The Rise of Water and Food-Secure Cities
Two cities are leading-by-example in creating water and resource-efficient urban agricultural systems.
Urban agriculture has the potential to produce 100–180 million tons of food per annum as well as provide multiple co-benefits including avoided stormwater runoff of between 45–57 billion cubic meters, energy savings of 14–15 billion kilowatt-hours of energy, and nitrogen sequestration of 100,000–170,000 tons annually. With a high urban agricultural intensity scenario globally, the economic benefits from agricultural production in addition to the various ecosystem services it could provide, including, nitrogen fixation, energy savings, pollination, climate regulation, soil formation, and biological control of pests, could be worth up to $160 billion annually.
To capitalise on the potential of urban agriculture, cities around the world have implemented a range of tools to increase urban agricultural yield, conserve water resources, and provide training resources. Two such cities are San Francisco and Vancouver.
San Francisco’s Water-Efficient Urban Farms
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is aiming to build sustainable food systems that provide education, economic, and health benefits for residents. SFPUC has developed a range of programs that support the efficient use of water throughout local urban agricultural, demonstration, and community gardens.
Financial incentives
The Community Garden Irrigation Meter Grant Program is designed to help urban agriculture projects and community and demonstration gardens better track and manage their irrigation water use. The grant offers a one-time waiver of up to $12,000 in SFPUC fees for the installation of a new dedicated irrigation water service and meter for projects that have a minimum 10-year span.
Regulations
Urban agriculture and community garden projects are required to stay within a calculated water budget. The water budget sets an annual amount of water to be used in the garden to maintain proper plant health. The Maximum Applied Water Allowance (MAWA) is calculated as follows:
MAWA = 35.1 x 0.62 x [(0.7 x LA) + (0.3 x SLA)]
Where:
- 35.1 = San Francisco’s reference evapotranspiration rate, in inch/year
- 0.62 = Conversion factor to convert inches/year to gallons/year
- 0.7 = Evapotranspiration adjustment factor
- LA = Size of the total landscape area, in square feet
- 0.3 = Additional water allowance determined by the state
- SLA = Size of the Special Landscape Area, in square feet (edible landscape areas are considered Special Landscape Area
Vancouver’s Urban Food Strategy
The City of Vancouver’s Urban Food Strategy helps the city address its food challenges and align the food system with the city’s broader plans and processes through the five goals of supporting food-friendly neighborhoods (ensuring residents have access to healthy foods), empowering residents to take action (help increase capacity and knowledge on developing local food systems), improve access to healthy, affordable, culturally diverse food (ensure ease of access to food, especially for vulnerable populations), make food a centrepiece of the green economy (emphasis skills-building and job creation opportunities that support green food sectors), and advocate for a just and sustainable food system (advocate for the preservation and enhancement of agricultural land and protect sustainable food production).
Urban Food Guidelines
In support of the Urban Food Strategy, Vancouver has developed a set of urban agriculture guidelines to help developers plan projects that include opportunities for urban agriculture. The city encourages the following of the guidelines when designing medium to high-density residential buildings and provide guidance for shared garden plots and edible landscaping. It also includes a chart of recommended edible plants commonly used for landscaping purposes.
Food Asset Maps
The City, in partnership with a variety of community and non-profit organizations, has developed a Food Asset Maps. The maps highlight food assets located in local communities. Food assets are places where people can grow, prepare, share, buy, receive or learn about food. Community organizations and schools are included in the map as they are places where community members can get support with learning and health or connect with others in the community. The map is continuously updated with the help of community members and partners. The overall goals for the maps are to:
- Provide a tool to community members and partners for locating community food assets that are current, easy to use, and easily updated
- Build community capacity to support community members dealing with food insecurity
- Make it easier for community partners to view and use community food assets strategically
Conclusion
Scaling up urban agriculture not only enhances resource efficiency but also creates green job and learning opportunities.