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The Role of Urban Agriculture for Sustainable and Resilient Cities

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The Role of Urban Agriculture for Sustainable and Resilient Cities THE ROLE OF URBAN AGRICULTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT CITIES A Dissertation Submitted by Thomas Alexander Masyk To the Faculty of Spatial Planning TU Dortmund University, Germany In Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Engineering (Dr.- Ing.) 2021 - 2 - Doctoral Committee Supervisor/Examiner: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietwald Gruehn Examiner: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sophie Schramm Chairman of the Examination Committee: Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Nguyen Xuan Thinh Declaration I hereby declare that this doctoral dissertation is the result of an independent investigation and it has been generated by me as the result of my own research. Where it is indebted to the work of others, acknowledgements have duly been made. Thomas Alexander Masyk Augsburg, 24.03.2021 - 3 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A scholarly paper is never the work of a single person. Therefore, I want to thank everyone who made it possible for me to write this thesis. My deepest thanks go to Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietwald Gruehn for accepting me as a Ph.D. candidate. I want to thank him for his encouragement, patience, advices and constructive criticism on my thoughts and drafts. I also want to thank Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sophie Schramm for her thoughts and ideas that improved my thesis greatly and gave it its finishing touch. My greatest thanks and gratitude go to both my parents Dr. Eva-Maria Masyk and Dr. Taras Masyk as well as to my wife Tanja Masyk. Without their support, encouragement and love, I would not be where I am right now and would never have been able to finish this thesis. I am proud to have such an amazing family! Also, I want to thank all experts and interview partners for their precious time taken for meeting me in person, answering my questions and for providing me with additional information and interesting insights. This especially includes Dr. Ashraf Omran who invited me to his impressive hydroponics project in Dubai, the academic staff of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology who showed me around in Masdar and told me about their research activities, Lionel Wong who introduced me to his vertical farming concept in Singapore, Dr. Philipp Stierand from Speiseräume.de who discussed with me municipal nutrition policies and urban food planning, Volkmar Keuter from Fraunhofer inFARMING who informed me about the latest sustainable technologies and all the activists of the Urban Agriculture Movement who let me experience existing urban garden projects. - 4 - ABSTRACT The topic of the study is to determine the role of urban agriculture for the sustainability and resilience of cities. The investigation of its forms, technologies and implementation options shows to what extent urban agriculture is suitable for improving urban sustainability and resilience. This question is explored against the background of global climate change, the rapidly growing world population, progressive urbanization with the associated increasing degradation of the ecosystem, and threats to food security. The aim of the research is to lay the foundation for climate-adapted city and land planning concepts with new findings on the mitigation and adaptation potential of urban agricultural systems. Based on a comprehensive definition of sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability, and using the Seed Scale and Emergence approach, the basic conditions for a successful development of urban farming initiatives and concepts are examined. A review of modern soilless cultivation methods and a SWOT analysis of the vertical farming concept provide insights into possible uses, sustainable advantages and properties that can strengthen urban resilience. In the empirical part of the study, semi-structured interviews with city authorities, scientists and urban activists show the current embedding of urban agriculture into the green infrastructure of cities based on the goals of the German sustainability strategy, of Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 programs. The results of an online survey with 120 participants show a broad acceptance of the different forms of urban agriculture and their high importance as a tool to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The perceived multiple benefits (ecological, economic, and social) of urban agriculture and its potential to improve urban sustainability and resilience are good reasons for strengthening its integration into current and future urban development plans. - 5 - Case studies on the function of urban agriculture according to Singapore’s Climate Action Plan and of the Emirati Food Security Strategy demonstrate how urban agriculture can contribute to securing food supplies under difficult and completely different conditions as in Germany. An overview of the current state of research shows the support of the results of this study by leading scientists and various research projects which advocate a paradigm shift towards a green infrastructure. Highly productive, environmentally friendly technologies such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and roof-top and vertical farming cannot only significantly improve urban food security, but also have numerous advantages for the ecological, economic and social sustainability and resilience of a city. Still, there is a great need for research in relation to quality and certification processes for the practical integration of urban agriculture into buildings and for analyses of the full economic life-cycle of vertical farming projects. These are an essential requirement for further establishing and up-scaling this extraordinary agricultural production method, which has the potential to revolutionize the urban food system of the future. - 6 - TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ 4 TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................................... 6 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................ 10 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... 13 LIST OF IMAGES ............................................................................................ 15 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. 17 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 20 1.1 Urbanization .......................................................................................... 20 1.2 Deterioration of the Ecosystem ........................................................... 22 1.3 Food Security ........................................................................................ 26 1.4 International Agreements ..................................................................... 28 2.0 URBAN CHALLENGES ............................................................................. 32 2.1 Climate Change ..................................................................................... 32 2.2 Environmental Problems ...................................................................... 35 2.3 Urban Food Security............................................................................. 38 2.3.1 Definition .......................................................................................... 38 2.3.2 Resilient Urban Food System ........................................................... 39 2.3.3 Urban Food Security Strategy .......................................................... 41 3.0 AIM OF THE STUDY.................................................................................. 46 3.1 Creating New Awareness ..................................................................... 46 3.2 Filling Research Gaps .......................................................................... 49 4.0 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ................................................................. 51 4.1 Definitions of Terms ............................................................................. 51 4.1.1 Urban agriculture .............................................................................. 51 4.1.2 Sustainability .................................................................................... 55 4.1.3 Resilience ......................................................................................... 58 4.1.4 Vulnerability ...................................................................................... 62 4.2 Mitigation and Adaptation .................................................................... 69 - 7 - 4.3 Seed-Scale and Emergence ................................................................. 71 5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND LIMITATIONS ......................................... 78 6.0 STRUCTURE AND RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................. 81 7.0 METHODS AND DATA ACQUISITION ..................................................... 84 7.1 Triangulation of Research Methods .................................................... 84 7.2 Literature Review .................................................................................. 86 7.3 SWOT Analysis and Case Studies....................................................... 87 7.3.1 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................ 87 7.3.2 Selecting Singapore and the UAE .................................................... 89 7.4 On-Site
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