Catalan Water Research Institute research and innovation for the sustainable use of water

ICRA-CERCA and UdG create a digital platform that promotes ‘Edible Cities’

Wednesday, 10 January 2024

  • A platform in the form of a web page connects initiatives and tools to promote the implementation of solutions based on nature and the production of local and quality food.
  • The initiative is part of the Edible Cities Network (EdiCitNet) project, funded by the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Commission.

Community gardens or rooftops with gardens and fruit trees are different concepts from the so-called “edible city”, a global trend that aims to promote sustainable urban agriculture and achieve greener and more resilient cities. In this regard, the Catalan Water Research Institute (ICRA-CERCA) and the University of Girona (UdG ) have just presented a new digital platform, ediblecitiesnetwork.com, which makes available to citizens various tools to facilitate the implementation of solutions based on nature and the production of local and quality food.

The aim of this platform is to connect and inspire citizens through a dynamic space where you can find everything related to edible cities, whether it’s a library of free resources, impact monitoring tools or a catalog of initiatives of edible cities, among others.

The result is a complete platform that revolves around urban agriculture that allows interaction between users, but also between companies and organizations.

On the one hand, the platform acts as a social network for fans of urban agriculture and allows you to follow profiles, publish news and events, share knowledge through the creation of resources , such as videos, manuals or articles. Likewise, it allows you to create user communities centered around a common topic, find specialists in a certain field who can provide advice, and post questions that other community members can answer.

On the other hand, companies and organizations can create profiles for their gardens or local food stores or for other types of activities. In this way, a geolocated interactive catalog is available that allows you to search for initiatives or solutions using a map with search options by name, type or others. In addition, companies and organizations can use the platform as a tool to monitor the productivity and success of their solutions and to automatically generate a report with selected indicators.

Finally, the platform also includes a tool to design and plan urban agriculture solutions on an individual or city scale.

The platform is part of the Edible Cities Network (EdiCitNet) project, coordinated by the University of Berlin. A five-year project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Program that explores sustainable methods of urban food production, distribution and consumption, also known as “edible city solutions”, with the aim of fostering resilience environmental and social in cities in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. During the last three years, the different partners of the project have worked with this mission. For the development of the platform, ICRA-CERCA and the UdG have also had the involvement of the UB Solidarity Foundation, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, based in Barcelona, ​​and the Sant Feliu de Llobregat City Council .

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