Recent Trends in Urban Agriculture to Improve Bioactive Content of Plant Foods

Abstract

Urban agriculture is an important part of the food and nutrition security of many cities and is growing in importance, especially with social disruptions such as climate change and pandemics. Plant foods, in particular, provide bioactive compounds and other essential nutrients. Therefore, it is important to provide timely and useful research resources to horticultural sector and food-related industries that want to produce high-quality plant foods at low cost to meet the market demands of urban agriculture. This study focuses on up-to-date information on urban agriculture, the mechanisms of production of bioactive compounds in plant foods, and the main factors influencing the levels of bioactive compounds in plant foods. As a strategy to improve the bioactive compounds of plant foods in urban agriculture, the recent trends in urban agriculture were investigated according to four categories: ground-based uncontrolled or controlled agriculture and building-integrated uncontrolled or controlled agriculture. In ground-based urban agriculture, the application of short-term abiotic or biotic stresses, such as agronomic management practices, can significantly affect the bioactive compound levels in fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, in building-integrated urban agriculture, horticultural scientists have been interested in artificial lighting, cultivation medium, and water use efficiency to improve the level and composition of functional components of plants. The future trend of urban agriculture is expected to change from ground-based to building integration considering the sustainability of agriculture. Therefore, ongoing research on the growth and bioactive content improvement of plant foods using building-integrated agriculture is an important aspect for urban agriculture.