ICRA News

- A web-based platform connects initiatives and tools to encourage the implementation of nature-based solutions and the production of local, quality food.

- The initiative is part of the Edible Cities Network (EdiCitNet) project, funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program.

Community gardens or rooftops with gardens and fruit trees are different concepts of the so-called "edible cities", a worldwide trend that aims to promote sustainable urban agriculture and achieve greener and more resilient cities. In this sense, the Catalan Institute for Water Research (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 goal of this platform is to connect and inspire citizens through a dynamic space where they can find everything related to edible cities, whether it is a library of free resources, impact monitoring tools or a catalog of edible cities initiatives, among others.

The result is a complete platform revolving 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 urban agriculture enthusiasts and allows them to follow profiles, publish news and events, share knowledge through the creation of resources such as videos, manuals or articles. It also allows the creation of user communities centered around a common theme, finding specialists in a given field who can provide advice, and posting questions that other members of the community can answer.

On the other hand, companies and organizations can create profiles for their orchards or local food stores or for other types of activities. In this way, an interactive geolocalized catalog is available that allows searching for initiatives or solutions using a map with search options by name, typology 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 the selected indicators.

Finally, the platform also includes a tool for designing and planning 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 environmental and social resilience in cities in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. For the past three years, the various project partners have been working towards this mission. For the development of the platform, ICRA-CERCA and the UdG have also counted with the involvement of the Solidarity Foundation of the UB, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, based in Barcelona, and the City Council of Sant Feliu de Llobregat.