Cities in the global south are growing rapidly into inefficient, unsustainable, resource-starved ecosystems. This negatively affects the sustainability of cities and society, initial needs and services of citizens as well as economic development.
The pandemic has changed lifestyles and business models worldwide, amplifying the need for innovative solutions for food production in urban areas and the sustainability of society. Accordingly, experts have realised the significant role of cities and society in food production that cater to the growing demand.
Therefore, food as a critical resource needs to be produced and managed more efficiently on a local level. Innovative urban farming has emerged as an essential mechanism to address these issues to achieve sustainable, resilient and inclusive cities and society. Innovative urban farming can be referred to as the 4th industrial revolution in agriculture and facilities management, which embodies innovative technologies to transform vacant buildings into innovative community-managed urban farms. This enhances the achievement of the desired efficiency of sustainable food production in the urban area, eliminates some of the harmful aspects of traditional farming, and addresses the pressure the COVID-19 pandemic has on Global South metropolitan and society.
However, it is unclear how society and key stakeholders perceive this novel solution and if they are willing to engage in its uptake. The initiative is expected to shed light on the challenges and opportunities provided by innovative urban farms in the Global South context. Therefore, the initiative aims to develop interdisciplinary networks and partnerships across the globe to respond effectively to complex supply food in Global South metropolitan areas in the post-pandemic era.
The Urban Smart Farm 4 Everyone initiative will provide a platform for community capacity building, sharing new knowledge and expertise among the local stakeholders and communities in collaboration with international experts. These interactions will reveal the potential for innovative urban farming in idle buildings by local marginalised communities to harness the power of engineering to build an inclusive local economy and a sustainable society that works for everyone.
Local, national and international context
Cities in the Global South such as African metropolitans are faced with the challenge of balancing resource consumption and environmental safety during continuous population growth and pandemic. Current food consumption patterns and lifestyles threaten the food security of 3.4 billion who live in Global Sout urban areas. As an emerging concept, urban smart farming is being propagated to include economic, social and environmental benefits that can mitigate some of these challenges. Utilising community-led smart farming in vacant buildings within the urban area are promising strategies that have the potential to not only boost food production but also reduce the pressure on depleting natural resources in global south. The initiative provides a new solution that suits especially highly dense metropolitans with limited access to the fertile soil.
It provides sustainable, soil-less agriculture in vacant buildings in urban areas that are not commonly used in the global south.
Innovative urban farming can address the following challenges in the Global South:
improve food supply and security
mitigate environmental challenges
improve quality, productivity and efficiency of food and agricultural production
optimise the building use and assets investments in the post-pandemic era
create new job opportunities and businesses in urban areas and enhance the inclusivity of economy
improve the sustainability of society, particularly marginalised populations
Project collaboration
The aim of project will be achieved through building strategic partnerships, strengthening relations between global south and global north experts and academics. While the collaboration pre-exists in the sense that the collaborators have successfully worked, this initiative represents a new platform of collaboration that will build capacity in both local south and global north, promote bilateral cooperation, and enable the production of much-needed scientific evidence to advance the sustainability of society in Global South.
Urban Smart farm beneficiaries
The urban smart farm initiative aims to evaluate the feasibility of utilising idle buildings for farming in urban areas in the global south in a post-pandemic era. This includes the use of fully automated smart urban farming by integrating modern zero-acreage farming systems, innovative digital technologies, community-based facility management and circular economy in producing sustainable and safe food by marginalised communities. This will improve the food supply chain, optimise asset investments, maximise the utilisation of scarce resources such as water and soil in global south metropolitan and most importantly, enhance the sustainability of society. Despite being a foundational concept in urban studies, urban smart farm concepts are yet to be critically evaluated. Therefore, the initiative will disseminate the benefits of urban smart farming to a wide range of multidisciplinary audiences.
