An approach to sustainable food security management in the Balkans through urban horticulture

The pandemic has reinforced the importance of formulating an urban food policy and prioritizing the principles that express it, with a view to obtaining sustainable food security. Healthy and sustainable nutrition is a critical element of European policy as improving nutrition will focus on enhancing both ecosystem health and public health. In recent years many factors have emerged that have created economic, climate and social crises - or have revived strategies to combat their effects. Urban horticulture has come to stay as an alternative strategy for upgrading urban life and developing sustainability. As it turns out, it can face problems such as urbanization, social exclusion, lack of free space, climate crisis, poverty, lack of environmental education and social solidarity, food degradation, etc. The descriptive and systematic review of the literature was chosen as a research process to fully clarify the role of urban horticulture in the sustainable food security of the cities belonging to the Balkan region. In the systematic review case, inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were included. The descriptive review was based on the grey literature, bibliographic lists of books, previous research projects, bibliography of relevant articles, etc. The results of these studies are obtained through a critical evaluation of the literature review, emphasising the need to capture the current situation and in the search for sustainable urban solutions to address the problems at the lowest cost. Although the survey showed significant differences in the result rates, there seems to be a correlation between urbanization and rates of research on urban farming in conjunction with food security. Also, other parameters such as poverty, the health crisis, social inequalities, etc., that affect the data on urban cultivation in the countries of interest should be further investigated.