From urban waste to urban farmers: Can we close the agriculture loop within the city bounds?

Abstract

As urbanisation intensifies in Brazilian cities, life quality in urban centres becomes a challenge for policymakers, and transitioning urban systems to sustainability is required. Circular economy concepts may contribute to face them, especially those owing to municipal solid waste (MSW) management. Curitiba, a Brazilian municipality known for its innovative initiatives towards sustainability. Despite a long tradition in recycling inert waste, MSW system struggles to promote composting even considering a decade in force national law. Decentralised composting through the Urban Agriculture Program (UAP) is the city’s strategy to tackle this struggle. This strategy faces difficulties as, even if urban agriculture facilities seem to be a promising context, closing the agricultural loop within the city bounds was not possible in the 24 urban farmers communities trained in composting techniques. The literature has shown difficulties in government experiments to promote practices in the long run and several experiences in Brazil are already described. This study reveals cultural barriers that influence adoption of domestic composting, by following a secondary data review on past experiences with interviewing and observing participatively urban farms communities. From the fieldwork, cultural perspectives from four different relevant actor roles in the UAP were elaborated and conflicts between them revealed cultural barriers hindering composting practices adoption. Recommendations based on these barriers argue for bottom-up approaches for transition experiments and recognising the sense material and technical support makes to practitioners.

Opportunities and Barriers to Composting in a Municipal Context: A Case Study in São José dos Campos, Brazil

“…The planning of programs developed from the top-down [16] or based only on the vision of experts runs the risk of not considering the new insights arising from a community's perception of what motivates or inhibits behavioral change [17]. User participation in the pre-implementation phase was identified as a predictive factor for the system's success [18].…”

The Applicability of the Solar Powered Aquaponics Mobile Unit at Sharjah Campus for Sustainable Perspective of Food Security

“…Moreover, there are further opportunities for resource reduction and efficiency by combining innovations in vertical farming, waste management, and renewable energies. Paving the way for a decentralized, sustainable closed-loop urban agriculture sector that will prove to be crucial ingredients in solving many global issues such as food, water and energy security, clean air, and climate change, [24]. In the UAE, an economy heavily dependent on imports, all of these vital issues are echoed louder with the need for self-reliance and a future-proof economy, [25], [26], [27], [28].…”