Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the opening of a new Special Issue focusing on Urban Horticulture in a pathway of real sustainability. Urban Agriculture was formally recognized for the first time in 1996 at United Nations International Conference on Human Habitats in Istanbul, where its contribution to the health and welfare of fast-growing urban populations worldwide was underlined. Since then, many studies have shown that urban agriculture, and mostly urban gardens, increases individuals’ life satisfaction, vigor, psychological and physical wellbeing, positive effects, sense of community, and cognitive function. In 2010, a study published by Eurostat showed that around 41% of the European population lives in urban areas, 35% in intermediate regions, and 23% in rural areas. Urban areas are therefore increasingly important in Europe, and its policies will enable cities to manage their areas sustainably. The challenge of a way of sustainable cities will be the cornerstone for realizing resource efficiency in Europe, an important goal for the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. While urban gardens have historically been an important element in the cities of many developing countries, recent concerns about economic and food security have resulted in a growing movement to produce food in all cities. The integration of gardens into densely populated areas greatly extends the opportunities for combining food production with cultural functions on urban green space. In this direction, actions have been developed for the creation of research platforms to understand and manage the importance of urban horticulture in the dynamics of sustainable urban development in Europe and also the impact for social, ecological, and urban planning. Furthermore, the green space in urban and peri-urban areas promotes different ecological services, and some European projects of the Horizon 2020 program are concretely collecting data to assess the role of green infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration. Some projects have also helped to define how agriculture (urban and peri-urban) can be involved in the sustainable development of European cities and how horticulture can create vital urban spaces that have new social and ecological qualities and are also economically viable.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the social, economic, cultural, political, health, and wellbeing implications, impacts, and outcomes of urban horticulture. By highlighting these outcomes, this Special Issue will be used to shine a light on the significance of agricultural activities/settings in an urban area to inform and influence policy and practice globally. This Special Issue invites researchers of any discipline that focus on urban horticulture, including but not exclusive to urban planning/agriculture, social science, public health, and environmental science.

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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

• Sustainability
• Resilience
• Development
• Agroecology