Projects
Nutrient budgets, flows, and loops: understanding, measuring, and fostering circularity in urban food systems KU Leuven
Cities are important nodes in a food system, even when they lack any agricultural activity. On the one hand, they concentrate consumption and drive food production; on the other, they produce big quantities of nutrient-rich effluents (organic waste, sewage sludge) that are typically wasted and not returned to the soil. Understanding and fostering the circularity of urban food systems through closing, narrowing, and slowing material and energy ...
SUPURBFOOD - Towards sustainable modes of urban and peri-urban food provisioning Ghent University
In this project we want to approach 'short food chains' and 'multifunctional agriculture' rather from an urban than rural perspective. Shortening food chains is a way to reduce the environmental impact of agro-food systems. If want to improve the environmental performance of the agro-food system, also other streams (eg nutrients, water, and municipal waste) must be taken into account. This project aims to integrate all these aspects.
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'Wo mistus, da Christus'. A micro-perspective on the allocation and recycling of urban waste in the rural economy of early modern Flanders. University of Antwerp
Mechanisms and eco-evolutionary implications of urban evolution in the water flea Daphnia KU Leuven
Urbanization induces strong environmental alterations and is considered a strong selective agent in current day landscapes. I previously showed that the water flea Daphnia magna genetically adapts to urbanization via the evolution of a higher heat tolerance, a faster pace-of-life, and higher concentrations of energy reserves. Daphnia is an important interactor in freshwater ponds and pools, contributing to the clear-water phase via top-down ...
Urban Academy: a collaboratorium for sustainability issues in Ghent Ghent University
The Urban Academy focuses on socio-ecological problems in the city of Ghent and at Ghent University. Academic staff, students, policy makers, civil society actors, etc. work in inter- and transdisciplinary research processes on problem definitions and possible solutions, (living lab) experiments and upscaling initiatives, (policy) reports and scientific articles. Our theoretical and analytical framework integrates socio-spatial, ...
'Wo mistus, da Christus'. A micro-perspective on the allocation and recycling of urban waste in the rural economy of early modern Flanders. University of Antwerp
Innovative tools enabling drinking WATER PROTECTion in rural and urban environments Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
How can farmers in Europe be better and more effectively involved in improving water quality in catchments for drinking water? The European Horizon2020 project 'WaterProtect' focuses on one factor regarding the problem of improving the surface water quality, namely the persistent diffuse pollution of drinking water sources by agriculturally used pesticides and fertilizers. The aim is to ...
Converting organic matters from European urban and natural areas into stable bio-energy Ghent University
The utilisation and development of environmentally friendly technologies are key factors for the achievement of the ambitious aims of EU to increase the share of renewable energies. The ener-getic utilisation of biomass has an important role, as in contrast to other renewables (wind/PV), biomass is storable and it is possible to produce storable bio-fuels.
However, at present the energy production from biomass is often economically ...
Janoob Al Hizam’s Peri-Urban Landscapes in Transformation: Critically mapping displacement-to-settlement processes through resistance towards more inclusive urban design frameworks KU Leuven
The Sudanese capital of Khartoum, similar to many postcolonial African cities, has witnessed exponential urban growth due to rural-urban migration since its independence in 1956. This migration has been highly accelerated by internal displacement between 1970 and 2005. Lacking the tools to address successions of mass displacement, the state resorted to inherited colonial planning practices that have allocated displaced communities to the ...