Research & reports

Ari Jokinen, Ville Viljanen, Krista Willman · Alue ja Ympäristö · Finland (Tampere)

This article analyzes the social and ecological significance of the Pispala allotment area in Tampere, Finland, where nearly 300 plots are used for urban farming, despite city plans for building purposes. A mixed-method analysis, using field observation, planning documents, biological surveys, and questionnaires, found that farming practices make the place visible, foster social interaction, and link the site ecologically to rare plant species. However, these crucial features of urban diversity are frequently disregarded by local administrative bodies in planning.

Marcos Antonio de Castro Marques Teixeira · Aleph UCLA Undergraduate Research Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences · Brazil

This study surveyed urban gardens in Santa Maria da Codipi and Dirceu Arcoverde, Teresina, Brazil, to assess their economic viability for gardeners. The study found that urban gardens in both areas do not provide income security for those who work them. Problems identified include petty theft, low education levels, lack of technical assistance hindering investment in new crops, and pesticide use creating a competitive disadvantage.

Michael Raleigh · eCommons (Cornell University) · United States (Buffalo)

The City of Buffalo has made progress in accepting urban farming on vacant land, but remains unwilling to take risks in this area. Policies restrict farmers' access to land, long-term security, food diversity (including animals), and sales. To foster urban farming, the City should amend these policies to grant farmers more freedom and could promote farming through a city-wide composting program and a demolition policy requiring vacant lots to be seeded with clover.

Hillary Anne Doerfler · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · Global

A literature review examined the use of school garden programs for health promotion among elementary school youth. The review found that school gardens successfully improved academic achievement, increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and enhanced social skills. However, significant barriers to implementation were identified, particularly in low socioeconomic status schools, including a lack of funding, insufficient gardening knowledge among teachers, and limited community and parent involvement.

Romborah Simiyu, Dick Foeken · · Kenya

This chapter reviews national and Eldoret Municipal Council laws and policies related to Urban Agriculture (UA) in Eldoret town, Kenya. It assesses how these policies have shaped the livelihoods of urban farmers and the development of UA as a strategy for urban dwellers. The chapter also reflects on recent developments towards a more facilitative policy framework for UA at the national level.

知弘 岡田, 大介 小山 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This paper is part of a special issue on the "Possibility and problem of 'coexistence of agriculture and housing' in suburban agricultural region of big city," presenting an overview of the urbanization process and contemporary challenges of town planning in the Kuga-Hatsukashi area of Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City.

Masao Makiyama, Mami Inoue · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Global

This study examined kleingartens (stay-type allotment gardens) established by private organizations, finding an increasing number of such gardens. Case studies revealed that privately established kleingartens tend to have higher use fees compared to government-established ones. Furthermore, problems identified include the reduction of administrative and maintenance expenses, location conditions, and the succession of managers.

Andrew Kimbrell · Tikkun · United States

This essay criticizes the dominant industrial food model, corporations turning agriculture into agribusiness through heavy chemical, mechanical and genetically altered inputs, as producing profound alienation between the public and food production; it argues that increasing urbanization widens this physical and psychological distance, obscuring the industrial food model's consequences, including forest destruction, animal cruelty, pesticide harm to farmworkers and wildlife, and devastation of farm communities, which together constitute a moral crisis as well as an environmental and health crisis. It also describes a growing organic-and-beyond movement over the past two generations, with millions of Americans joining community supported agriculture (CSA) and opposing pesticide misuse, factory farming and genetic engineering of crops.

Tommy Bleasdale, Carolyn J. Crouch, Sharon L. Harlan · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

Researchers studied a struggling community gardening program in a low-income minority neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, operated within a larger local food initiative led by a nonprofit community development organization. Based on interviews and participant observation used to build an exploratory survey, the study found that while residents had gardening interest and experience, awareness of the program itself was low, perceptions of gardening's benefits and burdens varied among current gardeners, ex-gardeners, and those who had never gardened, and the benefits residents cited often differed from the goals stated by the local food initiative.

Catherine J. LaCroix · Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons (Case Western Reserve University) · United States (Cleveland)

This paper explores legal challenges faced by shrinking cities, using Cleveland, Ohio as an example. It specifically examines issues related to downzoning urban property for urban agriculture and other green uses, focusing on takings law, fairness, and the limitations of current legal structures for Brownfield revitalization when traditional redevelopment is improbable. The study identifies significant legal constraints and challenges in implementing such land use changes.

Charles French, Mimi Larsen Becker, Bruce E. Lindsay · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Cuba (Havana)

This study examined urban agriculture in Havana, Cuba, using secondary data and interviews with 11 urban gardeners. It found that while agrarian reforms after 1991 led to the growth of private urban gardens and cooperatives, Cuba's integration with the global economy and adoption of free-market principles have since forced dramatic adjustments in the urban agriculture sector. This shift presents challenges to the sector's original role in food security.

Claire Nettle · Chain reaction · Global

This paper discusses how community gardening can contribute to food security. However, it finds that the potential contribution of community gardens to food security is limited by their insecurity of tenure.

