Innovation and sustainability in urban agriculture: the path forward

Urban Agriculture (UA) is experiencing an unprecedented growth throughout the world, finding applications in countries with both developing and more developed economies. While featuring a range of different forms, it commonly encompasses all activities of plant cultivation and animal rearing within cities and towns and in their immediate surroundings. In addition to its potential contribution to food security, UA also provides non-food products, plus a number of functionalities. Accordingly, ecosystem services associated with UA include the so called provisioning services (e.g. food supply), regulating services (e.g. involving the improvement of air or soil quality, plus flood control), habitat services (e.g. contributing to urban biodiversity), and cultural services (e.g. recreation, amenity or social inclusion).