Research & reports

Colleen Hammelman · CABI eBooks · Colombia

In Medellín, Colombia, displaced women utilize urban gardens as a survival strategy amidst food insecurity and tenuous support from local government. Urban planning permits these gardens under the guise of supporting displaced families, but also for preserving open space and halting the growth of informal settlements. This chapter provides a clear example of how urban planning impacts the critical survival strategy of growing food.

David Arredondo Garrido · ZARCH · Spain

This study analyzed four urban agriculture and gardening initiatives in the city centers of Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, and Zaragoza, Spain, over the last decade. These projects aimed to counteract the homogenization of urban historical landscapes and create spaces for culture and social interaction. Despite difficulties in their management and their minor impact, these interventions demonstrated a method for reconfiguring urban landscapes in abandoned central areas.

Never Mujere · CABI eBooks · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This case study in Harare City, Zimbabwe, examined an urban irrigated agriculture project's contribution to household food security and poverty alleviation, including crop types, productivity, and farmer challenges. It found that while urban irrigated smallholder agriculture contributes to livelihoods, numerous socio-economic factors impede greater participation. Furthermore, some participants withdrew due to security threats from perceived political affiliations.

Nóra Gombkötő, Judit Vincze, Judit Hegyi, Károly Kacz, Gombkötő, Nóra, Vincze, Judit, Hegyi, Judit, Kacz, Károly · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Hungary

A questionnaire survey was conducted among producers and consumers regarding Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) systems in Hungary's West Transdanubian region. The study found that CSA is not mature in Hungary and requires broader support. Producers were predominantly over 45 years old, with few engaged in animal product production, and primarily used traditional markets, missing out on other sales opportunities. Consumer awareness of CSA types was low, with only 25% preferring buyer communities and 3% each for subscription/box systems and share farming.

David 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.

Andrea 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.

Lindsay 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.

Gabin 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.

Rémi 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.

Miriam Hermi Zaar · OKARA Geografia em debate · Brazil

Arguing that analyzing territory across multiple scales requires an analytical framework grounded in the dynamic, repeated interweaving of elements and processes that combine into — and clash as — diverse "territorial fragments," this paper examines urban agriculture as a site where city and countryside, urban and rural, and their diverse practices approach, blend and are sometimes confused with one another. Focusing on horticulturists in the Gramorezinho Community in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, as its case, the study shows that historical and spatial singularities — environmental, socioeconomic and administrative — have produced distinct processes that at times align and at other times contradict one another.

Bronwen Morgan, Declan Kuch · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · Global

A chapter draws on an extensive study of grassroots innovation responding to climate change, spanning a continuum from social activism to social enterprise, examining the diverse motivations of entrepreneurs who started community-supported agriculture projects, car-sharing schemes, and co-working spaces. It shows how entrepreneurs' differing biographical trajectories shape the initiatives they create around economic, environmental, and social benefits. The chapter argues these benefits must be understood through the ambiguity of a socio-legal lens: while "sharing" initiatives may occasionally catalyze opportunities to move beyond neoliberalism, the ways lawyers and legal techniques shape the infrastructure of collaboration are deeply implicated in the economics of the neoliberal inheritance — meaning such sharing-economy governance remains entangled with, rather than genuinely escaping, neoliberal economic structures.

Eva Olsson, Eva Kerselaers, Lone Søderkvist Kristensen, Jørgen Primdahl, Elke Rogge, Anders Wästfelt · Sustainability · Europe

A study focusing on peri-urban land in Gothenburg (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Gent (Belgium) analyzed the relationship between peri-urban food production and urban resilience. It found that arable farming has declined in all three areas since 2000 due to urban expansion and recreational land use changes. While policies for farmland preservation exist, strategies for local food production are not expressed in current planning documents, and competing land uses and high dependence on global food systems reduce peri-urban food production and improvements in urban food security.

Cristina D’Alessandro, Kobena T. Hanson, George Kararach · African Geographical Review · Southern Africa

This paper critically examined existing literature on peri-urban agriculture in Southern Africa, arguing it is a viable livelihood response to feeding urban residents. Despite its potential, the literature indicates that peri-urban agriculture does not play a major role in Southern Africa. The study concluded that a lack of political will and weak or absent policy frameworks, stemming from capacity deficits, hinder its promotion.

John Crossan, Andrew Cumbers, Robert McMaster, Deirdre Shaw · Antipode · United Kingdom (Glasgow)

This paper examines community gardens in Glasgow, acknowledging their vulnerability to neoliberal cooptation where citizen work may alleviate state service provision. However, it argues that even with neoliberal practices, these gardens cultivate collective practices that suggest a progressively transformative polity. This form of citizen participation, termed "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY) Citizenship, encourages reconsideration of relationships and effective political practice.

