Figure 1.
Location of facilities at a city scale. Authors’ elaboration
Table 1.
Quantitative search results on professional portals. Authors’ elaboration based on dezeen.com and archdaily.com as of 20.07.2023
| keyword search | www.dezeen.com | www.archdaily.com |
|---|---|---|
| urban agriculture | 85 | 12.660 |
| revitalisation | 104 | 177 |
| Europe | 1.294 | 16.932 |
| housing | 725 | 3.686 |
| urban agriculture, revitalisation, housing | 0 | 221 |
| urban agriculture, revitalisation, housing, Europe | 0 | 4 |
| urban farming, revitalisation, housing, Europe | 0 | 85 |
Table 2.
Quantitative results of literature searches in Web of Science and Elicit.org databases. Authors’ elaboration based on databases analysis as of 20.07.2023
Table 3.
Summary of elements of the low-cost specialisation business model of the analysed farms. The author’s elaboration is based on [29]
| Agrotopia | La Cité Maraîchère | Abattoir BIGH | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer segments | People from the area requesting fresh vegetables | People from the area requesting fresh vegetables | People from the area requesting fresh vegetables |
| Agro-food industries | Families willing to cultivate plants | People from the area requesting leisure activities/enjoyment | |
| - | - | Families willing to cultivate plants | |
| Value proposition | Courses/Education | Courses/Education | Courses/Education |
| Low cost: economies of scale, partly also direct marketing | Low cost: economies of scale, partly also direct marketing | Rent-a-field (social fund) | |
| Specialities (niches) | - | Low cost: economies of scale, partly also direct marketing | |
| - | - | Specialities (niches) | |
| Channels | On-farm | On-farm | On-farm |
| Agro-food industries | Agro business | Agro-food industries | |
| Customer relationships | Personal to agro-food industries | Dedicated personal assistance | Personal to agro-food industries |
| Revenue streams | Short supply chains | Short supply chains | Short supply chains |
| Product sales | Product sales | Product sales | |
| High turnover per farmland unit | High turnover per farmland unit | ||
| Key resources | Farm location | Farm location | Farm location |
| Machinery/Equipment | Machinery/Equipment | Machinery/Equipment | |
| Irrigation infrastructure | Irrigation infrastructure | Irrigation infrastructure | |
| Labour | Land | Labour | |
| - | Labour | - | |
| Key activities | Production and long supply chain marketing | Direct sale | Direct sale |
| Standardised activities: fresh vegetables | Standardised activities: fresh vegetables | Production and long supply chain marketing | |
| - | - | Standardised activities: fresh vegetables and fish | |
| Key partnerships | Associations | Associations | Associations |
| Agro-food industries | Thematic Networks | Thematic Networks | |
| Cost structure | Wages | Wages | Wages |
| Water and electricity | Water and electricity | Water and electricity | |
| Running costs | Running costs | Running costs | |
| Equipment and machinery | Training | Equipment and machinery | |
| Cost reduction via specialisation | Equipment and machinery | Cost reduction via specialisation | |
| Certification | - | Certification | |
| Key conclusion | Focusing on very few products; often this product is used to broaden income sources. | Focusing on very few products; often this product is used to broaden income sources. | Focusing on very few products; often this product is used to broaden income sources. |
| Agribusiness | Good accessibility | Agribusiness | |
| Good accessibility | - | Good accessibility |
Figure 2.
Functional analysis of selected cases. Functional distribution on different levels (left) and a chart showing the distribution of floor area by functional groups. Authors’ elaboration based on [10, 60, 61]
Table 4.
Functional analysis of selected cases. Author’s elaboration
| area [sqm] | Agrotopia (Inagro) | La Cité Maraîchère | Abattoir BIGH |
|---|---|---|---|
| floor area/non-agricultural/ | 170 | 98 | 1.051 |
| communication | 221 | 305 | 568 |
| indoor agriculture | 5.307 | 1.213 | 1.321 |
| agriculture/communication | 379 | 234 | 1.654 |
| technical area | 2.338 | 473 | 46 |
| publicly-opened area | 2.443 | 333 | 337 |
| SIMPLIFIED TOTAL AREA (including construction) | 10.858 | 2.656 | 4.977 |
Figure 3.
Functional analysis of the area of the Anderlecht district, Cureghem within 1km of the Abattoir BIGH farm. Authors’ elaboration based on site research and [63]
Figure 4.
Functional analysis of the area of Roeselare within 1km of the Agrotopia farm. Authors’ elaboration based on site research and [65]
Figure 5.
Functional analysis of the area of Romainville near Paris within 1km of the La Cité Maraîchère farm. Authors’ elaboration based on on-site research and [68]
Table 5.
Implementation of the principles of Green Urbanism. The author’s elaboration is based on [27]
| Agrotopia | La Cité Maraîchère | Abattoir BIGH | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy and materials | |||
| Local Food | • | • | • |
| Zero Waste Concept | • | • | • |
| Local Materials | ∘ | ∘ | ∘ |
| Renewable Energy | • | • | • |
| Socio-cultural features | |||
| Special strategies for developing cities | ∘ | ∘ | ∘ |
| Liveability, health and mixed-use | • | • | • |
| Cultural heritage | • | • | |
| Governance and leadership | • | • | • |
| Education and research | • | • | • |
| Urban planning and transport | |||
| Transport and public space | ∘ | • | • |
| Climate and context | • | • | • |
| Density and retrofitting | • | • | • |
| Green buildings and districts | • | • | • |
| Water and biodiversity | |||
| Landscape, gardens and biodiversity | • | • | • |
| Water management | • | • | • |
Table 6.
Average greenhouse sizes in France, Belgium and the Netherlands around 2012 and the related studied example. The author’s elaboration is based on [51, 69–72]
| Belgium | France | the Netherlands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface (out of which vegetable) | 1.27 (0.6) ha | 8.30 (3.14) ha | (3.81) ha |
| Covered surface | no data provided | 2,60 ha | 3,1 ha |
| source | (Rogge, Nevens and Gulinck 2008; Greenhouse Horticulture 2016) | (The Agricultural Counsellor 2021) | (Average utilized agricultural area n.d.; cbs Statistics Netherlands n.d.) |
| Agrotopia | La Cité Maraîchère | Abattoir BIGH | |
| Surface | 1.08 ha | 0.21 ha | 1.43 ha |
| (out of which vegetable) | (0.53) ha | (0.12) ha | (0.13) ha |
Figure 6.
Accessibility analysis for selected cases. Authors’ elaboration
Table 7.
The goals of revitalisation were achieved in selected implementations. Authors’ elaboration
| The goals of revitalisation | Agrotopia | La Cité Maraîchère | Abattoir BIGH |
|---|---|---|---|
| urban and architectural | |||
| renovation/modernisation | • | ∘ | • |
| conscious development of the cultural landscape | ∘ | • | • |
| technical | |||
| improving the quality of road infrastructure | ∘ | • | • |
| improving the quality of technical infrastructure | • | • | • |
| social | |||
| stopping the development of negative social trends | ∘ | • | • |
| counteracting pathologies and social exclusion | • | • | • |
| improving the state of security | ∘ | • | • |
| economical | |||
| promotion of entrepreneurship | • | • | • |
| development of tourism | ∘ | ∘ | ∘ |
| implementation of commercial projects | • | • | • |
| environmental | |||
| improvement of the state of the natural environment | • | • | • |
| elimination of pollution and emissions | • | • | • |