Ecosystem services from urban agriculture in the city of the future

Abstract

Integrating farms and food-producing gardens into an urban landscape can have many benefits – not only by supplementing the food brought in from farms and feedlots worldwide, but by providing a wide range of social and environmental services. A greener city has cleaner air and water and a more moderate climate than one with more pavement. Open spaces reduce the cost of water treatment and risk of local flooding. We picture a City of the Future where residents grow gardens indoors and out, on rooftops and in parks, in window boxes at home and raised beds at the office. They provide healthy food for themselves and their neighbors, educate their children, and create a vibrant local economy.