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

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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.