Greenhood team wins 2nd place in the International Student Challenge UrbanFarm
A team consisting of students of the ICTA-UAB Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability(SAES) has obtained the 2nd position in the third edition of the International Student Challenge UrbanFarm organised by the University of Bolonia in the framework of the EU H2020 project Food Systems in European Cities (FoodE).
The members of the Spanish team Greenhood are Jessica Bubenheim, Sofie Dejaegher, Xènia Manzano Espriu, Marta van Ginkel González, Maria Iordanoglou, Marianne Puig Lescure, Berta Roset and Gustavo Zamorano.
Increasing of urban population is leading to re-design and re-place centres of food production in order to make cities more sustainable and to foster the creation of new economies. To boost this trend, the University of Bologna has organized the Student Challenge UrbanFarm2021, in which international and multidisciplinary student teams were invited to design innovative urban agriculture systems that integrate the best architectural and technological innovations for food production in urban environments.
Their projects should be based on existing vacant spaces in three selected European cities, characterized by different peculiarities: Bologna (Italy), Romainville (France) and Napoli (Italy), all of them partners of the EU H2020 Project Food Systems in European Cities (FoodE), led by the University of Bologna. The Greenhood team has developed its proposal in Napoli. Their design should have a strong and entrepreneurial connotation, promoting the generation of new forms of employment for disadvantaged users.
A total of 166 Students and 28 teams from 26 universities have joined the challenge. The competition was open to student teams from all over the world, and teams may comprise students from different universities and universities of applied sciences. The members of the ICTA-UAB Greenhood team come from Spain, Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, the United States, Germany and Chile.
The FoodE project, which involves ICTA-UAB researchers, brings together a highly qualified consortium of 24 organizations, including universities, research institutes, SMEs, NGOs, as well as city councils spread across 8 EU countries. FoodE is financed under Horizon 2020, the European Union Research and Innovation Framework Programme (2014-2020) and will run for four years between 2020 and 2024. FoodE aims to accelerate the growth of sustainable and resilient City/Region Food Systems (CRFS) by bringing together citizen-led local food initiatives across Europe. FoodE seeks to build a “Think global, eat local” mindset with a view to addressing pressing global challenges that threaten food security, while boosting the local economy.