Toward climate-smart urban agriculture in Palembang: A systematic review on strategies, trade-offs, and synergies

¹ Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Muhammadiyah University of Palembang, Palembang, 30139, South Sumatra, Indonesia
² Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), Muhammadiyah University of Palembang, Palembang, 30139, South Sumatra, Indonesia
³ Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Muhammadiyah University of Palembang, Palembang, 30139, South Sumatra, Indonesia
⁴ Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indralaya, 30662, South Sumatra, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as a strategic approach to addressing the intertwined challenges of food security, urban sustainability, and climate change. However, its contribution to food-system resilience and environmental sustainability is not inherently direct or uniform; rather, it is shaped by technological choices, governance arrangements, and the socio-economic capacity of urban communities. This article systematically reviews the strategies, trade-offs, and synergies associated with the development of climate-smart urban agriculture, with relevance to Palembang City, Indonesia. A systematic literature review was conducted using the PRISMA framework, drawing on bibliographic records from Google Scholar and Scopus. A total of 400 records were identified, comprising 200 from Google Scholar and 200 from Scopus. Following deduplication, 48 records were removed, leaving 352 unique records for the screening stage. The synthesis reveals five key contributions of urban agriculture: strengthening food security, improving resource efficiency, supporting climate-change adaptation, enhancing socio-economic empowerment, and enabling integration with sustainable urban governance. At the same time, several critical trade-offs were identified, including land scarcity, energy and water requirements, soil contamination risks, technological costs, and policy fragmentation. In the context of Palembang, this article proposes a climate-smart urban agriculture model that integrates household food gardens, low-cost hydroponics, aquaponics, community gardens, organic-waste management, and urban blue-green infrastructure. The review underscores that urban agriculture should not be positioned as a stand-alone solution, but rather as part of an inclusive, adaptive, and climate-resilient transformation of urban food systems.