Urban Horticulture - New Trends and Technologies

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

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.