2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Exploring the potential of edible landscapes for socio-ecological restoration of vacant land in shrinking Japanese cities
| Project/Area Number |
20K15552
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| Research Institution | Ehime University |
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Principal Investigator |
ルプレヒト クリストフ 愛媛大学, 社会共創学部, 准教授 (90783895)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | multispecies / landscape stewardship / edible landscape / multispecies campus / degrowth / post-growth / sustainability / restoration |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Examining the potential of edible landscape for socio-ecological restoration of vacant land in shrinking cities, this project investigated ways to unlock benefits for human health, sustainability and other species. Due to the COVID pandemic, focus was partly shifted from fieldwork to conceptual research.
Final year accomplishments: 1) completion of plant database for socio-ecological restoration, 2) completion of multilingual systematic review of edible landscape literature & publication as preprint, 3) publication of landmark paper on sustainable post-growth food systes principles in Nature Sustainability, 4) application of project results in newly launched Ehime University multispecies campus project.
Overall, this project produced major insights and achievements: 1) Currently, nutrition data availability and access to cultural knowledge & seeds/seedlings are major barriers for implementing socio-ecological restoration with local indigenous plants. Vacant land is available, but land governance remains a barrier. Major progress on enabling infrastructure (research & outreach) should be prioritized. 2) Nevertheless, our plant database and several multispecies edible landscape based design proposals provide starting points to initiate restoration work. 3) Theoretical and conceptal work on multispecies sustainability, multispecies edible landscape, and sustainable post-growth food system principles resulting from this project provide a fertile basis for urban sustainability transformations. In light of future pandemics, the importance of this research has only increased.
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