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► Journal BrowserSpecial Issue "Urban Horticulture - New Trends and Technologies"
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 March 2022.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: controlled environment agriculture; hydroponics; indoor vertical farming; environmental stress physiology; urban landscape water conservation
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban horticulture is the study of the relationship between horticultural crops and the urban environment. Traditionally, urban horticulture has been dominated by backyard gardeners, community gardeners, and small-scale commercial growers in urban and peri-urban spaces. Backyard and community gardeners are typically hobbyists who enjoy raising their own vegetables, fruits, herbs, and sometimes flowers, in decks, balconies, covered patios, community plots, or residential rooftops, to supplement their diets. Although economic gain from gardening is not their primary focus, some of these gardeners sell their produce at seasonal farmers’ markets.
In recent years, interest in urban horticulture has increased due to rapid urbanization, the expansion of cities, and increased consumer demand for locally grown fresh produce. Moreover, a new type of urban horticulture—indoor vertical farming (VF)—has gained momentum among young entrepreneurs and urban growers. For this type of urban horticulture, the application of highly efficient production systems such as hydroponics and aquaponics with different environmental control techniques is preferred. The size of VF ranges from mini-indoor farms to large-scale commercial facilities with automation. Although the number of large-scale operations is still limited, small-scale VFs have burgeoned in large cities in recent years. These small VFs usually sell their products directly to up-end restaurants and grocery stores. The main crops are typically microgreens, herbs, baby leafy greens, and edible flowers, although interest is increasing for fruiting vegetable crops like strawberries, tomatoes and peppers.
In this Special Issue, we would like to provide a platform for researchers to share their opinions and research findings relevant to all types of urban horticulture.
Prof. Dr. Genhua Niu
Dr. Celina Gómez
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Aquaponics
- Community gardening
- Controlled environment agriculture
- Hydroponics
- Indoor gardening
- LED lighting
- Organic gardening
- Pick-and-eat
- Rooftop gardening
- Urban agriculture
- Urban gardening
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
title: Some Observations about Underreported Challenges for Vertical Farming
(no particular order)
- Practitioners have insufficient knowledge of commercial crop production
- Practitioners are unaware of and/or undervalue the role Cooperative Extension can play
- Investments are high and do not end with securing the initial start-up capital
- The ‘Our system is the greatest’ syndrome
- The ‘We build it and they will come’ syndrome
- The ‘We need to protect our intellectual property’ mentality
- Insufficient collaborations with other vertical farming operations
- Insufficient data sharing and collaborations with researchers
- Combining business goals with social responsibilities (e.g., consumer health, nutrition, community development)
- Attracting and retaining skilled labor
- Winning over all consumers, not just affluent consumers
- Biology: We know a lot, but nature has a way to surprise us when we least expect it
- Aquaponics: Twice the challenge
- Carbon footprint of vertical farming
- Like most farming, vertical farming is 24/7/365