Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1063 results(29 / 43)
Urban agriculture and place-making: Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol
2017Marlinde Koopmans, Daniel Keech, Lucie Sovová, Matthew Reed · Moravian Geographical Reports · Europe
This paper analyzed urban agriculture (UA) and place-making in Ghent, Brno, and Bristol, using a spatial lens across three case studies. It revealed that local authorities struggle to find space for UA, leading to its frequent, often temporary, emergence in marginal areas vulnerable to planning changes. The analysis exposed inherent tensions within UA, conceptualized as tensions between abstract space and concrete place narratives. It was suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places, contributing to place-making, and urban planning should secure physical spaces and create possibilities for local autonomous governance.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageUrban rooftop farming : sustainability, practices and stakeholder perception on case studies in Europe (Torino, Paris, Rotterdam)
2017Jonida Alliaj · · Europe
This qualitative investigation examined rooftop farming in Turin, Paris, and Rotterdam, focusing on local practices, policies, and stakeholder perceptions of sustainability and social impact. Findings reveal significant differences in governance: Turin's OrtiAlti project faced difficulties due to absent city strategies and policies, while Paris has a moderate number of rooftop farms with recent supportive policies. Rotterdam's Dakakker is a consolidated project, supported by local government through multi-stakeholder participation.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate change1990年以降の兵庫県の都市における農業の変化 ―都市農業振興基本法の施行をふまえて―
2017肇 石原, Hajime ISHIHARA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan
This study examined changes in urban agriculture in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, since 1990, finding a weakening of the agricultural management base. While the decline in productive green space and full-time farmers was limited, engagement in agriculture-related businesses, excluding direct sales, was not widespread. The preservation of productive green spaces in some cities remains a challenge for future land use planning.
Economic viabilityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageSustainability's incomplete circles: towards a just food politics in Austin, Texas and Havana, Cuba.
2017Jonathan Lowell, Sara Law · CABI eBooks · United States (Texas), Cuba
A comparative study of urban agriculture projects in Austin, Texas, and Havana, Cuba, revealed that sustainability discourses primarily focus on food production methods, with little attention paid to persistent food insecurity issues that urban agriculture has yet to address, or to the cultural politics of food, where race, class, and gender shape access to food choices. While agricultural practices and their perceived value were similar in both cities, the study found comparable outcomes in how food exposed spatial and social divisions.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justicePolicyWelfareCommunityAnalysis of Urban Agricultural Characteristics along Land Use Gradient in Lagos State, Nigeria
2017Olalekan John Taiwo · · Nigeria (Lagos)
A study in Lagos State, Nigeria, analyzed the characteristics of urban agriculture and the influence of land use diversity using 300 questionnaires and personal interviews. The research noted the rapid disappearance of urban agricultural sites within built-up areas, framing it within the concept of "survival of the fittest." Results indicated that land use characteristics where urban agriculture is located moderate its size, rental cost, profit, and accessibility to road networks, while having little to no influence on its distance from markets and water sources.
Governance failureUrban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsNeoliberalism and alternative food movements: markets, the state, and knowledge production in Southern California
2017Rebecca Gresh · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · United States (California)
This qualitative study investigated two alternative food projects in San Diego, California, to reveal how food justice is envisioned and practiced. "Project New Village (PNV)" in a low-income area resists institutional racism and class inequality through a community garden and farmers market. In contrast, the affluent "San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project (SDRS)" resists suburban sprawl and environmental destruction through sustainable food production. PNV faces obstacles like law enforcement patrols interrupting community rebuilding, indicating that alternative food movements may reproduce structures of oppression.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyAlternative food and gentrification: Farmers’ markets, community gardens and the transformation of urban neighborhoods
2017Pascale Joassart‐Marcelli, Fernando J. Bosco · · United States (San Diego)
The alternative food movement (farmers' markets, community gardens) in San Diego, United States, was investigated in relation to gentrification. Uneven urban food landscapes were shown to be intimately connected to gentrification processes, shaped by race, class, political decisions, and capital flows. Farmers' markets and community gardens are primarily located in affluent and gentrifying areas, providing evidence of a growing appropriation of alternative food spaces by urban developers and cultural elites.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyHealthUrban gardens and institutional fences
2017Nadia Tecco, Federico Cóppola, Francesco Sottile, Cristiana Peano · Future of food: journal on food, agriculture and society · Italy (Turin)
This paper, based on fieldwork in two urban communal gardens in Turin, Italy, examined the spatiotemporal dimension of urban gardening, focusing on governance and the impact of regulations. It found that urban garden management is problematic due to the complex relationship between gardeners and allotments. Local government and promoting associations face challenges in adapting to and managing the evolving phenomenon, encountering internal conservative resistance and external pressures for change. These governance aspects have not been sufficiently considered.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyThe role of urban agriculture in climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghanaian cities
2017David Anaafo, G. A. Akolgo · · Ghana
A study on urban agriculture in Ghanaian cities found that it faces challenges including difficult access to land and water resources, and a lack of extension services and credit support. Despite these issues, urban agriculture may help reduce flooding impacts, improve water infiltration, and enhance environmental sanitation. The study recommends policy measures to address these challenges.
Governance failureClimate changePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceZwischen grüner Imageproduktion, partizipativer Politik und Wachstumszwang: urbane Landwirtschaft und Gärten im Kontext neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung in Wien
2017Sarah Kumnig · transcript Verlag eBooks · Europe
This study, titled "Between green image production, participatory politics, and growth pressure: urban agriculture and gardens in the context of neoliberal urban development in Vienna," was published in Umkämpftes Grün on page 139.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsCollaborative planning via urban agriculture: The case of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2017Andrea Oyuela, Arnold van der Valk · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
This study questions the adequacy of Tegucigalpa's top-down planning system in Honduras and explores urban agriculture (UA) as a potential building block for a bottom-up strategy. While UA is organized in Tegucigalpa due to residents' need to overcome food insecurity and hardship, the concept of active citizenship and bottom-up development is not yet consolidated. Furthermore, challenges exist regarding the resources needed for practicing UA and the diffusion of knowledge to the population.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justice‘Because the ego started to grow bigger than the project itself’: a case study of founder’s syndrome on an educational community of practise
2017Donovon Ceaser · Ethnography & Education · Global
This study analyzed the leadership of founder John Browne at Green Shoots, a nonprofit service-learning urban farming school established in 2010, using the theory of founder's syndrome. Browne, despite an openly egalitarian community of practice ethic, created a hierarchy at the school that led to a staff walk-out and subsequent firings. Findings revealed Browne as a charming and inspirational teacher who engaged in dominating leadership contradicting the community of practice's ideals, resulting in disrespected students, disillusioned staff, and a founder unable to take responsibility for his leadership.
Governance failureCommunityFood educationPolicy1990年以降の奈良県の都市における農業の変化―都市農業振興基本法の施行をふまえて―
2017肇 石原, Hajime ISHIHARA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan
Since 1990, the weakening of agricultural management foundations has been observed in urban areas of Nara Prefecture, though the decrease in productive green space and the number of full-time farmers remained at a certain level. Rice cultivation was the main crop in many areas, and engagement in agriculture-related businesses, apart from direct sales, was not extensive. Regarding the designation of productive green spaces, many cities were reluctant during the initial designation following the revised Productive Green Space Act and also during the Heisei mergers, which is identified as a challenge for future land use planning.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageHuertos en precario ¿en peligro de extinción? Su encaje en una propuesta integrada de gestión de la agricultura urbana y periurbana en el área metropolitana de Barcelona
2017Elena Domene Gómez, Francesc Coll, Marta Garcia-Sierra · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Barcelona)
Informal vegetable gardens have proliferated in Barcelona's urban periphery since the 1980s, serving as leisure spaces and food sources, and are a relevant form of agriculture. However, these "unregulated" spaces are not considered in urban and peri-urban agriculture promotion policies. A GIS methodology mapped these gardens in the Barcelona metropolitan area for 2009 and 2015, showing an increase in occupied surface during the recent economic crisis. The study evaluates contradictions leading municipal managers to eliminate or regulate these informal spaces, attributing them partly to the subjectivity of the urban and peri-urban agriculture concept and its supposed multifunctionality.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsChallenges for the revitalisation of peri-urban agriculture in Spain: Territorial analysis of the Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas
2017Nerea Morán Alonso, Ícaro Obeso Muñiz, Agustín Hernández Aja, Felipe Fernández García · Moravian Geographical Reports · Spain
This paper analyzed the evolution of peri-urban agriculture in Spain's Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas to identify revitalization opportunities. Using aerial images and cartographic bases, the study found that peri-urban agriculture has suffered from urban occupation and internal changes in crops and agricultural uses, experiencing a process of decline. Innovative initiatives are explored as potential revitalization opportunities.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityConstructing the “Greener, Greater” City
2017Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)
This chapter analyzes why urban forestry was prioritized in New York City's PlaNYC mayoral initiative while urban agriculture was overlooked. It examines the networks, public-private partnerships, elite ties, and bureaucratic structures involved in PlaNYC, revealing that certain voices were heard while others were ignored in the sustainability planning process. The analysis highlights issues of governance and equity in urban nature planning.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsCity of Farms
2017Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)
In New York City, chapter six revealed how civic and public actors working outside PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. Within the void created by city hall’s lack of engagement, other figures in the municipal government seized the opportunity to advance food policy agendas for New York City. The 2011 update to PlaNYC included a brief crosscutting section on food, although it lacked capital funding to fuel the achievement of its stated goals, and was seen by advocates as a symbolic and political achievement.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban agriculture and the reassembly of the city: lessons from Wuhan, China.
2017S. S. Horowitz, Liu JuanJuan Liu JuanJuan · CABI eBooks · China (Wuhan)
This chapter, focusing on a case study of intra-urban agriculture in Wuhan, China, mapped the dynamic relations between actors, institutions, processes, and spaces. Theoretical and practical challenges to growing food within Chinese cities were identified, and ways for state and non-state actors to collaborate in reassembling intra-urban agriculture to maximize its social, ecological, and economic contributions were suggested.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsBiodiversityOrdering urban agriculture: farmers, experts, the state and the collective management of resources in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2017Gabin Korbéogo · Environment and Urbanization · Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
This article explores how land tenure, water flows, and water quality are legally, politically, and socially framed in urban agriculture in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Urban agriculture serves as a revenue source and a socio-political arena involving state representatives, experts, and farmers. Public authorities monitor legal standards for water use and hygiene, while farmers strive for efficient resource use, sometimes challenging official norms. These competing interests lead to conflicts over resource use or rule legitimacy, which are negotiated through institutional or informal bargaining.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceA systemic methodology to characterize peri-urban agriculture for a better integration of agricultural stakes in urban planning
2017Esther Sanz Sanz, Claude Napoléone, Bernard Hubert, Aruna Popuri · · Global
Existing urban planning documents inadequately consider the specificities of peri-urban agriculture as an economic activity requiring arrangements not always adapted to an urban vision of agricultural spaces. This paper proposes a systemic methodology to characterize peri-urban agricultural spatial units, aiming to provide an inventory of peri-urban agricultural areas tailored to urban planning practitioners' constraints. The approach seeks to focus public action on areas where it is most likely to be efficient within a territorial project.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsMoving dirt: soil, lead, and the dynamic spatial politics of urban gardening
2017Bethany B. Cutts, Jonathan London, Shaina Meiners, Kirsten Schwarz, Mary L. Cadenasso · Local Environment · Global
This paper applies a dynamic spatial politics framework to interpret a 30-year conflict over an urban garden in Sacramento, California. It examines how urban gardens, often idealized, are also sites of conflict due to competing visions of "soil" versus "dirt." The study highlights that contaminants like lead in the soil contribute to this instability, reframing fertile soil as dangerous dirt, and influencing the garden's transformation from a countercultural space to a gentrified amenity.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthPolicyAgriculture urbaine et souveraineté alimentaire à Genève (Suisse), machines à consentement ou moteurs d’hybridation du référentiel agricole dominant ?
2017Rémi Schweizer, Cyril Mumenthaler · VertigO · Switzerland (Genève)
This case study in Geneva, Switzerland, examined the integration of urban agriculture and food sovereignty into public policy, focusing on the regional brand Genève Région - Terre Avenir (GRTA). The analysis, based on a cognitive approach, highlighted compromises and imbalances among actor communities with divergent value systems. Ultimately, the study demonstrated the difficulty in challenging the dominant agricultural framework.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityAssessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana
2017Eileen Bogweh Nchanji, Imogen Bellwood‐Howard, Nikolaus Schareika, Takemore Chagomoka, Johannes Schlesinger, D. Rodríguez Torres Axel, Glaser Rüdiger · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Ghana (Tamale)
An ethnographic study in Tamale, Northern Ghana, assessed the sustainability of urban vegetable production between 2008 and 2014. While urbanization increased cultivation of profitable vegetables like cabbage, the practice involved irrigation with grey and wastewater and high pesticide use, posing health and environmental hazards. Industrial growth reduced open space urban agriculture by 8.7%, leading farmers to use interstitial spaces and peri-urban fringes, indicating a dynamic but not yet sustainable production system.
Contamination & food safetyHealthEconomicsClimate changePolicyOrganic cycleDrought, water access, and urban agriculture: a case study from Silicon Valley
2017Lucy Diekmann, Leslie Gray, Gregory A. Baker · Local Environment · United States (California)
This case study in Santa Clara County, California, used interviews and surveys to explore the implications of historic drought for urban agriculture (UA). It found that metropolitan California's decentralized water supply and diverse institutional arrangements create an uneven landscape of water access for UA. This results in geographically and socially differentiated pressures on UA water users to change water-consuming practices, with responses varying due to site-specific sociotechnical arrangements and UA purposes.
Governance failureClimate changePolicyUrban–rural linkageThe ‘Hungry Gap’: Twitter, local press reporting and urban agriculture activism
2017Matthew Reed, Daniel Keech · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United Kingdom (Bristol)
This study investigated how urban food activists related to the media, represented themselves, and how others represented their agenda during 2015 when Bristol was the European Green Capital. The research found that mass media primarily focused on topics other than food, and urban food was not a salient issue in their coverage. The self-representation of urban food networks revealed a narrow focus of interest, which may have contributed to a lack of connection between potential allies within the city, indicating limited connections of urban food networks to circuits of power and influence.
Limited or null effectCommunityPolicy