The FEW-meter - an integrative model to measure and improve urban agriculture, shifting it towards circular urban metabolism.

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Other)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr S Caputo
Architecture
University of Portsmouth

Standard

ESRC

01 June 2018

31 May 2021

36 months

£163,745

South East

Society & Global Security

Dr S Caputo, Architecture, University of Portsmouth

The main aim of this project is to develop a truly comprehensive system to measure existing Urban Agriculture (UA) practices (i.e. the FEW-meter) and to create a digital platform enabling urban farmers to understand and improve the efficiency of their practices in terms of Food / Water / Energy Nexus. This involves measuring production efficiency (i.e. produce grown per input of energy, water, and other key resources, and in relation to surface area) through extensive case study analysis; and using this system to ascertain and identify approaches to advance the performance of diverse types of UA.Project objectives are:a) to develop the FEW-meter methodology;b) to form an on-line community of farmers enabling the gathering of data and the exchange of knowledge;c) to gather and analyse data from case studies;d) to develop one experiment within case studies in the UK: use of organic waste with an innovative micro anaerobic digester (mAD); ande) to develop scenarios of optimal use of urban resources, based on an expansion at city scale.

The project aims to: create a truly comprehensive system to understand the contribution of existing types of Urban Agriculture (UA) to the sustainable development of cities; measure the quantity of produce as well as related energy and water usage associated with UA; expand knowledge about possible health risks, and use this system to ascertain and identify approaches to advance the performance of UA in terms of Food / Energy / Water (FEW) nexus. This will be done through extensive case study analysis from a transdisciplinary perspective, which encompasses key factors of urban food production and consumption systems. Resulting data will be elaborated through modelling of flows (of energy, water and other resources), with a methodology also based on urban metabolism. Objectives of the project include: the development of an innovative and comprehensive system (FEW-meter) to measure UA from a FWE nexus perspective; the establishment of an on-line community of growers that will help gather data; the development of scenarios of optimal use of urban resources, based on an expansion of UA at city scale; and the generation of digital tools to support urban growers optimising the urban metabolism of their agricultural practices. The project thus contributes to the transformation of cities towards sustainability

09/08/18