Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
250 results(8 / 10)
“The Lucky country”? A critical exploration of community gardens and city–community relations in Australian cities
2017Alec Thornton · Local Environment · Australia
This study, based on Australian city case studies, explored community gardeners' views and engagement in community gardens. Findings revealed that community gardeners identified local councils as barriers to the emergence of community gardens and other forms of urban agriculture. Unlike other Western cities, effective city–community relations for community garden growth have not yet emerged in Australian cities.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsMapeo de la agriricultura urbana y periurbana en el área metropolitana Santa Rosa-Toay: aproximaciones metodológicas para la lectura territorial
2017P. V. ERMINI, M. R. DELPRINO, B. GIOBELLINA · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Argentina (Santa Rosa-Toay)
In the Santa Rosa-Toay metropolitan area of Argentina, urban and peri-urban agriculture is noted for its scarce recognition in urban development policies and food security policies. Despite the region's urbanization, the absence of political recognition as a metropolitan area has hindered planning and management of land use and occupation according to its potential and limitations. This study developed and applied a methodological proposal to generate information on urban and peri-urban agricultural activities, integrating a spatial perspective with participatory procedures.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyHealthFood sovereignty & justiceRelying on urban gardens for survival within the building of a modern city in Colombia.
2017Colleen 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.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunityPolicyThe contribution of smallholder irrigated urban agriculture towards household food security in Harare, Zimbabwe.
2017Never 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.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareEconomicsPolicyKözösség által támogatott mezőgazdaság regionális vizsgálata
2017Nóra 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.
Governance failureCSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe role of urban agriculture in climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghanaian cities
2017David 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.
Governance failureClimate changePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCollaborative planning via urban agriculture: The case of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2017Andrea 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.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justice‘Because the ego started to grow bigger than the project itself’: a case study of founder’s syndrome on an educational community of practise
2017Donovon Ceaser · Ethnography & Education · Global
This study analyzed the leadership of founder John Browne at Green Shoots, a nonprofit service-learning urban farming school established in 2010, using the theory of founder's syndrome. Browne, despite an openly egalitarian community of practice ethic, created a hierarchy at the school that led to a staff walk-out and subsequent firings. Findings revealed Browne as a charming and inspirational teacher who engaged in dominating leadership contradicting the community of practice's ideals, resulting in disrespected students, disillusioned staff, and a founder unable to take responsibility for his leadership.
Governance failureCommunityFood educationPolicyOrdering urban agriculture: farmers, experts, the state and the collective management of resources in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2017Gabin 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.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceA systemic methodology to characterize peri-urban agriculture for a better integration of agricultural stakes in urban planning
2017Esther Sanz Sanz, Claude Napoléone, Bernard Hubert, Aruna Popuri · · Global
Existing urban planning documents inadequately consider the specificities of peri-urban agriculture as an economic activity requiring arrangements not always adapted to an urban vision of agricultural spaces. This paper proposes a systemic methodology to characterize peri-urban agricultural spatial units, aiming to provide an inventory of peri-urban agricultural areas tailored to urban planning practitioners' constraints. The approach seeks to focus public action on areas where it is most likely to be efficient within a territorial project.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsAgriculture urbaine et souveraineté alimentaire à Genève (Suisse), machines à consentement ou moteurs d’hybridation du référentiel agricole dominant ?
2017Rémi 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.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityEmergent approaches to urban gardening
2016Silvio Caputo, Eva Schwab, Kostas Tsiambaos, Mary Benson, Hervé Bonnavaud, Neslihan Demircan, Tim Delshammar, Frederico Meireles, Nerea Morán, Jeanne Pourias · · Global
This chapter provides an overview of emergent approaches to urban gardening, identifying urban dynamics and spatial implications. It notes that a lack of suitable urban land and difficulties in establishing constructive dialogue with local authorities regarding land provision can lead to the use of interstitial urban spaces for gardening practices. An example includes a community-based organization constructing a permaculture garden on a supermarket rooftop, highlighting challenges in land access and governance.
Governance failureCommunityDIYPolicyGoverning Social Innovation: Exploring the Role of ‘Discretionary Practice’ in the Negotiation of Shared Spaces of Community Food Growing
2016Alex 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.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justicePerceptions and attitudes of participants toward urban gardening. A case study of nutrition gardens in Mucheke town, Masvingo
2016Florence 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.
