Integrated assessment of urban farming impacts and policies for boosting sustainable urban agricultural development linking urban, peri-urban and rural areas

Europe’s rural and urban areas are facing increasing negative impacts from climate change, biodiversity loss, unsustainable resource use, and an increasing disconnect between citizens from urban and rural areas. These megatrends threaten the sustainability of urban development and associated food systems. Throughout Europe’s cities, different types of urban farming, such as gardens, rooftop or vertical farming, have emerged which could provide impactful responses to these megatrends.Policy-makers and practitioners urgently need knowledge on the benefits, impacts and risks of urban farming, to help them shape policy and legal frameworks that can foster benefits and mitigate risks of urban farming. FOODCITYBOOST will develop a knowledge-based decision-support tool, consisting of (i) evidence-based indicators of environmental, social and economic performance and impacts of urban farming at farm, regional and EU scale and providing (ii) guidance on policy instruments that foster the development of urban farming. The future potential of urban farming will be assessed in foresight analysis and scenario analysis, as well as development and prototyping of novel forms of urban farming.FOODCITYBOOST will closely collaborate with >100 stakeholders from 6 case studies, using an approach based on the idea of living labs. This allows us to learn from regions throughout Europe where urban farming thrives and is supported by regional policies. FOODCITYBOOST brings together expertise on social science and humanities, land systems, urban farming, and life cycle assessment, to expand the knowledge base on urban farming from an integrated perspective. We connect to the EFUA and NEW BAUHAUS initiatives to best take stock of recent insights, which allows us to stimulate the development of a varied landscape of urban farming that optimally fulfils the needs of communities and minimises negative impacts and risks.