Research & reports

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nadine Appelhans, Sabine Baumgart · · Morocco

An analysis of documents related to planning and agriculture and interviews with experts in Morocco indicated that urban and rural issues were treated as separate areas. Urban development affects daily travel distances as urban expansion changes distances between cultivated land and dwelling places. Data from Morocco show a lack of serious support for urban agriculture and animal husbandry in expanding urban agglomerations.

Kathrin Specht, Felix Zoll, Henrike Schümann, Julia Bela, Julia Kachel, Marcel Robischon · Sustainability · Global

Nineteen qualitative expert interviews were conducted to identify perceptions of sustainability, social acceptability, and ethical aspects of new urban food production approaches. While major perceived benefits included educational effects and efficient resource use, significant conflicts involved negative side-effects, legal constraints, and high investment costs. Acceptance barriers were largely tied to the "unknown," encompassing a lack of understanding of new approaches, uncertainty about benefits, health risk concerns, unfamiliarity with products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare. The study concluded that adapting the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is a crucial first step to foster dissemination of urban food production approaches.

Nicolás A. Mari, Nicolás A. Mari, Beatriz Giobellina, Beatriz Giobellina, Alejandro Benítez, Alejandro Benítez, Victoria Marinelli, Victoria Marinelli, Victoria Marinelli · Journal of Agronomy Research · Argentina (Córdoba)

A study mapped and quantified urban growth and land use in Córdoba, Argentina's Green Belt. Using remote sensing and GIS, it evaluated urban growth between 1974 and 2014 and land use in peri-urban and rural areas in 2015. The study revealed a 46.5% urban area growth over nearly 40 years, alongside an increase in farm plot size, indicating land ownership concentration and a reduced number of producers. This transformation highlights a conflict between peri-urban horticulture, industrial agriculture, and urban development.

Wendy Johanna Murcia Gulumá, Óscar Andrés Pérez Soler, Sindy Rodríguez Rodríguez · · Colombia (Bogotá)

This study provided advisory support to an urban garden in Bogotá, Colombia, named "Guerreros y Guerreras Unidos en Accion," which had been operating empirically since 2005 without formal legal status or strategic planning. The garden, primarily involving individuals over 50 without formal employment, sought to formalize its activities by establishing a foundation. The intervention aimed to guide the garden's members through the legal and administrative steps for formalization.

Alexandra Rodríguez Dueñas · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Ecuador (Quito)

Quito’s Participatory Urban Agriculture Project (AGRUPAR), launched in 2002, supports vulnerable populations by providing technical assistance, capacity building, and microcredit for urban farming, aiming for food security and employment. While integrated into local government and recognized with the Future Policy Silver Award 2018, the program faces significant challenges including administrative changes, budget cuts, and restrictive land-use legislation.

Mathilde Martin-Moreau, David Ménascé · OpenEdition (OpenEdition) · Global

The deployment of urban agriculture relies on initiatives from companies, startups, and non-profit organizations, alongside support from public authorities, especially local governments. Challenges include the need to raise consumer awareness of new production methods and to train urban farmers for quality supply chains. The abstract indicates that commitment from local stakeholders is crucial for scaling up urban agriculture projects.

Alessandra Manganelli, Pieter Van den Broeck, Frank Moulaert · Territory Politics Governance · Global

This theoretical paper points out that Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) encounter governance challenges stemming from organizational growth pains, the search for cultivable land, and confrontation with urban planning policy and state structures that have a low affinity with urban agriculture. As AFNs develop, various governance tensions arise both within their organization and in their institutionalization processes. The paper redefines hybrid governance to elucidate these dynamics, suggesting that existing agro-food literature insufficiently addresses the complexity of AFNs' governance.

María Carolina Feito, Sofía Boza, Santiago Peredo · Repositorio Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires) · Argentina

This study focused on the reality of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (AUPU) in Latin America, comparing cases in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area and the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Both cities form complex territories strongly related to their periphery, but the debate regarding AUPU's future development model remains open, reflected in contradictions even in public policies. The strong link between family farming and AUPU further complicates the situation due to the intrinsic limitations of family farming.

