The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the U.S

Runrid Fox-Kämper; Caitlin K. Kirby; Kathrin Specht; Nevin Cohen; Rositsa Ilieva; Silvio Caputo; Victoria Schoen; Jason K. Hawes; Lidia Ponizy; Béatrice Béchet

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104848

The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the U.S

Runrid Fox-Kämper, Caitlin K. Kirby, Kathrin Specht, Nevin Cohen, Rositsa Ilieva, Silvio Caputo, Victoria Schoen, Jason K. Hawes, Lidia Ponizy, Béatrice Béchet

Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The growth of urban agriculture (UA) has raised the awareness of city officials and civil society organizations of its potential effects on food systems. This has led to various policies to regulate and support UA. This research characterizes existing food, energy and water (FEW nexus) policies based on policy data from five case study cities in Europe and the U.S. (Dortmund, Gorzów Wielkopolski, London, Nantes, and New York City) to analyze their relationships to UA, and to identify policy types that support resource-efficient UA. The paper presents the results of an analysis of 78 policy documents related to UA and the FEW nexus, and the results of a Q-sort ranking by UA policy experts on the effectiveness of 16 generalized UA policies in promoting resource-efficient UA. The number, type, and degree of support for nexus policies vary among the five case studies. The results show that the majority of policies (36) are implemented at the local scale, that few policies (19) incorporate all elements of the nexus, yet many nexus policies include UA indirectly. Regulations are more prevalent and are considered more effective at ensuring resource-efficient UA than incentives or awareness-raising policies. The study offers guidance to policy makers who want to improve resource use in future UA pointing at the increasing importance of local food policies.

Original language	English
Article number	104848
Number of pages	13
Journal	Landscape and Urban Planning
Volume	239
Early online date	3 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104848
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Funder

We would like to thank the following policy stakeholders France, Germany, Poland, the UK and the US who supported this research with taking part in the ranking of the generalized policies: Veronica Berry, Birmingham City University CEBE, UK; Julien Blouin; CEO WE AGRI, Urbanist & Urban Farming Expert, FR; Werner Heidemann, LWL, DE; Gary Mitchell, Social Farms and Gardens, UK; Natalia Marcinkiewicz, Urząd Miasta Gorzowa Wielkopolskiego, PL; Christine Margetic, UMR 6590 CNRS ESO, FR; Martin Sondermann, Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft ARL; Sarah Williams, SUSTAIN, UK; Deirdre “Dee” Woods, London Food Board, UK; Agnieszka Zdunek, Pracownia Boruja, PL and five other interviewees (a scientist, two representatives of municipalities and two representatives of NGOs) who preferred to stay anonymous. This paper is based on FEW-meter project, funded by ESRC, UK, grant number ES/S002170/2; by BMBF: Germany, grant number 01LF1801A; by ANR: France, grant number ANR-17-SUGI-0001-01; by NSF: USA, Belmont Forum 18929627; by NCN: Poland, grant no 2017/25/Z/HS4/ 03048; and by European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GA No 730254) under the JPI Urban Europe's call “SUGI - FWE Nexus”. The German-American Fulbright Commission also provided support for this project for Caitlin Kirby.

This paper is based on FEW-meter project, funded by ESRC, UK, grant number ES/S002170/2; by BMBF: Germany, grant number 01LF1801A; by ANR: France, grant number ANR-17-SUGI-0001-01; by NSF: USA, Belmont Forum 18929627; by NCN: Poland, grant no 2017/25/Z/HS4/ 03048; and by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GA No 730254) under the JPI Urban Europe’s call “SUGI - FWE Nexus”. The German-American Fulbright Commission also provided support for this project for Caitlin Kirby.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Keywords

Food-energy-water nexus
Nexus-related policies
Policy effectiveness ranking
Resource use
Urban agriculture
Urban policy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology
Urban Studies
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104848Licence: CC BY

PublishedFinal published version, 2.23 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "The growth of urban agriculture (UA) has raised the awareness of city officials and civil society organizations of its potential effects on food systems. This has led to various policies to regulate and support UA. This research characterizes existing food, energy and water (FEW nexus) policies based on policy data from five case study cities in Europe and the U.S. (Dortmund, Gorz{\'o}w Wielkopolski, London, Nantes, and New York City) to analyze their relationships to UA, and to identify policy types that support resource-efficient UA. The paper presents the results of an analysis of 78 policy documents related to UA and the FEW nexus, and the results of a Q-sort ranking by UA policy experts on the effectiveness of 16 generalized UA policies in promoting resource-efficient UA. The number, type, and degree of support for nexus policies vary among the five case studies. The results show that the majority of policies (36) are implemented at the local scale, that few policies (19) incorporate all elements of the nexus, yet many nexus policies include UA indirectly. Regulations are more prevalent and are considered more effective at ensuring resource-efficient UA than incentives or awareness-raising policies. The study offers guidance to policy makers who want to improve resource use in future UA pointing at the increasing importance of local food policies.",

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The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the U.S

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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