This Think Piece evaluates to what extent, and in which conditions, urban agriculture can enhance the sustainability of urban-rural food systems and promote a circular economy in cities.
Since 2007, the International Resource Panel has provided impactful scientific assessments on the status, dynamics and implications of natural resource use in cities and in food systems. This Think Piece developed together with UNEP Cities Unit, evaluates to what extent, and in which conditions, urban agriculture can help cities move towards sustainable urban food systems and a circular economy. The Think Piece provides an analysis of different types and forms of urban agriculture to help understand their natural resource use implications benefits and trade-offs across multiple sustainability goals, acknowledging local and regional specificities. The Think Piece is accompanied by a policy guidance document that presents a road map for designing “fit-for-purpose” urban agriculture policies, taking into account the interaction between urban and rural systems.

The Key Messages from the Think Piece are:

1: As environmental challenges grow and the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the fragility of food systems, one of the biggest challenges facing the world is feeding growing urban populations while attending to the social, economic, and environmental needs and aspirations of cities.

2: Done well, urban agriculture can help to feed people in cities and alleviate the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. To give one example, hydroponic closed-loop systems can save 40 per cent of irrigation water and 35-54 per cent of nutrients.

3: However, we don’t fully understand the effectiveness of urban agriculture and the policy actions needed to tap its potential. Local contexts and uncertainties need to be clarified, while diverse forms of urban agriculture must be integrated into a portfolio of approaches that cover land-based and vertical farming, poultry and pisciculture, and high-tech indoor techniques.

4: While there are trade-offs, a portfolio of urban agriculture policies integrated within a larger regional agricultural system can support the transition to a more resilient and sustainable food system while improving the circular economy of cities.

5: When designed to support poor communities – especially and in particular households led by women – urban agriculture can reduce poverty, improve nutrition, reduce inequities, increase well-being and generate livelihoods. One study in São Paulo, Brazil, for example, showed that enhanced urban agriculture could supply all 21 million residents of the city with vegetables while generating more than 180,000 jobs.

6: When designed to develop a local food economy, high-tech indoor agriculture and food hubs may play an important role. Vertical farming, for example, is expected to reach a value of USD 7.3 billion globally by 2025. However, decision makers should consider issues such as impacts on energy, land, labor and water, and the effects of pollution on food quality and safety when looking at the scalability of business models.

7: Due to the proximity to consumers, diversified and coordinated urban-regional agriculture can promote resilience to food system disruption, such as that caused by COVID-19.

9: Urban agriculture’s contribution to reducing environmental impacts from food systems depends on business models and local contexts. More locally and context-specific data must be gathered by cities to measure the environmental impacts of different modes of urban agriculture and policies designed to address them.

10: Institutional, governance, behavioral and technical barriers need to be addressed to make urban agriculture part of a sustainable food systems portfolio. Land-use planning, urban-regional policy directives, and the cost of land and energy need proper attention.