Research & reports

Sekolah Menengah Islam As-Syddiq, Simpang Renggam, Milah Zainal, M. Z. Rosmiza, Program Geografi, Pusat Kajian Pembangunan, Sosial dan Persekitaran, Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia · Malaysian Journal of Society and Space · Malaysia

This qualitative study explored human assets among 8 participants in community garden projects in Malaysia. While the government introduced community garden projects to improve urban residents' well-being, their success rate is reportedly low, with many projects expected to be unsuccessful. The study found that participants possessed human assets such as good health, physical strength, ability to seek agricultural inputs and information, strong religious practices, and resilience.

Manuela Maluf Santos, Paulo Eduardo Moruzzi Marques · Estudos Avançados · Brazil (São Paulo)

This article conceptually explores the "locavorism" food activism movement, noting that its practical application can have diverse and even antagonistic effects. To analyze these contradictions, two farmer organizations in São Paulo involved in local consumption circuits were interviewed to understand the potential social and environmental effects of this purchasing model. The abstract does not present the findings of these interviews.

Pastory Salvatory Thomas, Wilbard Kombe, Aldo Lupala · Urban and Regional Planning · Tanzania

This qualitative study examined perceptions of urban agriculture among 60 urban farmers and officials in Arusha City, Tanzania, through interviews, observation, and literature review. Findings revealed that negative effects of urban agricultural activities influenced negative perceptions, which city officials seldom managed. While urban agriculture is acknowledged in policy, the critical effects of negative perceptions among stakeholders are considered less crucial in policy implications and formal governmental proclamations, despite their real-world impact.

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Cristina Madrid‐López, Xavier Gabarrell, Gara Villalba · Environmental Research Communications · Spain (Barcelona)

Implementation strategies for food-energy-water production systems on urban rooftops were evaluated in a typical housing estate in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, comprising 201 buildings and 13,466 inhabitants. Residents tended to choose strategies providing energy and water over the food production potential of rooftops. However, environmental assessment indicated that vegetable production alternatives were the least impactful, meeting 42-56% of residents' fresh produce demand and reducing environmental impacts by 24-37 kg CO2 eq m-2 per rooftop per year. This suggests residents were primarily concerned with energy expenses rather than food insecurity or social cohesion.

Rebecca Amato · Amsterdam University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)

This chapter discusses the historical production and perception of "empty space" in New York City, from settler colonialism to gentrification, driven by techniques like filtering and declaring vacancy. It highlights how the acceleration of development to maintain world city status threatens alternative visions like cooperative centers and community gardens. These alternative uses are presented as models for inclusive cities, despite being under threat.

Paul D. Jensen, Caroline Orfila · Food Security · United Kingdom

This case study used publicly available data to spatially analyze the urban food system of Leeds, UK, assessing its food security and resilience. The study found that while Leeds has a significant food production and provision system, it is not food secure in terms of providing sufficient energy or macronutrients, nor does it function equitably for all residents. Improving the system, including through urban farming, would require high investment, multi-sector cooperation, and strong governance.

Hamidullah Amin, Mansour Helmi · Environmental Science & Sustainable Development · Asia

A study of agricultural land in the Yakatoot area of Kabul, Afghanistan, examining the economic and environmental impacts of land-use change in the capital. It states plainly that, due to rapid population growth, population densification, and the city's inability to enforce its master plan and regulations, a large portion of agricultural land cover has been transformed into unplanned developments, shifting communities from productive societies into consumer and dependent ones. Using a qualitative approach combining field surveys, aerial photographs from Google Earth, and data from CRIDA, the study describes Afghanistan's land laws and identifies the social, economic and environmental impacts of this land-use change, while also reviewing international experience with land-use change and sustainable responses. The authors recommend incorporating urban agriculture practice into Kabul's master plan and other urban initiatives, though this recommendation is presented as the paper's own policy proposal rather than a measured outcome.

André Ruoppolo Biazoti, Angélica Campos Nakamura, Gustavo Nagib, Vitória Oliveira Pereira de Souza Leão, Giulia Giacchè, Thaís Mauad · Sustainability · Brazil (São Paulo)

Amid a COVID-19 outbreak that caused 15,587 deaths in São Paulo city through December 2020, this study examined effects on urban agriculture from April to August 2020, drawing on two government surveys (2,100 farmers in São Paulo state, 148 in São Paulo city) and two qualitative surveys of volunteers from ten community gardens and seven urban farmers. Fifty percent of farmers reported being affected by the pandemic through drops in sales, particularly those who depended on intermediaries, and 22% said obtaining inputs had become difficult. No municipal support was provided to urban agriculture in São Paulo, and pre-existing problems worsened; activity in community gardens declined, though none closed permanently.

Ágnes Gagyi, Csaba Jelinek, Zsuzsanna Pósfai, András Vígvári · · Europe

This chapter examines the 2000s housing financialization wave in Hungary, analysing financial over-inclusion and exclusion -- alternating dynamics of reaping gains and externalizing costs. It shows that "intermediate" rural-urban transitional zones are prime areas for high-risk mortgage lending while also containing spaces excluded from institutionalized housing finance, using as its case study an allotment garden where households combine formal jobs and mortgage repayment with informal dwelling to reduce housing costs, arguing that such informal reproductive solutions function as a resource for capital accumulation through inclusion and exclusion.

Nur Surayya Mohd Saudi, Mohd Nor Yahaya, Muzafar Shah Habibullah, Baharom Abdul Hamid, Muhammad Amirul Azlan, Mohd Haizam Mohd Saudi · Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry · Malaysia

A study on Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) noted the extension may effectively contain the pandemic's spread but is expected to have a devastating impact on food security, and proposed urban farming as a means of generating household income and food security for the low-income B40 group. Econometric modeling of the effect of lockdown measures and COVID-19 on selected vegetable prices found that not all vegetables reacted uniformly to lockdown measures; price increases were associated with reduced household purchases and income, denying people access to food security. While the substitutability of vegetables allowed some switching to cheaper options, the study states that higher food prices themselves deny people access to food security.

Mark Paul · Econstor (Econstor) · United States

In-depth interviews with community supported agriculture (CSA) farmers in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, United States, examined their livelihoods. CSA farmers earned more farm income than other US farms and other farms in the region, but their earnings remained far below the median national household income. Despite this income shortfall, CSA farming provided non-market social, ecological and economic benefits tied to feeding the community rather than producing for mass markets, which farmers described as a significant source of well-being.

Carolina Baldini, Mariana Edith Marasas, Andrea Alejandra Drozd · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · Colombia

A land-cover change study (Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2021) applied a supervised classification of Landsat satellite imagery from 1986, 1996, 2005, and 2015 to Argentina's largest peri-urban horticultural region in South America. Between 1986 and 2015, open-field horticulture extent decreased by 51.47%, while greenhouse area increased by 2652.83%, high-density urbanization expanded by 111.58%, and low-density urbanization increased only between 1986 and 2005—expansion that came at the expense of natural grassland, herbaceous parks, and livestock land. The authors conclude this reflects a regional process of urban growth and productive intensification that has caused losses of open-field horticultural areas and produced a non-equitable distribution of remaining semi-natural areas, and they call for territorial planning that prioritizes ecologically resilient, semi-natural land cover.

Valéria Borges Yonegura, Henrique Manoel da Silva · Confins · Brazil

A study of the Tatuquara neighbourhood and surrounding areas of Curitiba, Brazil, combining bibliographic review, historical-geographic analysis, and interviews with community gardeners (horteiros) conducted over 2017-2018, found that urban gardens improved local life, landscape and community safety and fostered topophilia and place attachment. Despite being used in city marketing, the practice's continuity is threatened by the possible end of a partnership with the electric utility and by pressure from the real-estate market.

Kevin Bolduc · The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) · United States

A blog post published on 10 November 2021 by the US grant-assessment body CEP. Grantees spend roughly 8 hours a year on reporting for a typical grant and often more than 30 hours across a grant's life, yet only about 60 per cent get to discuss the report they submitted with their funder. Around 70 per cent of nonprofits said funders relaxed or cancelled reporting requirements during COVID. The author argues that unless foundations genuinely engage with what is submitted and discuss it with grantees, reporting requirements should be eliminated or drastically reduced.

Julia Davies, Corrie Hannah, Zack Guido, Andrew Zimmer, Laura E. McCann, Jane Battersby, Tom Evans · Food Policy · Sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigated the association between urban agriculture (UA) and household food security in smaller African cities and towns, using survey data from 2,687 low- and low-middle income households in 18 urban areas with populations of less than 200,000 across Zambia and Kenya. The analysis found that 33% of households in the sample engaged in UA, but there was limited statistical significance in the relationship between UA and household food security. Key barriers identified were settlement formality, property rights, and distance from food retailers.

Larissa Maas, Rosane Malvestiti, Leila Amaral Gontijo · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · Brazil

This study assessed the main difficulties faced by seven urban organic farmers in two Brazilian cities without policies encouraging urban farming, through semi-structured interviews conducted from July to December 2018. The research revealed challenges such as a lack of trained labor, inadequate machinery and equipment for small areas, and insufficient financing, indicating that the absence of policies hinders the development of urban organic farming.

Paule Olivia Akotto, Dorothée Boccanfuso, Marie-Ève Yergeau · Cahiers de recherche · Global

This exploratory review synthesizes 35 reports and articles published between 1980 and 2019 to assess the potential of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) to build resilience against poverty, food insecurity, and environmental challenges in developing countries. The review found that UPA creates one job for every 50 to 100 individuals, but these jobs are generally seasonal, and market access remains a significant constraint for farmers.

Jonathan London, Bethany B. Cutts, Kirsten Schwarz, Li Schmidt, Mary L. Cadenasso · Agriculture and Human Values · United States (California)

This study, based on 24 interviews with urban agriculture (UA) leaders in Sacramento, California, identifies three "taproots" of UA projects: justice, health, and market. The analysis reveals how these roots interact differently with racial capitalism, creating disparities in their growth trajectories. Specifically, UA projects associated with the justice taproot are historically underrepresented and undervalued.

Paulo de Oliveira Neto, Andréa Rossi Scalco, Ana Elisa Bressan Smith Lourenzani, Sandra Cristina de Oliveira · Ciência e Natura · Brazil

This study analyzed the impact of urban agriculture on food security in community gardens in the city of Maringá, Brazil. The research was carried out using the EBIA method, with descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression procedures. The results indicate that the activity did not contribute to the food security of people who depend on the resources generated, whether for consumption or income.

Nicole Paganini, Stefanie Lemke · Local Environment · South Africa (Cape Town)

This study, conducted from 2017 to 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa, and Maputo, Mozambique, explored urban agriculture's contributions to livelihoods and food availability through a food justice lens. In Cape Town, NGO-led urban agriculture regulated production and market access, serving wealthy consumers, with only 15% of farmers consuming their produce. In Maputo, urban agriculture contributed to local food availability, with 99% of farmers eating their produce, but farmers depended on intermediary-determined prices and faced unequal access to inputs. The study revealed stark structural inequalities and uneven power dynamics in both contexts.

Rachael Baker · · United States (Detroit)

Farming on Detroit's vacant land has been used for blight reduction and food cultivation since the 1970s, supported by initiatives like Farm-a-Lot. However, in 2015, the mayor’s office directly transferred 40 acres of city-owned land to a for-profit urban agriculture business in Detroit’s east Poletown, raising concerns about equitable resource distribution.

Steven C. Deller, David Lamie, Maureen Stickel · · Global

This review provides a critical analysis of current research on local and regional food networks, including urban farming projects. It reveals that many presumptions of the local food movement remain largely untested, and much of the current research lacks strong theoretical grounding and quantitative rigor. The review emphasizes the importance for practitioners to distinguish between objective, research-based information and speculative, advocacy-oriented analysis.

Françoise Jarrige, Cyril Mumenthaler, Joëlle Salomon Cavin · IRIS · Switzerland (Lausanne)

This chapter described and analyzed the implementation of a new agricultural project on a domain in Lausanne, Switzerland. The innovative process was built through confrontation between stakeholder strategies, with negotiations and adjustments. It appeared that powerful economic and legal constraints limited some expected innovations, particularly regarding land contracts. Ultimately, the anticipated multifunctional agricultural project was implemented through three coordinated structures: an association, a cooperative, and an agricultural enterprise.

Tony Ngwenya, Pfano Mashau · Problems and Perspectives in Management · South Africa (Durban)

This study investigated institutional support for youth-owned Small, Medium, and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) in Durban's urban agribusiness sector using a quantitative methodology. Findings indicated that CSR interventions had not yielded a fundamental impact, and there was a lack of tangible, result-driven institutional support from policymakers and authorities. Furthermore, targeted technological transfer was a constraining factor, and a lack of monetary and non-monetary access hampered the SMMEs' competitiveness and profitability.

Mulugeta Chane Wube · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Ethiopia

A descriptive study analyzed the effect of industry extension service packages on the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Dessie, South Wollo, and Oromia Special zones, Ethiopia, sampling 248 out of 646 MSEs. The analysis revealed that industry extension services provided by TVET trainers were inadequate across all four dimensions: technical, technology, Kaizen, and entrepreneurship. The overall performance of the surveyed MSEs was found to be very low, concluding that the provided extension services were insufficient in improving their performance.