A. J. Sarker, Janet F. Bornman, Дора Маринова · Urban Science · Australia

This study analyzes policy and planning practices for integrating urban agriculture into city land-use planning in Australia. It found that recent planning has overlooked and failed to realize the opportunity of urban agriculture, with regulatory and legal frameworks, including land access, being significant constraints. The study concludes that without direct public policy support and institutional recognition, integrating urban agriculture into Australian cities' development and planning goals is difficult.

Isabela Laís Tavares, Gisela da Cunha Viana Leonelli · Revista dos Trabalhos de Iniciação Científica da UNICAMP · Global

This study investigated the position of urban agriculture within development policies and legislation for urban and regional planning. Through legal analysis of legislation from supranational to municipal levels, it was shown that urban agriculture can be a tool in city planning to reduce vacant lots and buildings not fulfilling their social function. However, the research revealed that despite a diverse range of legislation for urban agriculture development, these laws are not fully interconnected and often operate as parallel initiatives.

Ashenafi Tilahun Hailie · IGI Global eBooks · Global

This chapter assessed the benefits of urban agriculture in a study area, using qualitative and quantitative analysis aligned with a sustainable livelihood framework. Findings indicated that urban agriculture is sustained by sex indiscrimination, migrant dominancy, poor educational status, and agricultural background. While assets like land access and fertile soil were promising, skills, knowledge transfer, labor ability, and good health were found insufficient. Identified vulnerabilities included population explosion, absence of good governance, frequent natural calamities, land tenure insecurity, and seasonality of prices.

Jan Hassink, Lenneke Vaandrager, Yvette Buist, Simone R. de Bruin · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

A global study characterized nature-based adult day services (ADSs) for people with dementia (PwD) in urban areas and identified challenges. Interviews with 17 ADS providers revealed five types of services: social entrepreneurs, nursing homes, social care organizations, community gardens by citizens, and hybrid initiatives. General challenges included the availability of green urban spaces and acquiring funding. Specific challenges varied by type, including a lack of commitment among nursing staff in nursing homes, difficulty finding knowledgeable volunteers for community gardens, and work culture differences in hybrid models.

Sonia Aissaoui, Pascale Bueno Merino, Samuel Grandval · · Global

This study discusses the risk of having no contract in a solidarity partnership, specifically Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) formed between an agricultural entrepreneur and consumers, based on an extreme case analysis. Through 47 semi-structured interviews, three non-participant observations, and seven additional semi-structured interviews, findings showed that trust mechanisms can quickly weaken during misunderstandings, exposing partners to the risk of exploiting the agreement. Contractual logic, particularly its coordinating function, complements trust in maintaining the stability of a solidarity partnership.

Chiara Certomà, Chiara Tornaghi · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · Global

This book is a collection of chapters unpacking the forms, functioning, and meanings of urban gardening in the context of the neoliberal transformation of cities. It offers an overview of diverse claims in the micro-politics of garden activism and discusses how these projects are fraught with social solidarities and divisions, empowerment and learning processes, conflicts and negotiations. The collection aims to contribute to a critical discussion of the “politics of urban space” and enrich the emerging debate on radical, critical, and political gardening.

Andréia Quinto dos Santos, Ricardo Jucá‐Chagas, Regileno da Silva Santana, Evton Farias Quinto Santos, ALISSON SANTOS DA SILVA · Brazilian Journal of Development · Global

This research evaluated the limits and possibilities of learning ecological interactions in elementary school using a school garden, involving a supervising teacher, a classroom teacher, and 30 students. While students demonstrated understanding of ecological interactions through oral communication, the study identified significant limitations including difficulties in reading and writing, a lack of volunteers, and insufficient technical and administrative support from the school.