152 results
SGSingapore, Singapore
Singapore's first commercial rooftop farm, established in 2011 atop an Orchard Road mall, growing vegetables and herbs while doubling as a community farm on weekends.
sfa.gov.sg+1
KENairobi, Kenya
Vertical sack gardening spreading through Nairobi's large Kibera settlement, where residents grow kale and spinach in soil-filled bags in densely packed areas with no farmland.
foodsystemsjournal.org+4
BRSão Paulo, Brazil
A Brazilian NGO founded in 2004 by Hans Dieter Temp, creating organic gardens on unused land in São Paulo's periphery to generate jobs, improve nutrition, and advance social inclusion.
cidadessemfome.org+1
USDetroit, United States
A Detroit non-profit supporting over 2,000 gardens, working toward a food-sovereign city where residents grow much of the produce they consume by activating vacant lots.
visitdetroit.com+1
ZACape Town, South Africa
Founded in 1982, this Cape Town non-profit supports small-scale citizen farming in the townships. True to its name 'farmers of the home', it provides training and supplies so residents of poor areas can grow organic vegetables, underpinning food security and livelihoods.
abalimibezekhaya.org.za+4
JPHamamatsu, Japan
Kyomaru-en in Hamamatsu is a pioneer of agriculture-welfare collaboration, employing people with disabilities since 1996. Under its 'universal agriculture' approach it designs tasks around each worker's abilities, building a farm business where anyone can work regardless of disability.
agrijournal.jp+1
JPAshikaga, Japan
Begun in 1958 when a teacher and pupils with special needs cleared a steep hillside in Ashikaga, it led to the founding of Kokoromi Gakuen in 1969. Grapes grown by residents with intellectual disabilities yield Japanese wines served even at international summits.
ja.wikipedia.org+1
JPTachikawa, Japan
A network of social farms run by Es-Pool Plus, sited in urban areas such as Tachikawa, Itabashi and Yokohama. Companies directly employ people with disabilities to do farm work, and the scheme has grown to more than 60 sites nationwide.
plus.spool.co.jp+1
USSan Diego, United States
The IRC turned a 2.3-acre vacant lot in San Diego's City Heights into an urban farm for refugees and immigrants. Opened in 2009, around 70 families grow foods from their homelands while putting down roots in a new country.
sandiego.gov+1
GBLondon, United Kingdom
A community resource in the London Borough of Lewisham for better mental health. In its green spaces people grow and cook food and make art together, a leading social-prescribing site supporting recovery and empowerment.
centreformentalhealth.org.uk+1
USChicago, United States
Growing Home runs USDA-certified organic urban farms on vacant Chicago lots and offers a 14-week paid job-training program to people with barriers to employment, using agriculture as a vehicle for personal and community renewal.
growinghomeinc.org+1
USWashington, DC, United States
Founded in 2008 by two native Washingtonians, this non-profit transforms under-used land into 'kid-driven gardens' in majority Black, Latino and immigrant neighborhoods that lack safe green space. Children aged 2-19 learn food education and community-building through growing, cooking and a youth cooperative that sells produce. It has developed over 100 projects in DC and nationwide.
cityblossoms.org+1
JPNationwide, Japan
A nationwide effort based on MAFF's case collection of food education advanced by children's cafeterias working with communities and gardens. Local cafeterias link to plots, harvest experiences and nearby farmers so children grow, harvest, cook and eat together. It connects the food cycle, local production-consumption and food-loss reduction with creating safe places for children.
maff.go.jp+1
USBrooklyn, New York, United States
A fossil-fuel-free, bike-powered community-compost enterprise founded in Bushwick, Brooklyn, that collects and composts food scraps while creating good jobs for youth and green space, countering environmental racism and gentrification.
bkrot.org+2
USLos Angeles, United States
In South Central Los Angeles, a 'food desert,' fashion designer Ron Finley began planting vegetables on curbside strips and vacant lots; it grew into a movement where residents build DIY edible gardens to provide fresh food and to teach nutrition and self-reliance.
ted.com+1
USChicago, United States
A West-Side Chicago urban-beekeeping cooperative founded by three urban beekeepers in 2004. Originally aimed at job training in an area with scarce employment, it now runs more than 50 hives across the city with a focus on education, health, and awareness of urban nature.
chicagohoneycoop.com+1
JPKobe, Japan
An allotment garden opened in August 2022 on temporarily used development land on Port Island (Phase 2). On a man-made island known for advanced medical facilities, it offers beginner plots, level-up plots and welfare plots where people can grow vegetables empty-handed, barbecue and join harvest events.
city.kobe.lg.jp+1
JPHino, Japan
A community garden in Hino City, Tokyo, started by citizens who believe 'kitchen waste is a treasure.' It collects and composts the kitchen waste of around 200 households and grows vegetables and flowers pesticide-free as a food-cycle garden. Naomi Shimpo studied its management and governance in detail in her 2021 and 2024 papers.
acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com+3
JPSetagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Setagaya's agriculture-welfare programme launched in 2021. Through farm work on local farmland it promotes employment and higher earnings for people with disabilities while conserving farmland and fostering disability understanding. Centred on the 'Setasora' hub farm, it is a public-private urban welfare farm.
city.setagaya.lg.jp+1
JPSuginami, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo's first municipally run agriculture-welfare farm, opened April 2021 in Igusa, Suginami, on a barrier-free 3,200 m2 site giving people with disabilities and seniors a place to engage in farming.
city.suginami.tokyo.jp+1
JPKyotanabe, Kyoto, Japan
A Kyotanabe employment-support workshop operating since 2011 that grows regional specialties (Uji tea, Tanabe eggplant, Kyoto taro) and became one of the first Noufuku JAS certified businesses in 2019.
maff.go.jp+1
JPMatsukawa, Nagano, Japan
A farming company in Matsukawa, Nagano producing apples and apple juice; one of the first four businesses certified under Noufuku JAS in November 2019, pioneering agriculture-welfare in an orchard region.
maff.go.jp
JPZama, Kanagawa, Japan
A 1960s Odakyu company-housing complex by Zama station, regenerated in 2015 into a mix of rentals, municipal housing and a childcare-support center. Its central plaza holds the guidance-supported 'Hatamusubi' rental garden and a dog run, aiming to be housing open to the community that links people, nature and town.
odakyu-fudosan.co.jp+2
JPKashiwa, Chiba, Japan
The 'Kashiwa Project', launched in 2009 by Kashiwa City, the University of Tokyo's Institute of Gerontology and UR at Toyoshikidai Danchi (over 40% elderly) in Chiba. Using rooftop farms, plant-cultivation units and nearby farmland in the rebuilt complex, it embeds agriculture as 'ikigai' employment for seniors, advancing alongside community-based integrated care.
ur-net.go.jp+2
DEアンダーナッハ / Andernach, Germany
A unique German city-led project that replaced ornamental flowerbeds with edible crops in public space, free for citizens to harvest. Spanning ~8,000 sqm in the city center plus 13 ha in the suburbs, it is internationally known as multifunctional productive green infrastructure delivering food supply, biodiversity, social cohesion and education at once.
use.metropolis.org+2
USStratham, United States
A headquarters-lawn garden run by employee volunteers in New Hampshire, donating produce proceeds to a food bank — a flagship employee-engagement CSR case.
3blmedia.com
JPTokyo, Japan
A temple parking lot in Sumida, Tokyo turned into a community farm by citizens through the priest's free loan (completed 2020) — a pattern of interim citizen greening of idle temple land.
note.com+1
JPRikuzentakata, Japan
Gardens opened near temporary housing in Rikuzentakata after the 2011 disaster, with a prefectural hospital borrowing idle land free (since 2012) — using interim disaster-area land for elderly health and interaction.
reconstruction.go.jp
JPIshinomaki, Japan
In tsunami-hit Ogatsu (Ishinomaki), citizens turned disaster- and relocation-vacated land into a flower garden (opened 2012, relocated/reopened 2018) — a model of interim land use and community recovery.
gardenstory.jp+1
USDetroit, United States
In Detroit, the land bank cheaply leased 35 acres of vacant city land for urban farming that also supports people in recovery (since 2015) — a pattern of interim leasing of vacant land with a buy option.
crainsdetroit.com
CNChongqing, China
Built in 2018 on a developer's residential complex in central Chongqing, this is one of the city's first rooftop community gardens designed for seniors. With accessible garden beds, it is a welfare and community space where elderly residents can take part in gardening.
landezine-award.com+1
PSDheisheh / Bethlehem, Palestine
With little access to farmland and about 40% of West Bank refugees food-insecure, this program uses shelter rooftops so families can grow vegetables. It began with roughly 11 families in Dheisheh camp and is envisioned to expand to other West Bank camps to reduce aid dependence and build self-reliance.
unrwa.org+1
LBTripoli / Nahr el-Bared, Lebanon
An ANERA project spreading low-cost rooftop gardening with recycled containers among residents of a Palestinian refugee camp destroyed and rebuilt after the 2007 fighting. Residents such as 62-year-old Om Maher grow vegetables, herbs and fruit trees on their roofs, supporting food security and the rebuilding of their lives.
anera.org+2
EGCairo, Egypt
A community rooftop-farming initiative led by the social enterprise Schaduf that turns unused rooftops in Cairo's informal neighbourhoods into productive gardens. Working with GIZ and civil society, it pursues food production, microclimate improvement and social inclusion and income for women and youth. Though it uses low-tech water beds, participation and self-reliance of low-income households are at its core.
akzente.giz.de+2
ARRosario, Argentina
Rosario's municipal urban agriculture program, launched in 2002 in response to the economic crisis. A 2004 ordinance institutionalized the 'Parque Huerta' (garden park), turning vacant land into public spaces for agroecological food production.
agriurbanarosario.com.ar+2
ECQuito, Ecuador
A participatory urban agriculture program run since 2002 by the city of Quito through its economic development agency CONQUITO, promoting agroecology-based self-production of food and advancing social, climate and gender justice.
conquito.org.ec+1
COMedellín, Colombia
Medellín's urban agriculture program. The 2005 'Ecohuertas Urbanas' is its flagship project, and together with the successor 'Huertas con Vos' it advances food security and social cohesion.
medellin.gov.co+1
PELima, Peru
An urban agriculture project running since 2004 in Villa María del Triunfo, southern Lima, using vacant land under high-voltage power lines for women-led ecological gardens that build food security and community resilience.
corresponsables.com+1
CLSantiago, Chile
Inaugurated in 2007 as the first urban community garden in the Santiago metropolitan area by the municipality of La Pintana; with a 700 m² parcelled garden and pioneering composting, it sustains agricultural traditions in a low-income commune.
eldesconcierto.cl+1
BRBelo Horizonte, Brazil
Urban agriculture rooted in Belo Horizonte's food security policy, with over three decades of experience; centred on a community-garden program created in 2017, it supports residents' production with seedlings and training.
prefeitura.pbh.gov.br+1
BRRio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro's urban agriculture program, launched in 2006, establishing agroecological gardens in schools and vacant lots and supporting food security in favelas and vulnerable areas through composting, seedling production and food education.
carioca.rio+1
UYMontevideo, Uruguay
Community gardens run as part of Montevideo's urban agriculture program (PAU-IMM), supporting family, community and educational gardens and embodying a distinctly Uruguayan style of participatory urban agriculture.
montevideo.gub.uy+1
BOEl Alto, Bolivia
Urban and peri-urban agriculture begun in 1984 in El Alto (about 4,000 m altitude), using FAO-supported solar greenhouses and women-led household gardens to improve food security at high altitude.
fao.org+1
CAVancouver, Canada
A social enterprise that transforms vacant urban lots into portable container farms, providing 'good food and good jobs' to socially marginalised residents. It was founded in 2008 by Michael Ableman and Seann Dory.
solefoodfarms.com+2
CAToronto, Canada
An 8-acre urban farm in Toronto's vulnerable Jane-Finch neighbourhood dedicated to food justice, education and sustainability. It was founded in 2013 with Everdale Environmental Learning Centre and the TRCA as founding partners.
blackcreekfarm.ca+1
CAMontreal, Canada
A Montreal non-profit founded in 1995 to connect youth and seniors, linking a rooftop garden, composting and bicycle-based meal delivery. It is described as the only Meals-on-Wheels service in Canada that grows its own food.
santropolroulant.org+1
CAToronto, Canada
A community food centre in Toronto's west end, founded in 1982, running a food bank plus four community gardens and two farmers' markets. Its Green Barn is an urban-agriculture hub with a greenhouse and compost demonstration centre.
thestop.org+1
CAHalifax, Canada
A community garden and productive green space that began in 2012 as interim use of downtown Halifax hospital land. With around 240 plots, it is a place where residents grow food and connect.
commonrootsurbanfarm.ca+1
CAWinnipeg, Canada
A non-profit neighbourhood association in Winnipeg's inner-city West End that has created nine community gardens and a community greenhouse since its founding. It works on food security in a multicultural, low-income area.
spenceneighbourhood.org+1
ZACape Town, South Africa
A community-supported agriculture vegetable-box scheme launched in 2008 by Abalimi Bezekhaya, an NGO based in Cape Town's townships. It relaunched in September 2022 after a three-year break.
abalimibezekhaya.org.za+1
ZASoweto, South Africa
A food garden started around 2021 by youth in Orlando West, Soweto. They transformed a dumping site into a plot growing cabbage and spinach to support the area's elderly residents.
foodformzansi.co.za+1
SNDakar, Senegal
An urban micro-gardening programme begun in 1999 by FAO and the City of Dakar. It fights food insecurity through soil-less cultivation in small spaces and from 2004 was extended to other cities in Senegal and Africa.
fao.org+1
UGKampala, Uganda
An urban farming programme run by Kampala Capital City Authority, anchored by the roughly 30-acre Kyanja Agricultural Resource Centre in Kawempe division, supporting food security and incomes for vulnerable residents.
kcca.go.ug+1
LSMaseru, Lesotho
A household compost-integrated raised-bed garden developed in drought- and erosion-prone Lesotho by the Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency (C-SAFE), based on a design CARE used in Zimbabwe, and spread widely across southern Africa.
tandfonline.com+1
ETAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
A 15-month urban agriculture pilot run in 2022 by Farm Africa with Ethiopia's Ministry of Planning and Development, aiming to improve the incomes, nutrition and food security of 100 low-income households in Addis Ababa.
farmafrica.org+2
IDMakassar, Indonesia
Launched in 2014 by Makassar mayor Danny Pomanto, the 'Lorong Garden (Longgar)' flagship programme had residents—especially women—use the city's narrow alleys (described as the cells of the city) to grow ornamental and food plants, transforming them into clean, green spaces. It later evolved into 'Lorong Wisata'.
makassar.terkini.id+1
JPKobe, Hyogo, Japan
A social-experiment site (opened 2022) on about 1,540 sqm of idle UR land in Minatogawa, Hyogo-ku, Kobe, regenerated as a rental farm plus open park space, with about one third as farm and the rest as park.
minnanouen.jp+2
JPOsaka, Japan
An SDGs natural farm started in Osaka in 2021 that bridges 'awai' (the in-between) of farming and welfare. It partners with children's cafeterias in Tsurumi Ward and Moriguchi, donating its harvest to them, and links children's food education with the social participation of people facing employment barriers.
awai-farm.com+1
TWTaipei, Taiwan
In Nangang's Jiuzhuang, residents transformed a neglected, dumping-prone plaza into a community garden. It is the subject of an academic case study (Sustainability journal) on how community gardens support urban health and well-being.
mdpi.com
TWKaohsiung, Taiwan
Responding to an ageing society, the city's Social Affairs Bureau established this senior citizen farm in the Xincaoya settlement. Elders grow vegetables organically, reconnecting with nature to maintain body and mind and deepen social interaction-a welfare-oriented urban farm.
socbu.kcg.gov.tw+2
KRIncheon, South Korea
Incheon's 'Eeum' (meaning 'connection') community urban farm, started in 2021 through participatory budgeting. Citizens and organisations grow crops together and run education and exchange activities, creating a public space for safe food and neighbourly ties.
news.ifm.kr+1
KRDaegu, South Korea
Daegu's urban-agriculture support program centred on school gardens. The city subsidises school gardens at 45 schools plus box, rooftop and balcony gardens and senior healing gardens, advancing food education and cross-generational citizen participation.
cityfarm.daegu.go.kr+1
MYKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
An approximately 8-acre urban farm regenerating neglected land in central Kuala Lumpur. Addressing the climate crisis, lack of open space and food insecurity, its harvest is donated to soup kitchens and the underprivileged. In 2022 DBKL recognised it as a model community garden under LA21KL.
kebunkebunbangsar.org+2
PHQuezon City, Philippines
Launched in 2010 by then–Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte to mitigate hunger, it promotes methods suited to limited city space such as vertical and container gardening and chemical-free organic growing. By 2025 over 1,400 urban farms were reported across the city.
quezoncity.gov.ph+2
PHMetro Manila, Philippines
A network of urban gardeners envisioning Metro Manila as 'one big community garden.' It comprises 20+ gardens in subdivisions, barangays, schools, informal settlements and condominiums, helping residents grow food and gain knowledge.
mb.com.ph+1
THBangkok, Thailand
A citizen urban-agriculture network overseeing 450+ community gardens centred on Bangkok. During COVID-19 it converted wasteland into food sources, launching 210 new gardens starting with 30 high-risk communities across six provinces.
thaicityfarm.com+2
THChiang Mai, Thailand
During COVID-19, a 'Promoter' group led by local architecture firm Jaibaan Studio worked with residents and civic groups to turn state-owned idle land into an inclusive public space and food-producing site, aiming to improve food security, nutrition and self-sufficiency for vulnerable residents.
link.springer.com+2
VNHo Chi Minh City (Thu Duc), Vietnam
A case of school and community gardens with nutrition education in Vietnam's Tam Phu and Dai Hung areas, responding to preschool malnutrition rates of 11.1% and 19.8%. Nutrient-dense, climate-suited plants are grown and added to children's meals such as soups and rice porridge.
b4fn.org
JPHigashinaruse, Akita, Japan
Furin Co., a senior-care provider in Higashinaruse, Akita, has since 2013 run an agriculture-welfare program in which day-service users join planting and harvesting on nearby paddies. Users averaging 88 take meaningful roles in the work, and the harvested rice is sent to supporters.
higashinaruse.jp+1
JPYamaguchi, Yamaguchi, Japan
Yamaguchi Prefecture promotes agriculture-welfare collaboration, piloting contracted farm work in the model areas of Ube, Yamaguchi, Nagato and Shunan. By having disability-employment facilities take part in farming, it seeks both improved wages and purpose for participants and relief from local labor shortages and abandoned-farmland problems.
pref.yamaguchi.lg.jp
JPMatsuyama, Ehime, Japan
Matsuyama's children's cafeterias and their 'Matsukone' network create safe places and community interaction for children through free or low-cost meals. Within MAFF's framework they advance food education tied to the community and to farming and harvest experiences.
matsukone.chu.jp+1
JPIsahaya, Nagasaki, Japan
An agriculture-welfare initiative by the social-welfare corporation Minamitaka Airinkai, based in Isahaya, Nagasaki, linking with farming on the Shimabara Peninsula. People with disabilities help with planting, harvesting and shipping, gaining confidence and purpose while supporting agriculture facing labour shortages.
