Research & reports

Joanne E. Porter, Megan Simic, Elizabeth Miller, Daria Soldatenko, Luis Hualda · · Australia

This project, commissioned by the Collaborative Evaluation and Research Centre (CERC), explored how nature improved the recovery of remote and rural communities affected by bushfires in East Gippsland, Australia. Data were collected from June to September 2023 through a nature-based community recovery project survey and community interviews. Phase 1 evaluated grant-funded projects, while Phase 2 investigated how broader communities interacted with nature for healing after the 2019-2020 bushfires.

Lynch Jun H. Dondriano, Cathy Jane A. Susuban, Michelle C. Estreller, Saddamiya A. Mingkat · International journal of research and scientific innovation · Philippines

This action research study introduces the Sustainable Parental Resources of Organic Urban Teaching (SPROUT) innovation, aimed at upgrading the livelihood sustainability of parents participating in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the Philippines. SPROUT supports parents in growing organic produce for personal consumption and potential income generation through sustainable agriculture practices and urban gardening techniques. This approach has the potential to enhance families' nutritional status, promote environmental stewardship, and encourage a shift towards healthier, sustainable lifestyles.

Claudia Jiménez, Patricia Yazmín Figueroa-Chávez · Journal of the Selva Andina Research Society · Colombia (Bogotá)

This study addresses the importance of school gardens as a strategy for the consumption of healthy food in an early childhood home in Bogota, Colombia.

Cherry Love B. Montales · International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews · Global

This systematic review analyzed 25 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2020 to explore how agricultural programs are implemented in secondary schools. Using clear inclusion/exclusion criteria and thematic analysis, the review showed that school gardens, often combined with other activities, were the most common initiatives. These programs involved students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders, with key themes identified as health and nutrition, food security, teaching, environmental sustainability, learning, and the use of information and communication technology.

Rachael Walshe, Lisa Law, Neus Evans · Local Environment · Australia (Cairns)

This paper explores the potential of urban school garden learning experiences in Gimuy/Cairns, Australia, to remediate Environmental Generational Amnesia (EGA). Drawing on interviews with various staff at a Far North Queensland primary school, the study found that school garden experiences foster interaction patterns that combat EGA's symptoms, offering new possibilities for reassembling students into local ecologies and remediating EGA manifestations.

Miranda S. Fitzgerald, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar · Phi Delta Kappan · Global

Project-based learning (PBL) is argued to provide a rich context for fostering students' literacy motivation and engagement. Characteristic features of PBL align with research-supported instructional practices, such as peer collaboration and communicating with real audiences. Educators can use the SMILE concept (sharing, me, importance, liking, engagement) to design and implement PBL in K-12 classrooms.

José Angel Vences-Martínez, Alejo Javier Lungo Rodríguez, Grecia Hernández Zamacona, Juan Ernesto Mendoza-Ramos, José Pepe Vargas Soberanis, José Domingo Cipriano Espino · REVISTA DE EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL Y SOSTENIBILIDAD · Global

An organic School Garden (HE) was designed through Environmental Education (EA) workshops for 13 sixth-grade primary school children. The project aimed to develop students' attitudes and skills regarding global environmental problems and their environment. Three EA workshops were designed: "Knowing my Garden," "Locating my garden," and "Composting," followed by two workshops for preparing and sowing the garden.

Isabel Cristina Carvalho, Raquel Luz Sousa · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Global

This chapter advocates for teaching contexts that integrate community art practices, using an informal urban agriculture laboratory as a basis. It proposes pedagogical approaches for Architecture and Urbanism education that leverage action and experimental research to structure living spaces, focusing on proximity, solidarity, intergenerationality, multifunctionality, and sustainability. The aim is to foster social, biophysical, and ecological integration, promote diversity and gender equality, and raise awareness of active citizenship through collaborative co-planning and co-management of plural green urban spaces.

Maria Neocleous Maliotou, Γεωργία Λιαράκου · Education 3-13 · Global

This research employed the Whole School Approach framework to address obstacles in setting up and operating a school-integrated, long-sustained school garden. A school case study involving in-depth interviews with school stakeholders was utilized. Findings suggest that a long-sustained school garden requires collective vision and strategic planning, a holistic curriculum connection, continuous staff capacity building, and school community involvement.

Carmen K. Blubaugh, R. Chesnut, Katherine Hagan · Journal of Applied Ecology · Global

This study investigated how organic composts mediate the effects of plant diversity across trophic levels over two field seasons, conducting 18 experiments in school gardens. Vermicompost strengthened a positive relationship between flower richness and foliar-feeding omnivores, but predators increased with flower richness and were not affected by vermicompost. The net outcomes of vermicompost and plant diversity were neutral for herbivores.

Nurul Ain Zafirah Nor Aizi, Kamisah Osman · International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development · Malaysia

This study evaluated the hydroponics knowledge of 200 Year 6 primary school students in Malaysia, with 100 from an urban school in Kuala Lumpur and 100 from a rural school in Negeri Sembilan. Using a 10-item Likert-scale questionnaire, urban students scored slightly higher (min = 2.97) than rural students (min = 2.70), indicating a comparable knowledge level. No significant correlation was found between hydroponic knowledge and parents' socioeconomic status.

كريمة على حسن محمد, سوزان يوسف أبو الفضل, عزه أحمد صادق على · Journal of Educational Sciences - Qena Faculty of Education · Global

A study using a descriptive approach identified obstacles to the educational role of community education schools. Findings revealed obstacles across educational (e.g., low student achievement), social (e.g., low encouragement of community initiatives), cultural (e.g., low cultural level of staff), technological (e.g., lack of computer teachers), economic (e.g., weak family economic level), health (e.g., weak attention to a healthy school environment), and recreational roles (e.g., lack of school gardens).

Erin Ingram, Patricia Wonch Hill, Dena Harshbarger, Jenny Keshwani · Education Sciences · Global

A 2024 study examines the impact of the "Garden TOOLS" garden-based technology integration program on science teaching self-efficacy among 39 elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a 300-level science methods course in the rural Midwest, US. Using the STEBI-B instrument to measure change in personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) and science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE) before and after the intervention, it found that participants in the Garden TOOLS professional development workshops showed a statistically significant increase in PSTE from pre- to post-workshop, and that participants who also implemented the Garden TOOLS lesson in practicum showed increases in both PSTE and STOE.

Jill L. Edmondson · Plants People Planet · Global

This special collection introduction on urban horticulture — the growing of fruits and vegetables in cities, a food source for millions worldwide — frames the interdisciplinary scientific, engineering and socio-cultural challenges that must be resolved to integrate food growing more widely into cities and towns. It sets out the rationale for the collection and identifies remaining knowledge gaps rather than presenting new empirical results.

Mónica G. Rocha-Bravo, Polina Golovátina‐Mora · Qualitative Inquiry · Global

This article offers a diffractive reading of two practices — a curricular environmental education project in Colombian schools and walking through Colombian volcanic rainforest (selva) — to revisit theory as differential becoming, treating both the classroom and the process of academic writing as ecosystems. It frames living knowledge as co-created and emergent rather than purely practical or instrumental, and argues that decolonizing inquiry requires inner decolonization at the level of the person, the field and academia.

Albin Mathew -, Sanu K Thekkath -, N Sneha · International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research · Global

This paper is a review that surveys various forms and definitions of urban farming and discusses its role in implementing circular economy strategies and strengthening urban food security. Drawing on case studies within institutions such as schools and Anganwadi centres, it argues that urban farming initiatives can promote sustainability, community engagement and equitable participation, that urban farming and neighbourhood development are interconnected in ways that support an inclusive society and sustainable urban design principles, and advocates positioning urban farming as central to urban planning.

Jagarlamudi Nethra, B. Srinivasulu, Vadada Vinay Kumar, C. Lakshmana Rao · International Journal of Environment and Climate Change · Global

This review surveys nutrient-rich microgreens with emphasis on their role in urban agriculture, covering nutritional composition, culinary applications and cultivation techniques through an agronomy, nutrition and urban-planning lens, without presenting specific experimental data or figures.

Nafisah Awang, Suhana Saad, Sarmila Md Sum · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

A discussion of Malaysia's government Urban Agriculture Program, which promotes farming on unused spaces such as rooftops and empty lots, including rooftop gardens, community gardens, vertical farming and hydroponics, against a backdrop in which 76% of Malaysia's population lives in cities and faces difficulty accessing affordable, nutritious food. It describes support for urban farmers from the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), and states that urban agriculture provides improved food access, income generation, social interaction and community empowerment, arguing that participation, knowledge sharing and skills development drive economic empowerment.

CapitaLand · CapitaLand · Singapore

The rooftop of Singapore's Funan mixed-use development hosts an approximately 18,000-square-foot urban farm operated by Edible Garden City, growing more than 50 types of fruits and vegetables including mushrooms, edible flowers, and watermelon. CapitaLand frames this and its other greened properties as delivering functional benefits — reduced energy consumption, improved air quality, and enhanced employee wellness — beyond aesthetic appeal.

Alcaldía de Medellín (Secretaría de Inclusión Social y Familia) · Alcaldía de Medellín · Colombia

An article on Medellín's municipal Social Inclusion and Family Secretariat program supporting home gardens for household self-consumption through training workshops, provision of agricultural supplies, and technical visits. The program benefits 670 households, who must attend at least 5 of 7 scheduled educational sessions to receive materials and products.

Ministerio de Desarrollo Agrario, Provincia de Buenos Aires · Ministerio de Desarrollo Agrario, Provincia de Buenos Aires · Argentina

The official page for the Buenos Aires Province Urban Garden Programme, launched by the provincial Ministry of Agrarian Development in the second half of 2024. It offers training, seedlings and technical support for community gardens of at least 40 square meters run or planned by schools, hospitals, clubs and civic organizations, and supports municipalities in setting up or strengthening local seedling nurseries; its first edition worked mainly with school, hospital and organizational community gardens.

Tracey D., Gray T., Sweeting J., Kingsley J., Bailey A., Pettitt P. · Health & Social Care in the Community (Wiley/Hindawi), 2023:5570089 · Global

The first systematic review to summarize the benefits of community gardening for vulnerable populations such as low-socioeconomic-status and culturally diverse groups. Analyzing 33 studies, it finds social connection, health, education, and nutrition to be the most frequently reported benefits, supporting social inclusion and welfare.

Chicoine M., Rodier F., Durif F. · Agriculture and Human Values 40(3):1153-1170 · Global

Analyzes how companies use commercial urban agriculture labeling in product marketing, examining the consumer-perceived benefits and risks of leveraging urban farming as a brand and value proposition.

Hermesse J., Vankeerberghen A., Lohest F., Truyffaut A. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Belgium (Brussels)

Examines six co-creative, transdisciplinary research projects in Brussels that engaged diverse stakeholders to co-produce knowledge on urban food production, distribution, and equitable food access, highlighting recommendations for institutional and legislative reform to support food system transitions.

Bayot R.S., Schreinemachers P., Mwambi M., Dominguez D.D., Oro E.M., Gonsalves J.F. · World Vegetable Center (CGIAR) · Philippines (Metro Manila)

This scoping study evaluated urban community gardening sites under the Philippines' National Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Banner Program (NUPAP) across Metro Manila, covering 26 sites in 7 cities. Findings showed the program lacked targeted support for vulnerable populations despite coordinating numerous urban farming initiatives.