Smart Solutions for Sustainable Urban and Food System Development

This paper investigates innovative ways of testing and quality control in urban growth and sustainable food production. These programs are aimed at solving important environmental and health challenges through the encouragement of urban gardening as well as the conversion of food loss and waste into valuable plant-based proteins. The IPSUS initiative is developing new techniques for extracting proteins from potatoes, brewers’ spent grain, and seaweeds. To foster sustainable urban expansion, U-GARDEN incorporates city planning with urban gardens that have numerous advantages such as greater community participation, improved environmental health care and more home-grown food supplies. Integrating IoT systems is a key element in enhancing management as well as monitoring these sustainable activities. Grafana platform helps in visualizing temperature information gathered by these sensors alongside humidity levels plus energy consumption they measure within the system. The real-time visualization dashboard provided by Grafana enables researchers and stakeholders to monitor the quality of the upcycling processes. To facilitate the strategic planning and management of urban gardens a multi-criteria tool has been developed within the U-GARDEN project. To determine the best places for urban gardens, this tool incorporates sociodemographic characteristics. This article highlights the potential for major environmental, social, and health advantages by including creative ways to upcycle FLW and encourage urban gardening.