The role of interdisciplinarity in evaluating the sustainability of urban rooftop agriculture
Esther Sanyé‐Mengual, Jordi Oliver‐Solà, J.I. Montero, Joan Rieradevall
Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel)
Urban Farm DB summary
This paper presents an interdisciplinary scheme to evaluate the sustainability of urban rooftop agriculture (URA), investigating its quantitative and qualitative potential, and environmental and economic impacts. Using Barcelona, Spain, and Bologna, Italy, as case studies, four interdisciplinary methods were combined: qualitative research, geographic information systems (GIS), life cycle assessment (LCA), and life cycle costing (LCC). Results indicate that a combined GIS-LCA tool is useful for evaluating URA implementation and its environmental benefits at the city scale, with soil cultivation using compost in open-air rooftop gardens being the most eco-efficient option.