UrbanFarm2019. Book Finale Challenge.

Urban Agriculture in the XXI century In a rapidly urbanizing world, urban agriculture represents an opportunity for improving food supply, health conditions, local economy, social integration, and environmental sustainability altogether. While a diversity of farming systems is encountered in the different world regions, it is estimated that about a third of urban dwellers is involved worldwide in the agro-food sector. In recent times, urban agriculture projects have sprouted across the world, both guided and promoted by governments than born by bottom-up community based initiatives. Accordingly, the concept of edible urban landscapes (edible cities, foodscapes) is today finding application all over the world. As plant cultivation gets inside cities, a first limit is set by space availability. Hence, the implementation of innovative growing systems generally occurs through adaptation of state-of-the-art technologies developed in the rural contexts and/or by integration of growing solutions specifically designed for the urban concrete infrastructures. These are the cases of the building integrated rooftop greenhouse, the vertical cultivation of plants on greened building facades or even the conversion of abandoned building into plant factories through artificial lighting by use of LED technologies. Once plant cultivation within the urban fabric becomes technically feasible, it is crucial to define its sustainability, addressing how its three spheres (social, economic and environmental) are affected by a single or a combination of technical solutions, management systems and business models. From a social perspective, urban agriculture is often a mean for the promotion of intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and community building. Urban gardens are also found in schools, where they offer optimal teaching tools for different disciplines, also through application of experiential learning methods. On the other hand, assessing the economic sustainability of urban agriculture is often a quite complex and eventually controversial exercise. This since, beyond food production, the quantification and monetization of the associated benefits need to be appropriately addressed. Recent researches have shed some light onto the financial and economic evaluation of urban agriculture projects, particularly addressing the definition of viable business model typologies. From an environmental perspective, urban agriculture can directly reduce the city footprint since it reduces the impact associated with food transport, but also by improving the resource efficiency of the urban ecosystem (e.g. when organic wastes are composted, or rainwater is collected), or mitigating the urban heat island effect through plant transpiration, overall resulting in a reduction of the city emissions of carbon dioxide. In order to facilitate a wider uptake of innovative policies and tools for the promotion of the sustainable goals associated with urban agriculture, it is therefore crucial to create awareness on both institutional actors and the civil society as a whole through innovative and interdisciplinary approaches. UrbanFarm2019: an international and interdisciplinary competition for turning urban vacant lands into sustainable urban regeneration spaces The international student challenge “UrbanFarm2019” aims to tackle the current need for cross-pollination between different disciplines by bringing together students from different fields of study into international teams addressing the regeneration of three vacant urban spaces in the cities of Bologna, Belluno and Conegliano. Target projects differ from their original purpose and include: - A former agricultural farm that was absorbed by the urban-sprawl in the second half of the XX century and acquired by the city council in the late eighties. - A factory of domestic appliances, that largely contributed to the evolution of Conegliano city in the last 70 years, but was finally closed in 2003 after the company moved away the production. - A primary school that suffered from the progressive abandonment of Belluno city outskirts and was closed in 1992. What these location share is that they all are vacant and constitute a cost and a missed opportunity for their cities. Within the UrbanFarm2019 challenge we aimed at showing that another use for these spaces is possible, overall contributing to creating cities that are more attractive, more liveable, more inclusive and overall more sustainable. To reach this target, we engaged young minds and asked them to meet and work in international and interdisciplinary teams. UrbanFarm2019 became an opportunity to bridge viewpoints and approaches and integrate state-of-the-art technologies and design for urban farming with functional urban planning. This publication summarises the main ideas, visions and approaches that student teams brought together with enthusiasm and dedication. We trust that starting from these project ideas, inspired local administrators and urban planners will foster sustainability and liveability of our cities. Beyond UrbanFarm2019: the path forward The major achievement of this competition stands upon the geographical distribution and expertise covered by the participating teams. The UrbanFarm international student challenge, achieved to engage a network of experts and urban agriculture practitioners from universities from all over the world in the evaluation of 35 projects prepared by teams involving more than 130 students. Looking at the projects it clearly appears how competences were successfully integrated and communicated in both project redaction and visual materials. We see a future in close collaboration with the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS) and its Landscape and Urban Horticulture Division. Stay tuned and join the upcoming editions of UrbanFarm