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The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social–technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processes.

The implementation of agroecology principles within organic farming research is a crux to redesign sustainable agri-food systems. To govern this transition, the local research demand should be addressed by direct engagement of all stakeholders in the research process. The first step is the involvement of farmers and technicians, with the aim of restoring their decision-making role, switching governance to local scale. The co-design/co-management of Long-Term Experiments (LTEs) can be crucial to govern the above-described transition through networking and participatory activities. In this study, we report the experience of co-designing a new LTE in Southern Italy by local actors and scientists. Through a participatory action research methodology, an LTE was considered as a biophysical component of an agroecological living lab, a public–private environment aimed to design a local food system. The setup of parallel field trials in satellite farms stands for the other biophysical component, whereas the stakeholder platform represents the social one. Through definition of common objectives, a step-by-step process is presented, which highlights the interest of local organic actors to share ideas and perspectives for the territory, pointing out the inclusion of end-users (the consumers) in the process to complete the transition to sustainable food systems.

The joint impact of human activities and climate change on natural resources lead to biodiversity loss. Therefore, it is important to select protected areas through systematic conservation planning. The present study assessed how representative natural habitats are protected under the nature conservation network, and to identify new—but so far insufficiently—protected areas containing these habitats for sustainable management. We used the Marxan model to select the most valuable insufficiently protected natural habitats in the Czech Republic as a representative example for a conservation strategy for Central–Eastern European environments. We set three conservation targets (25%, 50%, and 75%), defining how much percent area of valuable representative natural habitats should be added to the area of the habitats already included in the Nature Protection Network. To implement these conservation targets it is necessary to preserve 22,932 ha, 72,429, ha and 124,363 ha respectively of the conservation targets occurring in the insufficiently protected areas, and 17,255 ha, 51,620 ha, and 84,993 ha respectively of the conservation features in the areas without protection status. Marxan was revealed to be an appropriate tool to select the most valuable and insufficiently protected natural habitats for sustainable management.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations state that cities and human settlements need to be more inclusive, safe and resilient. In Europe cities have experienced dramatic physical, social and economic changes during the last decades while historic centres of European cities, among the most important assets of the European cultural heritage, are living paradoxes. They are defined as “a collection of beauty, icon of well-being, model of sustainability, but abandoned”. This study investigates the changes in the urban landscape of Nicosia, a particular historical centre in the Mediterranean region (Cyprus). The city centre is characterised by exceptionally well-preserved Venetian fortifications. Due to political circumstances, the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, is still divided and has been ruled by two different administrations for several decades. This study used optical multi-spectral satellite datasets processing, like the Landsat and the most recent Sentinel-2 products, to detect, identify and characterise significant morphological transformations within the walled city and around it. This paper’s central thesis promotes a more systematic use of earth observation products and derivatives in decision-making processes that regard planning, use and management of urban resources in Europe, especially in support of urban planning strategies of historic cities.

In recent years, the environmental sustainability of agri-food systems has become a crucial issue. Agri-food firms are increasingly concerned with the implementation of viable environmentally friendly production processes. The environmental impacts of the table grape sector, as well as other fresh and not transformed food products, involve mainly the farming phase rather than the subsequent conditioning, transportation, packaging, and distribution phases. The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental impacts and the economic viability of three table grapes production models (i.e., early harvesting, normal harvesting, and delayed harvesting), based on the Italian tendone system, during the entire life cycle. The environmental impact analysis was performed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, while the economic analysis was performed using the life cycle costing (LCC) approach. The results show that the early and the delayed production models generated the highest environmental burdens, but also the highest economic returns, compared to the normal harvesting production model. The main determinants of the environmental impacts and economic returns are discussed and some practical recommendations are given to improve the sustainability of all the surveyed production models, so to converge public and private interests.

Sites of geo-cultural interest are often included in areas where multicultural contexts (geo and non geo) are present. Cultural heritage dissemination is sometimes mono-contextual, paying little attention to the possibility of inclusion in a wider multicultural context. When these different contexts are linkable to each other following a specific theme, multicultural heritage dissemination will be possible, and often the geo context can represent a fulcrum, a resilient tool in doing that. A portion of the Sinni river’s catchment area (Basilicata region, Southern Italy) has been chosen to test and verify the multi-level/disciplinary approach applicability. The area is located on the southeastern edge of the Pliocene to Pleistocene Sant’Arcangelo basin in the Southern Apennines chain of Italy. Here, both basic observations on the physical geography landscape evolution and specialized observations on river dynamics and on the hydrographic network have been carried out. Educational routes will be proposed with different educational levels along a path that will include the San Giorgio Lucano hypogea. This paper represents the results of a qualitative study providing an overview of the possibility, in a multicultural context, about whether, when, and how the geo context may act as a link between the different disciplines and what is the best way to make it. A relational database, organized in contexts, areas, and themes, is planned at different levels of detail, and is currently being developed in order to make final products easily available. Each level will be provided with basic concepts, territorial contextualization, and of activities/itineraries. The goal is to provide a versatile tool that enhances the territorial multi-cultural heritage to reach a greater number of end users interested in both geo and non geo contexts.