Edible City Solutions—One Step Further to Foster Social Resilience through Enhanced Socio-Cultural Ecosystem Services in Cities
Ina Säumel, Suhana E. Reddy, Thomas Wachtel
Sustainability, 11(4), 972
Urban Farm DB summary
A foundational paper of the EU EdiCitNet project that positions citizen-led food production (Edible City Solutions) as urban infrastructure generating socio-cultural ecosystem services—social cohesion, education, health—alongside regulating services such as stormwater management and biodiversity. It offers a framework in which participatory productive green space underpins social resilience and sustainable food-system transitions.
Key points
- 1Edible City Solutions (ECS) are proposed as a strategic approach to develop sustainable, livable, and healthy cities, addressing shortcomings of traditional nature-based solutions in citizen involvement and urban issues.
- 2The paper introduces a conceptual framework for ECS, integrating various forms of urban farming with closed-loop systems for sustainable water, nutrient, and waste management.
- 3The research reviews scientific evidence on ECS benefits for urban regeneration and presents case studies from five cities (Rotterdam, Andernach, Oslo, Heidelberg, Havana) to describe their current status.
- 4A SWOT analysis is used to explore ECS's capacity to enhance urban landscape multifunctionality, with a particular focus on social cohesion and quality of life.
- 5Based on the analysis, the paper identifies and discusses strategies for fostering socially relevant ECS implementations in the case study cities and beyond.
Direction of conclusions
Each author conclusion is recorded only as a coded direction per topic. Read the original for the conclusion itself.
- Community cohesionInconclusiveWith caveats
- Policy and governanceInconclusiveWith caveats
Abstract and stored text
OpenAlexNature-based solutions have not been able to actively involve citizens and to address successfully food security, poverty alleviation, and inequality in urban areas. The Edible City approach promises a strategic step towards the development of sustainable, livable, and healthy cities. We introduce the conceptional framework of Edible City Solutions (ECS), including different forms of urban farming combined with closed loop systems for sustainable water, nutrient, and waste management. We review scientific evidence on ECS benefits for urban regeneration and describe the status quo of ECS in Rotterdam, Andernach, Oslo, Heidelberg, and Havana as case studies. We provide an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to explore the capacity of ECS to enhance multifunctionality of urban landscapes with special focus on social cohesion and quality of life. Based on this we identify and discuss strategies for fostering socially relevant implementations for the case study cities and beyond.
Why it matters for urban farming
This paper positions "Edible City Solutions (ECS)," which includes urban farming, as a strategic approach for creating sustainable, livable, and healthy cities. Citizen-driven urban farms are shown to contribute beyond mere food production, by integrating with closed-loop systems for water and waste management, thereby fostering urban regeneration, strengthening social cohesion, and improving quality of life. This research provides concrete strategies and a framework for urban farms to enhance community resilience and build better urban environments.