practices that support the transition to urban agro-ecology. The method employed is the analytical of the theoretical and empirical literature review. It concludes that a transition from traditional and industrial-oriented agriculture towards more urban agro-ecology is inevitable to improve the ecological and environmental services, the economic efficiency, the social equity and justice, and the environmental sustainability of cities.

scholarly journals Recognising, Safeguarding and Promoting Food Heritage: Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Sustainable Food Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9510
Author(s):  
Dauro Mattia Zocchi ◽  
Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco ◽  
Paolo Corvo ◽  
Andrea Pieroni
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Shed Light

The safeguarding and promotion of food heritage are often considered as a possible way for achieving social and cultural sustainability objectives. This literature review investigates some of the dynamics underlying the heritagisation of food and explores the risks of this process. It focuses mainly on anthropological, geographical, and sociological publications. Overall, it aims to shed light on the strengths and limitations of food heritagisation regarding the improvement of the socio-cultural sustainability of the food system. The analysis highlights cross-cutting risks, namely the omission of tangible and intangible elements of the local food system, and the exclusion of key stakeholders from the recognition and institutionalisation of food heritage. The review highlights the strict interdependence between intangible and tangible elements during food heritagisation, and assesses how local and global interactions can activate and shape this process. It sheds light on the need to pay more attention to the factors, actors, and relationships underpinning the emergence and recognition of food and food-related elements as part of the local heritage.

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