Research & reports

Gunwon Lee, Yunnam Jeong, Byunghak Min, Seiyong Kim · Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society · South Korea

This study investigated improving South Korea's Biotope Area Ratio system for urban agriculture vitalization. The research found that the existing Biotope Area Ratio indicators, which only consider soil depth and permeability, have limitations in managing plant growth for urban agriculture. Focusing on daylight conditions as a critical factor, the study concluded that the current Biotope Area Ratio indicators are insufficient for adequately addressing plant growth in urban agriculture.

Pascale Joassart‐Marcelli, Fernando J. Bosco · Métropoles · United States (California)

This article explores the growth of local food practices in urban southern California, focusing on farmers' markets. While alternative food initiatives like farmers' markets are often seen as resistance to capitalist pressures, this research provides evidence that they have become increasingly popular among affluent and white urban residents. This finding challenges the claim that local food fosters democracy and justice, indicating that these initiatives can reproduce neoliberal urban agendas and reshape cities along lines of race and class.

Maeve Bassett · Fordham Research Commons (Fordham University) · Global

Urban gardens are advertised as a solution to limited food access in impoverished areas, but they are not productive enough to globally affect food production and the environment. However, for surrounding communities, urban gardens are cheap and effective solutions for many problems associated with poverty and food deserts, such as obesity, education, social interactions, income supplementation, health issues, dangerous neighborhoods, and refugee assimilation.

James Farmer, Charles Chancellor, Jennifer Meta Robinson, Stephanie T. West, Melissa S. Weddell · Journal of Leisure Research · Global

This study collected data from 712 individuals regarding participation in local food systems, including farmers' markets and CSA programs. Findings revealed a significant association between participants and privilege variables, suggesting that despite promotion, barriers exclude many from engaging in these agrileisure opportunities.

Laura Oliven Silberfarb, Sonja Savre, Gayle Geber · Preventing Chronic Disease · United States (Hennepin County)

Hennepin County assessed the extent to which 41 cities were engaged in making policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes to increase residents' access to healthful food. Results revealed that some cities, particularly those with higher resident demand for healthful food, are making nationally recommended PSE changes, such as sponsoring farmers markets. However, cities moved more slowly to make changes in areas with perceived negative cost consequences or lesser public demand, such as parks and recreation vending.

Nobuhle Sebata, Clifford Mabhena, Mkhokheli Sithole · IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science · Zimbabwe

A qualitative study in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, using data from 30 women, 5 key informant interviews, and 2 focus groups, examined urban agriculture's role in women's poverty resilience. While urban agriculture significantly improved food availability and access, its nutritional contribution was low due to a focus on maize, and income generation remained very low due to subsistence production.

Kizito K. Mwajombe · · Tanzania

This study investigated urban agriculture (UA) produce marketing in three Tanzanian municipalities. Findings showed UA farmers lacked pre-arranged contracts with buyers, limiting their marketing, and faced problems including poor packaging, bylaws, taxes, and difficulty meeting consumer preferences. Farmers also lacked direct links to retail and consumer units like supermarkets.

· Hart Publishing eBooks · United Kingdom (England and Wales)

This paper explores the phenomenon of people in England and Wales returning to the land for various food-growing projects, including over 1,000 community gardens and 82 school farms. It examines the legal frameworks regulating these diverse projects and finds that the legal framework is fragmented, poorly signposted, and often absent, with projects sometimes depending entirely on landowner goodwill. The study concludes that there is little coherency in the law regarding these initiatives.

Sarah Legg · Figshare · United States (Wyoming)

ACRES Student Farm, a University of Wyoming organization, has grown significantly over six years, providing local produce, CSA shares, composting, and educational opportunities. However, the farm suffers from continuous losses in efficiency and acquired knowledge due to the transient nature of its student management and workforce, leading to unsustainable internal functioning. This project aims to develop a management plan and handbook to address these issues and improve the farm's operational efficiency.

Yuki Sampei, Yuji Hara, Akinobu Murakami, Armando M. Palijon, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Makoto Yokohari · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Philippines

This study assessed the nitrogen supply-demand balance in compost and vegetable production on vacant lots in subdivisions and barangays in Quezon City, Metro Manila, using GIS. It found that nearly half of the subdivisions experienced nitrogen oversupply, while others faced shortages. Although cooperation among subdivisions within a barangay could improve nitrogen balance, the current centralized composting facilities were deemed insufficient to support a continuous compost recycling system due to their distribution patterns. The study concluded that current barangay-based policies on organic waste management and urban agriculture need greater flexibility and attention to inter-subdivision coordination across barangay boundaries.

Jonathan Crush · · Global

Cities in the global South face a deepening crisis of food inaccessibility, characterized by food poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. This urban crisis is largely invisible to policy and research communities, with less attention given to urban food security than in the 1990s. Urban agriculture is the only aspect of urban food security receiving significant attention, though it is improbably seen as the key to achieving food security in these cities.

H. C. Agada, E. A. Obienusi, Emma E. Ezenwaji · Journal of environment and earth science · Nigeria

This study evaluated urban forestry and housing patterns in Awka metropolis, Anambra State, Nigeria, over a ten-year period (2001-2010). Analysis of land use data using linear regression and correlation coefficients confirmed a significant correlation between housing patterns (urbanization) and the distribution of trees (forestry). The least square regression results indicated that the rate of forest displacement is a direct consequence of increasing structural development in the study area.

Yu Wang · · China (Xi'an City)

This study analyzed the dynamic changes in urban agricultural landscape (arable lands and garden plots) due to urbanization in Chang'an District, Xi'an City, China, using remote sensing, GIS, and FRAG-STAT techniques. Compared to 1999, arable land area decreased and aggregation declined by 2.45% in 2011, while garden plot area increased and aggregation rose by 10.44%. Improved urbanization levels decreased arable land area and increased fragmentation, but correlations with garden plot landscape indexes were insignificant.

Nevin Cohen, Kristin Reynolds · Journal of Planning Education and Research · United States (New York City)

This article examines urban agriculture (UA) policy-making processes in New York City, focusing on aspects of UA not fully addressed by existing policies, plans, and research strategies. Interviews with UA stakeholders and an analysis of the city’s UA policy-making processes show that resource needs and race- and class-based disparities within the UA system persist.

Benjamin Drury, Renee Laliberte, Jared Watson, Connor Wilgress · Digital WPI · United States (Worcester)

The city of Worcester, MA, faces health issues due to economic instability and low access to affordable healthy food. While urban farming has the potential to address these problems, the city lacks an effective policy.

Tian Lib · Chinese Journal of Tropical Agriculture · China (Hainan)

This paper summarized the status of protected horticulture in Hainan, China, identifying major problems such as a deficiency of special varieties, unsuitable introduced facility types, lack of a non-nuisance production system, and insufficient capacity for resisting natural disasters and environmental control. To achieve sustainable development, the local government needs to strengthen funding and policy support, enhance farmers' awareness of pollution-free production, and improve management techniques.

Robert Mattock · · United Kingdom

This article discusses the decline in horticultural skills and work ethic in the United Kingdom over the last century, attributing it to the welfare state's de-incentivization of the workforce. The diverse plant vocabulary and cultivation skills once common among Victorian gardeners and landscape designers are now largely lost, impacting the conservation of designed landscapes. While efforts are being made to revive school gardens and promote apprenticeships and craft skills, the article concludes that more work is needed to re-establish a traditional work ethic in apprenticeships.

Matilda Thelin · · Sweden

This qualitative study in peri-urban Uppsala, Sweden, identifies driving forces influencing land use decisions by commercial farmers and institutional landowners. It notes that approximately 700 hectares of land in Sweden are diverted from food production annually, with Uppsala Municipality showing the greatest change in 2013. The expropriation of agricultural land for urban development leads to farmers losing land resources and increased competition for remaining land, resulting in high land prices.

Katherine Luke · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · United States (Pittsburgh)

This study used a door-to-door survey in six Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhoods to measure the impact of community gardens on residents' perceptions of food access. It found that many gardeners do not consider gardening to improve their personal food security, and despite geographic proximity and expressed interest, community garden participation rates were low. Social and emotional barriers, including lack of gardening knowledge and racial prejudice, appeared to prevent residents from becoming active participants.

최정석 · 환경정책 · South Korea

This research from South Korea identifies legal and institutional problems in securing space for urban agriculture, noting that the 2013 Urban Agriculture Promotion and Support Act has not boosted urban agriculture due to a lack of space. The study focuses on urban planning regulations, parks, green areas, the Urban Agriculture Promotion and Support Act, and other related policies to suggest solutions for these issues.

Matt Murray · Journal of Political Ecology · United States (New York City)

Efrat Eizenberg's book "From the Ground Up" explores New York City's community gardens as spaces that resist the commodification of land. The book details the history of these gardens, including their emergence during the 1970s economic crisis when primarily Black and Hispanic residents transformed vacant land into communal green spaces. As the real estate market recovered in the 1980s, land values increased, and many gardens were threatened by gentrification pressures. Eizenberg analyzes these transformations at individual, collective, and institutional levels, highlighting how gardeners create common spaces, solidify interpersonal ties, and organize to defend their gardens.

Chiara Tornaghi, Barbara Van Dyck · Local Environment · United Kingdom

This paper explores the "spheres of influence" and contradictions that shaped the trajectory of the Edible Public Space project in Leeds, UK, drawing on the authors' personal experience. It analyzes the dynamics and contradictions at play in the formation of an urban gardening group stemming from scholarly and committed action ambitions. The study focuses on the role of spatial interventions in fostering social innovation in the public food and land agenda, aiming to capture learning elements for scholarly activism, political gardening, and radical urbanism.

Christina Jochum · · Argentina (Buenos Aires)

This study examined the social inclusion potential of urban agriculture, focusing on six community gardens in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It analyzed how urban community gardens can promote social inclusion and identified limiting factors. The research found that urban community gardens in Buenos Aires remain an informal strategy, unrecognized by political authorities. The positive impacts of communal gardening on participants and the community are limited by this lack of recognition and often by associated lack of land use rights.

Suarau Odutola Oshunsanya, Tolafe Olayinka Adeniran · Agricultura tropica et subtropica · Nigeria (Ibadan)

A field experiment in Ibadan investigated the quality of irrigation water used for dry season vegetable cultivation along Ona-stream. Water samples from five isolated ponds and one locally dug well were analyzed for heavy metal status. Results showed high concentrations of Pb, Cr, and Co in soil from five farms (A-E) near the stream, and isolated pond water also contained Cr, Co, and Pb exceeding safe consumption thresholds. All vegetables irrigated with untreated isolated ponds contained Cd, Pb, and Ni concentrations above maximum permissible standards, posing potential risks to human health.

David R. Koenig · BIOS · United States (Sacramento)

This research project, conducted at the University of California, Davis, aims to understand how elevated soil lead levels may affect urban gardening activities in Sacramento, CA. The study investigates the distribution of soil lead levels in the city and how knowledge of this information impacts the local community. Elevated soil lead levels are identified as a potential barrier to urban gardening.