Wendy Fjellstad

Research Scientist

(+47) 974 81 279
wendy.fjellstad@nibio.no

Place
Ås O43

Visiting address
Oluf Thesens vei 43, 1433 Ås

Biography

I work with landscape monitoring, including research on the development and use of indicators of landscape spatial structure, biological diversity, cultural heritage and public accessibility and landscape preferences. My main research interests are linked to analysis of how human use of natural resources affects landscapes and influences different qualities in the landscape, including ecosystem services. I work with GIS and spatial analyses, recording in the field (habitats, plants, bumblebees, butterflies, cultural heritage and landscape characteristics), and combine different types of data to monitor developments in landscapes and their qualities.

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Abstract

Urban agriculture is often considered a tool to increase the economic, social and environmental sustainability of cities and city food systems. However, sustainability is difficult to measure, resulting in debate about how sustainable urban agriculture truly is. There is therefore a lack of incentive to promote urban agriculture or protect existing initiatives that are threatened by development pressure on urban land. Monitoring the sustainability impact of urban agriculture could provide evidence and enable politicians and decision makers to make informed decisions about whether and where to prioritise different forms of urban agriculture above competing interests. We used case examples from five European cities to identify the challenges involved in monitoring urban agriculture, from selecting indicators and gathering data, to using the results. We found large differences in approach in terms of what topics to monitor and who was responsible, who gathered the data and when, what data was recorded and how they were stored, and how findings were disseminated or published. Based on these experiences, we recommend stronger involvement of existing interest groups and educational institutions in monitoring urban agriculture, and promotion of convenient tools for data collection by citizen science and for long-term data storage.