On November 23–24, the final conference “Urban Agriculture for a Resilient Future: Future UA” organised by Nordregio, the Nordic research centre for regional development and planning, will take place in Stokholm, Sweden. Registration for online participants is still open until 22 November by noon.
The conference is open to everyone interested in any aspect of urban agriculture or sustainable life in the cities. In this free event experts from the Nordic and Baltic countries will discuss the potential of urban agriculture for sustainability thus closing the urban agriculture project Urban Agriculture for Resilient Future (#FutureUA). The speakers will share key learnings and create a launchpad for future initiatives.
The lecturers from different countries and different organisations will share the Nordic perspective on the future of urban agriculture, the necessary behavioural shift, the human factor and the impact of persistent change of habits. Best practice examples from different countries describing such initiatives as urban gardening and vertical farming will also be shared at the event.
The first day of the conference will focus on the Nordic-Baltic perspective on future urban agriculture. The second day will be devoted to inspirational presentation and setting ground for future collaboration with a workshop.
Programme (Riga time zone)
November 23
- 10:00–10:05 – Welcome to Nordregio – Luciane Aguiar Borges.
- 10:05–10:35 – Setting the scene: the Nordic perspective on the Future UA – Luciane Aguiar Borges, Maija Kāle and Kyösti Lempa.
- Why the FUTURE UA? – Maija Kāle; Nordic Council of Ministers Latvia.
- FUTURE UA Booklet – Luciane Aguiar Borges, Nordregio.
- Human factor for FUTURE UA – Kyösti Lempa, NordForsk.
- 10:35–10:50 – Energy Communities: connections with urban agriculture – Sebastian Berggren, Technopolis.
- 10:50–11:10 – Food self-sufficiency in Nordic Island societies – Ágúst Bogason and Mari Wøien Meijer, Nordregio.
- 11:10–11:30 – Nordic Food Environments and Behavior Change for Better Diets – Ana Berlina, Nordregio.
11:30–11:45 – Break
- 11:45–12:05 – Urban gardening initiative in Kaunas city in Lithuania – Rūta Lukošiūnaitė, Šilainių Gardens.
- 12:05–12:25 – Medicinal mushroom vertical farm in South Estonia – Siim Raadik, Shroomwell Innovation.
November 24
- 10:30–10:40 – Welcome and reflections on the first day – Luciane Aguiar Borges and Maija Kāle, Kyösti Lempa.
- 10:40–11:40 – Food for thought: Agriculture in the built environment – Erik Berg, Egnahemsfabriken.
- 11:40–12:50 – Workshop FUTURE UA – Kyösti Lempa, Maija Kāle, Luciane Aguiar Borges
- 12:50–13:00 – Final remarks.
The conference will be held in English.
Registration link for online session – click here.
The goal of the project Urban Agriculture for Resilient Future (#FutureUA) by Nordregio in Sweden, the Nordic Council of Ministers Offices in Latvia, and NordForsk is to gather different stakeholders to share knowledge and initiate regional change on issues related to urban agriculture and sustainable food production in the Nordic-Baltic region.
