Research & reports

Amsalu Woldie Yalew · Regional Economic Development Research · Ethiopia

This paper provides an overview of urban agriculture in Ethiopia, synthesizing existing evidence on its role in the overall agricultural sector, urban economy, and urban employment, based on official reports and statistical surveys. Despite scant evidence, urban agriculture shows considerable contributions. However, the review reveals existing gaps in institutional and policy support for urban agriculture.

Gülşah KURU, Esra DEMİR ÖZTÜRK, Furkan Atmaca · İlköğretim Online · Global

A study using semi-structured interviews with 30 primary school teachers and 12 school managers revealed opinions on the evaluation of primary school gardens. The majority of participants believed their school gardens were inadequate, citing examples such as a lack of playgrounds, insufficient green areas, and the use of gardens as car parks.

Mr. Isaiah ACQUAH, Dr.Sc. Joseph Ato FORSON, Dr.Sc. Theresa Yaaba BAAH-ENNUMH · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Ghana

This qualitative exploratory study in Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana, investigated the effect of urban growth and concretization on urban farming households' livelihoods and food security. The study, using interviews and spatial imagery, found that urban farms face challenges due to inadequate land use planning and support, leading to a loss of farmlands. Significant challenges identified include limited farming space, limited resources, continuous increase in buildings, and inadequate education for urban farmers.

Zeinab Abd Elkader, Ahmed Haroun · Fayoum University Journal of Engineering · Egypt

The legislative and executive challenges of roof gardens in new cities in Egypt were clarified. Theoretical studies, including an applied study in Sheikh Zayed City, were presented. The research suggests that while roof gardens offer environmental, social, and economic benefits, challenges exist for their widespread application.

Lexi Earl, Pat Thomson · · Global

This chapter considers the challenges faced by school gardens. School gardens often have tenuous links with subjects other than health, nutrition, geography, or science, and practical challenges exist in their establishment and maintenance. Key issues of teacher learning, management of resources, and school identity and ethos are also highlighted regarding school change. The chapter concludes with unanswered questions about the prospects for school gardening, particularly whether and how school gardens might be part of an educational solution to the questions posed by the pandemic and climate collapse.

Ana Mélice Dias, Teresa Marat-Mendes · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Portugal (Lisbon)

In Lisbon's Greater Area, Portugal, the morphological impact of municipal planning instruments (Municipal Master Plans) on urban agriculture was investigated. It was concluded that current planning regulations prioritize leisure and aesthetic solutions for urban agriculture uses, rather than design solutions that address economic growth or ecological diversity.

Murtah Shannon, Kei Otsuki, Annelies Zoomers, Mayke Kaag · Urban Studies · Mozambique (Beira)

This article examines the implications of global interventionism in African cities for existing claims to urban space, particularly those of farmers, using Beira, Mozambique, as a case study. A historical-political analysis demonstrates that urban farming has been a distinct feature of Beira's urbanism amidst successive and contradictory state-land regimes. A new urban regime, formed by municipal leaders and international donors, aims to erase urban agriculture from the city through urban 'development', indicating a need for better understanding of manifold claims to urban space beyond slum urbanism.

Ewa Kacprzak, Barbara Maćkiewicz, Magdalena Szczepańska · Ruch Prawniczy Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny · Germany, Poland

This study compared legal regulations for allotment gardening in Germany and Poland. Through analysis of legal acts, field research, and structured interviews, it was found that some provisions of legal acts in both countries are not strictly adhered to by users. In Poland, unclear provisions regarding crop cultivation have led to the replacement of the farming function by recreational and residential uses.

Michael Deflorian · Social movement studies · Global

This article examines the volatile participation of critical creatives in collective alternative everyday practices (CAEPs) like community gardens, which often involves irregular engagement and adherence to unsustainable consumer lifestyles. Drawing on Late-Modern Subject Theory, it argues that participants attempt to embody an idealized Self but fail persistently due to structural constraints and personal liberties in late-modern society. This results in "refigurations" of utopia that are bound to fail, highlighting a governance challenge in sustaining engagement.

Pauline Marsh, Suzanne Mallick, Emily J. Flies, Penelope Jones, Sue Pearson, Iain S. Koolhof, Jason Byrne, Dave Kendal · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

This study assessed the socio-spatial context of a proposed Campus Community Garden (CCG) at a student university accommodation site. It explored perceptions of the space and the proposed garden through interviews, focus groups, a survey with diverse university and community stakeholders, visual observations, and public life surveying. Results confirmed known problems associated with an underutilized site and identified unknown barriers, including socially disconnected stakeholders and community distrust of the university.

Fanni Bársony · Tér és Társadalom · Hungary

This study examines urban community gardens in Hungary through fieldwork and group interviews. It investigates how these gardens function as urban commons, focusing on community characteristics, resource relationships, and sharing practices. The research concludes that for urban commons, it is insufficient to focus solely on the shared resource and access conditions; the commons must be examined in relation to the operating community.

Mary Njoki Mwaura, Sabina Wangia, Japheth Ododa Origa, Lee Ernest Mbatia Oliver · Journal of Agricultural Extension · Kenya (Nairobi)

This study investigated the influence of urban extension workers' socio-economic characteristics on farmer empowerment in Nairobi County, Kenya, using data from 64 extension workers. While extension workers' characteristics positively influenced the choice of extension methods, explaining 37.2% of farmer empowerment, a significant finding was that 49.9% of extension workers were unaware of adult learning principles (ALPs). The study recommends training extension workers in ALPs and ICT techniques to improve extension methods.

Lexi Earl, Pat Thomson · · United Kingdom (midlands in England)

This chapter examines a school garden with farm elements at a primary school in a deprived market town in the midlands of England, established as part of an 'eco-school' initiative driven by the former head teacher. The garden included various spaces like a farm, raised beds, a pond, and a herb garden, used for science learning and natural exploration. However, the study notes that the impetus for outdoor learning diminished after the initiating head teacher departed, as school priorities shifted due to other pressures.

Fatiha Hakimi, Mohamed Brech · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Morocco

This study assessed the practices, potentials, and constraints of peri-urban agriculture (PUA) in Rabat Metropolis, Morocco, using field observation, interviews, and surveys with 50 randomly selected farmers. While PUA contributes to economic development, employment, and food supply, the study found significant legal constraints, including the absence of regulating laws and the obligation for some farmers to pay housing taxes. Technical constraints such as insufficient workforce, high labor costs, difficult access to irrigation water, and lack of training also hinder PUA growth.

Maximilian Manderscheid, Valentin Fiala, Bernhard Freyer · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global

This report D4.3 describes the status quo analysis and documentation of Edible City Solutions (ECS). Over 300 ECS were identified in Berlin and Montevideo, and online research was conducted in Carthage and Lomé, after which a total of 84 ECS were documented in detail using a mixed-method approach (online survey, interviews, workshops, etc.). Most documented ECS take the form of urban gardening and focus on social benefits like providing education and fostering social cohesion, but the report does not detail specific challenges or limitations regarding governance.

Guillermo Olivera, Kenia Zavaleta · Repositorio Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires) · Mexico

This study argues that urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), along with intra-urban open spaces, constitutes a "second best" land use for 21st-century cities pursuing sustainable growth aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals — whether through FAO's Greener Cities Strategy, which promotes garden-based UPA against poverty and food insecurity, or through UPA absorbed by city expansion, much of it commercial in nature. Based on analysis of official statistics and fieldwork in the Ejido Tejalpa in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, the study finds that UPA persists there due to its historical trajectory and access to water and land, existing in commercial form rather than as urban gardens, but not without problems. Its main threat is identified as excessive urbanization and generational change among producers, and its main challenge as achieving greater involvement of urban governments through land management and urban planning, following the experience of other countries where agriculture is given more weight in metropolitan planning.

Zach Mortice · Landscape architecture · Canada

This article covers landscape architect Alexander Cassini's (ASLA) involvement with the Carré Casgrain community garden in the Little Italy neighborhood of Montreal, Canada. The city and Le Carré et sa Ruelle began a process of establishing the site as a real estate reserve, transferring ownership to the city with management handed to the community members who had rehabilitated the land, but the piece reports that the battle over the vacant lot left the community garden in ruins.

Kyle Richardville · Purdue e-Pubs (Purdue University System) · United States

With Purdue University's campus and much of its surrounding area classified by the USDA as a food desert, this study surveyed graduate students using a voluntary 33-question online Qualtrics survey distributed campus-wide, to identify barriers to purchasing and consuming fresh produce and to participating in local urban agriculture, and to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected food access and motivation for healthy eating and community garden engagement. Results show many Purdue graduate students face both individual and structural barriers to accessing fresh fruits and vegetables, with international students particularly vulnerable to structural barriers; lack of access to a personal vehicle was the primary predictor of vulnerability, especially during the pandemic. Students expressed interest in participating in local urban agriculture initiatives but most were unaware such initiatives existed. A second objective of the study tested whether leaf mold compost could improve degraded urban soils.

Agustina Cavalanti · El Barrio Pueyrredón · Argentina

An article reporting that urban gardeners in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires warn a newly passed urban agriculture law 'conceals the possibility of using public land for private profit.' It states the bill was passed by the ruling majority without room for debate, and criticizes Article 8, which lets any natural or legal person, public or private, apply for permits to develop gardens. A citizen group, 'El Reciclador,' had proposed an alternative emphasizing state or nonprofit management and an educational focus, which was not adopted. Gardeners in the Villa Pueyrredón neighborhood distributed 200 seedlings in protest.

Mysha Clarke, Melissa Davidson, Monika Egerer, Elsa C. Anderson, Nakisha Fouch · People Place and Policy Online · United States

This paper argues that community gardens should be a prioritized element of green infrastructure to improve cities' adaptation to climate change. Community gardens can reduce urban heat islands, provide ecosystem services, and increase stormwater retention. However, a qualitative analysis of 18 policy documents for Baltimore, Chicago, and New York City, U.S.A., found that green infrastructure for climate change adaptation prioritizes rain gardens, bioswales, and green roofs, but seldom acknowledges the role of community gardens.

Leelanayagi Ramalingam, Juwaidah Sharifuddin, Zainal Abidin Mohamed, Fazlin Ali · International Social Science Journal · Malaysia (Klang Valley)

This study analyzed data from 375 volunteers in Community-based Urban Agriculture Programmes in Klang Valley, Malaysia, to determine the relationship between motivation and satisfaction. It found that volunteer satisfaction was primarily influenced by external factors like campaigns, support groups, extension departments, community, and government policy, followed by love of farming, social referents, and values. The program faces problems in attracting and retaining enough volunteers, indicating a governance challenge for sustainability.

Sarah E. Cramer, Anna Ball · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States

This qualitative case study in the United States examined a school garden program transitioning from non-profit to public school district control, conceptualizing this as a shift from a non-formal to a formal education paradigm. The research explored tensions between constructivist, non-formal educational philosophies and standardized, formal education within school garden settings. The findings indicate challenges in integrating non-formal learning into formal public education structures, arguing for broader legitimation of garden-based learning in curriculum.

Arantza Elena Sanchez Gutierrez · · Mexico

In Querétaro Municipality, Mexico, a strategy was designed and implemented to increase and incentivize the use of urban agriculture. Previous strategies implemented in Mexico had resulted in low participation and abandonment of practice due due to low interest from inhabitants and a lack of will to follow through on plans. This qualitative research analyzed the causes of these failures using User-Centered Design tools and Design Thinking. Findings showed that a "strategy of appropriation," emphasizing a sense of belonging, well-being, and commitment, resulted in an increase in this variable, which influences the abandonment of agricultural practices.

Maurice Dasylva, Ngor Ndour, Bienvenu Sambou, Sara Danielle Dieng · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Senegal (Ziguinchor)

In Ziguinchor, Senegal, the peri-urban rice farming system contributes to food security but is ignored by decision-makers and suffers from urbanization and physicochemical changes in rice field soils. An agronomic diagnosis, based on 180 yield squares (1/4m side) installed in 4 peri-urban valleys, showed average yields of 4.79 ± 0.35 t.ha-1. However, urbanization, silting, acidification, and progressive salinization of soils are the main limiting factors for this production system.

Daiara Batista Mendes · Geografia em Atos (Online) · Brazil (Pirapozinho)

This article identifies the potentialities of urban agriculture in Pirapozinho, São Paulo, focusing on food and economic use. Based on field research and interviews, the study found that urban agriculture provides quick access to quality products and fosters close farmer-consumer links. However, it also found that urban agricultural practices have not received due governmental attention at national or local scales, despite their potential.