Soilless crop production is a viable way to promote vertical agriculture in urban areas, but it relies extensively on the use of mineral fertilizer. The benefits of fresher, local food and avoiding the transportation and packaging associated with food import could be counteracted by an increase in nutrient-rich wastewater, which could contribute to freshwater and marine eutrophication.
The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) bares the potential to create more than 750 km. of Green Corridors: urban strips with high presence of vegetation that cross the urban fabric and link the different areas of the city, used mainly by pedestrians and cyclists.
In this study, we show the effectiveness of cool roofs and vegetation in reducing temperature in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB). We use the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model with the urban scheme BEP+BEM.
Last week children at Escola Mare de Déu de la Salut planted the first lettuces as part of a vertical farming school pilot project. Not only does the project provide education to the children but the vegetables will be consumed onsite in the school canteen.
Aquest dimecres 7 d'abril, la doctora Gara Villalba ha estat entrevistada al programa "En directe a Ràdio 4", coordinat per Josep Cabayol. L'efecte d'illa de calor ha estat el principal tema d'interès dels entrevistadors. Villalba ha explicat que l'efecte d'illa de calor pot provocar diferències de fins a 10°C a les nits d'hivern entre els nuclis urbans i la perifèria.
La dra Gara Villalba va participar el passat 17 de març en un debat a Vida Verda, de radio4. Juntament amb Annalisa Giocoli (arquitecta urbanista de l'Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona), van debatre sobre el nexe entre l'energia, el menjar i aigua en el metabolisme urbà. Gara Villalba va explicar a Vida Verda com aconseguir una AMB més resilient mitjançant diferents estratègies.
The COVID-19 pandemic unveiled the fragility of food sovereignty in cities and confirmed the close connection urban dwellers have with food. Although the pandemic was not responsible for a systemic failure, it suggested how citizens would accept and indeed support a transition toward more localized food production systems.
Housing estates, that is, mass social housing on middle‐ and high‐rise apartment blocks, in urban areas are found all over the world with very similar constructive patterns and a multiplicity of environmental and socio‐economic problems. Boosting new urban spaces of resource production involves citizens in sites which face social and economic needs.
The Covid-19 pandemic newly brings food resilience in cities to our attention and the need to question the desired degree of food self-sufficiency through urban agriculture. We argue in this essay that this development has widely taken place due to three blind spots in urban planning.
Trends of extreme-temperature episodes in cities are increasing (in frequency, magnitude and duration) due to regional climate change in interaction with urban effects. Urban morphologies and thermal properties of the materials used to build them are factors that influence.
Urban agriculture, while being a promising solution to increase food sovereignty in cities, can lead to an unprecedented discharge of nutrient and fertilizer-related emissions into the urban environment. Especially relevant are nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), due to their contribution to marine and freshwater eutrophication.
Optimizing urban resources through circular economy principles offers the opportunity to close loops and improve production systems, but an assessment of these systems through a combination of circularity and environmental tools is missing from the literature.