WASTE MANAGEMENT, WATER POLLUTION, AIR POLLUTION,

Abstract

The environmental dimension is a key factor in a city sustainable development and must be incorporated in the planning process of the dense and complex urban areas. Nowadays particular emphasis is given to the problems of water, soil and air pollution in urban context. However, those evaluations not always motivate the indispensable environmental and social conscience to mitigate the origin of the pollution problems. So, in some cases the public health is in risk, mainly when the presence of preoccupying levels of contamination can be identified in soils and plants. In Portuguese cities, and around the world, people are making small but significant changes to help sustain our ecosystem every day. In that context, the kitchen garden is gaining renewed interest as one component of the movement towards local, fresh, and seasonal foods. But the urban pollution is a preoccupant threat to the sustainability and viability of kitchen gardens as domestic production areas of food with appropriate quality. In a recent research work in the city of Braga, in the Northwest part of Portugal, a serious problem of contamination was detected and compromises the environmental viability of kitchen gardens in the urban area. The research identify that the lettuces produced in the urban area of the city, usually included in the inhabitants food diet, accumulates significant levels of cadmium, lead and zinc. Also the analytical results of soils samples reveal high values for those metals. The lettuce and soils samples from several urban kitchen gardens present cadmium, lead and zinc concentrations levels higher than the standard limited fixed by the European Commission Regulation. The concentrations levels are also higher than the samples from kitchen gardens in rural neighbourhood areas. Understanding the interrelations between urban pollution and the sustainability of urban kitchen gardens is essential to the cities planning process. Healthier and better planned cities must integrate social and ecological conscience for more sustainable attitudes and behaviours. 2nd International Conference on WASTE MANAGEMENT, WATER POLLUTION, AIR POLLUTION, INDOOR CLIMATE (WWAI'08) Corfu, Greece, October 26-28, 2008 ISSN: 1790-5095 11 ISBN: 978-960-474-017-8 Urban Pollution and the Impacts in Urban Kitchen Gardens Sustainability RUI A.R. RAMOS, RUTE S.B.F.F. PINTO Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering University of Minho Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga PORTUGAL rui.ramos@civil.uminho.pt http://www.civil.uminho.pt Abstract: A sustainable city must incorporate the environmental dimension in the development of the dense and complex urban area. To reach that, the urban agriculture and the green spaces with multiple uses, such as urban kitchen gardens, must be incorporated in the cities sustainable development model. In Portugal, Braga is a good example of those cities where the preservation of rurality tradition is important in the urban development, for the city presents an eminent agricultural involving landscape that coexists with the urban centre activities. Nowadays, city centre kitchen gardens represent the remaining portions of the agricultural life once intensely lived. However, Braga also presents typical environmental problems of large cities, such as the significant increase of mobility and road traffic, which puts the viability of the urban kitchen gardens health at risk. The present work describes the methodology used in a monitoring process in order to analyse the environmental condition of Braga urban kitchen gardens. Soil and lettuce samples from eight different sites had been analysed taking into account their chemical composition. The analysis results show viable problems for the urban kitchen gardens as agricultural spaces that produce food with an appropriate quality for a nutritious diet. The results reveal preoccupying levels of contamination and pollution of heavy metals such as Cadmium, Lead and Zinc. A sustainable city must incorporate the environmental dimension in the development of the dense and complex urban area. To reach that, the urban agriculture and the green spaces with multiple uses, such as urban kitchen gardens, must be incorporated in the cities sustainable development model. In Portugal, Braga is a good example of those cities where the preservation of rurality tradition is important in the urban development, for the city presents an eminent agricultural involving landscape that coexists with the urban centre activities. Nowadays, city centre kitchen gardens represent the remaining portions of the agricultural life once intensely lived. However, Braga also presents typical environmental problems of large cities, such as the significant increase of mobility and road traffic, which puts the viability of the urban kitchen gardens health at risk. The present work describes the methodology used in a monitoring process in order to analyse the environmental condition of Braga urban kitchen gardens. Soil and lettuce samples from eight different sites had been analysed taking into account their chemical composition. The analysis results show viable problems for the urban kitchen gardens as agricultural spaces that produce food with an appropriate quality for a nutritious diet. The results reveal preoccupying levels of contamination and pollution of heavy metals such as Cadmium, Lead and Zinc. Key-Words: Sustainable City; Urban Pollution; Urban Agriculture, Urban Kitchen Gardens