| Title |
From urban waste to urban farmers: Can we close the agriculture loop within the city bounds? |
| ID_Doc |
10642 |
| Authors |
Machado, RC; Da Cunha, SK |
| Title |
From urban waste to urban farmers: Can we close the agriculture loop within the city bounds? |
| Year |
2022 |
| Published |
Waste Management & Research, 40, 3 |
| DOI |
10.1177/0734242X211068248 |
| Abstract |
As urbanisation intensifies in Brazilian cities, life quality in urban centres becomes a challenge for policymakers, and transitioning urban systems to sustainability is required. Circular economy concepts may contribute to face them, especially those owing to municipal solid waste (MSW) management. Curitiba, a Brazilian municipality known for its innovative initiatives towards sustainability. Despite a long tradition in recycling inert waste, MSW system struggles to promote composting even considering a decade in force national law. Decentralised composting through the Urban Agriculture Program (UAP) is the city's strategy to tackle this struggle. This strategy faces difficulties as, even if urban agriculture facilities seem to be a promising context, closing the agricultural loop within the city bounds was not possible in the 24 urban farmers communities trained in composting techniques. The literature has shown difficulties in government experiments to promote practices in the long run and several experiences in Brazil are already described. This study reveals cultural barriers that influence adoption of domestic composting, by following a secondary data review on past experiences with interviewing and observing participatively urban farms communities. From the fieldwork, cultural perspectives from four different relevant actor roles in the UAP were elaborated and conflicts between them revealed cultural barriers hindering composting practices adoption. Recommendations based on these barriers argue for bottom-up approaches for transition experiments and recognising the sense material and technical support makes to practitioners. |
| Author Keywords |
Composting; cultural barriers; narrative analysis; social practices; transition to sustainability; urban agriculture |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000739591000001 |
| WoS Category |
Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences |
| Research Area |
Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
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