Alex Franklin, Imre Kovách, Bernadett Csurgó · Sociologia Ruralis · Global

This article qualitatively examined a public sector-led initiative to instigate co-production of community food growing, focusing on the discretionary practice of front-line public sector workers. The study found that public sector-led initiatives lack sufficient intention or scope to transform existing social orders. However, they do contribute to propagating individual and smaller-scale occurrences of social innovation in community food security.

Asadu Anthonia, Enwelu Innocent, Ifejika Philip, Igbokwe Edwin · African Journal of Agricultural Research · Nigeria

A survey and interviews with 210 urban farmers in southeast Nigeria explored the benefits and constraints of urban farming. Farmers reported benefits such as food and income sources, but also faced significant constraints including land insecurity, lack of access to credit, theft, and crop destruction by stray animals. The study concludes that urban farming needs to be legalized and integrated into urban policy to realize its full potential.

N. Claire Napawan, Stacie A. Townsend · Landscape Research · United States (California)

This study investigated the landscape of urban agricultural practice in Sacramento, California, examining past and present urban agricultural projects, advocacy, and city and state policies. The research found that community interest in urban agriculture is outpacing local policies in Sacramento. The authors concluded that city-wide initiatives might improve efforts at increasing opportunities for new urban agriculture projects.

Jae-Youl Lee · 대한지리학회지 · South Korea (Seoul)

This article examines the concept of 'community' in Seoul's community garden program, comparing how ordinary citizens and civil society activists interpret and practice it. Empirical findings suggest a contestation over community, with ordinary citizens prioritizing place-based experiences and activists viewing community gardens as a governmental technology. A gap between ordinary practical achievements and civic activism poses a potential danger to urban community policy.

Lorelei L. Hanson, Deborah Schrader · Interdisciplinary Environmental Review · Canada (Edmonton)

This case study critically examined the development of a food and urban agriculture strategy in Edmonton, Canada, using survey data and semi-structured interviews with citizens and stakeholders. It explored the transformative potential of local urban food initiatives and identified hurdles in moving beyond maintaining the status quo. The study aimed to identify leverage points for long-term local food system transformation within conceptualizations of sustainability.

Thaís Cristina Schneider, Paulo André Niederle, Myrian Regina Del Vecchio-de Lima · Razón y Palabra · Brazil

This article analyzes urban agriculture from a communication perspective, focusing on how practitioners and non-practitioners understand its critical and alternative role regarding the modern food system. The study of Quinta da Videira in southern Brazil found that while urban agriculture is used to counter conventional food production and associated lifestyles, there are also resistances to integrating agricultural practices into the urban environment.

Becky Lundberg Witt · FLASH - Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship & History (Fordham University) · United States (Baltimore City)

This article argues that property law in Baltimore City, Maryland, creates a significant barrier to urban growing by prioritizing the right to exclude others from vacant and abandoned land. Thousands of fallow lots remain inaccessible to neighbors for community benefit due to property ownership laws, which can neglect the human rights of the poorest citizens. The paper examines how the universal right to adequate food might legally support urban farming and gardening.

Charlotte Prové, Joost Dessein, Michiel De Krom · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · Belgium; Poland

A study evaluating urban agriculture in Belgium and Poland argues that current governance approaches fail to reflect the importance of local context. The authors found that considering city-specific factors is crucial for urban agriculture to reach its full potential. They recommend a broader policymaking strategy that acknowledges benefits beyond food production.

Sarah Oloo Masawa, George G. Wagah, Reuben Oyoo Mosi · International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences · Kenya

This 2011 study in Bondo Sub County, Kenya, assessed the integration of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPUagr) into urban planning, using a descriptive survey design with 368 households and 248 traders. A major challenge identified was the lack of supportive local policy and legal frameworks for UPUagr, and problems with its integration into broader urban development plans. The study found that UPUagr complemented rural agriculture and increased food system efficiency.

Nyasha Chaminuka, Peter Makaye · Global Journal of Human-Social Science · Africa

This paper analyzes urban agriculture in Mkoba, Gweru, as a survival strategy for residents facing food insecurity and poverty, despite opposition from city authorities. It argues that urban agriculture is a resilient practice that has become a significant feature of urban livelihoods, often increasing the burden on women. The paper suggests that city authorities are losing the contest over urban spaces and should reform legislation to accommodate urban agriculture.

Rosangela Medeiros Hespanhol · Confins · Brazil (Natal)

This study analyzed the trajectory of farmers from AMIGS (Association of Friends and Producers of Vegetables Residents of Sitio Gramoré and Adjacencies), a significant vegetable supplier in Natal, Brazil, who have been transitioning from conventional to organic production since 2012. The organization of farmers through the association and partnerships with companies and institutions were crucial for enabling this change, reducing dependence on intermediaries through direct sales at ecological fairs. However, problems related to the individual acquisition of inputs and conflicts with farmers still using conventional systems were observed.