Governance failureCommunityHealthWelfareEconomicsImplementing the Urban Farming Master Plan in Horsley Park, Western Sydney: From Planning to Reality
2016Yolanda Gil, David Kirkland, Rocco Sergi · Water science and technology library · Australia (Sydney)
This chapter outlines the process of developing and implementing a master plan for urban farming in Horsley Park, Western Sydney. The case study highlighted that the implementation of the master plan has a number of challenges, including legislative and regulatory processes, and environmental and social matters. This suggests difficulties in transitioning from planning to the reality of farming in the Sydney region.
Governance failurePolicyPeri-urban agricultureBetween Green Image Production, Participatory Politics and Growth: Urban Agriculture and Gardens in the Context of Neoliberal Urban Development in Vienna
2016Sarah 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.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsRemembering participation in planning: the case of the Princes Hill Community Garden*
2016Elanna Nolan, Alan March · Australian Planner · Australia (Melbourne)
This paper examined why a proposed community garden project at Hardy Gallagher Reserve in Princes Hill, initiated by Yarra City Council in Melbourne, failed by April 2010 after its launch in October 2008. Using communicative planning theory, it argued that the planning process for the community garden was doomed to fail from the beginning, demonstrating a lack of consideration for appropriate participation.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyTransplanting, plotting, fencing: relational property practices in community gardens
2016Ellen van Holstein · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · Australia (Sydney)
Empirical research at three community gardens in Sydney, Australia, examined property practices such as transplanting, plotting, and fencing. The study found that community gardeners create overlapping understandings of common and private property, driven by contradictory motivations for community inclusion and personal interest protection. Feelings of ownership, while contributing to belonging, also legitimize defensive and exclusive spatial claims within these gardens.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyO planejamento urbano e ambiental na construção de cidades sustentáveis: as hortas urbanas comunitárias em Porto, Portugal, e Belo Horizonte, Brasil
2016Alessandra Silva Araújo · URBANA Revista Eletrônica do Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudos sobre a Cidade · Portugal
This research compared factors leading to community garden initiatives in Porto, Portugal, and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, focusing on the influence of urban planning processes. It found differences in how urban planning in both cities incorporates urban agriculture practices. The connections between urban agriculture and urban planning, facilitated by environmental planning practices, were found to be incipient, hindering planning's goal of catalyzing a sustainable city.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeProyectos de agricultura urbana del Jardín Botánico de Bogotá "José Celestino Mutis" analizados desde la perspectiva de la educación ambiental (2004 - 2016)
2016Katherine Alexandra Herrera Hernández, Yohanna Marcela Pinzón, Ruth Zamira Herrera Rincón · · Colombia (Bogotá)
This project aimed to contribute to the study of Urban Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA) in Bogotá by describing projects led by the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden from 2004 to 2016, analyzed from an environmental education perspective. Using a qualitative methodology, the study investigated fundamental elements in education-management development, such as participation, the construction of the concept of environment, and the strengths and weaknesses in achieving these projects within the framework of successive city governments during that period.
Governance failureFood educationCommunityPolicyPeri-urban agriculturePlanning tools for strategic management of peri-urban food production
2016LE 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.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsClimate changeUrban Agriculture and the Neoliberalization of What?
2016Marion Ernwein · Open Collections · Switzerland (Geneva)
This paper critically examined municipal involvement in community garden and urban agriculture development in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on a case study in Vernier. It found that the municipality's urban agriculture program serves contradictory functions, being simultaneously progressive in reversing space privatization and nature commodification, yet also reinforcing the neoliberal production of individualized, self-responsible, and self-entrepreneur subjectivities. The highly-regulated nature of these municipal community gardens complicates their categorization as either grassroots or purely institutional projects.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityUnravelling the politics of urban food transitions. A governance approach on Alternative Food Networks
2015Alessandra Manganelli · Lirias · Global
This early-stage PhD research (Month 12) investigates the governance of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), focusing on their internal dynamics and relations with external institutions. While civil society actors catalyze AFNs, the institutional environment they face is not always favorable or accountable, with examples including changes in political priorities and constraining regulations. The Brussels-Capital Region serves as the main empirical case study, analyzing movements like GASAP and "Le Debut des Haricots."
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceContesting urban agriculture: the politics of meat production in the License-Buy-Back Scheme (2006-2007) in Hong Kong
2015Kin 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.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrbanization and soil nutrient challenges and opportunities: lessons from Malawian cities.
2015David 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.
Governance failureOrganic cycleFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCompost