Research & reports

Faiza Darkhani · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Germany (Berlin)

A qualitative content analysis of interviews with active female respondents in community-supported agriculture, food cooperatives, and self-harvest gardens in Berlin Brandenburg revealed challenges faced by women in alternative food networks. Interviewees expressed optimism but emphasized the need for increased governmental support and community engagement, and the data highlighted demands for gender equality improvements and support mechanisms.

Paula Mota Santos · Social Inclusion · Portugal (Porto)

Grassroots urban horticultural plots (hortas) in the Porto Metropolitan Area, Northern Portugal, are informal communities that have existed for decades, often involving over 20-30 people. However, these low-income urbanite horticultural communities are not cherished by city governance, which does not prevent their destruction. This incompatibility between urban governance and grassroots communities hinders the right to the city for the low-income urbanites who created them.

Belinda Li, Tammara Soma, Raghava Payment, Srishti Kumar, Nicole Anderson, Flora Xu, Phonpoom Piensatienkul · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada

This study reviewed and categorized 73 food asset maps in Canada based on their included food assets and design characteristics. Most maps included built environment assets like grocery stores and food banks, as well as agriculture-based natural food assets such as farms, community gardens, and orchards. However, representations of Indigenous-focused food assets and non-agriculture-based natural food assets like forests, water bodies, and foraging areas were generally lacking. This lack of Indigenous perspectives reinforces the values of a settler-colonial food system within food asset maps.

Huq, Efadul · Smith ScholarWorks (Smith College) · Bangladesh (Dhaka)

Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, indicates that ecological infrastructure often erases existing informal agricultural practices, leading to the displacement of marginalized urban dwellers. Based on engaged research with a collective of urban farmers facing eviction, this paper argues that green informalities are crucial for understanding grassroots practices and can be appreciated as socially just ecological infrastructure.

B.J.M. van Vliet, Kamonashish Haldar, Matthijs T. Wessels, Katarzyna Kujawa-Roeleveld, Gert Jan Veldwisch · Water International · Global

This study examined the governance of irrigated urban agriculture in Arusha, Tanzania, and Khulna, Bangladesh, from a service regime perspective. Findings showed how service regimes bridge the gap between formal governance institutions and practices around irrigated urban agriculture. It is concluded that acknowledging, facilitating, and aligning these regimes can strengthen governance arrangements.

Jean de Dieu Minengu, Aiko Ikonso Mwengi, Romain Kawanga, Simon Mwengi, Oscar Mangunda Yama · Revue Africaine d’Environnement et d’Agriculture · Africa

Market gardening in Kinshasa's urban and peri-urban areas faces multiple constraints, including land insecurity, low natural soil fertility, the incidence of diseases and pests, weak technical support, climate hazards, poor input supply, and problematic marketing systems. These constraints limit yields in production sites and hinder the development of market gardening activities.

Finn Bell · Critical and Radical Social Work · United States (Ypsilanti)

This qualitative study explored how marginalized agrarian traditions can aid communities in surviving climate change, conducting in-depth interviews with 23 marginalized food growers and community leaders in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The study found that while growing food builds resilience to food insecurity and climate change, it is difficult due to land injustice. Policy implications include the need for housing justice, proactive planning for climate refuges, and reparations for land rematriation.

Delf Rothe · Political Geography · United States (New York City)

This paper critically examines the concept of "green resilience" through a case study of various green resilience projects in New York City, including survivor trees, memorial groves, and community gardens. The study argues that these spaces function as key forms of state rule and biopolitical power, identifying three tensions or contradictions of green resilience as a form of biopolitical government: visibility and invisibility, knowledge and ignorance, and control and emergence.

Lee D. Bryant, Roy Maconachie, Bastian Schnabel, Abubakarr Swaray, Howard Gigi, Solomon Gbanie, Kabba Haroun Bangura, Anthony Kamara, Prince Antwi-Agyei · Water Science & Technology Water Supply · Sierra Leone (Freetown)

This paper examined the environmental health status of three urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) sites in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Qualitative and quantitative data revealed heavy metal concentrations significantly exceeding regulatory limits in sweet potato leaves and arable soil. Additionally, soaring levels of faecal coliform bacteria were found in irrigation water, and crops were identified as hyperaccumulators for environmental contaminants.

Tri Wahyu Nugroho, Aulia Luqman Aziz, Hery Toiba, Ahmad Imron Rozuli, Suyadi Suyadi · JAPI (Jurnal Akses Pengabdian Indonesia) · Indonesia (Malang)

This community service activity in Mulyoagung Village, Malang, Indonesia, aimed to empower the local economy through urban farming by utilizing organic waste such as cocopeat and polybags as growing media. The program successfully enabled the community to adopt urban farming concepts, proving its effectiveness in addressing shrinking agricultural land and strengthening the local economy. However, it is also noted that sources of materials, human resources, and market access are among the obstacles causing urban farming failures.

Legenda Samuel Pardede, Tomy Perdana, Dhany Esperanza, Endah Djuwendah · Jurnal Agristan · Indonesia (Bandung)

This qualitative case study investigated the internal supply chain risk management for mustard greens (sawi) at the "Buruan SAE Mang Oded" urban farming group in Bandung City, Indonesia. Using the House of Risk method, the study identified 23 risk events and 23 risk agents within the supply chain, with 14 priority risk agents requiring control. The findings indicate significant challenges in managing the internal supply chain, suggesting that the current system faces numerous risks that hinder efficiency and effectiveness.

Marthe L. Derkzen, Maitreyi Koduganti, Sheetal Patil, Parama Roy · · India (Bengaluru)

Bengaluru has transitioned from a "Garden City" to a "Global Technology Hub," resulting in food production being pushed out and productive lands converted to residential and commercial uses. This urbanization has led to rising land values, sharpening inequalities, and recurrent water insecurity. In response, new forms of urban farming, such as kitchen gardens and community farms, have emerged to mitigate space constraints and meet local food aspirations. This chapter will use participatory mapping, interviews, film, and photography to explore how Bengaluru residents from diverse backgrounds perceive food as cultural connections, community feelings, and environmental resilience.

Matthew L. Richardson, John Taylor, Megan J. Thompson, Anusuya Rangarajan, Mamatha Hanumappa, Neith G. Little · PLoS ONE · United States (Northeastern United States)

This online survey of 394 urban growers, primarily in the Northeastern United States, profiled growers and assessed urban agriculture's state, identifying needs and challenges. Most growers were white (non-Hispanic), under 45, well-educated but without agriculture degrees. Urban agriculture was dominated by small non-profits and home/community gardens. A critical finding is that urban growers face diverse barriers, with the most common being land availability and long-term access in urban areas, and many reported low revenue or operating at a net loss.

Anushi Anushi, A. Krishnamoorthi, Jitendra Chaurasia, Bijay Kumar Baidya, Abhishek Singh, ­ Sapna, Vijay Kumar, Anushka Singh · Journal of Scientific Research and Reports · Global

This review explores the historical evolution and diverse models of urban farming, highlighting their contributions to food security, environmental sustainability, and community resilience. Challenges faced by urban farmers include limited space, soil contamination, regulatory hurdles, and access to resources.

Mary Mattingly · Intellect eBooks · Global

This essay shares two research practices stemming from the author's seven-year engagement with extractive supply chains for specific objects. Swale is a floating food forest that uses the common law of the waterways as a loophole to do what was illegal on common land, highlighting governance challenges within existing systems.

Anubhav Pradhan · South Asia Research · India

This article analyzes the recalibration of justice for agrarian communities along the Yamuna in Delhi. Following a 2015 ban on edible crop farming by India's apex environmental court, the Delhi Development Authority has conducted multiple demolition drives for nearly a decade to evict farmers and clear land for redevelopment. The ongoing contentions involving farmers, planning agencies, and the judiciary in this region are symptomatic of the erosion of social justice in urbanizing India.

Juan Camilo Fontalvo Buelvas, Maria Teresa Pulido Silva, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar · Magazine Portal Bibliotech Digital (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) · Global

This bibliographic review identified the main problems of urban agriculture and actions for sustainability. The study found that the primary deficiencies in urban agriculture are inadequate management practices, a lack of organization, and absent or inefficient public policies. Key leverage points for change include agroecology, policies for land access and sustainable financing, and dissemination processes.

Alberto Matarán-Ruiz, David Fanfani, Josefa Sánchez Contreras, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar · · Central America; Europe

This chapter examines bioregional food systems and territorialization processes in peri-urban agricultural areas, using three case studies from Central America and Europe. It notes that the historical co-evolutionary relationship between cities and surrounding farmlands weakened in modernity due to the global capitalist market, which reduced food to a commodity. The study highlights current problems while exploring how inherited relationships are being revived to adapt urban bioregions to climate emergency and resource scarcity.

Andrea Baier, Christa Müller, Karin Werner · Neue Ökologie · Global

This study discussed the significance of the new urban garden movement for sustainable urban restructuring, focusing on community garden practices over the past two decades. It examined how the movement is integrated into the governance of urban climate crisis policies, how it utilizes this framework, and to what extent the autonomy of gardens as free spaces and commons can be maintained under these circumstances. The findings suggest that the autonomy of urban gardens may be difficult to maintain when integrated into climate crisis policy governance.

Rosângela Míriam Lemos Oliveira Mendonça, Samantha de Oliveira Nery, Ediméia Maria Ribeiro de Mello · MIX Sustentável · Brazil

This paper presents a methodology applicable to sustainable community actions, developed from seven years of experience with low-income communities in a Brazilian community garden. The methodology is based on participatory action research, systemic design, agroecology, food sovereignty, and solidarity economy principles. The study demonstrates the importance of integrated work among the elements of the quintuple helix model (society, government, industry, academia, and environment), but it does not detail specific challenges or limitations regarding governance.

Lena Katharina Mietz, Bárbara Civit, Alejandro Pablo Arena · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This review focuses on the present state and methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the sustainability of urban agriculture. It notes that while urban agriculture is seen as a potential alternative for a resilient food system, existing case studies are mostly incomplete and lack diversity. Further research is needed, especially the integration of social and economic perspectives, to achieve a comprehensive scientific understanding.

Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Gustavo Carvalho da Rocha Lima Martins, Gonzalo Oviedo, Lucas José de Oliveira Gomes · Revista Tecnia · Brazil

A 2024 paper reports on an educational practice with elementary school students at a community garden at IFG-Anápolis, Brazil, framed around "omnilateral formation" and critical environmental education. Through periodic visits, workshops, and discussion sessions, the practice addressed problems arising from the use and consumption of pesticides in food. It reports that the critical environmental education approach was significant in revealing the latent meanings behind an agribusiness food market based on unrestrained pesticide use.

Jennifer C. Franco, Saturnino M. Borras · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

This chapter examines the dominant convention in critical agrarian studies and agrarian movements — that land struggles are best captured by an agrarian-reform framework of expropriating land from large private monopolies for redistribution to landless and near-landless working classes. It argues that while this type of struggle remains important, it does not fully capture the range of land struggles of working people across rural and urban, agricultural and nonagricultural spaces. Over recent decades the working classes have fragmented, as the numbers of people combining agricultural/nonagricultural and rural/urban livelihoods have vastly expanded, decentering working people's land struggles from the classical treatment tied to agriculture and capitalism. Land struggles today are dispersed and multisited, with political leadership and power that are polycentric rather than unified, and span multiple scales.

Tatiana Hlinka · Journal of Student Research · United States

In New Jersey, 50 food desert areas face the most severe food insecurity across both rural and urban contexts. This study identified nine barriers to implementing urban agriculture initiatives in New Jersey's urban food deserts, using a sequential quantitative analysis combining a survey of food systems professionals with a GIS-based spatial analysis to identify the most prevalent barrier. Working in partnership with New Jersey urban agricultural organizations, the study found that lack of funding was the most commonly cited barrier to expanding urban agriculture initiatives. The GIS-based spatial analysis found that high-priority barriers varied by region, but that all organizations identified funding, or lack of access to funding, as a significant barrier regardless of whether they operated in a low- or high-income neighborhood. The study concludes that policymakers must reevaluate the role of urban agricultural organizations in New Jersey's urban food deserts.

Madison Powers · · Global

This chapter surveys the food-security implications of agricultural land use, unsustainable features of widespread food production practices, and the debate over agricultural intensification versus extensification, then examines land use's consequences beyond the land itself for groundwater, surface water, oceans, ambient air quality, and planetary systems. It explains the causes of forest destruction and fragmentation driven by the global expansion of land used for "high-risk commodities," the linkage between deforestation and declining terrestrial biodiversity, and the global market dynamics driving both crises. It assesses socioeconomic and ecological shortcomings in some proposed nature-based solutions, showing that they perpetuate an unsustainable business-as-usual approach, and summarizes how these land-use issues are conceptualized as human-rights concerns and translated into policy proposals.