Research & reports

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.

Florence Chimbwanda · Journals & Books Hosting (International Knowledge Sharing Platform) · Zimbabwe (Masvingo)

This study investigated participants' attitudes and perceptions toward urban gardening in Mucheke town, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, using questionnaires, focus group discussions, and field observations with a sample of 40 participants. It found that urban gardening is important for the community and income generation, with participants reporting benefits like additional income, family consumption, and socialization. However, participants identified challenges including theft, dilapidated canals, a single water point, and limited market access.

Sarah Kumnig · WU Research · Austria (Vienna)

This paper analyzes the implications of neoliberal urban development for agricultural spaces and practices in Vienna, Austria, where agricultural areas face pressure from population growth and a construction boom. Using the Donaufeld district as a case study, the analysis reveals selective preservation and activation of specific urban agriculture types and the use of participatory politics in urban development projects. The study highlights the challenges faced by urban agriculture amidst competing interests in a rapidly developing city.

Rúbio José Ferreira, Cláudio Jorge Moura de Castilho · Ateliê Geográfico · Brazil (Recife)

This text examines the place of urban agriculture and its practitioners in the urban planning process in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. The main results indicate that urban agriculture and urban farmers are not effectively considered by Recife's urban planning technicians. This may be due to urban agriculture being a social practice used by people from the "lowest layers" of society in a marginal area of the local urban economy.

雷靖, 陈斯钰, 刘煜 · 农村经济与科技 · China (Zhoushan)

This study examines Zhoushan City's "Vegetable Basket" project, which established production bases in urban and rural areas to ensure vegetable supply and stabilize prices. Despite significant achievements, the project is noted to have problems such as incomplete vegetable supply varieties, imperfect infrastructure, low industrialization, and a lack of quality assurance. The study suggests addressing these issues by diversifying product supply, strengthening infrastructure, improving industrialization, and enhancing quality and safety supervision.

Ladina Knapp, E.J. Veen, H. Renting, J.S.C. Wiskerke, J.C.J. Groot · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Europe

This study assessed criteria for the successful establishment and continuity of 29 small-scale, bottom-up urban agriculture (UA) initiatives in the Netherlands and Switzerland, using a vulnerability analysis framework. Biophysical and socio-institutional criteria were analyzed through interviews with project leaders. Findings revealed that the vulnerability of UA systems strongly depends on local circumstances, with the main perturbations and causes of vulnerability originating from social-institutional and human conditions, such as the institutional sphere, local authority assistance, and project leaders' determination.

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.

LE Wynne, Dana Cordell, Joanne Chong, Becky L. Jacobs · UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) · Australia (Sydney)

This report, using Sydney as a case study, examines land-use planning on the urban fringe for peri-urban food production. It finds that for many cities, including Sydney, a large proportion of peri-urban food production has already been lost due to conversion to residential and infrastructure uses. The report reviews various planning responses to address threats to peri-urban agriculture.

Solange Hernandez · International Review of Administrative Sciences · France

This case study in the urban community of Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Etoile, France, over 25 years, aimed to understand paradoxical territorial management practices in peri-urban agriculture. Based on quantitative analyses of qualitative data, the study demonstrated the relevance of these management practices in action, but identified paradoxes as a recurring source of tension and deadlock in territorial public administration. The research proposes managerial tools applicable in the framework of public action in peri-urban agriculture.

Masdjidin Siregar · Jurnal Agro Ekonomi · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This paper describes intensive peri-urban leafy vegetable agriculture in Jakarta, which utilizes idle land and provides employment and income for rural migrants. However, the prospect of this agriculture is unclear because it uses non-agricultural land that will eventually be developed. The study concludes that government assistance in credit, extension, and research is needed, and alternative lands for cultivators must be found.

Elke Rogge, Eva Kerselaers, Charlotte Prové · · Europe

This study explores opportunities and challenges for peri-urban agriculture, examining envisioning processes in Ghent and Kortrijk, Belgium, initiated by local authorities. Results indicate that pressure on farmland is a key issue in both contexts. Multifunctionality is complex in practice and governance, and successful envisioning processes require clear objectives, defined study areas, policy support, strong leadership, and reliable data.

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.

Elifnaz Durusoy · MEGARON / Yıldız Technical University Faculty of Architecture E-Journal · Turkey (Istanbul)

The Yedikule Urban Gardens in Istanbul were studied as an example where cultural conservation and social inclusion have been challenged by economic development due to the growth of urban development. This study emphasizes both destruction and development within the context of physical, natural, economic, and social change. It demonstrates the hardships faced when attempting to sustain urban gardens during periods of urban growth.

