Papers by Esther Sanyé-Mengual
Environmental Science & Policy, 2017
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Sustainability, 2016
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Agriculture and Human Values
Urban agriculture (UA) is spreading within the Global North, largely for food production, ranging... more Urban agriculture (UA) is spreading within the Global North, largely for food production, ranging from household individual gardens to community gardens that boost neighborhood regeneration. Additionally, UA is also being integrated into buildings, such as urban rooftop farming (URF). Some URF experiences succeed in North America both as private and community initiatives. To date, little attention has been paid to how stakeholders perceive UA and URF in the Mediterranean or to the role of food production in these initiatives. This study examines the promotion and inclusion of new forms of UA through the practice of URF and contributes to the nascent literature on the stakeholder and public perceptions of UA. It seeks to understand how those perceptions shape the development of new urban agriculture practices and projects. Barcelona (Spain) was used as a Mediterranean case study where UA and URF projects are growing in popularity. Through semi-structured interviews with 25 core stake...
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Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, 2015
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Procedia Engineering, 2015
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Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2015
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Labeling schemes provide consumers with data to include environment as a decision-making criterio... more Labeling schemes provide consumers with data to include environment as a decision-making criterion in purchasing, such as energy consumption or carbon emissions. Notwithstanding the easier communication through single indicators, the use of them can cover up other environmental impacts. In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), impact assessment methods vary from single endpoint indicators to methods with a set of almost 20 midpoint indicators. But, what is the equilibrium between consumers’ understanding and the reliability of LCA results? Urban food production in new Rooftop Greenhouses (RTGs) is used as case study to test the comprehension of different LCIA indicators among consumers. The study aims to compare consumers’ preferences with LCA results for multiple indicators (both midpoint and endpoint). First, surveys will be done to consumers of the university community that will participate and consume local lettuces from the RTG-Lab (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in Bellaterra, Spai...
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LCA Compendium – The Complete World of Life Cycle Assessment, 2015
ABSTRACT http://www.springer.com/us/book/9789401772204#aboutBook
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This paper aims to assess new systems to face the environmental impacts of the current supply of ... more This paper aims to assess new systems to face the environmental impacts of the current supply of agrifood products to cities, which are designed to produce horticultural products in buildings, such as Roof Top Greenhouses (RTG). A Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was applied to the distribution stage in a case study in the city of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). The results show that the main contributor to the environmental impact associated to the distribution stage is the packaging, with 62.3 to 88.4% of the environmental impact, in the different categories, followed by the longest distance transport between the warehouse (Almeria) to the distribution centre (Barcelona) (9.3 - 31.1%). Moreover, RTG scenario shows that a system without transport requirements and with a multi.way packaging option could represent savings of 99% of the environmental impact related to the distribution stage of 1 kg of tomato for a Barcelona's consumer.
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In recent years, the environmental impacts of urban areas have been analysed to reach sustainabil... more In recent years, the environmental impacts of urban areas have been analysed to reach sustainability. Although research was mainly focused on waste, energy and water management, the food flow has been recently identified and the production of agricultural products started to be integrated in cities through agrourban systems, such as Rooftop Greenhouses (RTG). Originally designed to be integrated in the compact city, industrial and logistic polygons have been detected as suitable areas for implementing RTG due to large rooftops and potential synergies between activities. In this sense, this paper is a pilot experience that aims to identify the major characteristics of a rooftop to implement RTG and quantify the potential of the polygon of Zona Franca (Barcelona, Spain). Moreover, the environmental benefits of the avoided distribution of agricultural were quantified. Results showed a potential area of 13 ha for implementing RTG in a short-term scenario, avoiding almost 900 tonnes of C...
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Rooftop Faming (RF) is growing in popularity thereby increasing the potential local production in... more Rooftop Faming (RF) is growing in popularity thereby increasing the potential local production in available spaces on urban buildings. RF includes multiple models (e.g. community, commercial) and systems from self-designed to high-tech greenhouses). As local production systems, RF is seen as a sustainable way due to the avoided imported food. To date, literature on rooftop farming has focused on the deenition of concepts and potentialities (Despommier, 2008), and on the identiication of opportunities and barriers to these systems from a technical approach (Ceron-Palma et al. 2012) and from a literture perspective (Specht et al. 2014). This study accounts for the environmental burdens and eco-eeciency of RF systems to shed light on their potential for reducing the urban foodprint.
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Smart decisions regarding the way a city and its urban elements are planned and developed are urg... more Smart decisions regarding the way a city and its urban elements are planned and developed are urgently required to minimize urban energy demand and environmental impacts while economic and social costs are reduced. One of the most well-known strategies to achieve urban sustainability is the promotion of sustainable ways of transportation. The consolidation of pedestrian and bicycling environments and the use of cleaner vehicles is a strategy of increasingly interest in cities worldwide. However, the promotion of sustainable urban elements required to supporting mobility should be also integrated as part of the sustainable mobility plans to effectively mitigate overall environmental impact urban trasnportantion. A case study based on the ecodesign of a multifunctional pergola for supporting sustainable mobility showed large environmental benefits through the introduction of renewable energy production in the infrastructure (photovoltaic cells), with reductions from 152 to 315% of the...
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Energy Policy, 2015
ABSTRACT (Free access until 26th July) The provision of an adequate network of urban infrastructu... more ABSTRACT (Free access until 26th July) The provision of an adequate network of urban infrastructures is essential to create clean and energy-efficient urban mobility systems. However, the urban infrastructure to support sustainable mobility can produce a substantial environmental burden if no life cycle environmental criteria are applied in its design and management. This paper demonstrates the potential to support energy-efficient and CO2-free pedestrian and electric bike (e-bike) mobility through the ecological design (eco-design) of urban elements. An eco-design approach is applied to reconceptualize a conventional pergola toward an eco-product (solar pergola). The solar pergola generates surplus photovoltaic electricity that provides a multifunctional character. According to the end-use of this energy, different scenarios are analyzed for robust decision-making. Click on the following link to read the final version of the article: http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1R9Jg14YGgL54f
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Papers by Esther Sanyé-Mengual