Urban agriculture supports China’s vegetable supply without raising greenhouse gas emissions
Measuring the production potential and environmental sustainability of urban agriculture in developing countries highlights the value of promoting it. We constructed a new dataset of urban productive spaces for 124 large Chinese cities, which includes indoor balconies, rooftops, urban open spaces, a...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Resources, Environment and Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000660 |
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| Summary: | Measuring the production potential and environmental sustainability of urban agriculture in developing countries highlights the value of promoting it. We constructed a new dataset of urban productive spaces for 124 large Chinese cities, which includes indoor balconies, rooftops, urban open spaces, and courtyards. In particular, if moderately exploited, approximately 18% of the 13 million rooftops could be planted, considering factors such as building height, age, rooftop slope, occupation, and other restrictions. Applying both greenhouse and open-air cultivation techniques in all the spaces, about 30% (7%–198% across cities) of urban vegetable demand could be met. However, urban agriculture has little potential in greenhouse gas emission mitigation, with the average intensity (0.30 kgCO2e/kg) being similar to traditional agriculture (0.31 kgCO2e/kg), even if several system-wide benefits, such as reduced food miles, were considered. Despite the multiple benefits, conducting urban agriculture requires massive water, substrate, metal, and plastic inputs. We demonstrate that high-tech urban agriculture can have a lower GHG intensity, but it is essential to consider agroclimatic conditions and promote more sustainable practices. |
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| ISSN: | 2666-9161 |