Resource efficiency for urban resilience: roles of soils in urban food garden nexus assessment
Résumé
Urban food garden (UFG) plays a specific role in food security strategies, especially for low-income households, by reducing their food vulnerability in both short- and long-term. Research evidence has changed urban planners’ viewpoint from seeing UFG as an anachronism to acknowledging it as a strategic tool for sustainable development and resilience. However, soil health and soil resource management in UFGs, while playing the same fundamental role in agronomy as water, have received limited attention from planning and policy perspectives despite their deep interconnectedness. Good soil management is undoubtedly a critical piece of water use efficiency, water quality, and, eventually, food quality. In this paper, we review the current practices of resource assessment for UFG projects and identify the gaps in current resource planning for these projects. Methods to incorporate soil into resource assessment are presented, aiming at enhancing the cities’ resilience through maximizing the efficient use of natural resources in urban planning and mitigating the climate risks in the future. A framework for food-water-soil nexus assessment and governance considerations across urban planning sectors are also proposed.