Research & reports

Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.

4 results

• Growing food and radical hope in Glasgow: A review of The Practice of Collective Escape

  2026

  Rose Jennings · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United Kingdom (Glasgow)

  Helen Traill's book, "The Practice of Collective Escape," presents ethnographic work over six years in Glasgow, Scotland, following two community growing sites. The book critically examines urban agriculture projects as "Petri dishes for individual and community transformation," exploring concepts of inclusion, individual escape, and political activism, and highlighting social complexities and issues of inclusion and exclusion.

  Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyHealthFood sovereignty & justice
  Read source →DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2026.153.023

• Allotment gardens: Psychosocial benefits and conflictual community aspects

  2022

  Arnaud Sapin, Philippe Bodénan, Thierry Lebeau, Ghozlane Fleury‐Bahi · Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · France

  A qualitative study in Nantes, France, interviewed 28 allotment garden users to examine psychosocial impacts. While highlighting benefits like psychological well-being, physical health, self-development, and social bonding, the study found these were balanced by various conflicts reported by participants. Lexicometric analysis confirmed that positive and negative social aspects are significantly associated and must be considered jointly.

  Equity & displacementCommunityHealthPolicy
  Read source →DOI: 10.1002/casp.2663

• Is urban gardening a source of wellbeing and just freedom? A Capability Approach based analysis from the UK and Ireland

  2019

  Alma Clavin · Manchester University Press eBooks · United Kingdom

  A study using qualitative, visual methods and Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach in five community garden sites in the UK and Ireland examined their potential for human agency and ecological sustainability. While positive agency and wellbeing benefits were observed, the gardens were found to be limited in their ability to truly enhance political freedoms and overcome asymmetric power relations. The research indicates that these initiatives may perpetuate neoliberal forms of unsustainable and uneven development, alongside ongoing issues of tenure insecurity.

  Equity & displacementCommunityHealthPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate change
  Read source →DOI: 10.7228/manchester/9781526126092.003.0008

• Eén buurttuin, twee gemeenschappen: een case study

  2016

  E.J. Veen, Petra Derkzen, B.B. Bock, A.J. de Visser, J.S.C. Wiskerke · Sociologie · Netherlands

  This case study of a community garden in the Netherlands, used by three different groups, found that communities formed in such gardens are complex and multiple, not singular. While the garden served as a meeting space for two groups, strengthening internal cohesion, both groups categorized people as 'us' and 'them' based on residence. This strengthened their social identities and led to struggles over garden ownership, demonstrating that shared presence does not necessarily bridge social distances.

  Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyHealth
  Read source →DOI: 10.5117/soc2016.1.veen