Peri-urban expansion : application of consequential LCA to assess land for food or housing

Competing land uses such as urban expansion are impacting fresh food production in peri-urban Sydney. Providing both housing and fresh food at lower relative emissions rates should be a priority in policy development. This paper presents a method that enables a comprehensive view of environmental trade-offs at the urban-agricultural intersection. Using consequential LCA, global warming potential (GWP) was calculated for two peri-urban land use scenarios involving two distinct types of urban housing systems whilst accounting for agricultural diversity at the farm scale. In Scenario 1 Sydney's horticultural production was displaced by low density outer suburban housing. Scenario 2 involved retention of Sydney's horticultural production with an infill housing model. Results show that although differences were observed within the agricultural system, it is the urban housing system dominating GWP impacts, with scenario 1 having a GWP 74 t ha-1 higher than for scenario 2. Policy focus on urban housing systems for greenhouse gas abatement in the regional context is recommended.