Research & reports

James Vandenberg, Kerstin Krellenberg · Sustainable Cities and Society · Global

This study investigated how differentiated configurations of outdoor, indoor, and greenhouse urban agriculture (UA) impact Urban Resilience Capacities (URCs). It found that a strategic, place-based, combinatorial approach to integrating UA typologies can produce mutually reinforcing outcomes, strengthening various URCs simultaneously. However, a strong risk of trade-offs exists when UA systems are not aligned, and a critical research gap remains as empirical case studies are concentrated in Europe and North America, overlooking experiences in the Global South.

Strayker Ali Muda, Heripan Heripan, Fitra Gustiar · Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) · Indonesia (Palembang)

This systematic review examined strategies, trade-offs, and synergies of climate-smart urban agriculture relevant to Palembang City, Indonesia. A total of 400 records were identified from Google Scholar and Scopus, with 352 unique records screened. While urban agriculture showed five key contributions, including strengthening food security, several critical trade-offs were identified, such as land scarcity, energy and water requirements, soil contamination risks, technological costs, and policy fragmentation. The review emphasizes that urban agriculture should be part of a broader transformation of urban food systems, not a stand-alone solution.

Elías Machado · Editora Científica Digital eBooks · Brazil (Guarapuava)

This study examines the relationship between climate change, urbanization, and urban and peri-urban agriculture in Guarapuava-PR, Brazil. It emphasizes how regional atmospheric variability intensifies existing socio-environmental vulnerabilities. Guarapuava's climate, characterized by high thermal amplitude, frequent frosts, and irregular rainfall, significantly conditions agricultural production systems, especially in urban and peri-urban areas, negatively affecting productive cycles.

R. E. Molenaar, Marcel Pleijte · · Netherlands

A Wageningen University Science Shop report examines measures to improve water management for the "duinlandjes", centuries-old allotment gardens in the dunes near Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, that form part of the Zeesdorpenlandschap cultural heritage. Commissioned by the Duinlandjesvereniging de Noord association, it investigated sustainable solutions from sociocultural, hydrological and ecological perspectives. The duinlandjes are currently experiencing flooding that makes cultivation very challenging. A stakeholder analysis found that while collaboration between the association and drinking water company PWN has advanced, interactions among stakeholders remain fragmented, and it calls for the province of Noord-Holland to take an active coordinating role. The hydrological analysis identifies winter precipitation surplus as the main driver of rising groundwater, projecting that climate change will bring wetter winters and drier summers with greater groundwater fluctuation, though long-term groundwater trends remain uncertain while winter/spring water excess will probably continue. The ecological risk assessment highlights the vulnerability of surrounding dune habitats, noting that draining and diverting excess rainwater can cause habitat degradation and increased drought stress.

Piaopiao Ke, Beñat Olascoaga, Pasi Kolari, Outi Tahvonen, Sami Haapanala, Tom Kokkonen, Leena Järvi, Markku Kulmala, Anna Lintunen · Urban forestry & urban greening · Finland

A year-round eddy covariance and soil chamber measurement in an urban allotment garden in southern Finland showed it functioned as a net CO₂ source (0.69 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹) despite 77% vegetation cover. High respiratory emissions (4.7 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹) exceeded photosynthetic uptake (4.0 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹), likely due to elevated soil organic carbon (13.4 ± 8.7%) and high soil C:N ratio from management amendments. These findings challenge assumptions about urban gardens as inherent carbon sinks and suggest carbon-smart management practices are needed.

· The MIT Press eBooks · Global

This book examines community farms in Latin America, Australia, and China, highlighting tensions between local identities and global transformation. It finds that while industrial expansion in export agribusiness generates macroeconomic benefits, it incurs micro-level costs such as the replacement of peri-urban farms by plantations, loss of biodiversity, and groundwater contamination from pesticides and fertilizers. The study suggests that food system intermediaries are crucial in connecting rural migrants with urban farms and resources.

F. Xavier Medina, José Antonio Vázquez–Medina, Marco Covarrubias · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · Mexico (Mexico City)

This chapter discusses the factors linking food production, social and environmental problems, and future challenges in the chinampas of Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage wetland area in Mexico City's peri-urban zone. It examines strategies implemented by stakeholders and their effects to envision future scenarios for sustainable food systems. The insularity of the chinampas imposes a particular character on agri-food production and the life of inhabitants, highlighting existing social and environmental problems.

Yvon Mwengwe Muhongo, Eric Nice Nshembe Chishungu · Journal of Advanced Psychology · Democratic Republic of Congo

This study investigated the psychological and environmental impacts of climate change and mining degradation in villages surrounding the Mutanda Mining site in Lualaba province, Democratic Republic of Congo, using a mixed-methods approach. Findings reveal that proximity to the mining site is a major determinant of ecological deterioration and psychological distress. Villages within 5 km of the site showed higher environmental degradation, stronger perceptions of climate change, and significantly elevated eco-anxiety and ecological stress levels. Community resilience mechanisms such as social support, community gardens, and local ecological restoration initiatives partially mitigate psychological impacts.

Johanna Bock, Márcio Zamboni Neske, Martin Krauß, Andrea Dombrowski, Jörg Oehlmann · Environmental Sciences Europe · Europe

Focusing on small water bodies in private urban gardens, this study examined whether chemical pollution limits insect diversity, given that gardens make up a significant share of urban green area and can serve as important habitats and stepping stones for insects, while pesticides, fertilizers and chemical run-off from building materials can strongly affect habitat quality and insect biodiversity. Garden pond toxicity was assessed using in vitro and in vivo methods and chemical screening. Of 17 ponds examined, only one water sample and one sediment sample were found non-toxic in a bioluminescence assay with Aliivibrio fischeri. Enhanced dioxin-like activity was measured in seven water and ten sediment samples using a reporter gene assay with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and most water extracts showed mutagenic potential in the Ames fluctuation assay (Salmonella typhimurium strains YG1041 and YG1042), while most sediment extracts were not mutagenic. Increased larval mortality of Chironomus riparius occurred in five water-sediment systems built from pond samples, correlating positively with in vitro water toxicity and with concentrations of benzothiazole derivatives measured by LC-HRMS, likely originating from EPDM rubber pond liners. Substance composition differed significantly between house and allotment gardens, with higher concentrations measured in allotment ponds. The study concludes that chemical pollution in private urban gardens may have been underestimated to date, and that pond toxicity can severely affect insect populations, warranting further study.

Krishna R. Reddy, Jaqueline Rojas Robles, Suzane A. V. Carneiro, Banuchandra Nagaraja · Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science · United States (Chicago)

Using an existing hydroponics system in Chicago as a case study, this life cycle assessment (environmental impact via SimaPro, social and economic sustainability via a semi-quantitative approach) compared a hypothetical scaled hydroponics system against a scaled community garden serving the same number of users in the same area. The results show hydroponics systems present greater sustainability challenges than community gardens overall, though a hydroponics system incorporating LED lights was found to be more sustainable than the community garden; the authors call for future research to more accurately assess the differences between the two models.

Kelley AT, Boger R · EcoHealth · 米国・ニューヨーク市ブルックリン

A survey of mosquito larval abundance and genera across 22 community gardens in Brooklyn, New York. The authors frame these gardens as social spaces providing food sovereignty to many New Yorkers, while the arrival of Aedes albopictus and the longtime presence of Culex pipiens make socialising in them more dangerous — Ae. albopictus is associated with dengue, Zika and chikungunya, and Cx. pipiens is a longstanding West Nile virus vector. Because both breed in human-made plastic containers, knowing their preferred container types and locations can inform gardeners' best management practices. Non-purposeful container types and lower total volumes of water were significant predictors of higher mosquito densities, though these variables did not predict egg-laying preference.

Laura E. Balis, Emily Shaw, Whitney Fung Uy, Katie Nelson, Maryan Isack, Laura Flournoy, Daniele Vest, Jessie Deelo, Amy L. Yaroch · Agriculture & Food Security · United States

This scoping review examined the environmental and health impacts of locally distributed specialty crops in the Midwestern United States, analyzing 9 grey and 19 peer-reviewed sources. While specialty crops positively impacted nutritional intake for diverse populations, the effectiveness of production practices on soil and plant quality and greenhouse gas emissions was mixed. The review concluded that more rigorous study designs with long-term follow-up are needed.

Yannick Useni Sikuzani, Bernard Kisangani Kalonda, Médard Mpanda Mukenza, Jonas Yona Mleci, Alex Mpibwe Kalenga, François Malaisse, Jan Bogaert · Ecologies · DR Congo (Lubumbashi)

This study analyzed the spatial structure, plant diversity, propagation strategies, and ecological functions of domestic gardens across three distinct neighborhoods—planned, unplanned, and residential—in Lubumbashi, DR Congo. The study identified 232 taxa across 68 families, with exotic species predominating in all neighborhoods (80%), especially in unplanned areas (82.25%). This dominance of exotic species highlights a potential for ecological imbalances and emphasizes the strong human influence on domestic gardens in Lubumbashi.

Sudha Panda, Chandana Parida, Anisa Azharunnisa, Rakesh Ranjan Thakur · Discover Sustainability · India (Bhubaneswar)

This paper uses remote sensing data from 2011 to 2023 to examine agricultural land loss in Bhubaneswar, India, a smaller city experiencing significant agricultural decline. It compares the decrease in agricultural land with the increase in built-up areas. The study highlights that agricultural land conversion negatively impacts food security and proposes a nature-based solution to achieve urban food self-sufficiency.

Catherine Oliver · Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers · United Kingdom (London)

This paper examines urban chicken-keeping in London, where urban spaces are transformed to accommodate chickens. It argues that the human-imposed design of urban barnyards is often impractical for chickens, leading to lawns being torn up, plants demolished, and vegetable patches consumed. Additionally, chickens are vulnerable to local foxes, highlighting that chickens' behaviors and territoriality often overflow their assigned space, challenging human design intentions.

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.

Olivier Grünberger, Radhouane Hamdi, Manon Lagacherie, Hanène Chaâbane · Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part B · Africa

Two years of monthly water sampling and hydrological monitoring at the outlet of the Wadi Guenniche watershed (86 km², with rainfed cereal, legume and orchard cultivation and irrigated market gardening) in northern Tunisia, a tributary of the Bizerte coastal lagoon, tested for 469 pesticide active ingredients and metabolites. Twenty-nine pesticide active ingredients and 2 metabolites were detected in the water, 24 of which are authorized for use in Tunisia; 14 of the authorized substances had never before been mentioned in farmer surveys. The five most frequently detected herbicides and metabolites were AMPA (100%), glyphosate (94%), simazine (94%), 2,4-D (70%) and deisopropylatrazine (DIA, 47%). The detection frequency and concentration range suggest phytosanitary pressure and water contamination comparable to the northern Mediterranean shore, indicating a need for further study of pesticide use and fate on the southern shore, particularly in Tunisia.

Arun Kafle, James Hopeward, Baden Myers · Sustainability · Global

An integrated modelling framework using proxy measures for economic benefit (net margin), social benefit (full-time farmer employment equivalent per consumer) and environmental benefit (CO2 emission reduction) was applied to two contrasting development settings, Adelaide, Australia, and the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, to examine the characteristics of urban agriculture (UA). Using two-stage optimisation across three mechanisation levels (non-mechanised, garden tiller, garden cultivator), two purposes (gardening or commercial), two crop-value categories and two market mechanisms, the model found that no single UA form maximises economic, environmental and social (employment) objectives simultaneously: commercial UA, in which both land and labour are costed, was favoured for maximising profit or reducing CO2 emissions, while gardening-form UA was favoured for maximising employment participation. In Adelaide the model favoured commercial UA for best-case profit and carbon emissions but gardening UA for employment maximisation, while in the Kathmandu Valley the model selected gardening UA under the given assumptions.

Veronica Sebald, Julia M. Schmack, Monika Egerer · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Germany

This study surveyed the occurrence of poisonous plant species in 30 urban community gardens across two German cities, Berlin and Munich, and examined concerns around poisonous and highly poisonous plants in urban garden settings. It found that plants producing substances toxic to humans occur in these gardens while also potentially holding ecosystem-functioning and biodiversity-conservation value, creating a trade-off with the ecosystem service of human health promotion, and concludes that poisonous plants should be carefully monitored and managed—depending on garden participants and the goals of the garden organization—to mitigate health risks while still supporting biodiversity conservation.

