Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2025·Europe

Cooling benefits of Urban agriculture to inhabitants—mapping cooling potential of allotments in European functional urban areas

Grzegorz Budzik, Marta Sylla, Catharina J.E. Schulp

Journal of Environmental Management

Urban Farm DB summary

The cooling potential of allotments across European Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) was assessed. Allotments provide cooling services to 4.1 million people within FUAs, including 1.7 million in Germany. Each square kilometer of allotments cools an average of 8,221 people, with the cooled area being, on average, 2.8 times larger than the allotment size. Urban agriculture was 23% more efficient than peri-urban agriculture, but only 5% of allotments cooled areas with the highest heat risk.