airinkai.or.jp+1
JPYokkaichi, Mie, Japan
A municipal citizens' garden run by the Yokkaichi Agricultural Center, renting 15 sqm plots to residents. It also offers parent-child farming, agri-welfare, and food education with the school-lunch center.
city.yokkaichi.mie.jp+1
JPHokuto, Yamanashi, Japan
An NPO founded in 2021 and based in Hokuto, Yamanashi, working on agriculture, welfare, and education. It advances agri-welfare linking employment for welfare-service users with shipping support for small farms.
npo-taishi.jp
NLAmsterdam, Netherlands
An urban-farming project in Amsterdam-Noord. Built around an organic self-harvest garden, it links farming, food, welfare and enterprise, with local residents involved in running it.
iamsterdam.com+1
ESBarcelona, Spain
Barcelona's network of urban allotments, begun in 1997 with the recovery of the Can Mestres plots. Centred on participation by older people and vulnerable groups, it turns public land into new green and social space.
ajuntament.barcelona.cat+1
NZAuckland, New Zealand
An organic city farm on council land just a few kilometres from downtown, linking welfare, education and organic cycling to give citizens hands-on contact with farming and food.
kelmarna.co.nz+1
SEMalmö, Sweden
A social urban farm in Malmö's Rosengård district that uses food and farming for ecological, economic and social sustainability, linking the inclusion of immigrants with the training of a new generation of urban farmers.
malmo.se+2
USMinneapolis, United States
A Native-led nonprofit founded in 1998 with an urban hub in Minneapolis, holding 200+ Indigenous seed varieties including Cherokee corn carried on the Trail of Tears. It reconnects urban Native youth with traditional crops, cooking and culture to restore food, health and sovereignty.
dreamofwildhealth.org+1
USAlbany, United States
An Afro-Indigenous community farm that gives free home gardens to city residents in the Albany area and saves and shares seeds of African, Indigenous and Palestinian heritage crops, reclaiming ancestral farming and food culture to end food apartheid.
soulfirefarm.org+1
USDetroit, United States
Opened in 2008 by the Black-led grassroots network DBCFSN (founded 2006), this ~7-acre Detroit urban farm grows 30+ crops rooted in African-American food culture—collard greens, okra, hot peppers—to strengthen food security and sovereignty for Detroit's Black community.
dbcfsn.org+1
USSeattle, United States
Seattle's city community-garden program, begun in 1973 with ~90 sites, where immigrants and refugees grow heritage crops from their homelands—Ethiopian kale, Hmong herbs and more—recreating ancestral tastes and food cultures in the city and forming one of Seattle's most multicultural public spaces.
seattle.gov+1
SGSingapore, Singapore
SECUF in Singapore: gardening hubs bringing communities together through edibles gardening and curated horticulture programs. The SECUF Grant encourages social enterprises to establish and operate Community Urban Farms, conducting programs for seniors, persons with disabilities, and low-income groups. Singapore has 1,500+ community gardens and 2,500+ allotment plots across 29 parks. Next allotment garden application window in Q4 2026.
gardeningsg.nparks.gov.sg+1
MXMexico City, Mexico
Mexico City community project integrating vegetable gardens, chicken coops, trout farm, and compost program with emphasis on youth environmental education and engagement.
foodtank.com+1
PSAl Am'ari, Palestine
50 green rooftop gardens in Al Am'ari refugee camp led by 67 young women, addressing climate change adaptation and food security in vulnerable communities.
cascades.eu
DEBerlin, Germany
A flagship community garden in Berlin's Wedding district. Forced to leave its original site to make way for a football education centre, it relocated after a citizens' campaign to a permanent site on Gartenstraße in late 2021. Combining gardening, a café and education programmes, it is a hub for urban greenery and social inclusion.
himmelbeet.de+2
ITTurin, Italy
A 150 m² community roof garden created on a former factory building in Turin, directly linked to the restaurant below. As the first 'ortoalto' (elevated garden), it demonstrates a model for regenerating unused urban rooftops as places of food production, employment and neighbourhood exchange, and is referenced in Italy and abroad as an approach to rooftop-led urban regeneration.
torinosocialimpact.it+2
IEDublin, Ireland
A collective garden in inner-city Dublin bearing the name of the old 'Mud Island' area mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses. Residents transformed a derelict site that had cost the city thousands to clear each year into a green community hub, notable for fully collective cultivation with shared harvests. It has won multiple awards as a leading Dublin community garden.
mudisland.ie+1
TZDar es Salaam, Tanzania
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, vegetable growing on open urban land is a visible part of the cityscape. Since the Sustainable Cities Programme of the 1990s, integrating agriculture into city planning has been debated, and the practice has drawn international research attention for both its insecure tenure and its importance to livelihoods.
researchgate.net+2
TNTunis, Tunisia
In a dense, low-income district of Tunis, residents have reclaimed neglected land as a communal garden, gaining fresh vegetables, income and a step toward food sovereignty. It is watched as a new model of resident-led agroecology in North African cities.
hivos.org
KENairobi, ケニア
A community-driven garden-in-a-sack program initiated in response to post-election violence and food insecurity in 2008. Expanded across slum areas of Nairobi (Mathare, Kiambiu, Mukuru, Kibera) directly benefiting 22,000 households and over 110,000 people.
afas.africa
VNHo Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Circular agriculture community garden launched by Vietnam Food Bank Network in collaboration with youth and international agencies. Focuses on practicing circular agriculture, food waste reduction, and supporting disadvantaged groups.
vietnam.vn
PHQuezon City, Philippines
Women-led grassroots project in the urban poor community of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City. Has grown from a food source to a strategy for ensuring food security and defending land rights.
iied.org
JOAmman, Jordan
Community-based urban garden project led by UN-Habitat and funded by UNEP in Amman. Includes greenhouse and mushroom room for consistent yields. Local residents form management groups.
jordan.un.org
MXMexico City, Mexico
Mexico City municipal government has issued grants to over 3,000 residents since 2007 to promote rooftop agriculture. Community projects like Miravalle provide environmental education and agriculture workshops.
foodtank.com
INChennai, India
Mobile vegetable gardens established in schools, childcare centers, and homeless shelters in Chennai. Addresses food insecurity and urban heat while providing gardening training and access to nutritious food.
earth5r.org
BDDhaka, Bangladesh
Citizens cultivate vegetables on rooftops across Dhaka, with women playing a leading role. Rooftop gardeners show 19% increased vegetable intake and 7% increased fruit intake. Rooftop agriculture reduces temperatures by 1.2–5.5%, provides carbon sequestration, and lessens ecological footprint.
acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com+1
GRAthens, Greece
Started by Maroussi Municipality in 2012 in response to Greece's economic crisis. Municipal land transformed into community vegetable gardens with 40 plots of 25 square meters each for vulnerable groups including unemployed, low-earners, low-pensioners, and single parents. Includes soil enrichment and water supply infrastructure. A pioneering model for community food security in post-crisis Greece.
astydama.com+1
USLos Angeles, United States
A pioneering project mounting pesticide-free edible green walls on downtown LA buildings, including a public high school.
greenroofs.com
NGLagos, Nigeria
An urban-farming education program by a Lagos food bank that builds residents' agricultural knowledge and supports food security
lagosfoodbank.org
UGKampala, Uganda
A four-year urban food project Oxfam launched in 2021 with local NGO CIDI, scaling up small-scale urban farming in Kampala's slums
oxfam.org.uk
PSGaza, Palestine
In land-scarce Gaza, Anera turns vulnerable families' rooftops into water-efficient productive space to foster food self-sufficiency and ease food insecurity
inhabitat.com+1
BOEl Alto, Bolivia
A project supporting women with solar-greenhouse cultivation in high-altitude El Alto, producing fresh vegetables and improving nutrition in a harsh climate
use.metropolis.org+1
USLos Angeles, United States
A 14-acre lot once slated for a waste incinerator, turned into one of the largest urban farms in the US.
en.wikipedia.org+2
USNew York, United States
An iconic East Village community garden that became a flashpoint of anti-development protest.
en.wikipedia.org+1
GBLondon, United Kingdom
Valued as an environmental asset mitigating pollution, but lost to housing redevelopment.
andyworthington.co.uk+1
GBLondon, United Kingdom
A historic allotment promised 'in perpetuity', swept away for the Olympics.
en.wikipedia.org+1
CASaskatoon, Canada
The first Saskatoon brownfield lot turned into a community garden, then ordered to vacate.
ctvnews.ca+1
GBEdinburgh, United Kingdom
One of Scotland's leading urban farms. Falling external funding and rising costs forced it into liquidation and closure in November 2019, with 18 job losses, as its grant-dependent finances collapsed.
bbc.co.uk+1
CAEdmonton, Canada
A city-run program Edmonton started in 2020 on ~5 acres of municipal land, donating its harvest (over 253,000 lbs cumulatively) to the food bank. It was cut in the city's 2024 Fall Supplemental Operating Budget.
globalnews.ca+1
USDetroit, Michigan, United States
A city-run urban gardening program launched by Detroit under Mayor Coleman Young in the 1975 recession, turning vacant lots into gardens to help residents grow food. When city funding dried up, the program was dissolved.
glass.hfcc.edu+1
ETAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
A 15-month urban agriculture pilot Farm Africa ran with the Ethiopian government in 2022, training low-income households and creating a learning hub
farmafrica.org+1
PHQuezon City, Philippines
Launched in 2010 to encourage low-income households to grow their own nutritious food. Promotes vertical gardening and container farming with starter kits. 160 community vegetable gardens across Quezon City support thousands of urban farmers.
uclg-aspac.org
ZACape Town, South Africa
Abalimi Bezekhaya (established 1982 during Apartheid) assists thousands to set up and maintain home and community gardens on tiny city land fragments. Harvest of Hope social business sells produce to Cape Town residents.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ZACape Town, South Africa
Non-profit micro-farming organisation established in 1982. Operates in Cape Flats informal settlement areas of Cape Town, providing basic human necessities for indigent people through small-scale farming support. A long-term urban agriculture support model in South Africa. Focuses on addressing food insecurity and livelihood support.
researchgate.net+1
SEMalmö, Sweden
Malmö city-wide urban farming initiative. Integrates social interaction, health, biodiversity, and climate action. Multiple formats deployed across parks and squares.
talkofthecities.iclei.org
NOOslo, Norway
Oslo community gardens have high demand with lengthy waiting lists. Research on citizen attitudes and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for different urban agriculture types.
researchgate.net
PTPorto, Portugal
After 2008 economic crisis, Porto residents cultivated empty land near social housing without ownership. Demonstrates grassroots food security and community resilience.
futurearchitectureplatform.org
AUSydney, Australia
700+ community gardens across Australia with ~20,000 weekly participants. Cultivating fresh produce, learning, relaxation, and community connection.
doi.org
INMumbai, India
Mumbai Port Trust transforms unused urban spaces into flourishing gardens. Employs women groups, improves access to fresh produce, and creates economic opportunities.
ibef.org+1
ZACape Town, South Africa
City of Cape Town and Provincial Agriculture support community gardens in low-income areas to enhance food security and nutrition.
tandfonline.com+1
KENairobi, Kenya
Nairobi County pilots rooftop gardens on public buildings. NGOs and youth groups experiment with greenhouse farming in peri-urban zones. Primary focus in Njiru, Kasarani, and Dagoretti sub-counties.
static.tu.berlin+2
BRSão Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo supports 2,600+ mapped agricultural sites, including 1,000+ school gardens. Provides bio-inputs, machinery, training, and investment support.
unep.org+1
BRCuritiba, Brazil
Curitiba's urban gardens program produces ~1,600 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables annually. Technology transfer through demonstration gardens and training hubs. Third urban farm demonstration plot opening by end of 2025.
unep.org
THBangkok, タイ
Community garden project launched in Bangkok. By 2022, 165 farms established across Bangkok. Expanded nationally through 'Thai City Farm' initiative to five additional cities. Integrates food production, livelihoods, and social connection.
una.city+1
THChiang Mai, タイ
Initiated in 2020 during COVID-19 by Jaibaan Studio, a community architecture organization. Addresses food insecurity among urban poor communities by converting public land into community vegetable gardens.
icleiseas.org
ZAJohannesburg, 南アフリカ
City of Johannesburg Food Resilience Unit and Johannesburg Development Agency implemented hydroponic rooftop gardens on inner-city buildings. Ensures food security for vulnerable residents and promotes entrepreneurship. One garden produces 40 kg of spinach weekly for local restaurants, generating approximately €52 in weekly revenue.
peopledaily.digital
ECQuito, Ecuador
Municipality-supported participatory urban agriculture with community-managed orchards, organic production, and food processing
quito.gob.ec
TWTaipei, Taiwan
University-community partnership addressing urban food security through campus and neighborhood agriculture with participatory research
mdpi.com
UGKampala, Uganda
Urban agriculture in Kampala operates as an evolved and dynamic urban livelihood, attracting farmers across income levels with sustainable food production practices
link.springer.com
ETAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
Urban agriculture in Addis Ababa's Kirkos sub-city provides household food security for low-income families using low-input, organic methods
frontiersin.org
HUBudapest, Hungary
Budapest's grassroots community garden movement transforming vacant urban lots. Supported by KÉK Contemporary Architecture Centre since 2010, with nearly 80 active gardens documented.
eu-opensci.org+1
PLWarsaw, Poland
Warsaw-based community farm cooperative offering food education, eco-workshops and skill training for underprivileged communities. Joined AMPLE Warsaw program in 2025.
botany.one
ETAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
Farm Africa's urban agriculture pilot in Addis Ababa targeting low-income communities. Emphasizes household food production, livelihoods, and ecosystem enhancement, with women as primary participants.
farmingfirst.org
ECQuito, Ecuador
Ecuador's longest-running participatory urban agriculture program (2002–present), supporting 4,700+ community gardens in high-poverty areas. Includes vertical farming promotion.
futurepolicy.org+1
PELima, Peru
MUSA project, led by Cuso International, provides agriculture training and community garden expansion for women farmers in low-income Lima districts. Addresses food insecurity and malnutrition across 350+ farmers and 204 gardens.
cusointernational.org
COMedellín, Colombia
Medellín operates multiple urban farming programs addressing food security and social healing in low-income districts. AgroArte (San Javier) has 15+ years of operations. Terrazas Verdes (Comuna 13) uses rooftop hydroponics for production.
fao.org
GRAthens, Greece
Following the 2010 economic crisis, citizens in Athens began using public space for productive, social, and educational purposes. Municipal gardens launched in 2012. A municipal plot in Maroussi was divided into 40 sections (25 m² each) for citizen gardening. Antonis Tritsis Park announced plans to develop 50,000 m² of land into a community farm.
astydama.com+1
PTLisbon, Portugal
Launched in 2011 to convert vacant lots and degraded parks into urban allotment parks. By 2020, 20 parks with 750 allotments across the city. Priority access for unemployed, elderly, low-income residents. Parks freely open to visitors. Lisbon won European Green Capital Award in 2020.
interlace-hub.com+1
DEBerlin, Germany
Intercultural community garden with 50+ raised beds in Berlin. Open to residents of diverse cultural backgrounds. Functions as a space for cultural exchange and community activities
cityfarmer.info
KENairobi, Kenya
'Sack gardening', which spread in Nairobi's Kibera slum following the 2007–2008 post-election violence. It is an urban farming method in which landless residents secure food through vertical cultivation in soil-filled sacks, with women playing a leading role.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+1
BDDhaka, Bangladesh
FAO's Dhaka Food System project (2019–2023) trained and equipped 440 mostly-female residents of poor Dhaka neighborhoods to grow vegetables and fruit on rooftops and small surface plots. Local NGO Proshika supplied seeds, saplings, tools and fertilizer, and participants received gardening and nutrition training. It is a citizen/community gardening program, not agritech.
fao.org+1
CZPrague, Czechia
A Prague social enterprise turning unused urban land into community gardens and composting hubs, spreading composting and gardening among citizens, businesses and government while offering work and inclusion to people with mental illness.
inherit.eu+2
GHAccra, Ghana
A 2023 initiative supporting citizens' home and community gardens in Greater Accra, Ghana, under the theme of 'working together to grow safe and nutritious foods', building urban residents' capacity to secure their own food and nutrition.
solidaridadnetwork.org
UGKampala, Uganda
A citizen urban farm in land-scarce Kampala, Uganda, where young people grow food in sack gardens across three city sites, harvesting around 500 kg a month and helping feed local schools.
triplepundit.com
GBLondon, United Kingdom
Started in 1977 as Jubilee City Farm by a group of architects squatting at St Oswald's Place, in a Vauxhall neighbourhood cleared by demolitions between 1972 and 1976. Now in the London Borough of Lambeth, it keeps alpacas, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys and ponies and works across education, youth work, animal care and horticulture.
en.wikipedia.org
USChicago, United States
A 20,000-square-foot urban agriculture facility opened in 2016 in a historically disinvested food desert in Chicago, Illinois, by the Chicago Botanic Garden together with Lawndale Christian Health Center. It anchors VeggieRx, a produce prescription programme in which clinicians refer patients to the farm for free produce boxes, nutrition counselling and cooking classes.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ECQuito, Ecuador
An urban garden initiative that began operating in Quito, Ecuador, in 2015, providing people with severe mental health problems with work and income through agroecological organic food production, and with a place of social participation. The idea emerged in 2014 from an assembly of users, families and professionals at a community mental health service in northern Quito, and by the end of 2015 the group had secured a plot in Nayón on the edge of Quito.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+2
PELima, Peru
A multi-sectoral project in the rocky peripheral settlements of the Pachacámac district south of metropolitan Lima, Peru, targeting households with children aged 0–3. Community health promoters delivered home and community gardening, nutrition and parenting workshops in sequence, aiming to improve early child development and household food security. The design uses gardens as an entry point to nutrition and parenting rather than as a stand-alone activity.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
LBAkkar / Tripoli / Bekaa, Lebanon
An FAO project run from 15 September 2015 to 15 June 2016 under the constraint that the Lebanese government does not permit Syrian refugees to cultivate land. It deployed micro-gardens on the walls of dwellings for landless vulnerable households, with the stated objective of promoting diversified, quality food. The 170 direct beneficiaries across Akkar, Tripoli and the Bekaa comprised 76 vulnerable Lebanese and 94 displaced Syrians.
reliefweb.int+1
JPKobe (兵庫区・長田区), Japan
A come-empty-handed rental garden run at two sites in Kobe — Kanda-cho in Hyogo Ward and Komagabayashi-cho in Nagata Ward — by Akisuke Nagata, a group that turns vacant houses and lots into neighbourhood assets. Its distinguishing feature is that vegetable waste and prunings are recycled into compost with a local type-B employment support workshop rather than incinerated, with the goal of getting people to use fully matured "craft compost", made entirely from local plant material and inputs, as a matter of course.
compost.smartkobe-portal.com+1
JPKobe (兵庫区), Japan
A community complex created by renovating Minatoyama municipal primary school, closed in 2015, around the theme of "making nature and everyday life". An aquarium, an edible botanical garden, a herb shop, a brewery, a supported-employment facility, childcare and after-school care and welfare services sit side by side, cultivating a place where people, nature and neighbourhood connect. As a partner organisation of the Kobe Compost Project it sets out to work with users to find forms of cycling that are easy to sustain in daily life.
compost.smartkobe-portal.com+1