ABSTRACT
Worldwide, urban development has been increasingly influenced by the model of smart cities. However, smart cities have been criticized due to their inability to build a just and inclusive urban environment for their dwellers. One of the main topics related to smart cities is the integration of agricultural production in their ecosystems. Even if information and communications technologies (ICT) have been used in agricultural development since the late decades of the past century, they are unable to guarantee a sustainable development. Moreover, agroecology is an agricultural approach that enhances the quality of ecosystem services and human well-being, including in urban areas. The introduction of this approach in urban ecosystems is difficult due to the complexity of knowledge and principles that should be developed to design an agroecological system. In this framework, ICT could provide some useful tools to enhance the competencies of dwellers to practice agroecology within cities. In this regard, the chapter explores which role agroecology could play in smart cities. Specifically, it investigates how ICT could spread agroecological approaches in order to boost urban agriculture in cities. Finally, the chapter explores how smart urban agriculture tends to guarantee food sovereignty and the maintenance of ecosystem services.
