Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
11393 results(109 / 456)
Urban agriculture as ecosystem services provider: A review
2024Assyifa Fauzia, Evi Frimawaty, Hadi Susilo Arifin · Holistic Journal of Tropical Agriculture Sciences · Global
This literature review examines the role of urban agriculture as an ecosystem services provider in mitigating urban environmental deterioration. It states that urban agriculture adds various functions across different landscape scales and can provide numerous benefits when managed correctly. The review method compiled literature on urban agriculture and ecosystem services across provisioning, regulating, and cultural service categories. Results describe urban agriculture as taking diverse forms, from private gardens to community plots, addressing limited public funding and promoting greening initiatives; it is described as contributing to biodiversity conservation and to regulating the urban microclimate, including reduced urban heat island effects, wind protection, and pollutant absorption. It is also described as adding aesthetic value to urban spaces, promoting cultural integration, and functioning as a multifaceted strategy for sustainable urban development addressing food security, resilience, and well-being. Amid challenges including threats to urban biodiversity and the need for proper green-space management, the review frames urban agriculture as a holistic approach contributing to cities' visual, cultural, and environmental fabric.
BiodiversityClimate changeCommunityPolicyEffectiveness of integrated nutrient management in enhancing brinjal growth and soil fertility
2024Priya Singh, Ramakrishna Bora, Asha Devi · International Journal of Bioscience and Biochemistry · India
This study evaluated the effectiveness of integrated nutrient management (INM) in enhancing brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) growth, yield, and soil fertility in urban agricultural settings in Jorhat, India. Given declining soil fertility and over-reliance on chemical fertilizers, INM — combining chemical fertilizers, organic manures, and biofertilizers — was tested as a sustainable alternative using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments (control, chemical fertilizers, organic manures, INM), each replicated three times. Growth parameters (plant height, Leaf Area Index, number of branches) were measured, and fruit yield and quality were recorded at harvest; soil fertility indicators (pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) were analyzed at the start and end of the study. INM significantly enhanced growth, producing the highest plant height (112 cm), LAI (3.7), and number of branches (6.5). INM-treated plants produced 33% higher fruit yield (25.4 tons/ha) than the chemical fertilizer treatment and 66% higher than the control. Soil fertility improved in INM plots, with increases in soil pH (6.8), organic carbon (1.8%), and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels.
Organic cycleCommunityEconomicsThe Green Agent: Detroit's Urban Agriculture
2024Lydia Bonney · · United States
Drawing on newspaper articles, books, scholarly journals, websites and one self-conducted interview, this paper examines several urban agriculture programs across Detroit's history. Analysis of past successes and failures of these programs argues that investing in urban agriculture today could address problems the city has long faced. The paper concludes that Detroit's particular landscape, community, and spatial disparities give it potential to become a world leader in urban agriculture.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyMunicipal Planning Response to Urban Agriculture: Equity is Not Quite on the Table
2024Samina Raja, Subhashni Raj, Carol E. Ramos-Gerena · Urban agriculture · United States
This book chapter, part of a volume honoring urban planning scholar Jerome Kaufman's legacy, examines the extent to which local, regional and metropolitan governments in the United States engage with urban agriculture policy through an equity-centered, ethically grounded lens, summarizing a collection of perspectives on municipal policy from scholars and policy practitioners nationwide. While urban agriculture has become increasingly recognized as a space for local government engagement since Kaufman's call to action, the authors conclude that municipal governments continue to struggle to center questions of equity and ethics in their policymaking, even as they claim a progressive approach toward urban agriculture.
PolicyCommunityWelfareBuilt Environment Impact on Health, Water, Air, and Sustainable Urban Agriculture: A Case Study of Alameda Zaragoza in Saltillo, Mexico
2024Miriam Elizabeth Mery-Ruiz, Gabriela Carmona Ochoa, Areli Lopez-Montelongo · Apple Academic Press eBooks · Mexico
Focusing on the Alameda Zaragoza district in Saltillo, Mexico, this study investigates the relationship between urban morphology and sustainability in the built environment. It used an ethnographic methodology involving qualitative social media research, collecting images and text through Microsoft Bing word searches and analyzing them with nubedepalabras software to identify semantic networks. The findings show that online communities' urban imaginaries offer insights into sustainability strategies, and the study recommends expanding the analysis to other case studies and including search results in additional languages.
Climate changePolicyCommunityHealthIntroducing Preservice Elementary Teachers to Permaculture Education
2024Sonnur Öztürk, Michelle Forsythe · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States
A pilot instructional intervention on permaculture was implemented within an elementary science methods course for preservice teachers (PSTs) in the United States. The intervention had four components — background readings and videos, guided discussion, a food forest design activity, and a lesson plan analysis activity — with data drawn from pre/post-tests, the lesson analysis activity, and daily reflections. After the intervention, PSTs self-reported higher knowledge of permaculture topics and ways to use permaculture in their classrooms, and effectively linked permaculture-based lesson plans to elementary learning standards. PSTs viewed permaculture-based lessons positively as active, real-life learning experiences supporting environmental consciousness, but identified cost and time as barriers to classroom implementation, and viewed the developmental appropriateness and spatial resources required as both advantages and disadvantages.
Food educationCommunityStudy on quality of treated wastewater for urban agriculture use in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2024Gizaw Ebissa, Aramde Fetene, Hayal Desta · City and Environment Interactions · Ethiopia
Treated wastewater from the plant serving Bole Lemi Industrial Park (BLIP) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was sampled at the treatment plant's influent and effluent and analyzed using a treated wastewater quality index (TWWQI) to assess suitability for urban irrigation agriculture. The aggregate TWWQI classified the water as 'very poor' for urban irrigation agriculture, with heavy metals contributing 85% of that grade, nutrient load 4%, salinity 8%, and miscellaneous contaminants 4%. Discrete indices varied: heavy metals scored 'very polluted', nutrients 'excellent', salinity 'poor', and miscellaneous contaminants 'good'. Contaminant removal efficiency ranged from 30% to 100% (58% in aggregate), and some contaminants showed higher concentrations in the effluent than the influent, indicating the treatment plant failed to remove them. Cr3+, Cl− and TDS contributed most to the poor rating, and the plant was found to need upgrading to increase removal efficiency.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityPolicyUse of spatial information to remove barriers and to foster enablers of uptake of Nature Based Solutions for food production and water resource management in Ghana and the Netherlands
2024J.A. Veraart, Cora van Oosten, Vincent Linderhof, Confidence Duku, Wilfred Appelman, A.M.E. Groot, Marjolein Sterk, Ilse Voskamp · International Journal of Water Governance · Global
With water-related problems from climate change threatening the future of food systems in both the Netherlands and Ghana, this comparative case study analyzed rainwater harvesting and wastewater reuse in the Rhine-Scheldt Estuaries (Netherlands) and the Bono East Region (Ghana). The analysis focused on identifying similarities in how experts and stakeholders use spatial information to remove barriers to, or foster enablers of, the uptake of nature-based solutions (NbS) in view of climate change. Both rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment techniques were found to be available and ready for adoption by farmers and the food processing industry, but their uptake was hampered by multiple barriers ranging from biophysical and technical to social and institutional. Spatial information was concluded to be a potential enabler for NbS adoption if applicable to a wide range of possible solutions for water scarcity in food production, though both case studies showed difficulty making the future spatially explicit, and in both cases the effect on biodiversity of, respectively, effluent water reuse and rainwater harvesting did not play a direct role in stakeholder dialogue.
CommunityPolicyOrganic cycleCommunity Garden Sebagai Solusi Hijau Permukiman: Optimasi Lahan di Wilayah Perkotaan
2024Wida Oktavia Suciyani, Marwansyah, Husna Candranurani Oktavia Oktavia, Jaka Sastrawan Ramlan Kusumah, Rima Midiyanti, Gilang Ramadhan · Dharma Raflesia Jurnal Ilmiah Pengembangan dan Penerapan IPTEKS · Indonesia (Bandung)
This community service program in the Sukamantri 2 area of Bandung, Indonesia, addressed a shortage of green open space (RTH) in a densely populated residential area by developing a participatory community garden on idle land. The program was implemented in four phases: (1) planning analysis for suitable plant types, (2) land preparation and provision of garden facilities, (3) construction of the community garden, and (4) monitoring and evaluation of program sustainability. Thirty participants took part, including 10 from the Bandung Polytechnic (Polban) community service team and 20 from the partner community. The program resulted in the establishment of a community garden as a use of idle land within the dense settlement.
CommunitySustainable urban farming management: A comparison study in Thailand and Indonesia
2024Assyifa Fauzia · Trend and Future of Agribusiness · Global
A descriptive literature review (2015-2023) and comparative analysis of urban farming management in Thailand's Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) and Indonesia's Jakarta. Since 2010 the BMR has pursued food self-sufficiency using canals for irrigation and transport, but urban farmers remain poorly connected to traditional markets. In Jakarta, high population density and conversion of agricultural land are serious problems; after the 1998 economic crisis residents expanded urban farming on available land, but industrialization has increased uncertainty over land rights. Both countries share a lack of coordination in urban agriculture regulation and infrastructure, which the paper suggests addressing through better communication among farmers, retailers and non-farming households.
CommunityPolicyPeri-urban agricultureTHE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON THE SUCCESS OF URBAN FARMING PROGRAMS AT THE DAHLIA FARMERS' GROUP SEMARANG CITY
2024Aliifa Jenica Athaya Natama, Kadhung Prayoga, Siwi Gayatri · Agrisocionomics Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian · Indonesia
A study of the Dahlia Farmers' Group in Semarang, Indonesia, using multiple linear regression to examine the role of social capital in urban farming success (survey conducted December 2023-January 2024). Norms — establishing standard operating procedures for members — played an important role in supporting success, while trust and networks proved less influential, since urban farming success depends more on management and knowledge than on interpersonal relationships. The study recommends the group strengthen norms through digital networks, mentorship, social activities, external partnerships and a reward system.
CommunityPolicyWelfareSetting the Stage: Urban Agriculture, Public Space, and Human Well-Being
2024Beata Sirowy, Deni Ruggeri · The Geojournal library · Global
An editors' introductory chapter to a book on urban agriculture research, situating the volume's thematic scope. The editors argue that, to achieve the greatest impact, opportunities to engage in urban cultivation should be widely accessible to all segments of the urban population and close to where people live. Because land in dense inner-city areas is scarce and costly worldwide, integrating urban agriculture into existing and planned public spaces is presented as the most feasible strategy for achieving this. The book aims to provide theoretical and practical insights on integrating urban agriculture into public space development, covering well-being impacts, design, organization, educational contexts, and urban planning.
CommunityHealthPolicyQuintais produtivos como alternativa para aumentar a segurança alimentar e a geração de renda para populações urbanas de baixa renda.
2024K. O. das G. DIAS, M. C. UZEDA, A. C. A. [UNESP] Alves, M. dos S. F. R. de AZEVEDO · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil
In mid-2021, a 400 m² "productive backyard" (quintal produtivo) was set up at the Fazendinha Agroecológica km 47 in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, run jointly by Embrapa, UFRRJ, and PESAGRO-Rio, with four subareas for vegetables, unconventional food plants (PANC), fruit trees and annual crops, and egg-laying hens. Food production recorded over six months of 2021 demonstrated the plot's potential to counter food insecurity by supplying a healthy, diversified diet and generating extra household income through the sale of surplus produce.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsEmpowering health and wellness for elderly in Wedoro Village
2024Syamsudduha Syahrorini, Andriani Eko Prihatiningrum, Denny Irawan, Yanik Purwanti, Agus Hayatal Falah, Shaza Dyah Ayuni, Akhmad Mulyadi, Andika Wahyu Nugraha, Fajrian Moch Bintang · Community Empowerment · Indonesia
This community service program in Wedoro Village, Indonesia, worked with elderly residents and posyandu health-post cadres, whose most common health issues were diabetes, high blood pressure, and temperature-related concerns, providing education and training to enable independent health checks alongside outreach and urban farming training aimed at cultivating organic plants as an alternative medicine source. The program reports increased awareness of common metabolic diseases among the elderly and states that the urban farming training brought them joy and promoted improved health through greater activity and productivity, without presenting measured before-after health data.
ElderlyHealthCommunityKetahanan Pangan Kota Surakarta Sebagai Kota Urbanisasi di Jawa Tengah
2024Wirda Rohmah, Marina Ramadhani, Ghulam Fathul Amri · Jurnal Bengawan Solo Pusat Kajian Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Surakarta · Indonesia
Using a literature-study method, this research examined food security conditions in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia — a rapidly urbanizing city — and their implications for urban sustainability and resilience, covering food availability, access, utilization, and stability. It found that urbanization in Surakarta has increased food demand, altered food supply chains, and created distribution and affordability challenges, with urban land-use change, economic inequality, and the effectiveness of existing food policies and programs identified as the main factors shaping food security, and argues for an integrated approach combining improved urban agriculture, strengthened local food systems, and better coordination among stakeholders.
Food sovereignty & justicePolicyUrban–rural linkageOur cities, our farm lands: The socioeconomic determinants of urban households participation in urban agricultural production under climatic stressors
2024Godwin K. Naazie, Isaac Agyemang, Anthony Mwinilanaa Tampah-Naah · Heliyon · Ghana
A quantitative survey of 362 urban households across diverse neighborhoods in Ghana used descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary regression to examine socioeconomic factors behind urban agriculture participation under climate stress. Household size and income were significant at the 0.05 level, middle- and high-income households participated more than lower-income ones, and land was acquired mainly through purchase, which the study identified as a barrier to participation.
Climate changeEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceGarden EngAGEment: Cultivating Cultures of Care Through Artful Place-Making
2024Anne Kerber, Ivana Guarrasi, Hsinhuei Sheen Chiou, Sabrina Ehmke, Kristi Oeding, Sachi Sekimoto · Health Communication · United States
Drawing on the Garden EngAGEment community garden project at Minnesota State University, Mankato, this article develops the concept of "artful place-making" as an alternative, experiential approach to organizing and teaching care for people with Alzheimer's and related dementias, using arts-based research, place-based education, and sensory studies. It describes the interplay of knowing, making, and being in the garden as fostering a new culture of care in health professions training, multi-sensory connection, and personal, relational, and community transformation.
HealthCommunityWelfareElderlyDefining impacts of urban farming beyond catchy headlines
2024Francesco Orsini, Giuseppina Pennisi, Giorgio Gianquinto, Michael Martin · International Journal of Vegetable Science · Global
This paper argues that widely publicized figures on urban agriculture's environmental impacts lack the methodologically sound evidence needed for valid comparison, before conclusions can be drawn. It addresses problems in comparatively assessing environmental performance between rural and urban farming and argues for the need for specifically designed indicators capable of comprehensively assessing multifunctional urban agriculture.
Methodological critiqueClimate changeBiodiversityPolicyReConstruyendo sustentabilidad urbana: un análisis alternativo de huertos urbanos comunitarios en la Ciudad de México.
2024Xanath Bautista-Villalobos, Eduardo Garcı́a-Frapolli · Hábitat y Sociedad · Mexico
Two community urban gardens in Mexico City were analyzed through the lenses of agroecology, the social and solidarity economy, and social innovation. Working with garden administrators and key participants, the researchers defined participatory indicators and ran workshops to gauge local perceptions of how the gardens function. Both initiatives were viewed positively by their communities, though few residents were actually involved. Most evaluated variables scored satisfactorily, but aspects such as the source and use of water, income distribution within the community, and the creation of communal budgets had not met their objectives.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculturePolicyHabitar, consumir y cultivar. Procesos e iniciativas para la transición ecosocial en Cataluña y Madrid
2024David Berná Serna, Sara Sama Acedo, Patricia Homs Ramírez de la Piscina · Revista Española de Sociología · Spain
Against the backdrop of the current eco-social crisis, this article analyzes the "eco-transformative capacity" of collective initiatives in three Spanish case studies: neo-ruralization and natural wine production in the Sierra Oeste de Madrid and southern Sierra de Gredos, agroecological supply systems in Catalonia, and community urban gardens integrated into a municipal program in Madrid. The analysis focuses on the motivations, challenges, and limitations agents encounter while practicing sustainable ways of dwelling, producing, and consuming, and on their relationship to public institutional agendas on eco-social transition.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityOrganic cyclePolicyProductive function of urban gardening: estimate of the yield and nutritional value of social gardens in Prato (Italy)
2024Ada Baldi, Nicolas Lucio Gallo, Anna Lenzi · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Italy
Semi-structured interviews with participants in the "social gardens" of Prato, Italy — plots the municipality assigns to individual pensioners or unemployed people for growing vegetables for home consumption — examined demographic and socio-economic characteristics, cultivated crops, and plot areas. The typical gardener was male, retired, averaged 74 years old, and had a low level of education. A 50 m2 plot with 40% of its area cultivated was estimated to yield about 90 kg of vegetables per year, roughly 61.5% of one person's fruit and vegetable needs. Tomatoes occupied more than 80% of the cultivated area. Vitamin C and Vitamin A showed the highest nutrient contributions, while calcium and sodium showed the lowest.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareLand Struggles and Working People
2024Jennifer C. Franco, Saturnino M. Borras · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global
This chapter examines the dominant convention in critical agrarian studies and agrarian movements — that land struggles are best captured by an agrarian-reform framework of expropriating land from large private monopolies for redistribution to landless and near-landless working classes. It argues that while this type of struggle remains important, it does not fully capture the range of land struggles of working people across rural and urban, agricultural and nonagricultural spaces. Over recent decades the working classes have fragmented, as the numbers of people combining agricultural/nonagricultural and rural/urban livelihoods have vastly expanded, decentering working people's land struggles from the classical treatment tied to agriculture and capitalism. Land struggles today are dispersed and multisited, with political leadership and power that are polycentric rather than unified, and span multiple scales.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyUrban–rural linkageDesigning Trellises
2024Emily Harris, Ilana Lowe, Lindsey Mohan, Whitney Cohen, Sara E. Severance, Terra Giotta, Carlo Albano, Jeffrey Snowden · Science and Children · United States
This is a practice report describing "Designing Trellises," a guided grade 3-5 engineering unit set in a U.S. school garden. Students work collaboratively toward a shared classroom goal of designing, researching, prototyping, building, and testing 2-3 pea plant trellises for the school garden. Through this process — asking questions, planning and carrying out investigations, and designing solutions, among other science and engineering practices — students work out the disciplinary core ideas of balanced and unbalanced forces. At the end of the unit, teachers and students reported that students felt a strong sense of agency and pride from asking and answering questions and creating designs that mattered to them and their school community.
Food educationCommunityThe Application of Smart Drip Irrigation System for Precision Farming
2024Suhardi Suhardi, Bambang Marhaenanto, Bayu Taruna Widjaja Putra · Pertanika journal of science & technology · Malaysia
Aimed at making urban water-resource management more efficient, this Malaysian study applied and evaluated a soil-moisture-sensor and IoT-based drip irrigation system for urban agriculture. The results showed fair distribution uniformity, with a Coefficient of Uniformity (CU) of 90.15% and 86.58% respectively. An IoT-assisted drip irrigation system that used a Deep Neural Network (DNN) model to meet water requirements produced higher peanut yields than a control irrigation system based on soil moisture alone.
Digital agriculturePeri-urban agriculturePartnership to Create a Food Independent Urban Village in Tanjung Mas, Semarang City
2024Andin Irsadi, Partaya Partaya, Abdul Jabbar · Jurnal Abdimas · Indonesia
Tanjung Mas Village in North Semarang District, Semarang City, Indonesia, is vulnerable to food insecurity due to a high level of poverty, since poor residents are unable to either produce or buy sufficient food. This has prompted government and residents to try to secure food independently through farming, though limited availability of agricultural land has hampered these efforts. This community-service program aimed to provide knowledge and skills and to facilitate urban farming facilities to achieve food independence in Tanjung Mas, using methods including socialization, counseling, dissemination, training, and facilitation of urban farming facilities. As a result, the community gained an understanding of urban farming, learned about urban farming technologies, acquired verticulture skills, and verticulture facilities were established as learning demonstration plots.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood education