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In response to the growth of urban population and the reduction of resources availability (e.g., arable land, water, and nutrients), new forms of agriculture that can be developed also in urban environment are gaining increasing popularity. Urban agriculture constitutes a viable opportunity for improving the city food security, also fostering local and circular economies, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. In the different world regions, a diversity of urban farming systems is encountered, with technological levels varying in response to the local socio-economic context, infrastructural networks, and environmental conditions. In developing economies from the South of the world, most interesting innovations include simplified hydroponics, organoponics, and microgarden technologies; whereas, in the global north, innovative solutions for plant cultivation also include rooftop greenhouses and indoor vertical farms with artificial lighting where vegetable crops, mushrooms, and algae may be grown. Beside plant growing solutions, innovation may also stand in the system integration and mutual relationship with the urban fabric (e.g., in terms of resource use or ecosystem service provisioning), or in the business model adopted. The present review paper will describe a number of innovative solutions for plant cultivation in the urban environment, with a special consideration of the economic, environmental, and social sustainability.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M The COVID-19 pandemic unveiled the fragility of food sovereignty in cities and confirmed the close connection urban dwellers have with food. Although the pandemic was not responsible for a systemic failure, it suggested how citizens would accept and indeed support a transition toward more localized food production systems. As this attitudinal shift is aligned with the sustainability literature, this work aims to explore the tools and actions needed for a policy framework transformation that recognizes the multiple benefits of food systems, while considering local needs and circumstances. This perspective paper reviews the trends in production and consumption, and systematizes several impacts emerged across European food systems in response to the first wave of pandemic emergency, with the final aim of identifying challenges and future strategies for research and innovation toward the creation of resilient and sustainable city/region food systems. The proposal does not support a return to traditional small-scale economies that might not cope with the growing global population. It instead stands to reconstruct and upscale such connections using a "think globally act locally" mind-set, engaging local communities, and making existing and future citizen-led food system initiatives more sustainable. The work outlines a set of recommended actions for policy-makers: support innovative and localized food production, training and use of information and communication technology for food production and distribution; promote cross-pollination among city/region food systems; empower schools as agents of change in food provision and education about food systems; and support the development of assessment methodologies and the application of policy tools to ensure that the different sustainability dimensions of the food chain are considered.

The RESearch Centre on Urban Environment for Agriculture and Biodiversity (RESCUE-AB), within the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna, is committed to promote urban horticulture and biodiversity in Europe and in several countries of the Global South, bringing together skills and research expertise in the fields of horticulture, environmental sciences and entomology. Educational activities build upon a range of international projects, specifically devoted to create innovative training tools. These range from adult education for urban gardeners and school educators, to higher education curricula. Lifelong learning instruments addressing the social and environmental functions of urban horticulture have been developed within the framework of LLP-Grundtvig projects, such as the project “HORTIS” (Horticulture in Towns for Social Inclusion and Socialisation, www.hortis-europe.net). Successful application of the developed educational models are already being explored within social projects, such as the Urban Innovative Action “SALUS W SPACE” (Villa SALUS as a new Sustainable Accessible Livable Usable Social space for intercultural Wellbeing, Welfare and Welcoming in the Metropolitan City of Bologna), in which urban agriculture becomes a tool for social inclusion and capacity building among communities of political refugees and immigrants. Specific training on how to design and implement educational gardens in schools is then the main objective of the ongoing project “GARDENS TO GROW” (Urban Horticulture for Innovative and Inclusive Early Childhood Education), funded by Erasmus+. The same funding scheme promoted between 2014 and 2017 the project “URBAN GREEN TRAIN” (URBAN GReen Education for ENTteRprising Agricultural Innovation), with the aim of encouraging the creation of pioneering business initiatives in Urban Agriculture (UA), by reinforcing the so called knowledge triangle among Education, Research and Business. Within the project a partnership of public and private organizations from Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands, developed, tested and made available to different types of learners a pilot international, cross-sectoral, multi-targeted training path on Urban Agriculture Entrepreneurship. Similarly, the ongoing project Erasmus+ “BUGI” (Western Balkans Urban Agriculture Initiative) brings together the most innovative business models in urban agriculture in Europe and support their adaptation and diffusion in Eastern Europe and the Balkan context. Finally, the capacity-building of early-stage researchers was addressed in the project H2020 MSCA “SUSTURBANFOODS” (Integrated sustainability assessment of social and technological innovations towards urban food systems), where innovative research on comparative sustainability assessment of different urban horticulture models across Europe was set in place.

Urban agriculture (UA) is a strategic means of achieving sustainable urban food security now and into the future. While a number of different models of agriculture will be required to provide food for the concentrated number of people in urban spaces, UA can be key tool in helping urban residents meet micronutrient requirements, whose deficiency is now recognized as the most important cause of “hidden hunger” globally. UA, or the cultivation of crops for food in small and irregular spaces within a city and its periphery, has been practiced for as long as cities have existed. However, it is gaining increased attention for both its limited scale, its effects on nutrition and community building, the associated possibilities for employment and social mobility, its relevance in a vibrant and diverse food system and for all of these reasons, its sustainability. UA projects are springing up in cities all over the world, always engaging the collaboration of multiple urban stakeholders and increasingly with a focus on the most vulnerable people in society: the poor, the elderly, children, and those suffering malnutrition and chronic disease. For all city dwellers, UA improves livelihoods within the city environment by reducing city ecological footprint, strengthening city resilience to climate change and environmental hazards, reducing noise, improving air quality and the city microclimate, minimizing drought by improving storm water management, and contributing to solid waste management. It increases human health and well-being through stress recovery, encouragement of exercise, reduction of urban violence, facilitating social contact, and providing sources of added employment and income. Using the concept of urban political ecology as a foundation for understanding food dynamics, this chapter will describe a range of different UA initiatives across the globe, giving special attention to their multifunctionality in the context of social vulnerabilities within urban spaces. In so doing, it will present UA as an important platform for community engagement and sustainability building toward increased food security. Turning concrete into green productive lands results in changes in physical, psychological, environmental, and community health. At the same time, the application of social leftovers (abandoned lands, unused rooftops, plastic and wood containers, etc.) onto productive means creates a new model for adding micronutrition to urban diets that integrates and takes seriously social, cultural, nutritional, and economic outcomes.

This section addresses the application of an ecosystemic approach in pest control issues in rooftop agriculture. Biotope (e.g., physical and climatic characteristics), possible biocenosis (e.g., insect pests, plant diseases, beneficials) and related ecological relationships are described, altogether with their practical consequences.

Within agroecosystems, the presence along the year of ladybirds is a crucial factor for aphids biological control. In the urban environment, this becomes exacerbated due to stricter regulations against use of pesticides. The demonstrative garden of the agricultural faculty of Bologna University is located in the urban environment, and consists in about 0.3 ha composed by more than 400 plots. The garden hosts more than 350 plant species, including forage, industrial, and horticultural crops, herbs and cereals. In order to assess the presence and preferred hosts of aphidifagous ladybirds within the demonstrative garden, weekly visual samplings in each of the 400 plots were conducted between March and September 2015. This included monitoring of presence and abundance of Coccinella septempunctata (the most important native and wild lady beetle species in Italy). Adult ladybirds were observed in the garden across the whole season, and abundance was greater in Triticum spp., Brassica spp., Prunus persica and Asclepias syriaca. Accordingly, a possible set of plants with scalar flowering enabling to guarantee the year-round presence of ladybirds in the urban garden is presented.

Urban gardens are spreading in many cities across Europe, with community gardening being a fundamental form of urban agriculture. While the literature reveals the essential role that community gardens can play in terms of learning and education, no studies have investigated the training needs for participants in community gardens to ensure their successful development. The goal of this article is to evaluate the training requirements of urban community gardens to ensure their successful implementation and their contribution to sustainability in European cities. Two questionnaires of users&rsquo, needs analysis were designed and implemented in Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, and Cartagena. The results unveiled the need to re-enforce the training in the formation and community building phases of community gardens towards ensuring the creation of an engaged gardening community to maintain activity, particularly for top-down activities (e.g., research-related gardens). Users claimed their need for being trained on crop management skills (e.g., maintenance, bed preparation, organic practices) and on communication skills to further disseminate their activity, thereby increasing the potential for citizen engagement. Such requirements could be overcome with the creation of urban gardens networks, where experiences and knowledge are shared among practitioners. Policy recommendations are provided based on the outputs of this study.

none 10 In recent years, urban agriculture is asserting its relevance in a vibrant and diverse food system for its small scale, its focus on nutrition and community building, its contribution to food security, and its possibility for employment and social mobility. Urban agriculture may also be a tool to re-appropriate a range of abandoned or unused irregular spaces within the city, including flowerbeds, roundabouts, terraces, balconies or rooftops. Consistently, all spaces that present a lack of identity may be converted to urban agriculture and, more specifically, to urban horticulture as a way to strengthen resilience and sustainability. The goal of this paper is to analyse current practices in the requalification of vacant areas as urban gardens with the aim of building communities and improving landscape and life quality. To do so, the city of Bologna (Italy) was used as case study. Four types of vacant areas were identified as places for implementing urban gardens: flowerbeds along street and squares, balconies and rooftops, abandoned buildings and abandoned neighbourhoods. Six case studies representing this variety of vacant areas were identified and evaluated by collecting primary data (i.e. field work, participant observation and interviews) and performing a SWOT analysis. For most cases, urban horticulture improved the image and the quality of the areas as well as brought social benefits regarding life quality, food access and social interaction among participants. Strong differences in some aspects were found between top-down and bottom-up initiatives, being the later preferable regarding the engagement of citizens. Policy-making might focus on participatory and transparent planning, long-term actions, food safety and economic development. Gasperi, Daniela; Pennisi, Giuseppina; Rizzati, Niccolò; Magrefi, Francesca; Bazzocchi, Giovanni; Mezzacapo, Umberto; Stefani, Monique Centrone; Sanyé-Mengual, Esther; Orsini, Francesco; Gianquinto, Giorgio Gasperi, Daniela; Pennisi, Giuseppina; Rizzati, Niccolò; Magrefi, Francesca; Bazzocchi, Giovanni; Mezzacapo, Umberto; Stefani, Monique Centrone; Sanyé-Mengual, Esther; Orsini, Francesco; Gianquinto, Giorgio

