Technological Application to Managing a Municipal Urban Garden

Introduction

The progressive global migration of the rural population to large urban centers has contributed to the emergence of environmental, social, and economic problems (Østby, 2016). With this migratory flow to large cities, populations seek to improve their quality of life without considering the possible irreversible damage to the environment. A key concern in the planning and management of cities is to ensure sustainable development. Sachs and Ki-moon (2015) advocate that sustainable development seeks to respond to the ecological limits of the planet, which are not infinite, and it is also necessary to ensure the existence of natural resources for future generations.

Sustainable cities are those that align their living, production, and consumption patterns based on a combination of economic and socio-environmental aspects. As Cohen (2017) argues, instead of promoting disorderly growth and consumption, they adopt public policies and actions that positively impact sustainability. This can be realized in different areas of intervention in cities such as mobility, education, energy, and environment (Saad et al., 2017; Tafidis et al., 2017; Trindade et al., 2017). It becomes unequivocal that sustainability is a purpose for all humanities since consumption habits are driving natural resources to depletion, besides destroying flora and fauna species.

The rapid growth of cities has led to the massification and industrialization of production processes. This situation has led to the loss of food quality, which leads people to increasingly value the food from organic and healthy agriculture (Kearney, 2010). As a result of this process, urban agriculture presents progressively as an important alternative for feeding the population that allows ensuring sustainable development in urban space (Chumbler et al., 2016). Several differences can be found between urban agriculture and agriculture in rural areas, of which location stands out as an evident differentiating element between these two concepts, and a few improvements, where the objective of food production may be considered the most common element. Despite the differences between these types of agriculture, they can be seen as complementary. Rural agriculture provides food in large quantities, while urban agriculture exploits a few niche markets that are often overlooked in rural agriculture (Hamlin et al., 2016).

Agriculture has been enhancing the city with its multi-functionalities, which goes beyond food production and benefits other elements of the urban environment, such as services, green areas, buildings, leisure spaces, among others. Several authors have debated the benefits resulting from this activity. Heather (2012) mentions that at the environmental level, urban agriculture promotes the development of green spaces, the recovery of degraded areas, and the reduction of pollution. At the economic level, urban gardens contribute to the reduction of probity, because they enable the harvesting of food, of good quality and for personal consumption (Krikser et al., 2019).