Research & reports

· BioScience · Global

Comprehensive analysis of urban agriculture's role in achieving secure, healthy, and sustainable food systems. Examines how citizen-driven agriculture can transform food systems.

Τhomas Panagopoulos, Ilze Jankovska, Maria Boștenaru Dan · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This article examines the role of urban agriculture as green infrastructure in city resilience, noting its ecological, cultural, social, and socio-economic value. It highlights that municipal intervention is crucial for urban agriculture, providing communal infrastructure and defining rules. The article concludes that urban agriculture, supported by municipal intervention, is instrumental for city resilience by serving as a vital source of food and occupation during crises and aiding adaptation to climate change.

Cisneros Bestene, María Alexandra · · Colombia (Bogotá)

In Localidad Ciudad Bolivar, Barrio Las Namas, Bogotá, Colombia, a social interest housing project was developed after analyzing qualitative and quantitative housing deficits. This project aims to resettle families from high-risk zones and integrates activities that generate a neighborhood economy and enhance social cohesion. Additionally, a series of spaces encouraging and promoting urban agriculture is proposed as a method to train the population on nutrition-related issues.

Karyn Stein, Miranda Mirosa, Lynette Carter · AlterNative An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples · New Zealand

This 3-year study explored how Māori women in Aotearoa (New Zealand) define their own food system and the values of women managing community food initiatives. Using participatory and kaupapa Māori research methodologies, it involved four case studies of women managing community food initiatives across the North and South Islands. The article discusses how community gardens and farms counteract food poverty by promoting local food access and highlights the essential role Indigenous women play in addressing food security issues through solutions based on their knowledge and Māori cultural values.

Beatriz Bellenda, Guillermo A. Galván, Margarita García, Inés Gazzano, V. Gepp, Gabriela Linari, Stella Faroppa · Agrociencia · Uruguay

The Faculty of Agronomy at the University of the Republic in Uruguay has implemented activities since 2002 to promote food production, social organization, and agroecological projects. This study analyzed these efforts over more than a decade using qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, censuses, and surveys. Findings indicated contributions to participant learning, food and nutritional security, healthy food production and consumption, and strengthened collective projects supported by the university.

German Ricardo Paredes-Guzmán, Pedro Antonio Forero-Palomino · Ciencia y agricultura · Colombia (Bogotá)

This study identified consumption habits to implement home gardens using urban agriculture methods in Altos de Cazucá, Soacha, Colombia, a region affected by forced displacement and malnutrition. Semi-structured interviews with Loma Linda neighborhood residents identified the most consumed agricultural products suitable for home gardens. Peas and carrots were the most accepted and consumed (90% and 86% respectively), while quinoa was the least consumed (8%).

Glynis Longhurst · Wintec Research Archive (Waikato Institute of Technology) · Fiji

The ViTAL project in Fiji aims to reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by investing in women's health and well-being. This program supports community-based initiatives such as community gardens, healthy cooking classes, and walking groups, with the goal of increasing participation in physical activity and healthy eating across the community.

Jucilena Zeonara Feldmann Dias, Tatiane Feijó, Luiz Felipe Bastos Duarte · · Global

This paper discusses the community garden as a group technique in primary healthcare, emphasizing its role in health promotion and prevention. It highlights known benefits such as direct work with soil, self-realization from planting, and developing gardening skills, which help relieve stress and foster patience. The community garden also serves as a meeting point for sharing experiences, stimulating knowledge, and promoting global education and community organization.

Palomino Forero, Pedro António · · Colombia (Soacha)

This project, led by students from Universidad Santo Tomas, focused on urban agriculture development in the Loma Linda neighborhood of Soacha, Colombia, to address food insecurity and malnutrition among displaced populations. It aimed to improve food security conditions through a diagnostic approach and by promoting community participation in urban agriculture. The project demonstrated that households could achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables, foster social networks, and reduce daily expenses, providing a first step towards resolving malnutrition and food insecurity in the community.

Jaime Hernández García, Sandra Caquimbo-Salazar · · Colombia (Bogotá)

In Bogotá, Colombia, over 50% of the city has developed through informal practices, with approximately four million people residing in areas of urban or housing informality. This chapter explores the transformation and appropriation of urban spaces in the barrios through urban agriculture initiatives, using examples of food growing spaces in Bogotá. It discusses agricultural practices in the city's informal settlements, highlighting social characteristics and spatial particulars, and advocates for open spaces as potential productive landscapes where spatial transformations can contribute to social, cultural, and nutritional practices.

Leelanayagi Ramalingam, Juwaidah Sharifuddin, Zainal Abidin Mohamed, Fazlin Ali · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

This paper aimed to identify volunteer satisfaction with the Community Garden Programme in Malaysia. A survey of 375 volunteers, using items adapted from Omoto and Snyder (1995), indicated that the majority were satisfied. Elderly males were found to be significantly satisfied with the program.

Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa · International Development Planning Review · Ghana

A study using data from two medium-sized cities in Ghana analyzed the importance and determinants of food transfers received from urban or rural households. It examined whether participation in agriculture reduces a household's likelihood of receiving food transfers, showing that households participating in urban agriculture had a lower chance of receiving food transfers from other urban dwellers. Female-headed households and aging household heads had an increased likelihood of receiving food transfers, with grains and tubers being the most commonly received food groups, typically from rural and urban relatives.

E.J. Veen, Sebastian Eiter · Nature and Culture · Norway

Results from questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews in two Norwegian and one Dutch garden show that growing vegetables and consuming the harvest is a fundamental part of gardening. The social element of meeting other gardeners and feeling part of a community is also true. While gardeners with different socioeconomic backgrounds experience gardening similarly, access to an allotment appears more important for gardeners with disadvantaged personal backgrounds.

Kwaku Obosu-Mensah · · Ghana (Accra)

This research was planned to study urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana, due to a lack of published work and personal interest. The study is interested in social inequality influencing farm location choice, how new migrants adjust to urban cultivation, and factors compelling government officials to change their attitude towards urban agriculture.

Cuthbert Majoni, Deliwe Tembachako, Anyway Katanha · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Zimbabwe

This study was conducted in Bindura urban area, Zimbabwe, to evaluate the viability of urban quail farming, interviewing 40 urban quail farmers selected via snowball sampling and 10 key informants using semi-structured guides. Key challenges highlighted included inadequate housing facilities, insufficient space, theft, predation, inadequate knowledge, market price fluctuations, inability to access credit, and misconceptions in urban agriculture policies. Despite these challenges, urban quail farming showed potential to boost family income and reduce poverty to some extent.

Camila Hellebuyck · DigitalCommons - Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw State University) · Colombia (Bogotá)

This project addresses urban farming in Ciudad Bolivar, an informal settlement in Bogotá, Colombia, where it emerged due to food scarcity and poverty. It proposes design placemaking strategies to improve the built environment and social cohesion by integrating agriculture from the initial design stages. The concept includes farming gardens, food markets, and a community hub to create a "performative edge" that mediates between rural and urban contexts.

Kwaku Obosu-Mensah · · Global

This chapter reviews literature to identify the types of people likely to engage in urban agriculture. It explains that the labor-surplus, dependency, and cultural lag models are complementary in explaining urban residents' involvement in agriculture. Low salaries compel workers to supplement income through urban agriculture, and the sector is expected to grow with population increases, notably with the increasing entry of highly educated and skilled personnel.

Imas Agustina, Ruth Beilin · Asian Journal of Environment-Behaviour Studies · Australia

A 2018 study investigates how cultural practices in gardening affect migrants' ability to adapt to their host country, based on community gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Community gardens are described as places where immigrants begin interacting with others, potentially fostering social inclusion while also providing space to preserve cultural identity. The findings confirm a complex relationship between historical garden practices and culture on one hand and the actual practices carried out in the community gardens on the other.

Son Truong, Tonia Gray, Danielle Tracey, Kumara Ward · Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) · Australia

This study revisits the "Community Greening" partnership established in 1999 between the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Housing New South Wales, extending from a 2004 program evaluation report to reconsider community gardening within the changing urban and peri-urban landscape of metropolitan NSW. The program has reached almost 100,000 participants since 2000 and established 627 community and youth-led community gardens across NSW; using a pre- and post-test design, this study tracked six new garden sites established in 2017, aiming to examine whether community gardening is associated with an elevated sense of community, health and wellbeing in low-income communities, and how new gardeners' experiences relate to self-reported wellbeing and engagement.

Francisco Javier Vélez Zabala, Viviana Yulieth Hidalgo Zapata, Mónica Andrea Martínez Martina, Ana María Soto González, Maria Velez, Juan Diego López Vargas · WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT · Global

This conceptual paper presents urban agriculture as a strategy to improve quality of life in vulnerable urban communities formed by rural-to-urban migration, particularly in developing countries. It covers urban agriculture's concepts, origins and evolution, draws on experiences from countries that have implemented it, and discusses the social, economic and environmental factors that influence its development, without reporting original empirical data.

Obadia Kyetuza Bishoge, Shaldon Leparan Suntu · Journal of Food Nutrition and Agriculture · Tanzania

A study in Ubungo Municipality, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, used non-random and purposive sampling to survey 240 smallholder farmers and 16 local government officers via observation, questionnaires, interviews, and document review, analyzed with SPSS, to examine how urban horticulture of vegetables and ornamental flowers could reduce poverty. Production of these crops made a significant positive contribution to food availability and accessibility, nutrition, and income used to improve access to services such as water, electricity, health, and education.

Heidy Yohana Tamayo Ortiz · El Tiempo · Colombia

An article on Medellín's 'Huertas con Vos' program, featuring a roughly 270-square-meter garden shared by 5 households in the Doce de Octubre neighborhood, saving each household about 50,000 pesos a month. The city has about 100,000 food-insecure vulnerable households, of which 10,000 are prioritized; in 2018 the program built 700 new gardens (450 urban, 250 rural), aiming for 1,707 gardens total over three years.

Soga M., Gaston K. J., Yamaura Y. · Preventive Medicine Reports · Global

Meta-analysis demonstrating that gardening yields wide-ranging health benefits, reductions in depression and anxiety and gains in life satisfaction and physical activity, underpinning the health rationale for workplace and community garden programs.

Tornaghi C. · Antipode 49(3):781-801 · Global

Critically theorizes the neoliberal 'food-disabling city' that deprives citizens of food agency, redefining urban food justice and arguing for an urban agriculture politics grounded in empowerment and food sovereignty.

Horst M., McClintock N., Hoey L. · Journal of the American Planning Association 83(3):277-295 · Global

Multidisciplinary literature review questioning who benefits and who does not from urban agriculture, suggesting ways urban planners can structure urban agriculture in support of food justice.