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TypeJournal Article
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Published in
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Year2017
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Author(s)
Goldstein, Benjamin P. and Hauschild, Michael Z. and Fernández, John E. and Birkved, Morten -
DOI
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ID
2202
Contributions of Local Farming to Urban Sustainability in the Northeast United States
Food consumption is an important contributor to a city's environmental impacts (carbon emissions, land occupation, water use, etc.) Urban farming (UF) has been advocated as a means to increase urban sustainability by reducing food-related transport and tapping into local resources. Taking Boston as an illustrative Northeast U.S. city, we developed a novel method to estimate sub-urban, food-borne carbon and land footprints using multiregion-input-output modeling and nutritional surveys. Computer simulations utilizing primary data explored UF's ability to reduce these footprints using select farming technologies, building on previous city-scale UF assessments which have hitherto been dependent on proxy data for UF. We found that UF generated meagre food-related carbon footprint reductions (1.1-2.9% of baseline 2211 kg CO2 equivalents/capita/annum) and land occupation increases (
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