Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
101 results(1 / 5)
Whose fruits, whose labour? Negotiating community and care-work in urban orchards and food forests
2026Anastasia Luise Gramatakos, Catherine Phillips, Andrea Rawluk · Local Environment · Australia (Melbourne)
This ethnographic fieldwork, conducted across three community-led urban food forest sites in Naarm/Melbourne, examined the everyday labors, relations, and tensions involved in caring for urban food-producing trees. The study found that participants grapple with significant tensions, particularly in open-access sites lacking fences, gates, or formal membership, highlighting the evolving and imperfect nature of commoning practices rather than a fixed ideal.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEnjeux environnementaux de l'introduction prospective de l'intelligence artificielle dans l'agriculture périurbaine de Kinshasa
2026Patrick Lubavu Kyamasa, Pascal Tshisuaka Kalombo, Aimée Mahamba Iyanabita, John Mbuyi Kamuena · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)
This study examined environmental, technological, and socio-economic determinants influencing the ecological viability of AI integration in Kinshasa's peri-urban agriculture, which faces threats like soil degradation and inadequate infrastructure. A field survey of 411 farmers in the Kimwenza area found 86.13% viewed AI positively despite major structural constraints, including lack of electricity (78.83%) and digital illiteracy (54.99%). The study highlights the current lack of anticipatory public policies to address these constraints for a sustainable digital transformation.
Governance failureDigital agricultureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsFeeding the city: The role of rural–urban migrants in enhancing food security in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2026Agnes G. Kapinga, Baraka F. Lenga · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
A qualitative case study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, using semi-structured interviews with 31 migrant farmers and seven key informants, revealed that migrant farmers contribute to urban food security through diverse crop cultivation and livestock keeping, enhancing food production and income generation. However, migrant farmers face major constraints including insecure land tenure, flooding, water scarcity, high input costs, and limited institutional support. City authorities institutionalize the marginalization of migrant farmers by treating urban agriculture as an informal and temporary activity, despite their critical contributions.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityUrban–rural linkagePolicyUrbanisation and sustainable farming in smallholder farming communities of the Northern region of Ghana: A policy narrative
2026Adan Iddrisu · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Ghana
This policy brief explored the causes of farmland loss and its effects on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana due to rapid urbanization. Using data from focus group discussions, findings revealed that loss of farmland reduces productivity, increases household food security vulnerability, and threatens the livelihoods of farmers.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBuilding Resilience to Food Insecurity in Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe: Lessons for Best Practice
2026Thulani Dube, Bright Chisadza, Nkululeko Mpofu, Abel Mungure, Nancy N Manase · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)
A study in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, investigating urban food insecurity resilience strategies through 200 household surveys, found that 50.5% of households experienced food insecurity, primarily driven by hyperinflation and unemployment. Current interventions, including urban agriculture, showed mixed effectiveness due to fragmented coordination and rural-biased programming, indicating governance challenges.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityEconomicsA(GR)TECTURE: Designing an Agricultural Learning Facility to Energize Food Production in the Urban Areas of Dominica
2026Kendel Constant · DigitalCommons - Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw State University) · Dominica
This thesis explores improving Dominica's urban agricultural sector, examining challenges like hurricanes, landslides, temperature shifts, limited adoption of advanced farming techniques, an aging farmer population, and soil erosion. The proposed Agricultural Learning Facility aims to address these issues by leveraging smart farming methods and enhancing traditional practices. However, the proposed greenhouse and hydroponic systems cannot completely replace traditional farming practices, but rather help increase food production.
Governance failureFood educationCommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCarbon gardens: A nature-based approach for climate change mitigation and sustainable landscapes
2026Farooq Ahmad Khan, Faheemullah Khan, Sumati Narayan, Mohammad Amir, Zaffar Mahdi Dar · International Journal of Research in Agronomy · Global
This review synthesizes the concept, design principles, carbon sequestration mechanisms, storage potential, and environmental benefits of carbon gardens, which are multifunctional landscapes designed to maximize carbon sequestration and deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. The article highlights their application in urban and rural landscapes and their integration with carbon-negative farming through practices such as biochar use and compost recycling. It also discusses key challenges related to carbon measurement, establishment costs, land availability, and long-term management.
Governance failureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityCompostThe role of urban farming in enhancing food security in Malaysia: A systematic review
2026Hamed Faghiri, Zulkornain Yusop, Zainal Abidin Mohamed · IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science · Malaysia
This systematic review analyzed 46 studies published between 2010 and 2025 to assess the role of urban farming in enhancing food security in Malaysia. Findings indicate that urban farming positively impacts food accessibility, availability, and affordability, while also promoting environmental sustainability and socio-economic inclusion. However, challenges such as limited space, regulatory hurdles, and public awareness gaps hinder its widespread adoption.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyCommunityUrban Agriculture: A Pathway for Enhancing Food Security and Poverty Resiliency in Tanzania
2025Francis Mwaijande · African Journal of Empirical Research · Tanzania
This study, using a mixed-methods approach with 600 respondents from urban and peri-urban farmers and agri-food supply chain producers in Tanzania, confirmed urban agriculture's contribution to food availability, accessibility, stability, and utilization. However, it found that urban agriculture is not well-integrated into urban food and poverty reduction policies in Tanzania and is practiced without legitimate policy and legal frameworks. This policy gap indicates an inadequate policy enabling environment for urban agriculture to enhance food security.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyHealthAgricultural development in the peri-urban areas of Samarkand, Uzbekistan: Challenges and prospects
2025Firdavs Berdikulov, Iroda Orifjonova, Bekhzod Eshboev, Jumanazar Xolmurzayev, Bakhtiyor Abdusayitov · Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) · Uzbekistan (Samarkand)
This study examined agricultural growth in Samarkand, Uzbekistan's peri-urban regions from 2000 to 2024, using government data and predictive modeling. It found that urban populations surged while arable land declined, and the vegetable surplus, though currently meeting demand, began shrinking around 2015, suggesting a tipping point toward shortages. The research indicates that without proactive measures like smarter land allocation and advanced irrigation, Samarkand risks a structural food deficit within a decade.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeUrban Gardens as a Strategy to Confront the Food Emergency Crisis in Argentina
2025Francisco Tomatis, Ana María Bonet de Viola, Ulises Reno, Ouiam Fatiha Boukharta, Luis Manuel Navas-Gracia · · Argentina
In Argentina, public policies like the Argentine Plan Against Hunger and the ProHuerta Program have stimulated urban agriculture to address the food emergency crisis in early 2024. Despite urban gardening being recognized as a crisis-addressing strategy, the existence and future forms of public policies supporting urban gardens remain uncertain amid recent national political changes. Several barriers to integration and consolidation of these programs are highlighted.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsWelfareCommunityBridging the Gap: Misaligned Perceptions of Urban Agriculture and Health Between Planning and Design Experts and Urban Farmers in Greater Lomé, Togo
2025Akuto Akpedze Konou, Kossiwa Zinsou-Klassou, Pablo De Roulet, Armel Firmin Kemajou Mbianda, Jérôme Chenal · Land · Togo
This study in Greater Lomé, Togo, interviewed 11 experts and surveyed urban farmers to compare their perceptions of urban agriculture and health. The findings reveal a disconnect: urban farmers identify various challenges, including health-related difficulties, while experts tend to assume different health concerns, highlighting a misalignment between the perspectives of planning and design experts and urban farmers.
Governance failureHealthPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityMunicipalities, Let the People Have Their Chickens and Eat Them, Too
2025Cindy Vong · Journal of Food Law & Policy · Global
This Note argues that municipalities in the United States should permit on-site slaughter of backyard chickens on private residential property. Historically, local governments codified the separation of residential and agricultural uses, leading to bans and restrictions on urban agriculture. The current regulatory vacuum for urban agriculture creates conflicts and uncertainties, and allowing backyard slaughter could strengthen local food systems and regulate a growing urban practice.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceFrom communal urban gardens to profitable businesses: green rationalization in Swedish local sustainability policy
2025Ylva Wallinder, Maria Langa · Environmental Sociology · Sweden
A study investigated the consequences of institutional policy change on urban gardening practices in Swedish municipalities over the last decade. Local sustainability policies have led to an increasingly business-centered model, which clashes even with entrepreneurial gardens. This shift caused associational gardening to give way to an extended focus on entrepreneurship and food production, representing a "green rationalization" of gardening practices in urban sustainability policies that hinders their sustainability potential.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceÅ øke ambisjonene for urbant landbruk i det offentlige rom: å fremme urban agroøkologi og planetær helse
2025Chiara Tornaghi · · Global
This chapter, based on 15 years of research, identifies key shortcomings in urban planning policy that prevent urban agriculture from reaching its full potential for human and non-human health. These include the failure to recognize urban agriculture as food production, the invisibility of soil and its role, and the neglect of soil care and food production specialists in public land design and soil management. The chapter suggests that agroecological considerations can enhance urban agriculture's ambition in public spaces.
Governance failurePolicyHealthCommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommoning and just sustainability across time, space and class: lessons from terminated urban gardening projects in Bucharest
2025Ioana Florea · Environmental Sociology · Romania
This paper investigated three collective gardening projects in Bucharest that closed between 2019 and 2021, analyzing what remains of their sustainability capacities and commoning efforts after termination. Findings indicate that while essential commoning aspects like collectivity building and autonomy can endure and transfer to other spaces, cross-class aspects fade away with these transpositions. This reveals that what persists from closed gardening projects is strongly tied to structural historical contexts.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsUnraveling the Transformation of Urban Agriculture in Damavand: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Land Use Changes
2025Sara Ramezani, Mahin Nastaran, Homayoon Nooraie, Kei Otsuki · Journal of Landscape Ecology · Iran
A study investigating urban agriculture land use changes in Damavand, Iran, from 1995 to 2022 found a 109% increase in built-up land and declines of 14.34% in barren land and 22.44% in vegetation, including urban agriculture lands. Interviews with 15 participants identified land value changes, attraction to urban livelihoods, management and planning factors, physical-environmental factors, and urban infrastructure availability as primary reasons for these changes. The research highlights the urgent need for effective planning to mitigate threats from extensive urban agriculture transformations.
Governance failureEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePolicy3 Food banks, food diversion, and other responses
2025Dennis Raphael · Policy Press eBooks · Global
This chapter documents the growth of charitable non-governmental responses to food insecurity in Canada and the UK, including food banks and community gardens. It argues that these responses are problematic because they fail to address the economic and political causes of food insecurity. Further failures include the stigma experienced by food bank users and the false belief that food insecurity is being resolved.
Governance failureCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justicePolicyAnálisis de los factores limitantes en la producción de hortalizas: Un estudio del organopónico Pueblo Griffo Viejo en Cienfuegos
2025Odeimy Sarría-Crespo, Mayelin López-Roque, Wilfredo Sis-Sánchez · Revista Metropolitana de Ciencias Aplicadas · Cuba (Cienfuegos)
A ten-month non-experimental study at the "Pueblo Griffo Viejo" organic farm in Cienfuegos, Cuba, identified limiting factors in vegetable production through surveys, field observations, and documentary review. The research found low yields due to poor substrate quality, inadequate water management, limited organic matter, and insufficient training participation. Additionally, the workforce's low educational level hindered efficient agricultural practices.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationQuiet right to the city: contributing to urban sustainability by converging allotment and community gardens
2025Michaela Pixová, Christina Plank · Environmental Sociology · Czechia (Prague, Brno)
This paper compared the roles of allotment and community gardens in urban sustainability, using Prague and Brno, Czechia, as case studies. It analyzed perceptions of both by municipal actors, gardeners, and activists across four dimensions: public access to urban greenery, community building, food cultivation, and environment/climate protection. The paper argues that governments' preference for gardens aligned with the status quo undermines citizens' right to the city, urban sustainability, and resilience against future threats.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeAs produções agropecuárias na região metropolitana de Buenos Aires: contribuições para a sustentabilidade nas cidades
2025Gabriela Civeira, Florencia Rositano · Conicet · Argentina (Buenos Aires)
This study analyzed the environmental, social, and economic factors of agricultural production in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region (RMBA) across 28 municipalities, using National Agricultural Census data and an adapted ecosystem services (SE) estimation model. Findings indicated that 97.4% of small and medium-sized horticultural producers use conventional management, with only 2.6% employing non-conventional practices. Structural problems identified include informal labor, limited technical access, and urban pressure, highlighting the need for public policies to strengthen more sustainable production systems.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyUrban Agriculture as a Catalyst for Food Security and Sustainability in Ghana's Rapidly Urbanizing Cities
2025Christian Kofi Sarpong, Romanus Dogkubong Dinye, Alex Donbeinaa, Vera Nyarko Amoako · Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research · Ghana
This study assessed the role of urban agriculture in Ghanaian cities through a systematic literature review of publications from 2000 to 2024. Urban agriculture was found to significantly contribute to food security, nutrition, and income, and to bolster environmental sustainability. However, challenges such as land tenure insecurity, unsafe irrigation practices, weak institutional support, and limited policy integration persist.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeEconomicsHealthOrganic cyclePolicyCommunityRethinking the potential of urban agriculture as a climate resilience strategy: Evidence from Accra, Ghana
2025Gideon Baffoe, Philip Antwi‐Agyei · City and Environment Interactions · Ghana (Accra)
This mixed-methods study analyzed the role of urban agriculture (UA) in climate resilience in Accra, Ghana, from the perspective of policymakers. While UA contributes to food security, water use efficiency, and ecological protection, its integration into policy frameworks was found to be limited due to challenges such as weak institutional coordination, competing economic priorities, and governance inefficiencies.
Governance failureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsAgriculture and the ideals of urban modernity: the case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2024Matthijs T. Wessels, Gert Jan Veldwisch, B.J.M. van Vliet, Alphonce Kyessi, Shaaban M. Mgana · Water International · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
This study examined the policy dynamics of irrigated urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, using stakeholder interviews and a literature review. It found that while irrigated urban agriculture is positively received for its productivity, it faces challenges from discourses prioritizing health and modernity. Authorities pursue modern farming models, but most urban farmers operate with informal and insecure access to land and water, highlighting a tension between planning ideals and urban reality.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityReinventing Urban Agriculture in Algerian Urban Policies: Stakeholders' Visions and Operational Strategy
2024Meriem Korchi, Ouassila Bendjaballah · Indonesian Journal of Social Science Research · Algeria
This study assessed urban actors' perspectives on urban agriculture in Annaba, Algeria, and mapped agricultural activities to integrate them into urban policy. Interviews with decision-makers and farmers, combined with spatial analysis, revealed that while there is interest in urban agriculture, it is not effectively integrated into institutional and legal frameworks. Agricultural plots in cities are often reserved for future urban development.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justice