Research & reports

Prem Nath · · Global

This paper discusses the challenges of urbanization and population growth and the potential of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) to address food demand, poverty, and unemployment. Various international conferences and initiatives have highlighted the importance of UPA and horticultural crops. However, it has been realized that very few countries have actually investigated the real opportunities and constraints linked to the urban agriculture sector.

Valerio Morabito · TECHNE - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment · Global

This text explores the relationship between ecology and landscape architecture, and urban agriculture and vertical farm experiments through the lens of circular economy and recycling. Urban agriculture plays ecological, social, cultural, and aesthetic roles, evolving into new architectural experiments with vertical farms. Finally, it describes a building envelope patent developed by APS spin-off UNIRC for organizing vertical farms in unfinished buildings.

Naji Meidani Ali Akbar, Ismaila Rimi Abubakar, Ayesha Agha Shah, Wafa Al-Madani · Land · Global

This research explores how the ecologically embedded settlement patterns, building configurations, urban agriculture and home gardening, and water conservation of the Maya-built environment can offer insights for mitigating contemporary urban sustainability challenges. The Mayans' respect for nature guaranteed sustainable habitats, featuring mixed land use and residences constructed with native and recyclable materials. The study suggests that Mayan principles, such as protecting vegetation, conserving water, and listening to environmental feedback, have significant implications for urban land-use planning and policies today.

Salvatore Engel‐Di Mauro, George Martin · · Global

This chapter analyzes the historical relationship between cities and food growing, tracing shifts from nomadic food bases to settled agriculture, which began around 10,000 years ago and linked with urban development. It then examines the industrial revolution's impact, creating a separation between urban populations and rural food production. In the global North, de-industrialization has led to a re-emergence of urban food growing through community gardens and farms.

Jean-Marry Exantus, David Beaune, Frank Cézilly · Urban forestry & urban greening · Haiti (Port-au-Prince)

This study assessed bird assemblages in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from January to April 2018, conducting 10 censuses per site across 16 urban green sites (8 forest patches, 8 agroforestry plantations) ranging from 1 to 11 ha. It recorded 32 bird species in forest patches and 34 in agroforestry sites, with an 85% overlap in species composition. Both species richness and diversity were negatively correlated with the percentage of built habitat within a 500-m radius around each site.

Nazir Muhammad Abdullahi, Ernest Chukwusoro IGWE, Munir Abba Dandago, Naima Umar · FUDMA Journal of Sciences · Global

This review discusses heavy metal contamination in food crops, identifying wastewater irrigation, agrochemical abuse, contaminated fields, atmospheric deposition, and unethical mining as primary sources. Agricultural soil in urban and peri-urban areas is heavily contaminated due to anthropogenic activities, with wastewater irrigation intensifying this contamination. Heavy metals are transferred to food crops during production and subsequently to humans upon consumption, posing a detrimental risk.

Nourhan Ashraf, Ghada Farouk, Marwa Khalifa · Engineering Research Journal · Egypt

This study conducted a comparative analysis of the physical applicability and social acceptability of urban agriculture (UA) retrofitting in residential buildings in New Cairo and Nasr City, Egypt. Site visits and face-to-face questionnaires were used, revealing spatial alternatives for UA applicability. The results also showed residents' needs for more green areas and their differing preferences and concerns regarding UA retrofitting within residential buildings.

Shannon Davis · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · New Zealand (Auckland)

This article explores the potential contribution of grazing lands within cities of the Global North as a multi-beneficial layer in public greenspace design. While plant-based urban farms and community gardens have seen growth, the integration of grazing lands within urban zones has been largely overlooked. This research considers integrating grazing lands within multi-use greenspace design, undertaking a descriptive critique of Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand, which has provided urban grazing for sheep and cattle since 1903 alongside other land uses.

Ivanio Folmer, Gabriella Eldereti Machado · Diversitas Journal · Global

This theoretical study proposes a discussion on contemporary urbanity and agriculture, focusing on food through the lens of agroecology and its relationship with socio-environmental dynamics. It discusses conceptual issues involving territory, urbanity, agroecology, and food production, as well as public policies for healthy food and a balanced socio-environmental environment. The research aims to characterize contemporary urbanity and its potential for creating new spaces for agriculture, such as urban agriculture.

Ryo Kohsaka, Yuta Uchiyama · Sustainability · Global

This Special Issue re-explores research topics related to the relationships between urban and rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic period in 2020 and beyond.

Dilip Kumar, Sukham Munilkumar · · Global

This article discusses Urban and Peri-urban Aquaculture (UPA) as a means to address urban food security, given the projected increase in urban populations. It states that urban households involved in UPA are generally more food secure, and UPA increases the availability of fresh, healthy, and affordable food. UPA also contributes to income and employment, particularly for women and migrants, and offers opportunities to use urban organic wastes, wastewater, and collected rainwater productively.

Hongqiang Chen · OALib · Global

This paper summarizes the concept of productive agricultural landscape and analyzes the feasibility and advantages of its design in urban residential areas. Productive agricultural landscape integrates agricultural products and activities as design elements, addressing urban residents' needs to participate in planting, enjoy organic food, and build harmonious neighborhood relationships. This promotes the localization of urban food production and plays an important role in the sustainable development of cities.

Philip Cooke · Journal of Open Innovation Technology Market and Complexity · Global

This article analyzes three shifts in the geography of "Big Things" in modern city center architecture: "Starchitecture" (1990s), "Agritecture" (2000s), and "Parkitecture" (2010s). Agritecture involved repurposing office blocks for high-rise urban farming, such as aquaponics and hydroponic horticulture. Parkitecture emerged as COVID-19 further undermined CBD property markets, leading to the replacement of malls with urban prairie landscapes.

Mei Komatsu, Takashi Ariga · Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ) · Global

This study explored the characteristics of actual conversion of partially surviving agricultural lands using plot size, street width, and number of sides facing streets as indexes. It compared land uses in 2016 with agricultural lands in 1983 and investigated the actual conversion of all agricultural lands in 2016 using these indexes. The study also compared the actual condition of converted plots partially retained as agricultural lands with the actual conversion of all agricultural lands.

Salvatore Engel‐Di Mauro, George Martin · · Global

This chapter examines the global relationship between food growing and capitalism over 500 years, identifying three profit-seeking formats: mercantilism, industrialism, and global financialization. It argues that capitalism has led to a de-industrialization of cities and a commodification of agricultural products by corporate megafarms, contributing to green gentrification in urban redevelopment. This has incited a food resistance trend, leading to the emergence of community gardens and farms.

Roberta Moraes Curan, Paulo Eduardo Moruzzi Marques · Estudos Avançados · Global

This article presents a systematic literature review on the multifunctionality of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), conducted using Science Direct, Scielo, and Capes databases. Fourteen articles were selected, and their data were analyzed to identify UPA typologies and functions. The study classified UPA functions into sociocultural, economic, and environmental dimensions, concluding that UPA offers benefits and can be a tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Lucas Leite Costa, Cláudia Maria Arcipreste, Tito Flávio Rodrigues de Aguiar · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Global

This work uses an architectural project methodology to reflect on the demands for rationalizing industrialized construction processes using metal components for buildings dedicated to food production in large urban centers. It studies the potential of modular buildings in metal construction for urban agriculture, exploring strategies for flexibility and adaptability of spaces to diverse implementation contexts. This approach aims to reduce steps in the food production and distribution chain.

Per-Anders Langendahl · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Global

This paper investigates the politics of smart farming expectations in urban environments, conducting exploratory case study research on early smart farming initiatives in Sweden. It explores the politics of knowledge claims at the project level and their performativity in envisioning more sustainable urban futures. The findings suggest that smart farming at the level of individual projects gives the appearance of change, but at the same time, it produces more of the same.

Anastasiia Vesna · Current problems of architecture and urban planning · Global

This article considers global concepts of the post-industrial period, using the concept of the city of sustainable development as an example. Existing global concepts of a sustainable city were analyzed in four areas: ecology, economy, politics, and culture. Using content analysis, it was revealed that the concept of "the city of sustainable development" belongs to the category of "Architectural utopias" and coincided with "ideal cities" due to its attractive expectations of "Results" and vague descriptions of "Risks" and "Resource costs".

L.A. Zhuravleva, A. Aldiab · SCIENTIFIC LIFE · Global

This article discusses innovative directions in urban farming and presents the development of an installation for growing agricultural crops at home with an automatic control system based on the Arduino platform. The control system measures illumination, temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, and water level using sensors, automatically maintaining optimal microclimate parameters. The conducted studies demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of this experimental installation.

E. V. Koroleva, A. F. Petrov, Yu. V. Chudinova · Bulletin of NSAU (Novosibirsk State Agrarian University) · Russia (Novosibirsk)

This review focuses on the intraspecific variability of ornamental plants of the genus Clarkia (Onagraceae) and the clarification of the systematic status of Godetia species introduced into Novosibirsk. Experimental data from genetic and cytological analyses over the last 100 years are presented, showing morphological, karyological characteristics, and genetic variability in various species of the Godetia section. The article concludes that a comprehensive study of environmental conditions' influence on genetic features, ornamental qualities, and flowering biology is necessary for selecting suitable forms and introducing them into urban gardening for Western Siberia's climatic conditions.

Tarmo Pikner, Hannes Palang · · Estonia

A study of dacha-style allotment gardens in the border city of Narva, Estonia, on the eastern edge of the European Union, used ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews to examine how plural mobility and emotional human-nature interactions shape periurban landscapes. Results indicated a persistent rural dimension and multiple engagements with nature within Narva's wider urbanization dynamics. Plural mobility and emotional care motivated and sustained by allotment gardening constituted dispersed landscapes as connective tissue across periurban features. Landscape histories of the periurban area showed particular ruptures and reassemblies tied to shifts in the state-border regime.

David M. Lapola, Belen Paez, Sandra Costa, Roberto Donato da Silva Júnior, Daniela M. Peluso, Paulo Moutinho, Maíra C. G. Padgurschi, Denilson Baniwa, Sônia Bridi, Nadino Calapucha, Zienhe Castro, Fander Falconí, James Junior, Mapulu Kamayurá, Eduardo Kohn, Anderson Mattos, Pedro Meloni Nassar, Laurent Troost, Manari Ushigua, Robert B. Wallace, Marko Zangas · UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) eBooks · Global

This book chapter offers a brief, non-authoritative overview of the physical and cultural relations between rural (forest) and urban areas across the Amazon region. It identifies improvement points including economic incentives to draw healthcare professionals to rural areas, peri-urban agricultural belts to strengthen urban food security, expanded access to urban green space, and investment in a "smart cities, smart forests" concept, and states that mobilising human, financial and institutional resources to restore cultural, spiritual and affective bonds between urban and forest inhabitants is perhaps most important.

Ferne Edwards, R Gerritsen, G Wesser · · Global

This chapter examines how food practices enter, move through, settle into, disrupt, and redesign cities—as community gardens and foraging sites, health food stores and farmers' markets, freegan and vegan forms of protest and dietary reform, shared tables, and food trucks and new forms of food delivery—arguing that people's engagement with food shapes the form and feel of the city through tactile, affective, and embodied relationships between people, place, and products. It reviews the "sensory turn" in the social sciences and research methodologies that go beyond the written word, and closes with a summary of the edited volume's sections addressing migration, memory, home, inclusion, politics, and care.

· Quito Informa (Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito) · Ecuador

An official municipal news article reporting that Quito's Metropolitan Council, in an extraordinary session (No. 173, September 13, 2021), approved the Land Use and Management Plan (PUGS) in its second and final debate with 15 votes in favor. The plan is valid for 12 years, replaces the former Land Use and Occupation Plan (PUOS), and shifts the city's urban model from expansive to polycentric.