Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Managing Urban Soils for Food Security and Adaptation to Climate Change

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Urbanization: Challenge and Opportunity for Soil Functions and Ecosystem Services (SUITMA 2017)

Part of the book series: Springer Geography ((SPRINGERGEOGR))

Abstract

The 21st century is the era of rapid global urbanization. Urbanization can have severe ecological consequences because of the perturbation of the cycles of water (H2O), carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and other elements, and contamination/pollution of soil and the environment. Drastic reduction in the forest vegetation cover and soil compaction, truncation, mixing and perturbation aggravate disruption of soil functions and the attendant ecosystem disservices. Most soils of urban ecosystems are severely depleted of their soil organic carbon (SOC) reserves, and the total magnitude of the terrestrial C pool (soil plus vegetation) is drastically reduced. There are also shortages of fresh supply of vegetables, fruits and other food commodities in densely populated urban centers. These problems may be aggravated by climate change, increase in frequency and intensity of extreme events, and increase in risks of contamination of soil and eutrophication of water resources. Urban ecosystems are also a major source of greenhouse gases through consumption of energy-based services (e.g., transport, heating, cooling, infrastructure development and management). Despite numerous challenges in restoration and sustainable management of soil, water, vegetation and other natural resources, judicious management of urban soils and landscapes also provides opportunities of sequestering C in soil and vegetation, improving the environment, recycling nutrients in biowaste and gray/black water to grow food and biofuel feedstock, and developing industries focused on production of food and energy, purification of water, and production of amendments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Chen, J.: Rapid urbanization in china: a real challenge to soil protection and food security. Catena 69, 1–15 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. U.N.: World Urbanization Prospects 2014 Revision. U.N. (2014a). ISBN 978-92-1-151517-6

    Google Scholar 

  3. U.N.: The world population prospects: the 2014 revision. Annual rate of change of the percentage urban by major area, region and country. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, New York (2014b)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Hooke, R.L., Martin-Duque, J.F., Pedraza, J.: Land transformation by humans: a review. GSA Today 22, 4–10 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu, Z., He, C., Zhou, Y., Wu, J.: How much of the world’s land has been urbanized, really? a hierarchical framework for avoiding confusion. Landsc. Ecol. 29, 763–771 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Satterthwait, D., McGranthan, G., Tacoli, C.: Urbanization and its implications for food and farming. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 365, 2809–2820 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Maunier, R.: The definition of the city. Am. J. Sociol. 15, 536–548 (1910)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Schneider, A., Woodcock, C.: Compact, dispersed, fragmented, extensive? a comparison of urban growth in twenty-five global cities using remotely sensed data, pattern metrics and census information. Urban Stud. 45, 659–692 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bren d’Amour, C., Reitsma, F., Baiocchi, G., Barthel, S., Güneralp, B., Erb, K.H., Haberl, H., Creutzig, F., Seto, K.C.: Future urban land expansion and implications for global croplands. PNAS (2016). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1606036114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lal, R.: Soil health and carbon management. Food Energy Secur. 5(4), 212–222 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Cox, W.: How much of the world is covered by cities. NewGeography, 23 July 2010. http://www.newgeography.com/content/001689-how-much-world-covered-cities

  12. Schneider, A., Friedl, M., Potere, D.: A new map of global urban extent from MODIS satellite data. Environ. Res. Lett. 4(4) (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Biello, D.: Gigalopolises: Urban Land Area May Triple By 2030. Scientific American, New York (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Seto, K., Guneralp, B., Hutyra, L.: Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. PNAS U.S.A. 109, 16083–16088 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mothorpe, C., Hanson, A., Schnier, K.: The impact of interstate highways on land use conversion. Ann. Reg. Sci. 51, 833–870 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. U.N.: Demographia world urban area, 13th Annual Edition, New York, p. 112 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Daley, M., Potter, J., McDowell, W.: Salinization of urbanizing New Hampshire streams and groundwater: effects of road salt and hydrologic variability. J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 28, 929–940 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Diawara, M., Litt, J., Unis, D., Alfonso, N., Martinez, L., et al.: Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in surface soils, Pueblo, Colorado: implications for population health risk. Environ. Geochem. Health 28, 297–315 (2006)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Romic, M., Romic, D.: Heavy metals distribution in agricultural topsoils in urban area. Environ. Geol. 43, 795–805 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Liu, W.H., Zhao, J.Z., Ouyang, Z.Y., Soderlund, L., Liu, G.H.: Impacts of sewage irrigation on heavy metal distribution and contamination in Beijing, China. Environ. Int. 31(6), 805–812 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Hu, X., Wu, H., Hu, X., Fang, S., Wu, C.: Impact of urbanization on Shanghai’s soil environmental quality. Pedosphere 14, 151–158 (2004)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Davydova, S.: Heavy metals as toxicants in big cities. Microchem. J. 79, 133–136 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kondoh, A., Nishiyama, J., Gupta, R.: Changes in hydrological cycle due to urbanization in the suburb of Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Japan. Remote Sens. Land Surf. Charact. 26, 1173–1176 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Galster, J.C., Pazzaglia, F.J., Hargreaves, B.R., Morris, D.P., Peters, C., Weisman, R.W.: Effects of urbanization of watershed hydrology: the scaling of discharge with drainage area. Geology 34, 713–716 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Xu, Y.P., Xu, J.T., Ding, J.J., Chen, Y., Yin, Y.X., Zhang, X.Q.: Impacts of urbanization on hydrology in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Water Sci. Technol. 62(6), 1221–1229 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Barco, J., Hogue, T., Curto, V., Rademacher, L.: Linking hydrology and stream geochemistry in urban fringe watersheds. J. Hydrol. 360(1–4), 31–47 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Schneider, A., Logan, K., Kucharik, C.: Impacts of urbanization on ecosystem goods and services in the U.S. Corn belt. Ecosyst. 15, 519–541 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Jujnovsky, J., Almeida-Lenero, L., Bojorge-Garcia, M., Menges, Y., Cantoral-Uriza, E., Mazari-Hiriart, M.: Hydrologic ecosystem services: water quality and quantity in the Magdalena River, Mexico City. Hidrobiologica 20, 113–126 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Jiang, C., Wu, Z., Cheng, J., Yu, Q., Rao, X.: Impacts of urbanization on net primary productivity in the Pearl River Delta, China. Int. J. Plant Prod. 9, 581–598 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Hutyra, L., Duren, R., Gurney, K., Grimm, N., Kort, E., Larson, E., Shrestha, G.: Urbanization and the carbon cycle: Current capabilities and research outlook from the natural sciences perspective. Earths Future 2, 473–495 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Marcotullio, P., Hughes, S., Sarzynski, A., Pincetl, S., Pena, L., et al.: Urbanization and the carbon cycle: Contributions from social science. Earths Future 2, 496–514 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Carlson, T., Arthur, S.: The impact of land use - land cover changes due to urbanization on surface microclimate and hydrology: a satellite perspective. Global Planet. Change 25, 49–65 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Liu, L., Zhang, X., Zhong, T.: Pollution and health risk assessment of heavy metals in urban soil in China. Human Ecol. Risk Assess. 22(2), 424–434 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. de Souza, D.: Alvala, R., do Nascimento, M.: Urbanization effects on the microclimate of Manaus: a modeling study. Atmos. Res. 167, 237–248 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Oke, T.R.: The heat island of the urban boundary layer: characteristics, causes, and effects. In: Cermak, J.E. (ed.) Wind Climate in Cities, pp. 81–107. Kluwer Academic, Netherlands (1995)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  36. Alberti, M.: The effects of urban patterns on ecosystem function. International Regional Science Review 28, 168–192 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Igalavithana, A., Lee, S., Niazi, N., Lee, Y., Kim, K., Park, J., Moon, D., Ok, Y.: Assessment of soil health in urban agriculture: soil enzymes and microbial properties. Sustainability 9(2), 1–14 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Kabisch, N., Haase, D.: Green spaces of European cities revisited for 1990–2006. Lands. Urban Plann. 110, 113–122 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Borgmann, K.L., Rodewald, A.D.: Forest restoration in urbanizing landscapes: interactions between land uses and exotic shrubs. Restor. Ecol. 13, 334–340 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Beckett, K.P., Freer-Smith, P.H., Taylor, G.: Urban woodlands: their role in reducing the effects of particulate pollution. Environ. Pollut. 99, 347–360 (1998)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Lehmann, A., Stahr, K.: Nature and significance of anthropogenic urban soils. J. Soils Sediments 7, 247–260 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Brunsell, N.A., Menking, K.M, Anderson, R.Y., Allen, B.D.: Atmospheric and hydrologic estimates of evaporation for the Estancia basin playa complex. New Mexico Geological Society Meeting, 9 April, Socorro, New Mexico (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Cogger, C.G.: Potential compost benefits for restoration of soils disturbed by urban development. Compost Science and Utilization 13, 243–251 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Obrycki J, Basta N, Culman S (2017) Management Options for Contaminated Urban Soils to Reduce Public Exposure and Maintain Soil Health. Journal of Environmental Quality

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Hulse, J.: Symposium 5: Integrated food systems for food security in a a changing world environment - sy 5-1: Integrated food systems and the urbanization of Asia and Africa. J. Food Sci. 69, R130–R132 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Wenban-Smith, H., Fasse, A., Grote, U.: Food security in Tanzania: the challenge of rapid urbanisation. Food Secur. 8, 973–984 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Li, W., Kim, J.: China’s Urbanization and Food Security. Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization. 337–370 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Cheng, L., Jiang, P., Chen, W., Li, M., Wang, L., Gong, Y., Pian, Y., Xia, N., Duan, Y., Huang, Q.: Farmland protection policies and rapid urbanization in China: a case study for Changzhou City. Land Use Policy 48, 552–566 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Hasan S, Habiba U, Abedin M, Hassan A, Shaw R (2015) Anthropogenic Causes: Population Pressure, Demographic Changes, Urbanization and Its Implication on Food Security. Food Security and Risk Reduction in Bangladesh, 19–38

    Google Scholar 

  50. Lopez, T., Aide, T., Thomlinson, J.: Urban expansion and the loss of prime agricultural lands in Puerto Rico. Ambio 30(1), 49–54 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Martellozzo, F., Ramankutty, N., Hall, R., Price, D., Purdy, B., Friedl, M.: Urbanization and the loss of prime farmland: a case study in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor of Alberta. Reg. Environ. Change 15(5), 881–893 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Chen, X., Li, B., Allen, M.: Characterizing urbanization, and agricultural and conservation land-use change in Riverside County, California. USA. Ecol. Complex. Sustain. 1195(S1), E164–E176 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Erickson, D., Lovell, S., Mendez, V.: Identifying, quantifying and classifying agricultural opportunities for land use planning. Landsc. Urban Plann. 118, 29–39 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Christiansen, F.: Food security, urbanization and social stability in China. J. Agrar. Change 9, 548–575 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Ruel, M., Garrett, J., Haddad, L., Semba, R., Bloem, M.: Rapid urbanization and the challenges of obtaining food and nutrition security. Nutrition and Health in Developing Countries, Second Edn, pp. 639–56 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Masters, W., Djurfeldt, A., De Haan, C., Hazell, P., Jayne, T., Jirstrom, M., Reardon, T.: Urbanization and farm size in Asia and Africa: implications for food security and agricultural research. Global Food Secur-Agric. Policy Econ. Environ. 2, 156–165 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Djurfeldt, A.: Urbanization and linkages to smallholder farming in sub-saharan Africa: implications for food security. Global Food Secur.-Agric. Policy Econ. Environ. 4, 1–7 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Kew, B., Lee, B.: Measuring sprawl across the urban rural continuum using an amalgamated sprawl index. Sustainability 5, 1806–1828 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Li, W.B., Wan, D.Y., Li, H., Liu, S.H.: Urbanization-induced site condition changes of peri-urban cultivated land in the black soil region of northeast China. Ecol. Ind. 80, 215–223 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Despommier, D.: A parasite for all seasons. Nat. Hist. 124, 24–29 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  61. Murray, H., Pinchin, T., Macfie, S.: Compost application affects metal uptake in plants grown in urban garden soils and potential human health risk. J. Soils Sediments 11(5), 815–829 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Cachada, A., Pato, P., Rocha-Santos, T., da Silva, E., Duarte, A.: Levels, sources and potential human health risks of organic pollutants in urban soils. Sci. Total Environ. 430, 184–192 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Knight, A., Cheng, Z., Grewal, S., Islam, K., Kleinhenz, M., Grewal, P.: Soil health as a predictor of lettuce productivity and quality: A case study of urban vacant lots. Urban Ecosyst. 16(3), 637–656 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Oberndorfer, E., Lundholm, J., Bass, B., Coffman, R.R., Doshi, H., Dunnett, N., Gaffin, S., Kohler, M., Liu, K.K.Y., Rowe, B.: Green roofs as urban ecosystems: ecological structures, functions, and services. Bioscience 57, 823–833 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Ehrenfeld, J.G.: Evaluating wetlands within an urban context. Ecol. Eng. 15, 253–265 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Craul, P.J.: Urban soils: applications and principles. Wiley, New York (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  67. Lal, R., Augustin, B. (eds.): Carbon Sequestration in Urban Ecosystems, p. 383. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  68. Lal, R., Stewart, B.A.: Urban soils. Advances in Soil Science, 416 p. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  69. Levin, M.J., Kim, K.H.J., Morel, J.L., Burghardt, W., Charzynski, P., Shaw, R.K.: Soils within Cities: Global Approaches to their Sustainable Management—Composition, Properties and Functions of Soils of the Urban Environment, p. 253. Schweizbart Science Publishers, Catena, Stuttgart (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  70. Despommier, D.: The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martins Press, New York (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  71. Hoornweg, D., Pope, K.: Socioeconomic pathways and regional distribution of the world’s 101 largest cities. Global Cities Institute Working Paper No. 04, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  72. PRB (Population Reference Bureau): (2017) 2017 World Population Data Sheet. http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2017/2017-world-population-data-sheet.aspx

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Rattan Lal

Authors
  1. Rattan Lal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rattan Lal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. RUDN University, Moscow, c.Moscow, Russia

    Viacheslav Vasenev

  2. RUDN University, Moscow, c.Moscow, Russia

    Elvira Dovletyarova

  3. City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, USA

    Zhongqi Cheng

  4. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, c.Moscow, Russia

    Tatiana V. Prokof’eva

  5. Université de Lorraine , Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Jean Louis Morel

  6. Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, c.Moscow, Russia

    Nadezhda D. Ananyeva

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Lal, R. (2019). Managing Urban Soils for Food Security and Adaptation to Climate Change. In: Vasenev, V., Dovletyarova, E., Cheng, Z., Prokof’eva, T., Morel, J., Ananyeva, N. (eds) Urbanization: Challenge and Opportunity for Soil Functions and Ecosystem Services. SUITMA 2017. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89602-1_35

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation