Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
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Feeding 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 linkagePolicyShrinking agriculture in the arid landscapes of the Cholistan Desert: a geospatial assessment of urban expansion and its implications for the sustainable future of Multan City, Pakistan
2026Muhammad Hussain, Saima Shaikh, Zahir Ahmad, Ihsanullah, George Kontakiotis, Andreas Dittmann · Ecological Questions · Pakistan (Multan City)
This study analyzed urban expansion patterns and their impact on agricultural land in Multan City, Pakistan, using remotely sensed data from 1990 to 2020. The built-up area increased from 75 km² in 1990 to 299 km² in 2020, representing an annual increase of 9.5%. This growth converted approximately 31% (100 km²) of fertile agricultural land into built-up areas, with predictions of further increases of 54% by 2030 and 67% by 2040.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageClimate changeEveryday Urbanism in Lithuanian towns: the case of old community gardens in Grigiškės and Plungė
2026Adomas Gedvilas, Dovilė Krupickaitė · Journal of Architecture and Urbanism · Lithuania
This paper examines old community gardens in Grigiškės and Plungė, Lithuania, as examples of Everyday Urbanism, using literature, data, maps, and interviews. The study found that these gardens, established informally on vacant land during the socialist period, are not officially recognized and their future development may differ due to varying local government attitudes. This highlights the need for a more flexible approach to their preservation and integration into urban planning.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageA systematic review of the barriers to urban agriculture at a global scale
2026Chris Blythe · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · Global
This systematic review aims to explore the barriers to urban agriculture at a global scale. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in systematic reviews concerning urban agriculture's health benefits, motivations for participation, and sustainability elements. This study will focus on the challenges and obstacles in implementing urban agriculture.
Governance failureUrban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsCommunityUrbanisation 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 & justiceEconomicsRancho (r)evolution A strategy for reinventing urban gardening in Plovdiv
2025Popov, Velian · reposiTUm (TU Wien) · Bulgaria (Plovdiv)
This study examines the disappearing phenomenon of informal urban gardening, known as Rancho, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, focusing on its socio-historical factors. Despite its authentic, decades-long existence, Rancho is neglected and considered outdated, with a lack of legal regulation and its informal character endangering its future. The study proposes a gradual transformation of these areas into community urban gardens with new infrastructures to raise awareness and encourage authorities to reintegrate Rancho into the urban context.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageClimate changeUrban Farming for Sustainable Urban Livelihoods in Mbarara City, Western Uganda
2025Elias Nuwagaba, Murindwa Rutanga · East African Scholars Journal of Education Humanities and Literature · Uganda (Mbarara City)
This study explored how state-initiated, unplanned urbanization in Mbarara City, Western Uganda, affects the sustainability of urban farming and urban livelihoods. The research found that rapid, haphazard urban expansion, lacking strategic planning, has led to significant challenges. These include the emergence of slums, illegal land occupations, destruction of wetlands and riverbanks causing water pollution, and inadequate waste management, all negatively impacting public health and urban farming sustainability.
Governance failureEconomicsPolicyClimate changeUrban–rural linkageVisualising and Valuing Urban Agriculture for Land Use Planning: A Critical GIS Analysis of Sydney and Neighbouring Regions
2025Joshua Zeunert, Scott Hawken, Josh Gowers · Land · Australia (Sydney)
A critical GIS analysis was conducted for Sydney and neighboring regions in NSW, Australia, to understand and advocate for Sydney's food production capacity. The study challenged the notion that Sydney's metropolitan landscape has low inherent biophysical quality for agriculture. Despite current metropolitan planning policy that marginalizes agricultural productivity, datasets revealed western Sydney is biophysically well suited for agriculture. Sydney's overall agricultural capacity was found to be comparable to five of six other coastal regions of NSW and superior to at least two, challenging current planning orthodoxy and policy.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsProximity despite distance? A community-supported agriculture initiative across rural mountain and urban areas in Switzerland
2025Sarah Steinegger, Nora Katharina Faltmann · Journal of Political Ecology · Switzerland
This qualitative research examined the challenges consumers and farmers face in establishing proximity within a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in Switzerland that links rural mountain and urban areas. The study found that consumers and farmers are facing challenges in establishing proximity. Nevertheless, shared experiences of farming activities and social events, along with participants' willingness to improve CSA operations and strengthen ties for mutual understanding and joint efforts, contribute to the ongoing process of establishing proximity.
Governance failureCSA & TeikeiCommunityUrban–rural linkageField diagnosis of farmers’ adaptation challenges to climate change in the agricultural urban landscapes
2025Henry Mensah · City and Environment Interactions · Ghana (Kumasi)
This study investigated adaptation practices and challenges among 85 urban farmers across three locations in Kumasi, Ghana. Farmers employed strategies like planting local crop varieties, expanding farms, and relocating. However, these strategies are hindered by institutional and technological limitations, financial constraints, lack of climate information, and delays in extension support, indicating significant governance challenges.
Governance failureClimate changePolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAdvancing the New Urban Agenda through Promoting Urban Agriculture: The Case of Masvingo City, Zimbabwe
2025Average Chigwenya, Samson Gwamure · Kuveza neKuumba The Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University Journal of Design Innovative Thinking and Practice · Zimbabwe (Masvingo City)
This research examined how urban agriculture has been incorporated in Masvingo City, Zimbabwe. A mixed methods approach, including interviews with key informants and field observations in urban agriculture areas, was adopted. The research found that despite the widespread practice of urban agriculture, Masvingo City is not innovative in including urban agriculture in its development agenda.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageCommunityLand Use Land Cover Analysis of Peri-Urban Area of Murad Memon Goth-Karachi
2024Anila Kausar, Viola Vambol, Sergij Vambol, Saima Sultana Sharfi · International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology · Pakistan (Karachi)
This study conducted a Land Use Land Cover (LULC) analysis of Murad Memon Goth, a peri-urban area of Karachi, Pakistan, comparing data from 2013 and 2021. The results revealed a 9.6% increase in settlement sprawl, indicating significant encroachment on agricultural lands. Cropland area decreased from 38.86% in 2013 to 26.11% in 2021, highlighting a negative trend for peri-urban agriculture in the region.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePolicyUrban green space use in transition
2024Cecil C. Konijnendijk · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · Global
This chapter examines the diverse uses of urban green spaces, encompassing recreation, biodiversity conservation, public health, and regulatory ecosystem services, with food production also re-emerging. Changing urban populations, including cultural diversity and ageing, have altered demands and uses. The study identifies a critical need to manage potential conflicts and trade-offs among these varied demands, despite many uses being able to coexist.
Governance failureClimate changeBiodiversityHealthPolicyUrban–rural linkageReinventing 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 & justiceMain problems in urban agriculture and leverage points to drive it towards sustainability: a review
2024Juan Camilo Fontalvo-Buelvas, María Teresa Pulido Silva, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar · Bitácora Urbano Territorial · Global
A bibliographic review identified that the main deficiencies in urban agriculture are inadequate management practices, a lack of organization, and absent or inefficient public policies. The study suggests that agroecology as a management system, policies for land access and sustainable financing, and dissemination processes are key leverage points for driving urban agriculture towards sustainability.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsUrban–rural linkageUrban agriculture between territorial anchoring and challenges of urbanisation: case of Guersif City (Eastern Morocco)
2024Mohammed Elyaagoubi · African J of Economic and Sustainable Development · Morocco
This study investigates the decline of agricultural land in Guersif City, Morocco, due to rapid urbanization. Sociological surveys and technical data from 1954 and 2021 were used to identify and quantify the rate of agricultural land loss. The preservation of urban agriculture in Guersif faces a real challenge from other, more profitable activities.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsFrom Planetary Core to the High Seas
2024Mary Mattingly · Intellect eBooks · Global
This essay shares two research practices stemming from the author's seven-year engagement with extractive supply chains for specific objects. Swale is a floating food forest that uses the common law of the waterways as a loophole to do what was illegal on common land, highlighting governance challenges within existing systems.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityUrban–rural linkageReview of peri-urban agriculture as a regional ecosystem service
2023Setyardi Pratika Mulya, Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, Delik Hudalah · Geography and sustainability · Global
This 2023 global systematic literature review examined peri-urban agriculture (PUA) as an ecosystem service, focusing on urbanization pressures and governance. The review found that PUA is crucial for urban areas in terms of food supply, ecology, biodiversity preservation, disaster mitigation, and recreation. However, massive urban expansion is a primary cause of PUA loss, and sociocultural biases have led to institutional constraints on peri-urban management within existing political and regulatory frameworks.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureBiodiversityPolicyUrban–rural linkageAssessment of Land Use Efficiencies of Ghanaian Cities: Case Study of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis
2023M. S. Aduah, Saviour Mantey · South African Journal of Geomatics · Ghana
This study used geospatial techniques, multi-temporal land use maps, and population data to estimate urban land use efficiency (LUE), changes in built-up area per capita, and urban sprawl speed (SS) in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan area of Ghana. While LUE generally improved from 2002 to 2016, it deteriorated slightly between 2016 and 2021. Critically, agricultural land or grassland in the city has been converted to built-up land, posing a challenge for urban agriculture.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageThe role of urban and peri-urban agriculture in global food security from post-war to the COVID-19 crisis: new perspectives on food justice, global health, and sustainability,
2023Ana María Bertolini, Patrícia Constante Jaime, Gabriela Marques Di Giulio · Saúde e Sociedade · Global
A critical literature review discussed the evolution of food and nutrition security (FNS) and the contributions of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). The review found that institutional responses to FNS are concentrated in times of crisis, which favors the maintenance of globalized and unsustainable food systems. UPA practices show peaks of rise and decline, evolving with the FNS agenda.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceHealthClimate changeUrban–rural linkageTranslating unique agricultural precedents into public urban agriculture design
2023Joshua Zeunert, Tanya Court · Elsevier eBooks · Global
Public urban agriculture (PUA) in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia faces challenges, including aesthetics and negative perceptions of its spatial presence and visual performance. In these contexts, PUA often remains limited to allotments, community gardens, education gardens, and street verge gardens, which frequently suffer from negative aesthetic perceptions in highly visible public settings. This chapter explores how eight distinctive rural food production practices could be translated into urban contexts to address aesthetic shortcomings in PUA design.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageThe loss of peri-urban agricultural land and the state-local tensions in managing its demise: The case of Greater Western Sydney, Australia
2022Amy Lawton, Nicky Morrison · Land Use Policy · Australia (Greater Western Sydney)
This study examines the drivers of peri-urban agricultural land loss in Greater Western Sydney, Australia, with a focus on the role of government agencies. It found that competing housing priorities and private market interests continue to take precedence over protecting agricultural land. The research indicates that this trend will persist unless the current pro-urbanization narrative and associated political priorities are altered.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageLand Take Processes and Challenges for Urban Agriculture: A Spatial Analysis for Novi Sad, Serbia
2022Jelena Živanović Miljković, Vesna Popović, Aleksandra Gajić · Land · Serbia (Novi Sad)
A study conducted in Futog, Novi Sad, Serbia, investigated land take (LT) processes and challenges for urban agriculture, focusing on the role and implications of land use planning. Quantifying LT for 2000–2018 using CORINE Land Cover and Urban Atlas datasets revealed that a significant portion of agricultural land in Futog, registered as a Geographical Indication (GI) for Futog cabbage, was planned for conversion into construction land. The study concluded that current land use planning in Serbia is inadequate to ensure the protection of either urban agriculture or GIs.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsChallenges and Sustainability Dynamics of Urban Agriculture in the Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana: A Study of Bolgatanga Municipality
2022Elias Danyi Kuusaana, Isaac Ayurienga, Joyce A. Eledi Kuusaana, Joseph Kwaku Kidido, Ibrahim Abu Abdulai · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Ghana (Bolgatanga)
A study in Bolgatanga Township, Ghana, used field surveys, key informant interviews, and GIS mapping to examine urban agricultural practices. It found that agricultural lands significantly decreased in size and contiguity since 1996 due to urban sprawl, forcing farmers to use segregated plots and undeveloped residential areas which are easily lost to development. The study concluded that urbanization exacerbates food production challenges without policies to protect agricultural lands.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageAgricultura urbana en barbecho. Concepciones en la planificación urbana chilena
2022Ana Zazo Moratalla, Alejandro Orellana-McBride, Claudia Cerda-Inostroza · · Chile
A study investigated how Chilean urban planning has conceived productive agriculture within urban limits, analyzing the evolution of territorial planning instruments in five Chilean cases. While agriculture was once conceived as an urban use, changes in Chilean legislation have led to this activity being conceived as transitory and in fallow, inevitably transforming into other more profitable urban uses.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomics