CIRC4FooD
- PROJECTS
- Sep 3, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 31
Urban Agriculture system inspired by the Circular Economy
Duration: 29 October 2020 - 28 April 2023
Funding programme: EPAnEK 2014-2020 Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Operational Programme
Project budget: € 836.950,00
SEL NTUA budget: € 202.600,00
Coordinator: AGENSO- Agricultural and Enviromental solutions
SEL NTUA role: Scientific Project Manager - WP4 leader: “Evaluation of results and system improvements”
Project website: circ4food.eu
CIRC4FooD in a nutshell
The CIRC4FooD project aims to present a city-wide pilot application of circular urban agriculture in Trikala, Greece, where 31 pilots were implemented at households and schools. Each pilot consists of a rainwater collection and storage system, a composting system, a precision irrigation system for the urban agriculture plot, and an online platform for user monitoring and management.
City-wide demonstration through 31 pilots
The circular urban agriculture pilots were strategically integrated into key locations in private and public spaces across the urban and peri-urban areas of Trikala. They were implemented at small scale (27 households), and large scale (4 public school buildings) aiming to deliver diverse benefits to residents and urban ecosystems by expanding green spaces and fostering the health and well-being of residents by encouraging their participation in vegetable gardening.
Our expertise in the project
SEL has been responsible for the rainwater harvesting models as well as extensive sampling campaigns in the field for water quality analyses in the lab. In addition, the team designed the pilots selection methodology and the implementation strategy. SEL was also responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the pilots based on an extensive list of KPIs, a comprehensive monitoring plan, and a mixed-methods evaluation methodology consisting of social, environmental, economic, social acceptance, social impact, and performance indicators. In the context of this methodology, SEL conducted user interviews, organized focus groups at the public schools, and analyzed a large set of collected data from each pilot throughout the duration of the project. The results of the evaluation can be found in the relevant publication.
Research team
Simos Malamis, Danos Mamais, Constantinos Noutsopoulos, Alexandra Tsatsou, Christos Ioannidis, Marianna Gioldasi Kleopatra Gega Lambrini Papaspyrou, Vasiliki Kypraiou
SEL NTUA Innovation Pillars
Knowledge hub
Ioannides, C., Tsatsou, A., Mamais, D., Malamis, S., Tsimiklis, G., Tsiakou, D., Tsiropoulos, Z., Michailidou, M., Tzourtziotis, A., Karaberi, C. and Raptis, O., 2025. Urban agriculture as a nature-based solution to foster circularity in cities: the case study of Trikala, Greece. Urban Water Journal, pp.1-9. Read more here.
