Increasing City Resilience through Urban Agriculture: Challenges and Solutions in the Global North

Boglarka Z. Gulyas and Jill L. Edmondson
Additional contact information
Boglarka Z. Gulyas: Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Jill L. Edmondson: Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Cities, which now host the majority of the global population, are vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic disturbances, which are likely to increase in number and severity in the near future. Urban agriculture (UA) could help increase the resilience of cities to a range of pressures and acute shocks by improving food security and public health, building social capital, and promoting circular economies. However, comprehensive assessments of its potential are still lacking. Here, we use a systematic review of the literature on UA in the global North to identify factors that determine its success in providing resilience benefits, explore challenges that can limit this, and develop a conceptual model to highlight the ways in which it could be enhanced through research, policy, and practice. We define the success of UA in increasing city resilience as determined by five factors, which in turn depend on the amount of institutional and public support for UA, the presence of a sufficient knowledge base, communication and collaboration among different actors, and resourcefulness in finding alternative ways to use space and other resources efficiently. We close with a discussion of specific directions for research and practice based on the conceptual model developed here.

Keywords: food system; urban horticulture; food security; sustainable urban development; global change; urbanisation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1465/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1465/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1465-:d:490341

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().