Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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11393 results(110 / 456)
The actual situation and challenges in the development and management of urban parks as sites for agricultural activities
2024Guolin Xu, Shigeto YANAI · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan
Based on a survey of 11 urban parks with allotment gardens in Yokohama City, Japan, this study examined the characteristics that promote participation by diverse entities in park management and explored more effective management approaches. Results showed that involvement of local organizations in management was limited to a small number of programs, that participation by diverse entities was associated with increased community interaction, improved intergenerational interaction, and greater park use, and that community gardens gave residents a venue for shared agricultural activity that promoted both community interaction and broader participation in management.
CommunityPolicySchool gardens as sites for community, empowerment, and justice: a participatory action research study
2024Colleen Saxen, Yoko Miura, Alan R. Wight, Michelle A. Fleming · Educational Action Research · United States
Using Participatory Action Research (PAR) with community partners and school staff who led a school garden project in a low-income neighborhood of a small mid-western U.S. city, this study explored the meaning of the garden through photovoice, mapping, and interviews. Three overarching themes emerged from participants' perspectives: community, empowerment, and justice. The garden project was experienced as holding depth of possibility for participants that went beyond the typical outcome measures — content knowledge, physical health, and ecological stewardship — used to assess school gardens.
CommunityFood educationImplementasi Ketahanan Pangan Urban Farming dengan Penanaman Ubi Jalar dalam Karung
2024Nurul Hidayati, Pienyani Rosawanti, Djoko Eko Hadi Susilo, Fahruddin Arfianto, Hariyadi Hariyadi · Daun Jurnal Ilmiah Pertanian dan Kehutanan · Indonesia
This experimental and descriptive study examines the implementation of urban farming techniques — vertical gardening, hydroponics, potted plants (tabulapot), and cultivation in sacks and planters — in urban areas of Indonesia, focusing on household food security. Sweet potato was chosen for its ease of growth and environmental adaptability, with both tubers and leaves usable as vegetables. Regression correlation analysis found sweet potato productivity of 1.4 kg per 40 kg sack with 10 cuttings per sack, a strong positive correlation of 96.77% between tuber count and total weight per sack (y = 71.069x - 878.93), and a strong positive correlation of 83.05% between tuber count and individual tuber weight (y = 1.6985x - 9.87), indicating that more tubers did not reduce individual tuber weight. A household growing 10 sacks was calculated to have a potential yield of 14,000 grams (14 kg).
DIYFood educationEconomicsExploring greywater hydroponic vegetable growing and phytoremediation capacity of coleus plants for urban farmers in Mbarara city Uganda
2024Jane Yatuha, Justus Asasira, Godfrey Begumisa, Pascal Amandu · East African Journal of Science Technology and Innovation · Sub-Saharan Africa
This eight-week experiment, conducted from July to September 2023 in Mbarara city, Uganda, tested the capacity of greywater to serve as a hydroponic growing medium for vegetables (broccoli, spring onions, lettuce) and the greywater-cleansing capacity of Coleus ornamental plants. Greywater was collected from restaurant sculleries, and four treatments — greywater, greywater + NPK, tap water, and tap water + NPK — were each set up in triplicate, with pH, EC, TDS, temperature, turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, shoot length, leaf number, fecal coliforms, and heavy metals measured. All vegetables survived, but production levels differed significantly between treatments: lettuce had the highest production in three of the four treatments except greywater + NPK (ANOVA, F(3,56) = 2.970, p = 0.039), while spring onions grew best in greywater + NPK, differing significantly from other treatments (F(3,56) = 3.328, p = 0.026). Greywater treatments showed extreme EC and TDS values (1001.38 µS/cm and 502 ppm; 982.38 µS/cm and 490.75 ppm), significantly different from other treatments (p = 0.000), though no fecal coliforms were detected in vegetable tissue. Coleus progressively reduced TDS and EC and showed capacity to extract heavy metals from the greywater.
DIYCommunityHealthDrivers of the level of market participation among smallholder urban vegetable farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
2024P.N. Ndlovu, Joyce Chitja, Temitope O. Ojo · Cogent Food & Agriculture · South Africa
This study surveyed 156 smallholder urban vegetable farmers in the Sobantu and Mphophomeni township areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using a structured questionnaire and multi-stage sampling, and analyzed drivers of market participation and its level using descriptive statistics and a double-hurdle model. Of the 156 farmers, 127 were market participants and 29 were non-participants. A logistic model found market participation decisions were significantly influenced by credit use (p = 0.004), free inputs (p = 0.096), access to market information (p = 0.001), access to labour (p = 0.014), and smartphone ownership (p = 0.083). A fractional response model found the level of market participation was significantly influenced by age (p = 0.093), cooperative membership (p = 0.002), road condition (p = 0.001), storage (p = 0.016), and distance to input markets (p = 0.069).
CommunityEconomicsInovasi Reaktor Pirolisis Produksi Biochar Berbahan Baku Organic Waste Slurry Dari Sampah Perkotaan Terpilah Dengan Kontrol Tekanan
2024Utis Sutisna, Junun Sartohadi, Nur Ainun Harlin Jennie Pulungan, Ngadisih Ngadisih, YB Praharto, Nurul Hidayati · Prosiding Seminar Hasil Penelitian dan Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat · Indonesia
A pyrolysis reactor technology (Prosiding Seminar Hasil Penelitian dan Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat, Indonesia, 2024) converts sorted urban organic waste slurry into biochar using a self-sufficient pressure-control system with automatic temperature control and internal use of pyrolysis gas as fuel, processing waste at 400-500°C. Performance testing on soil samples showed the resulting biochar had 65-70% fixed carbon content with physical and chemical stability suitable as a soil amendment, increased soil cation exchange capacity by up to 30%, and increased soil moisture by up to 15% compared with untreated control soil. The reactor reduced organic waste volume by 50% and the biochar was reported to improve urban agricultural soil fertility and productivity.
Organic cycleCompostCommunityEvaluating Food Production, Cooling Potential, and Gardener Perspectives in Urban Allotment Gardens of Valladolid, Spain
2024Francisco Tomatis, Monika Egerer, Luis Manuel Navas-Gracia · Horticulturae · Spain
A study of twelve plots across four urban allotment gardens in Valladolid, Spain (Horticulturae, 2024) examined food production, cooling effects, and gardener perspectives. Crop selection matched broader Global North urban-gardening trends, adapted to limited plot space and varying by season. The gardens provided more stable and cooler temperatures than urban gray spaces, though the cooling effect was smaller than that of urban parks, and was most pronounced in summer. Greater crop cover at the plot level produced a stronger cooling effect, while crop abundance and diversity showed only a weak correlation with cooling benefits. Gardener surveys found awareness of climate change and its perceived direct threat to crops, health, and the city, along with concern about future water availability for crop growth and garden development.
CommunityBiodiversityClimate changeHistorical Roots OF Urban Gardening OF Streets AND Squares
2024M. S. (Mahmudova) Abdusattorovna · Neliti · Global
An article (Neliti, 2024) states that research examined how road, roadside, and building construction occurred at large scale as a result of the construction of cultural and recreational parks, landscape design, and public parks during the Timurid period. The abstract provides no further detail on data, methods, or specific findings.
CommunityPolicyRediscovering circularity in productive urban landscapes
2024Akiko Iida, Toru Terada, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Tadashi Yamaguchi, Makoto Yokohari · Urban forestry & urban greening · Japan
Using Tokyo — where urban and agricultural land use have long been intermixed — as a case study, mailed questionnaires and in-person semi-structured interviews with urban farmers examined how community-scale composting of urban-forest green waste is integrated into commercial urban agriculture (2024, Japan). About one-third of professional urban farmers still produced compost, mainly from leaf litter, to improve soil quality, and had adapted to urbanization by sourcing leaf litter beyond their own woodlands from neighboring urban forests within a few kilometers, including parks, schools, and shrines. While urbanization has drastically altered the physical landscape, farmers have carried this intangible composting system forward for hundreds of years by retrofitting it, though the study found farmers are motivated by economic rather than environmental reasons. The authors conclude that decentralized composting works effectively in commercial urban agriculture where waste supply and demand sites are geographically close, and call for further research on scaling up waste recycling through urban agriculture.
Organic cycleCompostCommunityPeri-urban agricultureNutrients and non-essential metals in darkibor kale grown at urban and rural farms: A pilot study
2024Brent F. Kim, Sara N. Lupolt, Raychel Santo, Grace H. Bachman, Xudong Zhu, Tianbao Yang, Naomi K. Fukagawa, Matthew L. Richardson, Carrie Green, Katherine M. Phillips, Keeve E. Nachman · PLoS ONE · United States
A pilot study (2024, PLoS ONE) planted Darkibor kale seedlings at three urban and four rural farms in and around Baltimore City, Maryland, had farmers grow them using their usual practices, and analyzed harvested kale for carotenoids, vitamins C and K1, ten nutritional elements, and eight non-essential metals. Sample sizes were in some cases too small to yield statistical significance, but the study identified potentially meaningful differences between urban and rural kale: mean carotenoid and vitamin concentrations were 22-38% higher in rural samples, while mean concentrations of eight nutritional elements were higher in urban samples, by as much as 413% for iron. Most of nine non-essential metals were higher on average in urban samples, though lead and cadmium concentrations across all samples stayed below public health guidelines; for six elements, variance within urban or within rural farms exceeded variance between the two groups, suggesting urbanicity may not be the primary driver of some differences, and some urban-rural gaps were more pronounced than in prior research.
HealthEconomicsBiodiversityPractical Ethics: Urban Agriculture in US Cities
2024Nick DeMarsh, Alfonso Morales · Urban agriculture · United States
Focused on cities in the United States, this paper (2024) frames urban agriculture as an opportunity to challenge the status quo of current urban and food systems, discussing the opportunities and challenges that increased urban population and density create for it through Howe and Kaufman's ethical framework of means and ends. Noting the tendency for ethical ends (economic or other outcomes) to preempt consideration of ethical means or processes, it applies this means-and-ends framework to propose three key ideas for framing the ethics of urban agriculture: a place-based historical perspective, a bridge connecting cities and regions, and a nested approach to reimagining healthy socio-ecological systems. It argues that urban agriculture practitioners must understand the history of urban places and agricultural processes both as consequences of national historical processes and in present place-specific contexts and future orientations; that urban agriculture's contribution to an environmentally sustainable future rests on recognizing food production and consumption as an essential part of human life; and that its transformative potential stems from its significant role in the urban and food systems that shape everyday life — while cautioning that this potential does not mean change through urban agriculture is inevitable, since it requires participants and stakeholders to critically examine their own practices and expectations.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceKesiapan Jawa Tengah Membangun Green Economy Melalui Sektor Pertanian
2024Mochamad Yusuf · Al-Masharif Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi dan Keislaman · Indonesia
Focused on agriculture — one of the strongest sectors supporting Indonesia's economy — this descriptive paper (2024) examines the readiness of Central Java Province, the country's third-largest producer of agricultural output, to build a green economy while adopting a nature-conservation blueprint. Using secondary data collected and analyzed into author-formulated recommendations, the paper finds Central Java is pursuing green-economy and circular-economy practice through the agriculture sector via organic crop cultivation, urban farming, farmers markets, and environmentally friendly agricultural-product education, and concludes that maximizing this implementation requires supporting government regulation/legislation together with societal practice.
EconomicsPolicyOrganic cycleProducción y consumo alimentario en espacios periurbanos de proximidad. Procesos socio-territoriales en la conformación de los sistemas agroalimentarios
2024Héctor Ávila Sánchez · Investigaciones Geográficas Boletín del Instituto de Geografía · Global
This conceptual article examines periurbanization as one of the most dynamic territorial expressions in contemporary society, discussing the reconfiguration of food-production spaces in peri-urban areas that form part of metropolitan systems as a social and territorial process. It addresses proximity, the consolidation of short supply circuits, and new territorial forms such as city-region food systems and "agrarian parks" (parques agrarios) — a form found mainly in Europe that the article frames as a territorial innovation countering the disarticulation of peri-urban agrarian space under growing metropolization. It discusses the spread of cooperative-based forms (food hubs, cooperative supermarkets, shared workshops) and the roles of social movements, producer organizations, and public institutions in shaping peri-urban territorial governance, framed through solidarity economy and social justice.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsCommunityA study of vulnerability, hazard, and risk in relation to food insecurity in the United States and Spain
2024Iman Mamnoon · GeoFocus Revista Internacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Información Geográfica · Global
Using a GIS-based risk assessment methodology, this study develops a quantitative food-insecurity scale for the most vulnerable urban populations, calculating risk as a combination of social vulnerability and hazard (difficulty of access to food distribution), and applying the model to two case studies: southeast Washington, D.C., in the United States and Puente de Vallecas in Madrid, Spain. A Social Vulnerability Index was computed from average income, education level, unemployment rate, and age, while hazard values were derived from proximity to supermarkets. The analysis identified high-risk food-insecurity areas in both neighborhoods requiring urgent intervention measures. In Puente de Vallecas, census tract 07913143 was identified as a high-risk hotspot with a Social Vulnerability Index of 1.646495 (range 0.901–3.223) and a risk value of 3 (range 3–10); in southeast D.C., tracts 7601 and 7605 were selected as high-risk zones for further study, with Social Vulnerability Index values of 2.221 and 1.737 (range 1.040–3.525) and risk values of 2 and 5 (range 0–10), respectively. The study also identifies a general shortage of areas combining residential and commercial use and limits on public transport availability in the food-insecure urban areas studied.
Equity & displacementPolicyCommunityWelfareCultivating Sustainability: A Quantitative Study Identifying N.J. Urban Ag. Barriers in Food Deserts
2024Tatiana Hlinka · Journal of Student Research · United States
In New Jersey, 50 food desert areas face the most severe food insecurity across both rural and urban contexts. This study identified nine barriers to implementing urban agriculture initiatives in New Jersey's urban food deserts, using a sequential quantitative analysis combining a survey of food systems professionals with a GIS-based spatial analysis to identify the most prevalent barrier. Working in partnership with New Jersey urban agricultural organizations, the study found that lack of funding was the most commonly cited barrier to expanding urban agriculture initiatives. The GIS-based spatial analysis found that high-priority barriers varied by region, but that all organizations identified funding, or lack of access to funding, as a significant barrier regardless of whether they operated in a low- or high-income neighborhood. The study concludes that policymakers must reevaluate the role of urban agricultural organizations in New Jersey's urban food deserts.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareHealthWhat would it look like? Visualizing a future US Corn Belt landscape with more table food production
2024Tiffanie F. Stone, Janette R. Thompson, Emily Zimmerman, Tássia Mattos Brighenti, Matt Liebman · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States
In the US Corn Belt near Des Moines, Iowa, researchers combined land-use visualization with producer surveys to examine a future scenario supplying 50% of a metropolitan population's dietary needs from local "table food" (fruit, vegetable and grain crops for direct human consumption) by 2050. Surveys were sent to 1,360 row crop and 55 specialty crop producers, yielding 316 and 25 eligible responses respectively. The scenario would require less than 3% of available agricultural land and roughly 130 additional producers, mostly in grain production. Based on producers' stated plans, local production could supply about 25% of residents' fruit, vegetable and grain needs, up from a 2% baseline. Row crop producers ranked food safety regulations as their strongest constraint, specialty producers ranked labor availability, and both groups cited crop insurance and processing facilities as important.
Peri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsGarden city planning and Nordic (de)colonial ambivalence in Tanga, Mbeya and Moshi master plans (1973–1975)
2024Essi Lamberg · The Journal of Architecture · Africa
A case study of the Tanga, Mbeya and Moshi master plans (1973-1975) in Tanzania, developed with Finnish technical assistance, challenges the conventional narrative that Nordic countries acted as neutral, benevolent foreign aid agents. The analysis shows Finnish planners operating in an ambivalent environment combining colonial heritage, decolonial policy and neo-colonial practice, developing a planning approach that translated travelling concepts of suburbanization, neighborhood models and urban gardening into the language of Tanzanian decolonial policy. The three master plans used garden city planning ideas to extend planning principles formerly reserved for the white European elite to the entire urban population, in service of the socialist ujamaa project.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageFood educationKonsep Urban Farming Pada Kota Tanpa Lahan Pertanian
2024Gunawan Adi Pratio, Siti Nur Rohmah, Muhammad Ali Akbarsyah, Arseto Endro Supriyanto · Jurnal Bengawan Solo Pusat Kajian Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Surakarta · Indonesia
This literature review study examines the concept of urban farming as a solution to agricultural challenges in cities with little or no traditional farmland. Drawing on literature covering urban farming practices in major cities worldwide facing land constraints, it summarizes techniques including hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming, and use of rooftops or vacant urban spaces. The review finds urban farming can improve access to fresh food, reduce emissions from food transport, and improve environmental quality through increased green space, while also empowering local communities through job creation and resident involvement in food management, and supporting organic waste management by using household waste as fertilizer. However, resource constraints such as water, fertilizer and technology, along with regulatory and policy issues, were identified as the main barriers to implementation, and the paper concludes that collaboration among government, the private sector and local communities is needed.
Digital agricultureFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agricultureGreen Initiatives for Climate Change Mitigation in Palakkad District of Kerala, India
2024J Resmi, K Vismaya, V. Chitra, S K Anjana, K V Sumiya · International Journal of Environment and Climate Change · India
Focusing on the role of trees and forested ecosystems in sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation, this study compares Miyawaki forests — a high-density planting method developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki to intensify green cover and support local biodiversity — with food forests, planned and planted forests of food plants providing a variety of food year-round. The study sites were in Palakkad district, Kerala, India: Krishi Vigyan Kendra Palakkad, where a Miyawaki forest patch was established, and V.T. Bhattathiripad College in Sreekrishnapuram, where a food forest was established. While both approaches aim to restore ecosystems and enhance biodiversity, they differ in design, purpose and management: the Miyawaki forest reconnects with nature by supporting native flora and fauna for biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration, while the food forest reconnects with nature by providing a food source for pollinators and habitat for many animals, and is described as environmentally friendly because it requires no chemical pesticides. Both techniques are described as effective for establishing urban forests and converting unproductive wasteland into ecologically and socially beneficial productive land.
Climate changeFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityCARACTERIZAÇÃO DE RESÍDUOS SÓLIDOS E LÍQUIDOS GERADOS EM INSTALAÇÕES DE CONFINAMENTO TIPO COMPOST BARN
2024Victor Crespo de Oliveira, Leonardo França da Silva, Érika Manuela Gonçalves Lopes, Ana Carolina Chaves Dourado, Matheus Mendes Reis, Bruna Nogueira Rezende, Letícia Duron Cury, Cássio Furtado Lima, Fabiane de Fátima Maciel, Silvana Ferreira Bicalho, Ariadna Faria Vieira · · Europe
Noting that global population growth is raising concerns about the sustainability of cities and soils, climate change, and food access and security, and that many urban areas face challenges related to their food supply infrastructure, this paper positions urban agriculture as a potential contributor to food security and income generation for impoverished households, while noting that conventional agriculture contributes to soil erosion and soil/groundwater pollution, and that climate change disrupts animal life cycles and drives species extinction, reducing food availability for humans and other organisms. Within this framing, the paper presents aquaponics as a method integrating urban agriculture for plant cultivation with safe fish production, and reports a project to develop and install an optimized aquaponics system at the School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto (ISEP). The soil-less vertical garden was built using two tanks holding approximately 2,000 liters of water, spanning three floors with three planter boxes and more than 120 positions for growing vegetables. Pedagogical activities were also carried out, involving students from Bioresources, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Informatics Engineering.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cyclePELATIHAN PEMBUATAN BATIK DARI HASIL BUDIDAYA BUNGA TELANG (BUNTEL) MULYOREJO SEBAGAI PEWARNA ALAMI DI KELURAHAN MULYOREJO
2024Mutia Devi Hidayati, Arief Rahmatulloh, Luchis Rubianto, Pritantina Yuni Lestari · Jurnal Abadimas Adi Buana · Indonesia
In the Mulyorejo sub-district of Sukun district, Malang, Indonesia (area 2.75 km²), residents actively use vacant land and underused resources under an urban farming concept, including cultivating butterfly pea flowers, though product diversification of the flowers into higher-value goods had not been thoroughly developed. This community service project delivered skills training in making batik using butterfly pea flowers as a natural dye — a technique noted for producing soft colors, commanding a high market value, and being environmentally friendly, aligned with the "clean water and sanitation" Sustainable Development Goal — and introduced ways of combining different natural dyes for color variation. Held on October 7, 2023 with 8 participants, the post-training questionnaire yielded a mean of 3.88 and a mode of 4.0 across questions, indicating participants understood, felt the benefits of, and were satisfied with the training; participants also received an electric canting (batik drawing tool) for independent production.
CommunityEconomicsDIYFood sovereignty & justiceModel Komunitas Pertanian Perkotaan Menuju Ketahanan Pangan Melalui Modal Sosial di Kabupaten Gresik
2024Pawana Nur Indah, Gung Risa, Endang Yektiningsih, Indra Tjahaja Amir · Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Agribisnis · Indonesia
In Gending Village, Kebomas District, Gresik Regency, Indonesia, 87 purposively sampled residents who had practiced urban farming and a healthy lifestyle for at least two years were surveyed by questionnaire interview, and Partial Least Square analysis tested how social capital dimensions affect community empowerment. Trust (T=0.786), social norms (T=0.511) and social network (T=0.810) all exceeded the 1.96 significance threshold, showing significant positive effects of each dimension on empowerment of the urban farming community.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyGoing with the food flow: The contribution of urban agriculture to a growing African city
2024Matthijs T. Wessels, Lisa‐Marie Hemerijckx · Development Southern Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa
More than 700 surveys with food vendors and consumers, combined with ethnographic research with farmers, quantified and mapped the contribution of urban and peri-urban producers to fresh leafy vegetable supply in the growing city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Seventy percent of all amaranth consumed in the city was found to be produced within it, with an average farm-to-fork distance of 11 km, indicating a strongly localised foodshed for leafy vegetables. The results point to the ongoing significance of urban areas in meeting their own food demand and the need to explicitly integrate food provisioning into the planning of growing African cities.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsFood miles & supply chainThe spatial organisation of urban agriculture in the global south food security and sustainable cities
2024Górna, Ada · · Global
A book examines the position of urban agriculture within the spatial and functional structure of cities in the Global South through case studies of three cities: Havana, Singapore and Kigali. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in each city, it documents the diverse characteristics of urban agriculture across differing socio-economic, spatial, political and environmental conditions and identifies constraints on its development.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityPolicyClimate changeEconomicsUrban Open Space Utilization for Subsistence Agriculture: A Study of Esikhaleni Township
2024Zwelakhe Thulasizwe Mascot Maseko · Journal of Asian and African Studies · South Africa
In Esikhaleni Township, South Africa, structured interviews with local farmers and in-depth interviews with officials from uMhlathuze Municipality examined why residents use urban open spaces for subsistence agriculture and how it affects their livelihoods. Food insecurity, demand for accessible fresh produce, interest in farming, and rising food costs were identified as the main drivers, and open-space agriculture was found to contribute to livelihoods through improved access to fresh food, reduced food expenditure and supplementary income from produce sales, leading to a recommendation that urban planning set aside land for agriculture.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justice