Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3623 results(106 / 145)
Introduction Context and commonality: Women in agriculture worldwide
2016Manase Kudzai Chiweshe, Kudzai MacMillan Muzanago · · Zimbabwe (Harare)
This exploratory study analyzed the emergence of sack potato farming as an alternative empowerment platform for urban women in Zimbabwe, using qualitative methodologies and secondary literature. It found that sack potato production, which gained prominence in Zimbabwe in 2013, can increase food security and income for urban households and promotes micro-economic enterprises among urban women.
Food sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunityEconomicsThe Role of Re-Appropriation in Open Design: A Case Study on How Openness in Higher Education for Industrial Design Engineering Can Trigger Global Discussions on the Theme of Urban Gardening
2016Francesca Ostuzzi, Peter Conradie, Lieven De Couvreur, Jan Detand, Jelle Saldien · The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning · Global
This case study explored opportunities for 47 Industrial Design Engineering students to share open-ended urban gardening design solutions during a two-week intensive course, using Instructables.com. Open sharing of local solutions triggered global discussions and reported instances of re-appropriation. However, the study also showed difficulty in keeping students engaged in global discussions, with online activity dropping to near silence after a few weeks, and challenges in tracking re-appropriation cycles.
DIYFood educationCommunityStatens roll förendras
2016Erika Augustinsson · Stat & Styring · Global
This abstract suggests that microcredits, crowdfunding, and urban farming may be significant social innovations of our time, comparable to 20th-century kindergartens, maternal care, and fire departments. It posits that the state's role is changing, focusing more on creating opportunities and relinquishing control.
PolicyCommunityLessons learned
2016Annette Voigt, T. E. Leitão, Andrew Hursthouse, Ari Jokinen, Avigail Heller, Monika Latkowska, Paulo Brito da Luz, Yvonne Christ, Béatrice Bechet, Mart Külvik, Johannes Langemeyer · · Global
This chapter presents guidance on tools for undertaking an ecological assessment with a simple, integrated, and systemic approach using sets of indicators. Agro-environmental indicators allow efficient assessment of the state, trends, and rate of change of environmental status or ecosystem services. Indicators for a garden’s suitability as a habitat depend on selected species and their demands. Gardens near the seashore require coping with difficult environmental conditions, and water requirements vary by climatic zone and crop evapotranspiration rates. Improving physical and chemical soil conditions generally enhances crop growth and reduces risks of erosion, compaction, and poor drainage. Urban gardening can expand habitat areas for particular animal species from nearby green areas. The chapter provides information on minimizing main risks from urban environmental pressures on urban gardening.
BiodiversityClimate changeOrganic cycleGrüt: A Gardening Sensor Kit for Children
2016Fabrizio Valpreda, Ilaria Zonda · Sensors · Global
This study presents Grüt, a gardening sensor kit for children, aiming to change children's attitudes towards food and reduce waste by increasing their knowledge about food production and consumption. The project combines real and virtual reality, connecting plants to the Internet of Things via sensors and an app. User testing was executed with Dutch children in Amsterdam.
Food educationDIYDigital agricultureFarmers' place identity and decision-making in a changing peri-urban environment: a case study of Wollondilly Shire Council
2016Laure‐Elise Ruoso, R. Plant, Brent Jacobs, Pierre Maurel · · Australia (Western Sydney)
This study, based on in-depth interviews with farmers in peri-urban Sydney, Australia, examines how changes in these areas impact farmers' place identity and decision-making. It analyzes how increasing urban development, land subdivision, rising land values, and environmental regulations threaten farming activities. The findings indicate that these factors influence farmers' practices, business management, and decisions to continue or relocate peri-urban farming.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyGarden-based nutrition education programs: a review of impact and evaluation methods
2016Hollis J. Laird · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · Global
This paper reviews the effects and evaluation methods of garden-based nutrition education programs, noting their positive impacts on children, including increased knowledge, preference, and consumption of fruits and vegetables, and increased self-efficacy. It identifies a lack of standardized evaluation methods for these programs as a limitation. The paper also describes the evaluation of the Enright Community Garden's nutrition education component for children.
Food educationHealthCommunityTactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change
2015Lydon M., Garcia A. · Island Press · Global
A foundational book systematising short-term, low-cost, scalable interventions (pop-up parks, gardens, experiments) that use space temporarily to build consensus for permanent change — a theoretical pillar of interim land activation.
PolicyCommunityUrban home gardens in the Global North: A mixed methods study of ethnic and migrant home gardens in Chicago, IL
2015Taylor J.R., Lovell S.T. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):22-32 · Global
Studies African American, Chinese, and Mexican-origin home gardens in Chicago, finding that ethnic gardeners saving open-pollinated traditional crop seeds preserve agrobiodiversity while reproducing cultural identity and supporting community food systems.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityFarming in and on urban buildings: Present practice and specific novelties of Zero-Acreage Farming (ZFarming)
2015Thomaier S., Specht K., Henckel D., Dierich A., Siebert R., Freisinger U. B., Sawicka M. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):43-54 · Global
Survey of 73 zero-acreage (building-based) farms across four continents, analyzing innovative technologies, supply patterns, and business networks of commercial hydroponic and aquaponic urban farming.
EconomicsOrganic cycleA systematic review of urban agriculture and food security impacts in low-income countries
2015Poulsen M. N., McNab P. R., Clayton M. L., Neff R. A. · Food Policy 55:131-146 · Global
Synthesizing 35 peer-reviewed studies from 1980-2013, this review finds urban agriculture in low-income countries can improve food availability and dietary diversity, especially benefiting women, though income gains are not always sufficient to ensure household food security.
WelfareHealthEconomics'Quiet Food Sovereignty' as Food Sovereignty without a Movement? Insights from Post-socialist Russia
2015Visser O., Mamonova N., Spoor M., Nikulin A. · Globalizations · Russia
Introduces the concept of 'quiet food sovereignty' to describe how Russian smallholders practise dispersed, muted, bottom-up food autonomy in the absence of organised rural social movements.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsWelfareFamily Urban Agriculture in Russia: Lessons and Prospects
2015Boukharaeva L.M., Marloie M. · Springer (Urban Agriculture Series) · Russia
A Springer monograph documenting research since 1999 on urban gardening collectives in Russia, analysing the social, cultural, and food-security roles of family urban agriculture and its prospects.
CommunityEconomicsFood educationWelfareUrban agriculture, civil interfaces and moving beyond difference: the experiences of plot holders in Dublin and Belfast
2015Corcoran M.P., Kettle P.C. · Local Environment · Ireland (Dublin)
This comparative study of plot holders in Dublin and Belfast shows that allotment gardens can act as 'spaces of potential' where shared gardening dissolves social differences and fosters intergenerational knowledge exchange. The authors argue that urban agriculture sites function as civic interfaces bridging community divides.
CommunityHealthFood educationThe effect of women's home gardens on vegetable production and consumption in Bangladesh
2015Schreinemachers P., Patalagsa M.A., Islam M.R., Uddin M.N., Ahmad S., Biswas S.C., Ahmed M.T., Yang R.Y., Hanson P., Begum S., Takagi C. · Food Security · Bangladesh
A study of 582 poor rural Bangladeshi women found home garden training increased per-capita vegetable production by 86% and significantly improved dietary diversity and nutrient supply including iron (+284%) and vitamin A (+189%).
HealthFood educationEconomicsDesign and Construction of an Inexpensive Homemade Plant Growth Chamber
2015· PLOS ONE · Global
Describes the design and construction of an inexpensive homemade plant growth chamber built from low-cost materials as an accessible alternative to costly commercial units for controlled indoor plant growth.
DIYEconomicsAn Automated System for Monitoring Soil Moisture and Controlling Irrigation Using Low-cost Open-source Microcontrollers
2015· HortTechnology · Global
An automated irrigation controller built from open-source Arduino boards, capacitance soil-moisture sensors and solenoid valves that logs volumetric water content and triggers irrigation by threshold; inexpensive and suited to home gardens, greenhouses and nurseries.
DIYEconomicsHeavy metal accumulation in vegetables grown in urban gardens
2015· Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
Vegetables grown in urban gardens, especially near roads, accumulate heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, posing health risks through consumption and highlighting an environmental and safety downside of growing food in cities.
HealthFecal contamination in irrigation water and microbial quality of vegetable primary production in urban farms of Metro Manila, Philippines
2015Garcia B., Dimasupil M., Vital P., Widmer K., Rivera W. · Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B · Philippines (Metro Manila)
Many irrigation water, soil, and vegetable samples from urban farms in Metro Manila tested positive for E. coli, documenting fecal contamination and associated food-safety risks in urban agriculture.
HealthCommercial aquaponics production and profitability: Findings from an international survey
2015Love D. C., Fry J. P., Li X. · Aquaculture · Global
An international survey of 257 commercial aquaponics operations found only 31% were profitable in the prior 12 months, with many relying on non-food income such as classes, tours, and equipment sales, documenting weak commercial profitability.
EconomicsUrban agriculture and food security: A critique based on an assessment of urban land constraints
2015Badami M., Ramankutty N. · Global Food Security · Global
Assessing the urban land needed to grow the urban poor's daily vegetables, the authors conclude urban agriculture can make only a limited contribution to food security in low-income countries where need is greatest, and argue its benefits are often overstated.
PolicyEconomicsInvestigating the association between urban agriculture and food security, dietary diversity, and nutritional status: A systematic literature review
2015Warren E., Hawkesworth S., Knai C. · Food Policy · Global
A systematic review of studies quantifying urban agriculture's link to food security, dietary diversity, and nutrition finds the evidence base weak and inconsistent, showing that empirical support for its effectiveness in easing food-security challenges remains limited.
HealthWelfarePolicyUrban vegetable for food security in cities. A review
2015Eigenbrod C., Gruda N. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
Reviewing urban vegetable production for food security, the authors note that high land prices and urban pollution constrain urban horticulture, indicating that despite opening new cultivation sites, such limits make it difficult for urban agriculture to fully meet cities' food demand.
EconomicsPolicyEcosystem disservices research: A review of the state of the art with a focus on cities
2015von Döhren P., Haase D. · Ecological Indicators · Global
Reviewing 103 studies, the paper synthesizes ecosystem disservices, functions of urban green and agricultural spaces perceived as negative for human well-being, such as pests, allergens, pollution, and wildlife conflict, and argues that valuing only benefits while ignoring disservices is inadequate.
BiodiversityPolicyContributing to food security in urban areas: differences between urban agriculture and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North
2015Ina Opitz, Regine Berges, Annette Piorr, Thomas Krikser · Agriculture and Human Values · Global
An extensive literature review systematically analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North, comparing their spatial, ecological, and socio-economic characteristics. The study found that urban and peri-urban agriculture differ in most characteristics and in their ability to meet urban food needs. Urban agriculture primarily meets household-level food needs, while peri-urban agriculture provides larger quantities and broader distribution pathways, indicating distinct roles in food security. Both forms of agriculture face similar threats from urbanization pressures.
Food sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageEconomicsPolicy