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Abstract
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The world population will reach 10 billion people by 2050, two-thirds of whom will live in cities (Alivand 2022). The expansion of urbanisation brings environmental externalities such as a reduction in green spaces, an increase in ecological fragility, growing air pollution, destruction and fragmentation of agricultural lands on the outskirts of cities and disconnection between urban dwellers and the natural environment (Meng 2019; Albaladejo-García et al. 2021). A reduction in urban green space as well as recreation and natural tourism centres and the disconnection of urban residents from the natural environment can lead to a decline in the well-being (Cao and Li 2024), mental health reduction (Elrafie et al. 2023; Werder et al. 2024) and mental fatigue (Li et al. 2024; Osa et al. 2024) of citizens. One of the solutions to address these problems is urban agriculture, which can be considered a new solution to address the environmental, economic and social challenges of cities. Additionally, “urban agriculture” can be promoted as an effective way to ensure food security (Steenkamp et al. 2021; Slater and Birchall 2022; Desalegn et al. 2024).
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