The purpose of this paper is to investigate, based on a comparative study in Sweden, how vertical hydroponic farms can be implemented in urban environments and to identify the challenges with the implementation. The study examines various companies that work with hydroponic farms in Sweden and how the government can help the companies with the implementation of the innovation. Urban hydroponic farms can be a significant solution for solving the growing global population demand for locally grown fresh food, which includes good quality and nutrients. Previous studies, from a sustainability perspective, show that Sweden would benefit in several different ways if more hydroponic farms were implemented in the urban cities. The theory that the report is based on is the implementation theory. With this in mind, the empirics were analyzed from three different found themes; economy, political priorities & local involvement. Empirical data was collected from previous studies as well as from a qualitative methodological approach. This empirical study was based on multiple interviews with companies in the hydroponic farms industry located in Sweden and observations, to be able to analyze the findings based on our chosen theme. In this study we found that the result indicates that there are both advantages and obstacles to the implementation of hydroponic farms in urban areas. On the other hand, the benefits are predominantly from a sustainable development perspective with new innovative solutions, such as solar systems and upgraded district heating and district cooling systems.

[pt] A Economia Circular (EC) é apontada como um mecanismo para o desenvolvimento sustentável, e um caminho para mitigar a problemática da geração de resíduos. Na EC o resíduo é recurso em uma nova cadeia produtiva; na prática, isto ocorre por meio do negócio de Recuperação e Reciclagem (RR). No Brasil, o debate sobre EC ainda é exíguo e são poucos os estudos acadêmicos publicados. Com objetivo de identificar as barreiras e as oportunidades para implantar um negócio de RR, à luz da EC, foi realizado um estudo de caso na cadeia de reaproveitamento do óleo de cozinha residual (OCR). Os métodos utilizados na pesquisa qualitativa foram: revisão bibliográfica, análise documental, entrevistas e observação participativa. Observou-se que a RR do OCR ocorre por meio de uma rede circular, composta por diversos agentes, com interesses e estratégias individuais que não incluem o ciclo de vida do produto. Os agentes intermediários, atuantes na logística reversa, são motivados por questões socioeconômicas. As barreiras se manifestam em seis segmentos: sociocultural, organizacional, tecnológico, de mercado, econômico e regulatório; são coincidentes com o quadro teórico, contudo estão associadas às condições socioeconômicas locais e à maturidade da indústria para EC. As oportunidades na EC convergem para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Esta pesquisa sugere que a responsabilidade estendida do produtor e o incentivo à aquisição de recurso secundário são estratégias primordiais para fechar o ciclo de vida do produto; contribui também com informações para tomada de decisão no setor de RR. / [en] Circular Economy (CE) has been pointed as a mechanism to reach sustainable development, also an answer to solid waste challenges. Under CE concept waste is resource in a new supply chain. Recovery and Recycling (RR) is one of the CE business model to turn waste into value. Therefore, CE represents a strategic path for the field of Urban Solid Waste Management. It is expected to bring innovation to this sector and foster large change in waste treatment practices in order to closing the loop. In Brazil, the debate about CE is still in the early stages and there are limited academic studies launched. In order to identify barriers and drivers to implement the CE business model of Recovery and Recycling in Brazil, a singular case study was conducted in the waste cooking oil (WCO) recovery supply chain. Moreover, considering the differences between common recycling practices in the local context and CE RR business model, it is needed to set the studied WCO recycling supply chain into the framework of the CE recovery and recycling business model.

With the global population becoming more urban and less rural, increasingly research has argued for concepts such as establish Green Infrastructure (GI) as a tool for enhancing wildlife survival and human’s living quality (e.g. Harrison et al., 1995; Benedict and McMahon, 2006). However, an interdisciplinary planning approach underpinned by ecological and social evidence has not yet been fully developed. This research therefore seeks to integrate an ecological network with a green space planning standard by exploring the use of biotope and sociotope mapping methods. Seeking a comprehensive planning that takes all green resources into account, a green space typology is firstly developed according to Taiwanese contexts for identifying green spaces from land use maps. In order to specify effective features of these green spaces to bird survival and user preferences, an insight was conducted into the relationship of ‘birds and urban habitats’, as well as ‘human preferred urban green spaces’ in Taipei City. Important environmental factors influencing bird distribution and influencing human experiences in urban green spaces are respectively specified and developed into an ecological value index (EVI) to detail potential habitats and a social value index (SVI) to evaluate recreational green space provision. Interestingly, proximity to green space appears to plays a more critical role in human preferences than bird survival in Taipei city; size is important both as a habitat and for creating an attractive green space; and green space quality tends to be a more significant factor than its structure for both wildlife and people. Utilising the bio-sociotope maps, this thesis argues for a number of strategies: conserving, enlarging, or creating large green spaces in green space deficient areas; increasing ecological and recreational value by enhancing green space quality of specific characteristics; and tackling gravity distance by combining green space accessibility and attractiveness in optimising urban green structure. As these suggestions are a challenge to apply in intensively developed urban areas, barriers from land use, political mechanisms, technical shortages, and cultural characteristics are also explored with possible resolutions presented for facilitating implementation. It is clear that optimising a multifunctional GI for both wildlife and people requires interdisciplinary knowledge and cooperation from various fields. The EVI and SVI developed within this thesis create the potential for a more place-specific and quantifiable green spaces strategy to help better link ecological and social functions in urban areas.

Le développement urbain durable est aujourd’hui une notion centrale des discours sur la ville et des politiques publiques en la matière. Sans être une simple déclinaison du développement durable appliqué à l’urbain, il en reprend quelques grands principes, qui pour certains s’inscrivent dans la longue histoire de l’urbanisme. En tout état de cause, ces principes irriguent aujourd’hui le droit de l’urbanisme. Mais de la norme juridique à l’action concrète, il y a parfois loin, afin, par exemple, de limiter effectivement l’étalement urbain ou encore de réduire les pollutions urbaines. En quelques années,le droit français de l’urbanisme a pourtant été transformé en profondeur pour aider à résoudre ces problèmes et d’autres, et favoriser en ce sens le développement urbain durable. Grâce à quels outils ? Et malgré quels obstacles ? Ces derniers ne sont pas négligeables, et interrogent la capacité réelle du droit français, en l’état, à promouvoir le développement urbain durable à l’échelle des espaces urbains pertinents, voire à ne pas l’entraver. / The urban sustainable development is nowadays a main notion in the discourses about the city and in the concerning public policies. If it isn’t a simple variation of the sustainable development applied to the urban matter, it resumes many of its main principles, which are for some of them keeping with the long story of town planning. In any case, those principles are irrigating the urban law today. But from the legal rule to the concrete action is the way sometimes long, in order to limitefficaciously the urban sprawl or to reduce the urban pollutions for example. For a few year the frenchurban law is however being deeply transformed in order to contribute to resolve these problems and others, and to encourage the urban sustainable development. Thanks to which tools ? And despite of which obstacles ? These obstacles are not insignificant, and the even sound the real capacity of the French law, as it stands, to promote the urban sustainable development on the scale of the pertinent urban spaces, and not to block it.

No description available.