Global Urban Food–Water–Habitat Resilience Framework, Version 1.6: Theoretical Edition with Academic Lineage, Geographical Evidence and Precedent Base

Aim. This work develops an integrated theoretical framework for treating food, water, soil and habitat systems as a single class of urban infrastructure across cities and peri-urban regions. It proposes the Food–Water–Habitat District as a core operational unit, articulates four delivery layers (strategic context, system architecture, governance and performance), and tests the framework against arid and high-rise contexts. The Framework is the mature theoretical extension of the author’s MA research on landscape design and flooding (Kidger, 2011), developed over fifteen years of subsequent practice. Original contributions. The work contributes (i) a typology of Productive Glazed Buildings with four variants and a six-layer monitoring stack; (ii) a dual water hierarchy distinguishing stormwater management in temperate contexts from source diversification in arid contexts; (iii) a substrate-engineering pathway for zero-soil sites; (iv) a regional case-application to the Middle East and Gulf; and (v) a geographical evidence base situating the Framework’s claims across food-import dependency, compound climate stress and flood-research attention. Method. The framework is developed through a synthesis of published evidence from authoritative assessments (IPCC, CBD, UNCCD, IPBES, FAO, HLPE-FSN, UN-Habitat, UNDRR, WMO) and peer-reviewed literature, integrated with the author’s earlier MA research methodology. References follow the Harvard author–date convention. Limits. This is theoretical work. Quantitative thresholds and minimum performance levels are deliberately not fixed; cost figures are not provided; institutional sponsorship is not claimed; pilot results are not presented. The framework is offered for scholarly engagement, peer comment and theoretical refinement, not as a policy submission or implementation programme.