The present work, focusing on the theme of food production and consumption in urban areas, analyses the relationships among three factors: city, human well-being and ecosystems. A case study was carried out addressing the quantification of the potential of rooftop vegetable production in the city of Bologna (Italy) as related to its citizens’ needs. Besides the contribution to food security of the city, the potential benefits to urban biodiversity and ecosystem service provision were estimated. The methodology consisted of: 1) experimental trials of potential productivity of simplified soil- less systems in rooftop gardens (RTGs); 2) detection of all flat roofs and roof-terraces and quantification of the potential surfaces that could be converted into RTGs; 3) identification of the city’s vegetable requirements, based on population and diet data; 4) calculation of the proportion of vegetable require- ment that could be satisfied by local RTG production; 5) identification of other benefits (improvement of urban biodi- versity through the creation of green corridors and estimation of carbon sequestration) associated with the increased area of urban green infrastructure (GI). According to the present study, RTGs could provide more than 12,000 t year−1 vegeta- bles to Bologna, satisfying 77 % of the inhabitants’ require- ments. The study also advances hypotheses for the implementation of biodiversity roofs enabling the connection of biodiversity rich areas across and close to the city: these would form a network of green corridors of over 94 km length with a density of about 0.67 km km−2

a b s t r a c tIn recent years, the interest toward the applicability of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lights for indoor cultivation has significantly grown. The present work addressed the physiological and phytochemical plant responses to LED lights in indoor cultivation of leafy and fruit vegetable crops (namely sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum L.; and strawberry, Fragaria × Ananassa), with the final aim of improving both productivity and nutritional quality. Artificial light treatments were applied in a multi-sectorial growth chamber equipped with lamps with different light incidence and spectra (with red:blue ratio ranging 0.7-5.5). In all experiments, increased plant biomass, fruit yield and energy use efficiency (EUE) were associated to LED treatments, confirming the superiority of LED compared to the traditional fluorescent lamps. Interestingly, LED lighting enabled to increase antioxidant compounds and reduce nitrates content in basil leaves. A spectral red:blue ratio of 0.7 was necessary for proper plant development and improved nutraceutical properties in both crops.