Integrating urban rooftop farming into city governance in megacities: A systematic literature review

Urban rooftop farming (URF), a type of urban agricultural practice, has gained popularity in densely populated megacities for its potential to provide diverse benefits. The administration of this rapidly developing locally generated practice is poorly understood, despite extensive research on URF's numerous forms and environmental, economic, and social benefits. A structured governance framework is needed to promote and sustain urban rooftop farming (URF) as a climate change mitigation strategy. This study aims to address the research gap in URF governance by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 75 published materials using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology. The study seeks to characterize the governance process for promoting, restricting, and regulating URF within the city governance system for wider adaptation. Based on the review, the paper offers a two-tier governance framework (e.g., internal and external) that requires attention from local government and various stakeholders. Although a structured governance framework is scarce in this space, existing literature helps define potential policy and design instruments, relevant stakeholders and their interrelationships and appropriate strategies for integrating with city governance. The finding is critical to unfold the institutional response for mainstreaming URF as a solution to sustainable and resilient cities.