Improving Urban Green Spaces with Urban Food Forestry : how nut trees in urban green spaces might affect food security

Sammanfattning

Urban Green Spaces are important elements in the urban fabric. They provide essential ecosystem services that are becoming increasingly necessary and valuable as climate change and biodiversity loss progress toward the sixth mass extinction. One aspect of ecosystem services is, however, largely overlooked by urban planners and policy makers, designing the UGS strategies in Swedish cities and abroad. Namely, the provisional ecosystem service of trees, shrubs and other perennials to provide nutrient dense foods such as nuts, fruit, berries and more. Incorporating and prioritizing food producing perennials into urban green space plans could add yet another important service to the long list provided by urban greenery, without necessarily diminishing any other. This thesis explored the potential of providing hyper-local, nutrient dense food in urban environments, by shifting focus from ornamental species toward food-producing species. The results showed that there are both challenges and opportunities associated with this shift in focus. The main challenges were the increased likelihood of contaminated soils in urban areas, potential increase of rodents and pests, and that maintenance costs might increase. But the opportunities associated with nut trees in urban environments, including increased urban food security and reducing reliance on global supply chains, should encourage further investigation and experimentation.