<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In the 21st century, urban agriculture renews and diversifies approaches to the practice within the context of urban regeneration, climate change risks, sustainable development and resource consumption balance problems. Influenced by the long historical evolution and intensification of various risks, food production in urban areas involves the widest multifunctionality to date. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the main functions of urban agriculture and to evaluate their significance in Latvia. The following tasks were set to achieve the aim: 1) to identify and classify functions of urban agriculture, 2) to analyse the performance and significance of functions in Latvia. Several methods were employed to perform tasks and achieve the aim: the monographic and descriptive methods for making a theoretical discussion; the analysis, synthesis and deduction methods for obtaining information, systematisation and classification of functions; a structured expert interview for rating and ranking functions and identifying interactions between them. The research identified 14 functions of urban agriculture, which were classified into 5 groups: political, economic, social, environmental and technological. The most significant functions of urban agriculture in Latvia are social (promotion of social cohesion and public health, education and maintaining traditions and values) and technological innovations. There are interactions between all functions, and support for urban sustainability, education, provision of ecosystem services and technological innovations have the strongest impact on other functions. Interactions of functions proved the multifunctionality of urban agriculture, which could be an important support tool to contributing to sustainable urban development.</p>
</abstract>

In the 21st century, urban agriculture renews and diversifies approaches to the practice within the context of urban regeneration, climate change risks, sustainable development and resource consumption balance problems. Influenced by the long historical evolution and intensification of various risks, food production in urban areas involves the widest multifunctionality to date. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the main functions of urban agriculture and to evaluate their significance in Latvia. The following tasks were set to achieve the aim: 1) to identify and classify functions of urban agriculture, 2) to analyse the performance and significance of functions in Latvia. Several methods were employed to perform tasks and achieve the aim: the monographic and descriptive methods for making a theoretical discussion; the analysis, synthesis and deduction methods for obtaining information, systematisation and classification of functions; a structured expert interview for rating and ranking functions and identifying interactions between them. The research identified 14 functions of urban agriculture, which were classified into 5 groups: political, economic, social, environmental and technological. The most significant functions of urban agriculture in Latvia are social (promotion of social cohesion and public health, education and maintaining traditions and values) and technological innovations. There are interactions between all functions, and support for urban sustainability, education, provision of ecosystem services and technological innovations have the strongest impact on other functions. Interactions of functions proved the multifunctionality of urban agriculture, which could be an important support tool to contributing to sustainable urban development.

Multifunctionality of urban agriculture and its characteristics in Latvia

Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies

Rural Sustainability Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Multifunctionality of urban agriculture and its characteristics in Latvia"}

In the 21st century, urban agriculture renews and diversifies approaches to the practice within the context of urban regeneration, climate change risks,...

Multifunctionality of urban agriculture and its characteristics in Latvia

Published Online: Jan 05, 2023

Page range: 54 - 67

Received: Sep 07, 2022

Accepted: Nov 03, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2022-0016

Keywords
urban agriculture, functions, sustainable development, Latvia

© 2022 Madara Dobele et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Multifunctionality of urban agriculture and its characteristics in Latvia

Published Online: Jan 05, 2023

Page range: 54 - 67

Received: Sep 07, 2022

Accepted: Nov 03, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2022-0016

Keywordsurban agriculture, functions, sustainable development, Latvia

© 2022 Madara Dobele et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
urban agriculture, functions, sustainable development, Latvia