Females of the pine sawfly Neodiprion sertifer (Hymenoptera Diprionidae) usually avoid Pinus pinea trees as host plants. In contrast, this sawfly species is highly attracted by P. sylvestris and P. nigra trees. Here, we investigated which pine volatiles might mediate this behavior by in situ sampling experiments and olfactometer laboratory tests. Volatiles emitted from P. pinea, P. sylvestris, and P. nigra foliage were sampled by solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Analysis of these volatiles by coupled gaschromatography/ mass spectrometry revealed that the relative amounts of the compounds emitted by the three species were significantly different. A discriminant analysis showed that the amounts of limonene and myrcene significantly contributed to the species-specific volatile patterns. Pinus pinea emitted higher relative amounts of limonene than the other pine species. Pinus sylvestris emitted the highest relative amounts of myrcene. When testing the response of N. sertifer females to these pine terpenoids in an olfactometer bioassay, a low amount of limonene was attractive, while a repellent effect was evident when higher amounts were used. The sawfly females showed no significant olfactory response to myrcene. These data suggest that low relative amounts of limonene have a significant function in attracting N. sertifer females, while high amounts might contribute to avoidance of a tree.

Children’s understanding on the origin of food is nowadays affected by marketing and advertisements. Horticultural gardens in school may improve children's knowledge about nutrition and the importance of the proper use of natural resources. Simplified soilless gardens may represent an extremely effective educational tool since they allow practical descriptions of biological and biochemical processes related to plant life and growth. Furthermore, due to their independence from fertile soils, the high planting density, and the low labor requirement they represent a viable solution for most urban schools. Starting from 2012, the Giardini in Rete project aims at the introduction of a simplified soilless garden in a secondary school of Bologna to promote biodiversity and urban green landscape. In the present paper the model for setting up a didactic hydroponic vertical garden and the students' responses are addressed.

Home gardening in cities is expanding as a way for reducing food costs and the environmental impact of the urban food supply. In metropolitan spaces, plant life is mainly constrained by land availability and access to light. Soilless gardens may allow cultivation in courtyards and rooftops, but often farming turns out to be unfeasible due to lacking light availability. Horti lumen are professional LED systems for intensive vegetable cultivations. Their technology is based on the selection of frequency light range detectable by plants and the removal of surplus light. Due to their flexible vertical and horizontal structure they can be used in domestic spaces such as, for instance, kitchens, cabinets, basements or in work spaces, offices, etc. Their adjustable structure allows the light source height to be modulated following the whole vegetation cycle, and adapting them to variable growing surfaces. In the present paper, experimental results of Horti lumen vs. traditional cool-light neon lamps on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation will be described, including energetic consumptions, as well as crop performances and plant physiological response.

“Urban Agriculture (UA) is an activity that produces, processes, and markets food and other products, on land and water in urban and peri-urban areas, applying intensive production methods, and (re)using natural resources and urban wastes, to yield a diversity of crops and livestock” (UNDP, 1996). UA began to develop with the urbanization process, that is, moving of people from villages and farms to cities. Initially the activity was generally practiced for income-earning or food producing but gradually the concept of urban agriculture expanded to ecological, social, educational and even “therapeutic” aspects. The multifunctional role of agriculture and in particular of vegetable and fruits production (horticulture) in most of European urbanized areas is officially recognized at the beginning of the 1980s. Since then an increasing number of associations and hobbyists are working in this field, creating a new style of consumption based on self-production of food. In the specific case of Bologna, this has resulted in 3,000 spot gardens (land plot of approximately 30-40 m2 each for growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, ornamental shrubs or trees) grouped in 20 main community allotments, controlled by municipal administrations and assigned mainly to elderly people. However more and more often their management involves young people (usually unemployed), immigrants, women and several social associations. The community gardens have therefore became an example of places where people meet, discover old and new production techniques and exchange traditions and cultures.

Classical biological control is generallyunderstood as an environmentally safe practiceof insect pest management. However, questionshave been raised about possible negativeeffects for native species. As part of a riskassessment study a semi-field trial was carriedout in northern Italy in order to compare theoverwintering of the native species Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (L.) and Adalia bipunctata (L.) (Coleoptera:Coccinellidae) with the exotic Harmoniaaxyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).All the experiments were carried out from April1998 to April 2001. Harmonia axyridis wasable to overwinter successfully in northernItaly. Fecundity, oviposition rate, longevityand rate of increase of overwintering femaleswere calculated and the phenology of the threespecies was studied. Harmonia axyridisoverwintering mortality (31.9%) was lower incomparison with mortality of native species(68.9% for P. quatuordecimpunctata and61.3% for A. bipunctata). As aconsequence, post-overwintering rate ofincrease of the exotic species was higher.Longevity of overwintered females was similaramong the species. Mean fecundity of H. axyridis (783.8 eggs per female) was slightlyhigher than A. bipunctata (720.2 eggs perfemale), and much higher than P. quatuordecimpunctata (193.7 eggs per female). H. axyridis and A. bipunctatacompleted four generations and P. quatuordecimpunctata three generations in a year. The results show that H. axyridisappears to posses a high potential for establishment in Italy.

The influence of four constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, and 30°C) on development time and survivorship of Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) and Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard) was studied in laboratory experiments. L. huidobrensis required more time for embryonic development at 25 and 30°C, and less time at 15°C, compared with L. trifolii; at 20°C there were no differences between the two species. Larval development time for L. huidobrensis was longer than for L. trifolii at 20, 25, and 30°C. At 15°C no differences were detected. Pupal development of L. huidobrensis was always faster at 15, 20, and 25°C than that of L. trifolii. Total preimaginal development time was quicker at 15 and 20°C in L. huidobrensis than in L. trifolii; at 25°C no significant differences were found. Highest survival of L. trifolii (68%) occurred at 20°C, while that of L. huidobrensis (61%) occurred at 15°C. At 30°C no adults of L. huidobrensis emerged. The estimated lower threshold temperatures for egg, larva, pupa and total development of L. huidobrensis ranged between 7.3 and 8.1°C, and they were always lower than L. trifolii thresholds, which ranged between 9.9 and 10.7°C. The Logan model was used to describe the relationship between development rate and temperature. The quantification of development times presented in this study, combined with fecundity under different temperatures, could be incorporated into a phenological model that will aid in predicting population charges of leafminers.

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 soilless 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 requirement that could be satisfied by local RTG production; 5) identification of other benefits (improvement of urban biodiversity 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 vegetables to Bologna, satisfying 77% of the inhabitants’ requirements. 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.

As part of an environmental risk assessment study of exotic natural enemies used in inundative biological control, life-history characteristics of Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) and Adalia bipunctata (L.) (Col., Coccinellidae) were quantified under laboratory conditions at 25°C on Myzus persicae (Sulzer) as prey. Comparative studies showed significant differences among pre-adult development times: H. axyridis developed slower ( = 19.8 days) than H. variegata ( = 18.1 days) and A. bipunctata ( = 18.4 days). Differences were also evident in the duration of egg, larval and pupal stages. No measurable differences among the three species were found for fecundity, oviposition rate and adult longevity. Harmonia axyridis exhibited the longest pre-oviposition ( = 7.4 days) and interoviposition ( = 3.6 days) periods and the shortest oviposition period ( = 13.7 days). The Bieri model was used to describe age-specific fecundity for the three species of coccinellids. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm), net reproductive rate (R0) and mean generation time (T) were higher for H. variegata (rm = 0.114, R0 = 52.75, T = 41.88 days) than for H. axyridis (rm = 0.089, R0 = 26.27, T = 38.81 days) or A. bipunctata (rm = 0.081, R0 = 18.49, T = 40.06 days). Our findings show that the biological traits of H. axyridis do not seem to be factors that may contribute to the invasiveness of this coccinellid.

In recent years, urban agriculture (UA) projects have bloomed throughout the world, finding large applications also in the developed economies of the so-called Global North. As compared to projects in developing countries, where research has mainly targeted the contribution to food security, UA in the Global North has a stronger multifunctional connotation, and results in multiple combinations of farming purposes and business models pursued. The present review paper explores the contribution and role that UA plays in cities from the Global North, defining its functionalities toward ecosystem services (ES) provisioning and analyzing the factors that hinders and promote its regional diffusion and uptake. The manuscript integrates a description of UA growing systems, as well opportunities for crop diversification in the urban environment, and a comprehensive classification of UA business models. The distinctive features in terms of business models, farming purposes and farm size are then applied over an inventory of 470 UA projects in the Global North, allowing for a characterization and comparative analysis of distribution frequency of the different project typologies.