Urban agriculture and the Water–Energy–Food Nexus for sustainable and resilient cities

Abstract

Introduction – Urban agriculture (UA) has been recognised as a multifunctional strategy capable of strengthening food access, reducing carbon footprints and generating ecosystem services in cities. Yet its full potential depends on how efficiently water, energy and food resources are managed in an integrated manner. Despite growing interest, no systematic review has specifically examined how the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus has been conceptualised and operationalised across UA literature. Methods – A PRISMA-guided systematic review of 43 peer-reviewed articles (Scopus, Web of Science and Springer 2003–2026) and an inductive thematic analysis were employed. Results – Four thematic domains are identified: (i) food production, (ii) climate and social resilience, (iii) sustainability, and (iv) governance; and three distinct modes of WEF Nexus integration: (i) conceptual-strategic, where the Nexus addresses sustainability arguments without a technical evaluation, (ii) operational-partial, where two dimensions (typically food and water) are jointly analysed while energy remains peripheral and (iii) operational-systematic, where all three dimensions are simultaneously modelled and their interdependencies explicitly quantified. Rather than showing a uniform adoption of “nexus thinking, ” the reviewed literature reveals heterogeneous forms of integration, ranging from strategic framing to partial operationalisation and, less frequently, to fully systemic assessments of water, energy and food relations. Discussion – These findings provide a shared analytical basis for future research and for more coherent cross-sector discussions on urban sustainability, planning and governance.