In addition to global population growth and the effects of climate change, the densification of urban areas is one of the key challenges for ensuring a healthy food supply. The space for agriculture in cities is limited and the available agricultural land in rural areas is also shrinking. Without adaptation, today's agricultural systems will not be able to feed the world's growing population in the future. For this reason, new approaches to food production are required.

The CUBES Circle (Closed Urban Modular Energy- and Resource-efficient Agricultural Systems) project aims to realise and optimise the sustainable, energy- and resource-efficient production of healthy food through the smart networking of different agricultural systems, exemplified by plant and insect production and aquaculture in a variable, resilient and adaptable closed-loop system. Application contexts in (peri)urban environments in industrialised and emerging countries with existing technical infrastructure are considered. The implementation of this complex, space-optimised production system across three trophic levels, whose material and energy flows are embedded in the environment and which pursues a zero-waste philosophy, represents a highly innovative approach to the sustainable production of healthy food regardless of the climate.

The expected research results of CUBES Circle in the second project phase include:

• the further development and optimisation of the linked production systems
• the testing of new combinations of organisms and, if necessary, trophic levels
• efficient scaling of the trophic levels
•  the evaluation of suitable application contexts and possible locations
• the creation of a process twin for the digital simulation of the CUBES Circle processes in order to partially replace trials and enable critical dialogue with the public as well as the training and familiarisation of future operators
•  the development of a transdisciplinary concept for community engagement at potential CUBES sites

More information on the project and the consortium can be found here.

•  Optimisation of the regulation and control algorithms for resource-optimised networking of the ProductionCUBES (A-1) extrinsic
•  Optimisation of intrinsic material cycles with simultaneous integration of sustainable materials from outside (A-2)
• Testing new crops/organisms for their suitability in the Circle. Exchange of substances with other agricultural systems (A-3)
• System modelling and development of a process twin for a better understanding of control processes (B-1)
• Development of a visual twin to make the CUBES Circle system accessible to operators and the public at a low threshold (B-2)
• Ensuring the utilisation of the results achieved in the consortium, also beyond the project duration. As well as developing integrative strategies to build trust, legitimacy, approval and psychological identification with the new CUBES Circle production system (C-1)
• Carrying out a comprehensive sustainability, resilience and location assessment for CUBES Circle (C-2).

• In field of work A, three sub-projects focus on validating the intrinsic material and energy flows over a longer period of time and consistently linking them with extrinsic flows (A-1). In different combinations of different plant, fish and insect species, the routines tested so far in simulation mode will be provided with improved algorithms based on control theory and AI, integrated into the developed process control system Cubes Circle Control (C3) and trained with the measurement data from the testbed (A-2). In the second phase of the project, the intrinsic value chains will be further optimised and the extrinsic material and energy inputs in the system will be examined more closely. The question is which peripheral material and energy resources can be sustainably introduced into the overall system. At the same time, the foundation of production is strengthened by testing the suitability of additional crops/species. This will be done taking into account process and product quality and through newly identified interfaces to other agricultural systems of the future (A-3).
• In work area B, a digital twin consisting of the two components process twin and visual twin is created for the CUBES Circle testbed (B-1). The process twin is intended to make the processes in production operations plannable, automatable, predictable and controllable for humans (B-2). The visual twin integrates the process twin and makes it visible to operators and the public at a low threshold through the use of immersive technologies. It will be used in the transformation pathways of the agricultural systems of the future (integrative indoor production systems as well as local and regional material cycle systems) and will be accessible for acceptance studies.
• Work area C deals with the implementation scenarios and transformation paths. Inter-consortia cooperation will also be coordinated and ensured in this sub-project, with the AdZ-AG Acceptance taking the lead. The novelty and high-tech nature of the production processes as well as information asymmetries in product features harbour considerable regulatory, financial and communication risks. In a Social Licence to Operate (SLO) approach, a comprehensive analysis of actors, perceptions and relationships between communities and producers is carried out with the aim of developing integrative strategies to build trust, legitimacy, consent and psychological identification. This is done on the basis of three further comparative case studies in the USA, Mexico and a second location in Germany (C-1).
• A further objective and cross-cutting topic is the overarching sustainability, resilience and location assessment of CUBES Circle. To this end, environmental impacts and economic profitability are determined and normalisation approaches for the absolute sustainability assessment are analysed. The resilience of the system to crises, in particular as a result of climate change, will be determined. Furthermore, a planning study for a CUBES Circle plant will be drawn up on the basis of a specific location, which will serve as a blueprint for a coupling with a location of high economic and ecological relevance (C-2).