Joan Casanelles‐Abella, Simone Fontana, Bertrand Fournier, David Frey, Marco Moretti · Ecological Applications · Switzerland (Zurich)

This study in 23 urban gardens in Zurich, Switzerland, examined feeding niche partitioning between wild bees and honeybees. Researchers found that feeding niche partitioning increased with wild bee species richness and in sites with lower landscape-scale resource availability, which also had lower honeybee abundances. However, beekeeping intensity at local and landscape scales did not directly influence community feeding niche partitioning or wild bee species richness, suggesting direct competition for resources was not a main driver for the wild bee community.

Ionat; id_orcid 0000-0001-9080-2282 Zurr, Oron; id_orcid 0000-0002-2893-5364 Catts · UWA Profiles and Research Repository (University of Western Australia) · Australia

The "Sunlight, Soil & Shit (De)Cycle" project, presented by SymbioticA in February 2022, is a performative experiment exploring agricultural technology (AgTech) and its aim to remove natural elements like sunlight, soil, and organic waste from food production. This project considers whether the precursor to sustainable food systems will be the creation of a metabolic rift, where the means of production grow ever distant from nature. It highlights a critical environmental tradeoff by questioning the separation of humans from nature in technological farming.

Muhammad Sarjan, M. Taufik Fauzi, Ruth Stella P. Thei · Unram Journal of Community Service · Indonesia (Mataram City)

This action research in Mataram City during the COVID-19 pandemic introduced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to urban farming groups. Group discussions revealed that while participants were interested in developing fresh vegetables and fruits and found benefits in meeting family food needs, most members were unfamiliar with environmentally friendly cultivation techniques, particularly IPM.

Monika Egerer, Brenda B. Lin · CABI Reviews · Global

This review evaluated ecosystem services (ES) within urban agriculture (UA) systems and the trade-offs between these services. Urban agriculture provides many benefits and environmental services such as food provision, social cohesion, and climate regulation. However, it was shown that management decisions can create trade-offs between ecosystem services, where an increase in one service may potentially reduce the system's ability to provide another service at a desired level.

Paulien C. H. van de Vlasakker, Karin Tonderski, Geneviève S. Metson · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A review of empirical peer-reviewed studies (2000-2021) on nutrient losses to water from soil- and ground-based urban agriculture. Of 241 publications screened for a stated concern with nutrient losses to water, 20 were retained, but only seven had actually measured losses to water. Of four experimental studies, three measured leachate losses under different garden management practices; of 16 real-world studies, only four quantified losses to water as leachate, with measured average losses ranging from 0.005 to 6.5 kg/ha for phosphorus and 0.05 to 140 kg/ha for nitrogen. Thirteen of the 16 non-experimental studies provided input and harvested-crop data allowing nutrient balances to be calculated; despite wide value ranges, most studied gardens showed nutrient surpluses (inputs exceeding crop harvest) for nitrogen and phosphorus but not potassium, identified as a risk factor for losses to water, though large surpluses were not always linked to higher leachate losses. The review concludes that more field studies measuring actual losses to water, and documenting contextual factors, are needed to determine whether urban agriculture can contribute to a circular economy without causing nutrient-related water quality impairment.

Jaime Pizarro‐Araya, Fermín M. Alfaro, Francisco Gómez, Roberto Villablanca · Anthropocene Coasts · Chile

A 2022 study characterized the taxonomic richness and abundance of terrestrial arthropod fauna at the Aguada de La Chimba urban coastal wetland in the Antofagasta Region, Chile, using multiple survey methods. From a total of 1,874 specimens, it identified 109 terrestrial arthropod species, with Insecta the most represented taxon (85 species, 47 families, 15 orders); by origin, communities included 24% native, 22% naturalized, and a smaller proportion of endemic species. The study reports that urban coastal wetlands are fragile ecosystems subject to serious disturbance in structure, function, and diversity from advancing urban, agricultural, foraging, and drainage activities, including displacement of endemic species by invasive ones, and discusses the major threats to this wetland alongside the importance of public-private partnerships with the local community for biodiversity conservation.