Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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The Local Food System and Its Potential for Empowering Black Farmers and Growers
2026Mya O. Price · · United States
This chapter examines how local food systems can empower Black farmers and growers through direct-to-consumer and community-based markets, analyzing tools like farmers’ markets and urban agriculture. While case examples show Black-led initiatives, persistent barriers include limited capital, discriminatory pricing and lending, bureaucratic gaps, and uneven USDA support despite civil rights settlements. The study details these challenges.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePolicy“Regain the park from the Bad People”. Symbolic boundaries and urban exclusion in Ecatepec
2026Miguel Ángel Monteverde-Ávalos · Alteridades · Mexico (Ecatepec)
An ethnography of a dispute over a small community garden in a working-class neighborhood in Ecatepec, Mexico, revealed that internal socialization processes establish thresholds of respectability, leading to classifications that reproduce differential access to public space. The study found that these classifications result in the unequal distribution of spatial resources and contribute to the reproduction of an exclusionary urban order.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyHealthWhen Business as Usual Fails: The Case of Urban Agriculture in Detroit
2026Jocelyn M. Leitzinger, Robert David · · United States (Detroit)
A case study of Detroit's urban agriculture market indicates that "business-as-usual" development strategies, which prioritize large-scale investment projects, often fail to achieve their economic development potential. These strategies are noted to potentially exacerbate social or environmental issues, particularly within "moral markets" led by Black activists. The paper explores the mechanisms of such failures and offers recommendations for policymakers and entrepreneurs.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceInsurgent Geographies and the Problem of Violence: Lessons From Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
2026Alexei Anisin · Peace & Change · United States (Seattle)
This study analyzed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle, which emerged in June 2020 and lasted 24 days, functioning as an urban hub for mutual aid and urban farming. The research, using randomly sampled Fire Department reports, found that CHAZ had significantly higher emergency response rates and incident variability compared to adjacent areas. The zone was dismantled due to outbreaks of violence, including five shootings, two deaths, sexual assaults, and arson, indicating a failure to address communal safety.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyHealthENTRE O DISCURSO E A PRÁTICA
2026Alan da Silva Vinhaes, Tamires Regina Rocha · Revista Tocantinense de Geografia · Brazil (Jundiaí)
This article analyzes the Urban Garden Program in Jundiaí, Brazil, to understand the contradictions between institutional discourse, normative framework, and observed territorial practice. Despite a favorable legal framework, the program's effectiveness is limited by low territorial coverage, a reduced number of active gardens, and reliance on punctual initiatives. The study concludes that long-term public policies with continuous institutional support are needed for urban agriculture to become a permanent component of urban planning.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityA University–School Partnership Model for Sustainability Teacher Training: Integrating School Gardens into Basic Education
2026Yadeneyro de la Cruz Elizondo, Reyna Nirvana Montiel Rodríguez, Rosa María Arias Mota, Nancy Domínguez González, María de los Ángeles Chamorro Zárate · Sustainability · Mexico (Veracruz)
In Veracruz, Mexico, a university-school partnership model for teacher training in integrating school gardens into basic education was evaluated. A mixed-methods design involved a diagnostic survey of 71 teachers and subsequent training workshops for 34 teachers. Results showed high teacher motivation despite limited institutional infrastructure, and training strengthened pedagogical capacities. However, the integration of school gardens into formal curricula remains limited due to structural constraints and insufficient teacher preparation.
Governance failureFood educationCommunityPolicyUrban agriculture as regenerative infrastructure on a university campus in Brazil: challenges, opportunities and design requirements
2026Anelise Anapolski, Ana Passuello, Miguel Aloysio Sattler · International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education · Brazil
This study investigated urban agriculture (UA) as regenerative infrastructure on a university campus in Brazil, assessing challenges and opportunities before project implementation and proposing design requirements for future projects. Data collected from 120 questionnaires and 9 interviews revealed key challenges including maintenance, stakeholder engagement, risk of discontinuity, and lack of institutional support. The academic setting offers opportunities through integration with teaching, research, and outreach, and the campus community positively associates UA with innovation.
Governance failurePolicyFood educationCommunityUrban–rural linkageThe potential roles of vertical urban agriculture to promote the right to food in Brazil
2026Felipe Jardim, Eduardo Alberto Manjarrés Trelles, Caren Freitas de Lima · Revista de Direito da Cidade · Brazil
This study investigated the role of vertical urban agriculture in promoting the right to food in Brazil, considering the food system crisis as a problem affecting the right to the city. An inductive method with a qualitative approach, including literature review, documental research, and case studies from Japan, Singapore, Germany, the USA, and Brazil, revealed that vertical urban agriculture has "cons" when appropriated as a profitable system with restricted access products, and "pros" such as occupying vacant urban land and being produced by or supporting poor families.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsDigital agricultureStrengthening urban resilience in the United States: community preferences for green rooftops integrating agriculture and solar energy
2026Natalie Meyer, Simona Trandafir · Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy · United States (Rhode Island)
A choice-based survey of over 600 US residents from Rhode Island examined preferences and perceived value for green rooftop (GR) space allocations for agriculture, solar energy, and recreation. Latent class modeling revealed that Class 1, representing 20% of respondents, was generally unsupportive of GR installation and expressed disutility towards GR space allocation for solar energy. Both classes uniformly favored allocating GR space for agriculture production and showed a positive willingness to pay for this feature.
Limited or null effectCommunityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeUrban Agriculture and Smart Cities: The Integration of Controlled Environment Agriculture, Community Gardens, and Public Health Policies
2026Evelyn Seilhe Guerreiro, Márcio Luis Valença Araújo, Adilson Oliveira de Almirante, Eduardo Oliveira Teles, Aloísio Santos Nascimento Filho, Hugo Saba Pereira Cardoso · Journal of Bioengineering, Technologies and Health · Brazil
This study analyzed the integration of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), community gardens, and public health policies, using case studies from Brazilian cities such as Salvador, Recife, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. CEA contributes to enhanced productivity in small spaces with reduced water and input consumption, while community gardens strengthen social cohesion, mental health, and local food supply. However, challenges remain regarding high implementation costs, regulatory gaps, and lack of institutional support.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeBraiding Food Systems Co-constructing Indigenous Seed Systems in Northern Ontario for Food Sovereignty, Security, and Climate Adaptation
2026Charlotte Potter, Silvia Sarapura, Camilo Jimenez Gonzalez, Justina Walker-Mohamed, Paul Benalcazer, Biinjitiwaabik Zaagging Anishinaabek, Netmizaaggamig Nishnabeg, Red Rock Indian Band · Rural Review Ontario Rural Planning Development and Policy · Canada (Northern Ontario)
The 'Braiding Food Systems' project, a community-led partnership with three Northern Ontario First Nations, used mixed-methods Participatory Action Research to examine conditions influencing food security and sovereignty. Community members identified structural constraints rooted in colonial governance, contemporary ecological pressures, and local transformation opportunities. This research demonstrates that sustained, community-led collaboration can counterbalance colonial food systems by reorganizing decisions, strengthening access, and enhancing resilience within Indigenous food networks.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyMapeamento de legislações de Agricultura Urbana e Periurbana no Brasil
2026Elisa Carvalho Lauer, Jaqueline Lima Liskoski, Kelliane Da Consolação Fuscaldi · Revista Campo-Território · Brazil
This study mapped and analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUP) legislation across municipal, state, and federal levels in Brazil, identifying 217 municipal laws in 113 municipalities, 33 state laws, and federal frameworks. The research systematized normative content into twelve thematic categories, showing AUP's integration into food security, urban sustainability, and income generation agendas. While a qualitatively consistent normative basis exists, gaps persist regarding conceptual definition, area guarantees, water access, financing, and credit. It is necessary to expand and harmonize regulations across all three spheres to consolidate AUP as a structural strategy for sustainable cities.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBelo Horizonte’s Right-to-Food Model
2026Hoyoon Jung · The International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic Social and Cultural Context · Brazil (Belo Horizonte)
This study analyzes Belo Horizonte, Brazil's right-to-food model, which has reduced hunger and promoted social equity through integrated food policies like subsidized food programs and urban agriculture. Despite its successes, the model faces challenges in policy sustainability, financial constraints, and political continuity, and the study notes limitations including reliance on secondary data.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyHealthEconomicsFood-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review
2025Leanne Idzerda, Calin Lazarescu, Tricia Corrin, Eric Vallières, Alix Couture, Sara Khan, Lynn McIntyre, Valerie Tarasuk, Alejandra Jaramillo Garcia · Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada · Canada
A systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42021254450) searching four databases to 19 February 2025, with duplicate independent screening, risk-of-bias assessment and certainty grading, on food-based interventions that could reduce household food insecurity (HFI) in Canada. Exposure to food voucher programmes may reduce HFI, but exposure to food box, community gardening, school food, hunting and fishing, and food charity programmes may have little to no effect on HFI. The authors conclude that because HFI is primarily an economic problem, food-based responses are unlikely to have a major impact on overall HFI and a more comprehensive public policy approach is required. This is direct counter-evidence to framing community gardens as a food-insecurity intervention.
