What is the role of urban agriculture in sustainability?

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
LES Building R-350
Join via Zoom streaming here.

Join Chip Small, IonE Visiting Scholar, in discussion about how urban agriculture can provide a number of different ecosystem services, but potential environmental trade offs raise questions about what the optimal extent of urban agriculture would be in a sustainable city.

Urban agriculture (UA) has expanded in many cities and has the potential to provide an array of benefits including increased local food production, nutrient recycling, biodiversity, and pollinator habitat. While certain environmental benefits are evident, there are potential environmental tradeoffs that raise questions about what the optimal extent of urban agriculture would be in a sustainable city. I will analyze how potential benefits and costs associated with UA scale with the extent of implementation, assess how the appropriate metrics to optimize for a given city depend on the socio-environmental context, and evaluate the potential role that UA could play in making urban food systems more resilient.