Urban Horticulture - New Trends and Technologies
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2022) | Viewed by 46564
Special Issue Editors
Interests: controlled environment agriculture; hydroponics; indoor vertical farming; environmental stress physiology; urban landscape water conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban horticulture is the study of the relationship between horticultural crops and the urban environment. Traditionally, urban horticulture has been dominated by backyard gardeners, community gardeners, and small-scale commercial growers in urban and peri-urban spaces. Backyard and community gardeners are typically hobbyists who enjoy raising their own vegetables, fruits, herbs, and sometimes flowers, in decks, balconies, covered patios, community plots, or residential rooftops, to supplement their diets. Although economic gain from gardening is not their primary focus, some of these gardeners sell their produce at seasonal farmers’ markets.
In recent years, interest in urban horticulture has increased due to rapid urbanization, the expansion of cities, and increased consumer demand for locally grown fresh produce. Moreover, a new type of urban horticulture—indoor vertical farming (VF)—has gained momentum among young entrepreneurs and urban growers. For this type of urban horticulture, the application of highly efficient production systems such as hydroponics and aquaponics with different environmental control techniques is preferred. The size of VF ranges from mini-indoor farms to large-scale commercial facilities with automation. Although the number of large-scale operations is still limited, small-scale VFs have burgeoned in large cities in recent years. These small VFs usually sell their products directly to up-end restaurants and grocery stores. The main crops are typically microgreens, herbs, baby leafy greens, and edible flowers, although interest is increasing for fruiting vegetable crops like strawberries, tomatoes and peppers.
In this Special Issue, we would like to provide a platform for researchers to share their opinions and research findings relevant to all types of urban horticulture.
Prof. Dr. Genhua Niu
Dr. Celina Gómez
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Aquaponics
- Community gardening
- Controlled environment agriculture
- Hydroponics
- Indoor gardening
- LED lighting
- Organic gardening
- Pick-and-eat
- Rooftop gardening
- Urban agriculture
- Urban gardening
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