Limited or null effectHealthPolicyCommunityFeeding the green gentrification machine: urban agriculture and the barriers to a just ecological transition in Montréal, Québec
2025Christina Frendo · Urban Geography · Canada (Montréal)
This study analyzed how urban agriculture contributes to green gentrification in Montréal. Based on interviews with planners, developers, and community actors, and discourse analysis of municipal policy documents, it showed that ecological initiatives are prioritized over housing, and sustainability fixes reconcile progressive rhetoric with growth imperatives, leading to policy trade-offs that undermine housing affordability. These findings reveal how progressive governments reproduce structural injustices through their ecological transition agendas within the context of a housing crisis.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe spaces in between: an actor network analysis of alternative food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean
2025Gonzalo Lizarralde, Sara Latorre, Neidy Clavijo, Benjamín Herazo, Manuel Pérez, Kevin Gould, Myriam Paredes, Elsa Monsalve, Nicolás Ordoñez, Roberto Burdiles, Claudio Araneda, Lisa Bornstein, Ricardo Dueñez, Adriana Patricia López Valencia, Oswaldo López, Andrés Olivera, Pedro Tex Martinez, Gloria Artze · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Latin America and the Caribbean
This study investigated the emergence, legitimization, and survival of alternative food systems in low-income settlements across Latin America and the Caribbean. Researchers conducted 340 interviews and 312 questionnaires, following 18 bottom-up initiatives related to food production, distribution, transformation, and consumption in urban and peri-urban areas of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Chile. Empirical results demonstrated the inadequacy of existing regulations and policies to comprehend the dynamic resistance occurring in the "in between" spaces of both identities and urban structure.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsPolicyLa percepción de la urbanización de tierras agrícolas en el valle andino de Cajamarca, Perú
2025Moschella Miloslavich, Paola · Portal de Revistas PUCP (N/A) · Peru (Cajamarca)
This study in Cajamarca, Peru, analyzed the expansion of the city onto vital agricultural land, examining perceptions, consequences, and solutions through surveys and interviews. It found that weak regulations and external factors accelerate informal subdivision of rural properties, leading to future urban areas lacking public spaces and services. Despite high regard for agricultural land, comfort and the land market override beliefs in decision-making, and initiatives to protect the valley were unsuccessful due to permissive regulations and a lack of political will.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageAgricultura urbana en México: evaluación sobre su factibilidad y viabilidad técnica, política, económica y eficiencia energética.
2025Ramírez Pérez, Norma Verónica, Padilla Medina, José Alfredo, Cárdenas Manríquez, Marcela, Araujo Rodríguez, Jessica Alejandra, Barranco Gutiérrez, Alejandro Israel, Prado Olivarez, Juan · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Mexico
This article analyzes the technical feasibility, energy efficiency, political, and economic viability of urban agriculture (UA) in Mexico, considering its advantages, disadvantages, and conditions favoring soilless cultivation. The study, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis using the PRISMA protocol, aims to provide scientific evidence on UA's technical, economic, and energy feasibility. It highlights that UA faces technical, political, and economic challenges that limit its development and expansion.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceEfectos de los Huertos Urbanos Escolares en la Educación Ambiental y la Nutrición Infantil: Un Estudio en Instituciones Públicas De Lima Metropolitana
2025María Fernanda Ríos Acuña, Rocío Elena Matos Chávez, Nicolás Manuel Herrera Robles, Carlos Enrique Quispe Vargas, Juliana Beatriz Torres Luján · Ibero Ciencias - Revista Científica y Académica - ISSN 3072-7197 · Peru (Lima)
This review article analyzed the effects of school urban gardens on environmental education and child nutrition in public institutions of Metropolitan Lima. Examining 25 national and international scientific studies using the PRISMA methodological approach, findings showed that school gardens strengthen ecological awareness and promote fruit and vegetable consumption. However, structural barriers such as lack of resources, teacher training, and sustained institutional support were also identified.
Governance failureFood educationHealthPolicyThe New Urbanism in New York City: A Case Study Comparing Battery Park City and Alphabet City
2025Lena Farley · Scholarship @ Claremont (The Claremont Colleges) · United States (New York City)
This thesis compares Battery Park City and Alphabet City in Manhattan, examining how they embody New Urbanist principles despite different planning approaches. While both neighborhoods show core New Urbanist characteristics, the research raises critical questions regarding community engagement in master-planned developments and the mitigation of gentrification in evolving urban landscapes.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyLeveraging community agroecological values across scales for food system transformation in Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation, Northwest Territories
2025Jennifer Temmer, Alison Blay‐Palmer, Andrew Spring · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada (Northwest Territories)
A Participatory Action Research study in Kakisa, Northwest Territories, applied the Community Agroecological Values Framework to food system planning. While the community successfully leveraged extra-regional resources by building relationships with organizations outside the territory, findings indicated that unstable relationships and conflicting perspectives regarding land use and agriculture constrained access to critical regional supports, including gardening knowledge networks, funding, and training opportunities. This study highlights the necessity of both short-term regional support and long-term local capacity building for sustainable food production.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyTransformation of Agrarian Land in the Urban Periphery: Dispossession, Legalization and Dispute in Cuautlancingo, Puebla
2025José Arturo Méndez Espinoza, Martín Neri-Suárez, Karen Italia Ruiz-López · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Mexico (Puebla)
A case study in Cuautlancingo, Puebla, Mexico, revealed an adverse context for the reproduction of peri-urban family farming. Urban expansion, neoliberal policies, and real-estate speculation have displaced traditional agricultural practices and fostered land-tenure changes. Between 2005 and 2021, over 40% of agricultural areas were lost due to industrial and housing growth. The study concludes that without effective protection and territorial planning, peri-urban agriculture in Cuautlancingo is at risk of disappearing under urban and industrial pressures, with implications for local food security.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceRELACIONES DE PODER Y GÉNERO EN PROYECTOS DE AGRICULTURA URBANA EN LIMA SUR: UN ANÁLISIS CRÍTICO DE LA PARTICIPACIÓN COMUNITARIA
2025Luis Enrique Serrano Ayasta, Josiane Stoessel-Ritz · Anales Científicos · Peru (Lima)
A doctoral research study in three low-income neighborhoods in South Lima, Peru, analyzed power relations within urban agriculture projects. The findings indicate that these projects, despite aiming for empowerment, often mask asymmetric power relations and reinforce preexisting inequalities, particularly for women gardeners. This perpetuates gender hierarchies and limits their participation and agency, reflecting paternalism from promoting organizations and community leaders.
Equity & displacementCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justicePolicyA produção de alimentos na agricultura urbana em tempos de insegurança alimentar: uma experiência com hortas no município de Palmas, Tocantins- Brasil
2025Francisco Pereira de Sousa, Clareana Maria Guimarães Franco, Cássio Bruno Sá de Souza, Débora de Paula Brito Fogaça, Marcos Paulo Parente Araújo, Maíra Santiago Pires Parente, Henrique D. Silva, Dirlley Douglas Alves de Oliveira · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil
A qualitative and quantitative study in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, aimed to understand the interfaces of the Palmas City Hall's community garden project. Based on ethnographic research, action research, and field study, the results showed that this local practice enhances community participation in urban garden planting in northern Palmas. It aligns with Sustainable Development Goals and is a viable tool for minimizing food insecurity and hunger reduction. However, the project requires structural adjustments, promotion of public and private partnerships, and support from universities and civil society for healthy sustainability.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyDeliberative methods for cultural ecosystem services
2025Luna Khirfan · · Canada (Waterloo)
This chapter introduces three deliberative methods for cultural ecosystem services, based on empirical experimentation. One method, a conventional charrette, sought to understand and overcome barriers to community gardening at four community gardens in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The study identified barriers to community gardening.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomics