Bringing Food Back to the City: A Critical Review of Green Infrastructure Concepts for Integrating Agriculture
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article critically examines the evolving integration of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) into green infrastructure (GI) concepts, a discussion gaining relevance amid geopolitical instability and global disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. These events have exposed food systems’ vulnerability and reinforced the importance of preserving fertile urban and peri-urban land to enhance food security and sovereignty. UPA’s capacity to deliver several ecosystem services further reinforces its significance for socio-environmental policies. Based on a cross-disciplinary literature review, the study traces the conceptual evolution of GI from early models that separated agricultural and urban landscapes to contemporary frameworks that position agriculture as a central dimension of urban systems. It then analyses concepts such as Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPUL), Edible GI, and Agroecological Urbanism, evaluating how they intersect with the core landscape ecology principles underpinning GI: multifunctionality, connectivity and spatial heterogeneity. Focusing on the European context, the discussion highlights key factors influencing GI-UPA integration: the definition of production model, the planning approaches guiding its development, and the policy frameworks required to support it. The paper concludes that embedding UPA within GI planning is pivotal to advancing integrative, resilient, and socially just urban greening strategies.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su18083781
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W7153236460
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: