Evaluating the Synergy between Urban Agriculture and Local Resources

Despite the promise of urban agriculture, there is a lack of understanding in assessing the potential material and energy flows and associated system-level impacts of urban agricultural systems at the city level, which may combine used water with a circular economy. It remains unclear how the choice between different novel approaches such as greenhouse, hydroponics, and aquaponics will affect the technoeconomic feasibility of these systems. In addition, urban planning, investment decisions and resource allocation by decision-makers and stakeholders are done in isolation and lack coordination, and these must be enhanced by an understanding of what an urban community can expect if the urban agriculture systems are to be developed to meet the local food demands sustainably. This research will examine current policy and regulatory gaps for urban regions including the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area and Northwest Indiana, assess the chemical and thermal potential of used water resources for urban agriculture, and discuss the techno-economic viability of landscape-scale urban agriculture based on greenhouse and hydroponic systems. We will also present various scenarios for cost-effective recovery and reuse of these resources, and these might prioritize one resource over the other or focus on a single resource. For example, the scenarios will include the following: (i) heat over organics; (ii) organics over heat; (iii) nutrients over organics; (iv) water over nutrients, (v) water over energy, and (vi) energy over water.