宋志军, 刘黎明 · Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni · China

Chinese urban agriculture has developed against a backdrop of multifunctionality, urbanization, industrialization, and non-agriculturalization. Since the reform and opening-up, the development of non-agricultural functions has complemented and advanced the broad modernization of urban agriculture, while simultaneously inhibiting, delaying, and destroying narrow modernization. This has led to a "reverse modernization" phenomenon in the spatial pattern of urban agriculture, characterized by changes spatially "opposite" to narrow agricultural modernization. China's current urban agriculture exhibits an overall spatial state of "reverse modernization" with various agricultural forms interspersed.

Qing Guo · · China (Dalian)

This paper, based on the China urban agriculture development report 2013 and a SWOT analysis, studied the development of urban modern agriculture in Dalian. The study found that the agricultural industrial structure, shopping basket program, agricultural management system, land circulation, and agricultural information technology have restricted the development of Dalian's urban modern 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.

Kin Wing Chan · Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) · Hong Kong

This study examines the politics of meat production in Hong Kong's 2006-2007 License-Buy-Back Scheme (LBBS), focusing on pig farming. It investigates how the LBBS served as a tactic to reduce and control the pig farming industry, contrasting it with urban vegetable farming which holds a more positive aesthetic image. The research highlights a scarcity of studies on why certain forms of urban agriculture are valued more than others.

West Africa, Olufunke Cofie · · West Africa

An examination of urban agriculture (UA) development in West Africa reveals that despite its known benefits for food supply and livelihoods, UA is not fully recognized as an important component of urban development. This is due to high land demand from other sectors and perceived health risks by authorities. Policy makers need to address issues to institutionalize UA and integrate it into urban development plans.

David Mkwambisi, Andrew J. Dougill, Philip Antwi‐Agyei, C. P. Chabvuta · CABI eBooks · Malawi

Research in Lilongwe and Blantyre, Malawi, assessed urban agriculture's potential to improve soil quality, crop yields, and livelihoods. Preliminary evidence showed urban waste could address food insecurity and soil nutrient benefits, but several constraints in waste management were identified. City authorities are not proactively utilizing organic municipal waste for soil quality and agricultural production benefits.

徐晶, 吴聪 · 中国土地 · China (Wuhan)

This paper analyzes the practice and problems of "multi-plan integration" in Wuhu Street, Huangpi District, Wuhan City, a rapidly urbanizing area dominated by modern urban agriculture. Wuhu Street faces issues such as the disorderly sprawl of construction land and low land use efficiency. The study proposes targeted policy recommendations based on these findings.

National Audit Office · National Audit Office (NAO) · United Kingdom

An investigation published by the UK National Audit Office on 29 October 2015. The children's charity Kids Company received at least £46 million of public funding over fifteen years, £28 million of it from the Department for Education. In 2008 it took 20 per cent of the funding available under one programme, and in 2011 it received over twice the amount given to any other grant recipient. Officials raised sustainability concerns in six separate briefings between 2002 and 2015, yet funding continued outside competitive processes; the charity closed insolvent on 5 August 2015 and around 1,900 cases were passed to local authorities.

Georgia Graham · Channel 4 News · United Kingdom

A fact-check on Kids Company, the charity founded in 1996 that operated in London and Bristol. It claimed to reach 36,000 children by 2015 and had received £46 million of public money over fifteen years — £44 million from central government, £28 million of that from the Department for Education. Its 2013 annual income was £23 million, 20 per cent from government and 77 per cent from private donations. The piece notes that government oversight relied on the charity's own self-assessments, with no independent verification of outcomes or beneficiary numbers.

Chiara Tornaghi · Progress in Human Geography · Global

This paper defines the scope and an initial agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture, noting that despite growing interest across disciplines, it remains a marginal field in human geography. Beyond rhetoric, urban agriculture raises questions for critical geographers, particularly regarding its role in reshaping urban landscapes and experimenting with alternatives to capitalist urban organization. The paper highlights that urban agriculture is sometimes establishing embryonic forms of recreating the Commons.

Melissa N. Poulsen, Marie L. Spiker, Peter J. Winch · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Baltimore)

This study explored the perceived importance of community buy-in for urban farming, along with its barriers, facilitators, and strategies, through participant observation at urban farms and interviews with urban farmers, neighborhood leaders, residents, and key stakeholders in Baltimore, Maryland. Findings revealed that residents' unfamiliarity with urban farming, concerns about negative neighborhood impacts, and perceptions of urban farms as "outsider projects" were barriers to buy-in. Strategies for gaining buy-in were shown to follow three main phases: gaining entry into a neighborhood, introducing the urban farm idea, and engaging the neighborhood.

Suleiman Mkwela Hawa · Journal of Geography and Regional Planning · Tanzania (Dar Es Salaam)

This study assessed the governance of urban agriculture (UA) in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar Es Salaam City, Tanzania, through the perceptions of 24 local leaders. Unstructured interviews focused on leadership quality, infrastructure provision, and farmers' land rights. The leaders generally perceived limited efforts and plans to support UA in the municipality based on these criteria.