Urban food–energy–water systems: past, current, and future research trajectories

Urban Farm DB summary

An editorial (2020, no specific region) introduces a focus issue on the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus in urban areas, noting that with most of the world's population now living in cities, cities drive global flows of food, energy, and water. The eight papers in the issue are described as interdisciplinary, multiscalar, and cross-sectoral, examining how FEW interactions affect the health of cities and their inhabitants as well as the distant people and places from which resources originate, covering topics including a review of existing urban FEW research and promising approaches, urban agriculture and energy-water dynamics, conventional agriculture and FEW dynamics, and the energy "foodprint" of the American diet. The editorial identifies four areas needing further research: ecosystem services tied to urban agriculture, resource recovery in the urban FEW nexus, equity/social actors/governance of the FEW nexus, and the food-energy-water-health nexus.