Proof-of-Concept funded through URBAG project, January 2024-June 2025. What is hindering nutrient circularity in urban argiculture? The impoverished state and quality of the urban and peri-urban agricultural soil undermines nutrient circularity. Nutrient recovery is of no use unless soil is healthy!!
On July 2023, URBAG participated at the X International Conference of Life Cycle Assessment in Latin America (CILCA 2023) with the presentation "Unlocking the potential of municipal solid waste compost for urban and peri-urban agriculture: Nutrient recirculation in metropolitan areas". It was the tenth edition of this conference, which is intended for users of tools based on life cycle thinking at different levels.
On July 2023, URBAG participated at the International Conference of Industrial Ecology (ISIE) with two presentations. Juan David Arosemena presented his research which aims to determine the capacity and environmental impacts of supplying macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from composting organic municipal solid waste. Gara Villalba presented the A decision approach to evaluate the design and implementation of green infrastructures in urban environments.
Title: The potential of local food, energy, and water production systems on urban rooftops considering consumption patterns and urban morphology / The external resource dependency of urban areas results in the externalization of environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Implementing food, energy and water production systems on urban rooftops (roof mosaics) can potentially help cities become more self-sufficient but depends on the city's urban morphology.
S'ha preparat un breu resum de l'estat de l'art i consideracions per l'Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona sobre els impactes de les infraestructures verdes urbanes en la qualitat de l'aire. A continuació, es descriuen alguns dels punts que es tracten en aquest document.
On the 17th of March 2023, URBAG conducted a workshop session in the second Edible City Network Conference held in Barcelona. The session was focused in presenting a comprehensive vision of the current urban agriculture challenges and opportunities, by considering both social and environmental perspectives, while employing the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona as case study.
The agricultural land of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona has been reduced from 20% to 8-9% over the past decades, despite urban gardening being supported by municipal actions. Urban agriculture constitutes a nature-based solution to several societal challenges.
Title: Displaying geographic variability of peri-urban agriculture environmental impacts in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona: A regionalized life cycle assessment / Peri urban agriculture (peri-UA) can supply food locally and potentially more sustainably than far-away conventional agricultural systems. It can also introduce significant environmental impacts depending on the local biophysical conditions and resources required to implement it.
We kindly invite you to participate in the workshop entitled ‘Agricultural Perspectives in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona’, organized by URBAG and sponsored by the Maria de Maeztu programme of excellence at ICTA-UAB. The workshop will take place at ICTA-UAB on Friday, 25th of NOVEMBER 2022, from 9:30 to 14h.
Angelica Mendoza finishes her MSCA scholarship PROspecTive Environmental AssessmeNt of Urban Agriculture-Emerging Systems (PROTEAN), which she carried out within the project URBAG. The aim was to develop prospective life cycle databases to calculate future life cycle impacts of food production to enable the comparison of food production via conventional agriculture and via urban agriculture, all in a future context.
Title: Mapping direct N2O emissions from peri-urban agriculture: The case of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona / Geographically explicit datasets reflecting local management of crops are needed to help improve direct nitrous oxide (N2O) emission inventories. Yet, the lack of geographically explicit datasets of relevant factors influencing the emissions make it difficult to estimate them in such way.
Title: A take-home message from COVID-19 on urban air pollution reduction through mobility limitations and teleworking / The rigorous traffic limitations during COVID-19 have forced many people to work from home, reaching an outstanding degree of teleworking and reduction in air pollution