Mohammed Murtala Ruma, Abdullahi Usman Sheikh · African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology · Nigeria (Katsina)

This paper investigated the status of wastewater reuse in urban farming in Katsina, Nigeria, by interviewing 120 households out of 250 registered with the Katsina Urban Planning Authority. It was found that wastewater reuse in urban farming is a full-time, sole income earner for many households and is indispensable for this semi-arid city. However, the urban planning process has not officially recognized or given attention to this important activity.

Emma Schroeder, Almuth Koby · · United States

In a 2010 interview, Almuth Koby shared her memories of the Eagle Heights Community Garden, including her time as president of the Community Gardens Committee. She described challenges such as members failing to fulfill their duties and the issue of abandoned plots, indicating governance difficulties within the community garden. Koby also recounted her personal gardening journey, from being mentored to mentoring others and learning from diverse cultures.

Alec Thornton, Etienne Nel, Godfrey Hampwaye · Development Southern Africa · Zambia

A review of urban agriculture in Zambia's four largest cities revealed that despite attempts by the Kaunda government in the 1960s–1970s to create supportive policies, there is currently a near absence of institutional support, constraining farmers' activities. A survey of 400 farmers confirmed the value of urban agriculture as a survival strategy but also highlighted the lack of necessary support measures.

Lisen Hendeberg · · Sweden

This study compared Ebenezer Howard's garden city ideals with contemporary urban farming movements in Sweden through a literature review and analysis of three active movements. It found that when garden city ideas were implemented in Sweden between 1905 and 1930, much of the original ideological basis for self-sufficient small towns and collectively owned land was lost. While similarities exist in ideological starting points, their approaches to change differ.

Emma Schroeder, Krishna Ramanujan · · United States

In his 2010 interview with Emma Schroeder, Krishna Ramanujan shared his memories of the Eagle Heights Community Garden. Mr. Ramanujan discussed the ethnic diversity of the gardeners, the tensions between the Gardens and the University, and balancing graduate school while raising a young family in the Eagle Heights community. This interview was conducted for inclusion in a Master's thesis on the Eagle Heights Community Gardens.

Kwasi Appeaning Addo · Remote Sensing · Ghana (Accra)

This paper discusses the need for sustainable management of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana. A lack of reliable data on the extent of urban/peri-urban areas used for farming has hindered the development of sustainable policies to manage urban farming in Accra. Ground-based survey methods are problematic and prohibitively expensive, making accurate assessment of urban farming's future role difficult.

Emma Schroeder, Julie Schneider · · United States (Eagle Heights)

Julie Schneider's 2009 interview discusses her five years at the Eagle Heights Community Garden. She described vegetables grown, organic gardening, rules and restrictions, and tensions with the university, as well as changes in the community gardens since the early 1990s. This interview was conducted for a Master's thesis on the Eagle Heights Community Gardens.

Liang Wei · Anhui nongye kexue · China (Dingxi)

This study analyzed the advantages, disadvantages, and existing problems in the development of urban agriculture in Dingxi City, China. Strategic concepts and countermeasures were proposed to provide consultation for urban agriculture development in Dingxi City and similar regions.

Clara Irazábal, Anita Punja · Journal of Urban Affairs · United States (Los Angeles)

This qualitative case study analyzes the destruction of the 14-acre South Central Farm in Los Angeles in July 2006, arguing it was a landscape of resistance against discriminatory legal and planning practices. The study contends that environmental justice and planning ethics provided a substantive rationale for the city to prevent its dismantling. This case highlights a failure in governance to protect community gardens threatened by dismantlement in capitalist societies.

Mark Redwood · Open House International · Global

Urban farmers often produce food on land with limited or no security of tenure, exposing them to the risk of being evicted for more profitable land uses. Without legal status, most forms of credit are inaccessible to farmers, pushing them to the margins. Recent projects suggest that banking systems need to develop a methodology to value informally controlled lands and indicate that advocacy groups can increase security and access to land for urban farmers.

AÇIKSÖZ Sebahat · Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi · Turkey (Bartın)

This study investigated whether urban agriculture activities in Bartın, Turkey, could be organized as a cluster according to Cluster Growth Theory, and examined its cluster characteristics as part of the TR-26 Bartın Regional Development Project. While urban agriculture in Bartın was identified as having cluster characteristics and growth potential, the study found that a fundamental problem for its future development is weak coordination and cooperation among stakeholders. It proposes a model for urban agriculture activities for a "Bartın Urban Initiative" at the city level.

Bruce Frayne, Jane Battersby, Robert Fincham, Gareth Haysom · · South Africa

This study examines urban food security in South Africa, focusing on Cape Town, Msunduzi, and Johannesburg, and includes a critique of the City of Cape Town's urban agriculture policy. The abstract indicates that the policy was found to have significant shortcomings, particularly concerning local production and access to food. The research highlights various policy issues related to food access, dietary diversity, local production, and local markets within these urban contexts.

Lei Yan-hua · · Australia

This paper discusses the state of therapeutic horticulture in Australia, describing the field as largely project-driven with little government or philanthropic funding to sustain long-term growth. It notes that recent initiatives in community gardens, school and children's gardens, and horticultural therapy services have expanded the scope of activity and, while still small compared with many other countries, are high-profile, community-led, and have secured significant government funding. However, the paper states that this needs to be balanced against numerous barriers facing the sector: insufficient research, limited organization and representation, few education and training opportunities, and a lack of outreach and community services.