Urban agriculture can contribute in many ways, something Indian researchers have highlighted in their compendium from 2023 called “Sowing Sustainable Cities”. Here they have collected case studies from 2019 to 2022, with different stories from different cities throughout the country. Indore, a city of a million in western India, has been ranked as India’s cleanest city for 7 consecutive years from 2017 to 2023, largely thanks to its efforts in good waste management. Food waste is used for composting or biofuel, bottles and other containers are actively reused in many households and discarded paper is recycled into new paper products. Overall, the city’s authorities estimate that the illegal collection and dumping of rubbish has been reduced by 90%. It is in this city that researcher Dr. Rahul Benerjee has created a house with minimal amounts of waste, so-called “zero-waste”. Benerjee has a degree in civil engineering and is also an expert on water in cities. He has a large garden with fruit, vegetables and flowers for his own consumption. Creepers and climbing plants cover the outer walls, which provides a natural cooling effect. In addition, he has installed solar cells on the roof that supplement the regional electricity network with excess electricity after the region introduced a law in 2017 that allowed just that. On top of it all, Dr. Banerjee shows on his property how gray water, water that comes from washing and cooking, can be filtered so that it can be reused to water the vegetable garden or as flushing water for the toilet. This is very valuable knowledge, especially since Indore is struggling with water shortages. Different areas of use Urban agriculture can serve many different purposes, from food production to green urban spaces that cool and clean the air, to circular use of resources such as compost and waste water and social meeting places. According to Norway’s national plan for urban agriculture from 2021, it provides an opportunity for increased value creation and natural diversity as well as better public health. A city with more green areas and more urban agriculture can also withstand extreme weather in a different way than other cities. With, among other things, stormwater management from increased rainfall, or temperature regulation in heat waves. One study showed that urban forests were 1.6 degrees cooler than comparable areas without, and that green roofs and walls in cities produced a reduced surface temperature of approximately 1.8 degrees. In other words, urban agriculture can have a positive effect in many areas. In the paper it was stated that Indore was ranked as the cleanest city six years in a row from 2016 to 2022″. This is incorrect, the correct information is that Indore was ranked as the cleanest city seven years in a row from 2017 to 2023. This has been corrected in the online version of the article and is now in the article here online.
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Great opportunities for urban agriculture
