Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
11393 results(106 / 456)
Evaluasi Keberlanjutan Urban Farming di Kampung Ngemplak Sutan, Kota Surakarta
2024Fauziyyah Nur Rachmadillah, Mochamad Yusuf · Jurnal Teknik ITS · Indonesia
In Kampung Ngemplak Sutan (Kampung Sayur Organik), Surakarta, Indonesia, sustainability of the local urban farming initiative was evaluated using primary data from observation, questionnaires and interviews plus secondary data, analyzed with Multidimensional Scaling and Rapid Appraisal for Sustainability (MDS/RAPS). The socio-cultural dimension scored highest at 75.44 ("very sustainable"), while the economic dimension scored lowest at 56.71 ("fairly sustainable"); the study also noted that urban farming there functions mainly as a side activity that receives limited attention and that community participation has been declining.
Limited or null effectCommunityPolicyIdentifikasi Sumber Belajar Lokal untuk Mendukung Inovasi Pembelajaran Biologi
2024Siti Nurhidayati · Panthera Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Sains dan Terapan · Indonesia
In Mataram City and West Lombok Regency, Indonesia, researchers used observation and interviews with teachers and students to identify local learning resources available for high school biology teaching. They found potential resources including school gardens, city parks, urban forests, coastal areas and local agro-tourism sites, and reported that using these resources increased student interest and motivation and made lessons more contextual, while also noting continuing challenges in implementation.
Food educationCommunityReflections on the production of space and justice: A study of everyday life of the SuoJincun's guerrilla gardeners
2024Shuyue He, Ming Li, Yuhan Zheng, Xin Gao, Ruixia Wang · Cities · China
An ethnographic study of two guerrilla gardening cases in Nanjing, China (SuoJincun), examined how residents produce differentiated representational space in daily gardening practice. It found that gardening carries social value as material production, functions as a material carrier of place attachment and cultural identity, offers access to nature and culture for residents with limited mobility, and operates as a form of private appropriation and recycling of collective public space by residents.
CommunityDIYPolicyFarmers' Perceptions on The Performance of Agricultural Extension in the Sustainable Urban Farming (P2L) Program in Yogyakarta City
2024Yunanto Yunanto, Retno Wulandari · Agricultural Socio-Economic Empowerment and Agribusiness Journal · Indonesia
A study of the Sustainable Urban Farming (P2L) program in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, surveyed 88 respondents across 11 farmer groups using a Likert scale to assess farmers' perceptions of agricultural extension workers' performance in planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, with relationships analyzed via Spearman's rank correlation. The program was reported to have improved food availability, accessibility and household income through market-oriented production, and extension workers' performance was rated good (score 260.42), but factors such as age, non-formal education, farmer knowledge, farming experience and ICT use showed only very weak correlation with extension worker performance.
Food educationEconomicsPolicyWelfareThe Roots and Vaccine of the City
2024Annabel Nyole, Daphne Randall, Naserian Saruni · The Journal of Public Space · Africa
A 2024 photo essay on youth-led public space initiatives in Nairobi, Kenya; Kampala, Uganda; Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Harare, Zimbabwe. Using empirical data, it documents youth revitalizing local economies through urban farming and income diversification, and acting as stewards of green spaces in ways that enhance urban vitality, social connection, and well-being. It also reports that youth are extending their engagement into the digital sphere, advocating for internet access in public spaces as a socio-economic right.
CommunityHealthWelfareDiálogos entre a formação omnilateral e a educação ambiental crítica com estudantes do nível básico
2024Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Gustavo Carvalho da Rocha Lima Martins, Gonzalo Oviedo, Lucas José de Oliveira Gomes · Revista Tecnia · Brazil
A 2024 paper reports on an educational practice with elementary school students at a community garden at IFG-Anápolis, Brazil, framed around "omnilateral formation" and critical environmental education. Through periodic visits, workshops, and discussion sessions, the practice addressed problems arising from the use and consumption of pesticides in food. It reports that the critical environmental education approach was significant in revealing the latent meanings behind an agribusiness food market based on unrestrained pesticide use.
Environmental trade-offsFood educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceHorticultural Therapy Practice as Ecological Activism
2024Yunus Kara · Journal of Turkish Therapeutic Horticulture · Global
A 2024 literature review examines the relationship between horticultural therapy and ecological activism. It positions horticultural therapy as a means of ecological activism that can enhance individuals' environmental awareness while relating to improvements in mental and physical health, describing it as a practice that raises quality of life through interaction with plants and immersion in nature and supports understanding of ecosystems and the adoption of sustainable lifestyles. It identifies future research directions including examining effects across different age groups and communities, long-term impacts, and applications within community gardens.
CommunityHealthWelfareImproving Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Science Teaching Self-Efficacy through Garden-Based Technology Integration
2024Erin 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.
Food educationCommunityDigital agriculturePersist or Perish. The Dynamics of Irrigated Agriculture in Urbanising Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2024Matthijs T. Wessels, Shaaban M. Mgana · Urban Forum · Tanzania
Based on ethnographic research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — one of the fastest-urbanizing cities in sub-Saharan Africa — this study examines how farmers configure their day-to-day agricultural practices amid urban change. Contrary to narratives that present agriculture as passive in the face of urban growth, it describes farmers building networks of provision through informal access to land and water, supplying food and employment while actively co-shaping the city. Farmers adapt their strategies in response to land pressure and water resource degradation. The paper argues that better representation of urban farmers and irrigated agriculture in urban planning and governance would reduce uncertainty and risk for both farmers and the wider city.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsSummary
2024Ada Górna · · Global
This chapter summarizes research conducted for a book comparing urban agriculture in three cities — Havana, Singapore, and Kigali. It presents a structured comparative analysis identifying similarities and differences among these Global South cities across four facets: distribution characteristics, internal structural/production and organizational/technical features, distribution methods, and functions fulfilled. It also identifies universal attributes of urban agriculture that recur independently of spatial, socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions, along with distinctive mechanisms shaping its development, and discusses verification of the study's hypotheses, methodological challenges specific to each city, and directions for future research.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyReversing food-land relationships in the city: Insights from the Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship Program
2024Carol E. Ramos-Gerena, Allison DeHonney, Shireen Guru, Rachel Grandits, Insha Akram, Samina Raja · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
This article examines the Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship (SEBF) program, co-founded by community and academic organizations in Buffalo, NY in 2022, which supported residents of Buffalo's Black neighborhoods in growing their own food, emerging as urban agriculture leaders, and engaging in urban agriculture policy advocacy. The authors, who are co-founders or team members of SEBF, draw on field notes and qualitative interviews with SEBF growers to reflect on lessons from this pilot program. Key lessons for policy change identified are that programs must be rooted in community history, pedagogical strategies must be tailored to local context, and long-term relationships must be fostered.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationPhysical properties of the urban soils of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
2024Remigio Paradelo, Cecilia Herbón, María Teresa Barral · Journal of Soils and Sediments · Spain
This study examined 64 urban soils in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, across different parent materials and land uses, assessing physical properties including bulk density, porosity, water holding capacity, aggregate stability, water-dispersible clay, permeability, and resistance to penetration in field and laboratory measurements, along with erosion risk estimated via the K factor of the RUSLE. Results show heterogeneous physical properties typical of urban soils; high organic matter and iron content were associated with low bulk density and high aggregate stability. Compaction issues were widespread but land-use dependent: soils under urban agriculture had higher permeability and lower compaction than urban grasslands and forests. High infiltration despite compaction was attributed to abundant coarse fragments and preferential flow paths. Overall erosion risk was found to be low based on K factor values, but the study concludes that sound management remains essential because relief, climate, and human behavior can increase erosion risk at specific points.
BiodiversityOrganic cycleDa bene pubblico a bene comune: le aree verdi come oggetto di un impegno congiunto
2024Valeria Di Martino, Gian Vito Zani · Rivista di estetica · Italy
This paper examines the distinction between public goods and common goods (commons) as understood in economics and applies it to a typical public good — urban green areas. While public goods involve openness to all and state management, commons require management that is common yet still limited; the two also differ in the kind of agent involved, with public goods presupposing an aggregate of individuals and commons presupposing a plural subject capable of acting in concert to manage the good. After exploring this distinction in detail, the paper applies it to green areas in cities and shows the theoretical advantages of a commons-based framing, including through the concrete case of community gardens.
PolicyCommunityIl parco agricolo come possibile strumento per il governo della complessita agro-urbana. Alcune esperienze italiane a confronto
2024Michele Deri · Florence Research (University of Florence) · Italy
This paper examines the peri-urban agricultural park, an instrument that has gained significant importance in Italian territorial policy in recent years, as a tool for integrated governance of peri-urban territory and socio-ecological factors. Based on a desk analysis, it selects several major Italian experiences and presents an initial overview of the characteristics this tool presents in various contexts, in terms of both process and project. The paper highlights the relevance and diffusion of the instrument in public discourse and territorial governance practices, as well as the strengths, limitations, and critical issues the various cases present in operational terms, concluding that further exploration of its design and management characteristics as a connective element between planning and rural development is needed.
PolicyCommunityPeri-urban agriculturePublic perceptions towards urban horticulture in front-yard greenhouses: Unveiling ecosystem services and practices for sustainable and resilient city
2024Mahsa Tarashkar, Salman Qureshi, Zhifang Wang, Akbar Rahimi · Sustainable Futures · Asia
This study examined factors shaping preferences for front-yard greenhouse urban horticulture in Iran. It found that greenhouse design influences urban horticulture preferences, and that urban dwellers prioritize cultural ecosystem services over regulating and provisioning services when engaging in urban horticulture activities. Anticipated ecosystem services differed among socio-demographic groups, and different greenhouse elements evoked distinct perceptions of ecosystem services, though certain greenhouses were found to improve overall perception of ecosystem services due to strong correlations between different service types.
CommunityHealthBiodiversityWhat do we really know about urban agriculture’s impact on people, places, and the planet?
2024Agnès Fargue‐Lelièvre, Jason K. Hawes, Benjamin Goldstein, Lidia Poniży, Erica Dorr · Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists · Global
This 2024 essay in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists states that urban agriculture brings many benefits to its participants but is not guaranteed to be more climate-friendly than conventional agriculture. It adds that there are some specific steps urban farmers can take to cut carbon emissions.
Limited or null effectClimate changeCommunityINTENSIFIKASI LAHAN PEKARANGAN MENJADI HERBAL SMART GARDEN DI KELURAHAN KALISEGORO GUNUNGPATI SEMARANG
2024Sri Suwarni, Odilia Dea Christina, Harum Sitepu, Tessa Trimonica · BESIRU Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat · Indonesia
This 2024 community-service report documents an urban farming team's project, together with youth and elderly residents, converting unused yard land (pekarangan) in Kalisegoro village, Gunungpati district, Semarang, Indonesia, into a "Herbal Smart Garden." The activity began with training on types of medicinal plants, followed by hands-on instruction in seedling propagation using polybag media, soil preparation, and planting. Information on the plants' medicinal uses and processing is shared through an information system or e-catalog of the medicinal plants grown in the garden. The formerly idle land was put to use as a source of medicinal plants for minor ailments and for supporting residents' immunity.
Food educationCommunityHealthUrban horticulture: Building the evidence base to support integration into cities and towns
2024Jill 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.
CommunityFood educationA Sentient Planet as a School; a School as a Community Garden: Toward Eco-Creative Think-Practicing
2024Mónica 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.
CommunityFood educationA systematic review of food-waste based hydroponic fertilisers
2024Oscar Wang, Rosalind Deaker, Floris van Ogtrop · Agricultural Systems · Global
A systematic review using the PRISMA protocol searched for literature on food-waste based hydroponic fertilisers (FWBHF), identifying 6,840 papers with search terms combining "food-waste," "hydroponic," "fertiliser" and "organic," narrowing to 308 papers by title and abstract relevance and ultimately including 37 papers in the final review. The review sought to identify major challenges limiting yield outcomes in food-waste based hydroponic systems, explore conventional and non-conventional improvements, and propose a standardized reporting framework for future research, framed against a backdrop of an estimated 931 million tonnes of food wasted globally in 2018.
CommunityOrganic cycleIntegrating Rooftop Agriculture and Atmospheric Water Harvesting for Water‐Food Production Based on Hygroscopic Manganese Complex
2024Shan He, Primož Poredoš, Hao Qü, Xinge Yang, Mengjuan Zhou, Lulu Bai, Jiadong Shi, Wenshuai Chen, R.Z. Wang, Swee Ching Tan · Advanced Functional Materials · Global
A composite adsorbent combining manganese(II)-ethanolamine complexes with a hierarchical, interconnected polypyrrole-doped matrix was developed to reduce vapor diffusion resistance, a key factor limiting scale-up kinetics, achieving water uptake of 2.54 g per gram at 90% relative humidity with 62% of the water released within 30 minutes, enabling multiple daily capture-release cycles. A hybrid desorption mode combining photovoltaic electrical heating and solar heating achieved stable, high-yield water production, and simulation and feasibility verification showed that an atmospheric-water-irrigated rooftop farm could produce 879.9 g of water per square meter of sorbent per day and 1.28 kg of food per square meter of device within 14 days, without human intervention and independent of external water inputs.
CommunityClimate changeOptimasi Urban Farming dalam Mendukung Keberlanjutan Pertanian di Sumatera Barat
2024Maulia Usni, Melani Fitri · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Pembangunan dan Pendidikan Vokasi Pertanian · Indonesia
Based on a literature review drawing on books, websites and journals, this study examines how urban farming can support agricultural sustainability in West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Framing sustainability around the availability of natural resources, human resources and environmental quality, it identifies strategies for optimizing urban farming, including microgreens cultivation, hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical cropping systems (vertikultur), and indoor vertical farms.
Peri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleFood sovereignty & justiceIntroducing an integrative evaluation framework for assessing the sustainability of different types of urban agriculture
2024Henriette John, Martina Artmann · International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development · Germany
Based on a German case study, this paper introduces an integrative framework for evaluating the environmental, social and economic sustainability of urban agriculture, applying multi-criteria analysis via the Analytic Hierarchy Process combined with a participatory approach. Analyzing the examples of vertical farming and community-supported agriculture, the environmental dimension received the highest weight, followed by the social and then the economic dimension; among sub-criteria, species diversity received the highest weight and food quality and safety the lowest.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceAgroecology for the City—Spatialising ES-Based Design in Peri-Urban Contexts
2024Richard Morris, Shannon Davis, Gwen‐Aëlle Grelet, Pablo Gregorini · Land · Global
Applying a GIS-based model (ESMAX), this study tests a spatial method called "Agroecology for the City," aimed at maximizing ecosystem services (ES) in outwardly expanding peri-urban development. Agroecological farm system (AFS) parcels of 1 ha and 4 ha were configured within a real-world 200 ha peri-urban residential development to identify arrangements maximizing the supply of three regulating ecosystem services the local community identified as critical, plus multifunctional performance across them. Configurations with AFS parcels interspersed evenly among built-up areas provided the best multifunctionality across the four ecosystem services tested.
Peri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleBiodiversityHALAL INDUSTRIAL PARK: INOVASI KAWASAN GREEN ECONOMY DALAM PEMBERDAYAAN INDUSTRI KECIL DAN MENENGAH
2024Nuryanti Nuryanti, Muhamad Bai’ul Hak, Adhitya Bagus Singandaru · Elastisitas - Jurnal Ekonomi Pembangunan · Indonesia
Using an integrated literature approach combining a literature review with a systematic review, this paper examines the innovations in Governor Regulation No. 6 of 2022, which sets out the Roadmap of the Halal Industrial Park in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. It finds that the Roadmap functions as a clean, clearly defined green-economy location for scaling up and increasing the productivity of small and medium industries (SMI), that it secures a sustainable supply of raw materials for industry through integrated urban farming, that it guarantees SMI empowerment from the production process through market segmentation, and that it encourages SMIs to meet national and international product standards.
PolicyEconomicsCommunity