Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3622 results(111 / 145)
A methodology for the sustainability assessment of agri-food systems: an application to the Slow Food Presidia project
2014Peano C., Migliorini P., Sottile F. · Ecology and Society · Global
Develops an indicator-based sustainability assessment tool translating Slow Food's 'good, clean, fair' principles into criteria spanning economic, ecological, social, cultural, and quality dimensions, applied to the Slow Food Presidia project.
Heirloom & landracePolicyEconomicsBiodiversityRe-purposing the master's tools: the open source seed initiative and the struggle for seed sovereignty
2014Kloppenburg J. · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Global
Argues that food sovereignty requires seed sovereignty, examining the Open Source Seed Initiative's attempt to apply open-source legal tools against corporate enclosure and intellectual property rights over plant genetic resources.
Heirloom & landracePolicyBiodiversityCommunityIncreasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security
2014Khoury C.K., Bjorkman A.D., Dempewolf H., Ramirez-Villegas J., Guarino L., Struik P.C. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) · Global
Shows national diets grew about 36% more similar over five decades, increasingly reliant on a few major crops, with implications for food security, nutrition, and the value of conserving crop diversity.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthFood educationGenebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
2014Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture · Global
FAO's revised international technical standards guiding genebank management of plant genetic resources, covering orthodox seed, field, in vitro, and cryopreservation collections to ensure secure long-term conservation.
Heirloom & landracePolicyBiodiversityUrban agriculture of the future: an overview of sustainability aspects of food production in and on buildings
2014Specht K., Siebert R., Hartmann I., Freisinger U. B., Sawicka M., Werner A., Thomaier S., Henckel D., Walk H., Dierich A. · Agriculture and Human Values 31(1):33-51 · Global
Reviews sustainability of building-integrated farming (ZFarming) such as rooftop greenhouses and indoor farms, assessing economic, environmental, and social benefits and limits of its commercial development.
EconomicsCommunityHabitat connectivity shapes urban arthropod communities: the key role of green roofs
2014Braaker S., Ghazoul J., Obrist M.K., Moretti M. · Ecology, 95(4):1010-1021 · Switzerland (Zurich)
By sampling carabid beetles, spiders, weevils and bees on green roofs and ground-level green spaces in Zurich, this study compares community composition and tests the relative importance of local environment, microclimate and connectivity. Connectivity among roofs and to ground habitats emerged as a key driver of species composition, demonstrating that green roofs can act as stepping stones that support biodiversity in the surrounding urban ecosystem — a landmark case for connectivity-aware green-roof placement in city design.
BiodiversityPollinatorsSustainable Food Systems: Building a New Paradigm
2014Marsden, T., Morley, A. (eds.) · Routledge / Earthscan (ISBN 9780415639545) · Global
A comprehensive theoretical volume on building sustainable food systems including the urban-rural nexus, with chapters on food practices, land access and agricultural entrepreneurship at the rural-urban interface.
PolicyMotivations for Investing in Allotment Gardening in Dublin: A Sociological Analysis
2014Kettle P. · Irish Journal of Sociology · Ireland (Dublin)
This sociological study examines why Dublin residents invest in allotment gardening, finding a significant demographic shift away from traditional older male participants toward younger, middle-class, and female growers. It contextualises Dublin's growing allotment movement within broader urban agriculture trends.
CommunityHealthEconomicsEl Programa de Agricultura Urbana de la Municipalidad de Rosario en Argentina
2014Lattuca A.L., Terrile R.H., Sadagorsky C. · Hábitat y Sociedad · Argentina (Rosario)
Documents Rosario's municipal Urban Agriculture Programme (PAU), launched in 2002, which grew to over 800 community farming projects on vacant land to address food insecurity and generate income for marginalized residents, with 65% of participants being women.
CommunityPolicyFood educationWelfareBuilding Urban Resilience: Assessing Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Dakar
2014Padgham J., Jabbour J. · United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) · Senegal (Dakar)
This UNEP report presents findings from a 2012 knowledge assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Dakar, identifying key sustainability threats including urban encroachment, degraded water and soil quality, fragmented policy, and farmers' limited credit access.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityHealthGreenhouse gas emissions from home composting in practice
2014Ermolaev E., Sundberg C., Pell M., Jönsson H. · Bioresource Technology · Sweden
Measures CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions from home composts in practice in Sweden; methane emissions were lower than in large-scale systems and increased with temperature and mixing.
DIYCompostThe Multiple Functions and Services of Community Seedbanks
2014· Resources · Global
Reviews community seedbanks worldwide and classifies their multiple functions and services, including conservation, exchange, and sharing of seeds.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityWhat are the impacts of urban agriculture programs on food security in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review
2014Korth M., Stewart R., Langer L. · Environmental Evidence · Global
After screening 8,142 records and 198 full texts, not a single study met the inclusion criteria for rigorous impact evaluation; the review found no evidence either supporting or refuting that urban agriculture positively affects food security in low- and middle-income countries.
WelfarePolicyUrban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand
2014Martellozzo F., Landry J., Plouffe D., Seufert V., Rowhani P., Ramankutty N. · Environmental Research Letters · Global
A global analysis estimating that meeting urban dwellers' vegetable demand from within cities would require roughly one-third of total global urban area, demonstrating that space constraints make full urban self-provisioning unrealistic in many countries.
PolicyEconomicsStrawberry fields forever? Urban agriculture in developed countries: a review
2014Mok H., Williamson V., Grove J., Burry K., Barker S., Hamilton A. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
This review of urban agriculture across the developed world acknowledges its role in food security and social well-being but stresses that it carries significant costs, input requirements, and constraints, underlining major hindrances to cities feeding themselves this way.
EconomicsPolicyGive peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review
2014Hamilton A., Burry K., Mok H., Barker S., Grove J., Williamson V. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
This global review of urban agriculture in developing countries catalogs its benefits alongside the costs and hindrances of the practice, underscoring the resource constraints and operational obstacles that temper its promise as a food-security solution.
EconomicsPolicyCost-effectiveness of community vegetable gardens for people living with HIV in Zimbabwe
2014Chloe Puett, Cécile Salpéteur, Elisabeth Lacroix, Simbarashe Dennis Zimunya, Anne-Dominique Israël, Myriam Aït-Aïssa · Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation · Zimbabwe (Chipinge)
A 2014 societal-perspective cost-effectiveness analysis of a low-input community vegetable garden (LIG) programme for households affected by HIV in five wards of Chipinge District, eastern Zimbabwe. Activity-based costing drew on accounting data, 15 focus groups with participants and 5 with comparators, and 33 key-informant interviews; effects were measured with the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Food Consumption Score (FCS) for 1,330 participant and 1,330 comparator households. Total societal cost was €1,525 per beneficiary household (€1,415 incremental), giving €12,456 per household reaching the top HDDS tertile and €8,299 per household reaching an acceptable FCS (>35) — 20–30 times Zimbabwe's GDP per capita. The authors conclude the gardens are neither cost-effective nor affordable relative to other interventions. Stated limitations include no baseline data, self-selection among participants, recall bias (data collected more than a year after the programme) and an inability to measure full garden yields. Note that the setting is a rural district, not a city, so the figures cannot be transferred directly to urban gardens.
EconomicsHealthWelfareGlobal assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands
2014Anne Thebo, Pay Drechsel, Éric F. Lambin · Environmental Research Letters · Global
This study used spatial overlay analysis of global cropland and urban extent data to estimate the global area of urban and peri-urban irrigated and rainfed croplands. Urban irrigated croplands were estimated at approximately 24 Mha (11.0% of all irrigated croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.48. Urban rainfed croplands were estimated at about 44 Mha (4.7% of all rainfed croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.03. Additionally, 60% of all irrigated croplands and 35% of all rainfed croplands were found within 20 km of urban extents.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeSustainable Food Systems for Future Cities: The Potential of Urban Agriculture*
2014Kubi Ackerman, Michael Conard, Patricia J. Culligan · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Global
This multi-year study by the Urban Design Laboratory at the Earth Institute assessed urban agriculture in New York City (NYC). It presented metrics on potential growing capacity, surveyed NYC urban farmers on production challenges, and monitored a commercial rooftop farm in Brooklyn. The study aimed to provide insight into urban agriculture's role in creating sustainable food systems for NYC and other cities.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunityFood educationCritical geography of urban agriculture
2014Chiara Tornaghi · Progress in Human Geography · Global
This paper defines the scope and an initial agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture, noting that despite growing interest across disciplines, it remains a marginal field in human geography. Beyond rhetoric, urban agriculture raises questions for critical geographers, particularly regarding its role in reshaping urban landscapes and experimenting with alternatives to capitalist urban organization. The paper highlights that urban agriculture is sometimes establishing embryonic forms of recreating the Commons.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAllotment Gardens Contribute to Urban Ecosystem Service: Case Study Salzburg, Austria
2014Jürgen H. Breuste, Martina Artmann · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Austria (Salzburg)
This study investigated how urban allotment gardens contribute to ecosystem services in Salzburg, Austria. A survey was conducted with 156 allotment gardeners across four allotment associations, focusing on the role of allotment gardens in recreation, food production, nature experience, ecological gardening, and environmental behavior. The results indicated the importance of allotment gardens for recreation and nature experience, alongside a declining importance of traditional food production. An increasing interest in ecological gardening and general environmental awareness among allotment gardeners was also observed.
CommunityBiodiversityPolicyFood educationFarming Cuba: Urban Agriculture From the Ground Up
2014Carey Clouse · · Cuba (Havana)
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Cuba developed a significant urban agriculture initiative. By 1998, Havana alone had over 8,000 urban farms, producing nearly half of the country's vegetables. This grassroots effort evolved into the largest sustainable agriculture program, establishing Cuba as a world leader in urban farming.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCommunity Gardens to Fight Urban Youth Crime and Stabilize Neighborhoods
2014Art McCabe · International journal of child health and human development · Global
This paper discusses how reclaiming abandoned properties and vacant lots in inner-city areas and converting them into community gardens or pocket parks can address urban health challenges and youth crime. It suggests that these conversions can reduce health disparities, eliminate blight, stabilize neighborhoods, and foster community engagement. The paper highlights that community gardens can serve as a cost-effective, multi-purpose urban asset, meeting the demand for such spaces, especially among immigrant populations.
CommunityHealthWelfareFood educationExploring guerrilla gardening: gauging public views on the grassroots activity
2014David Adams, Michael Hardman, Peter J. Larkham · Local Environment · Global
This paper explores those affected by guerrilla gardening, noting that it often colonizes land without permission and transforms areas without consulting local communities. Grounding its argument in evidence from three guerrilla groups, the study investigates the public's views on several informal gardening projects. Responses were very mixed, ranging from positive comments about improving aesthetics to negative remarks surrounding the practices of some groups. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that although often promoted as constructive, guerrilla gardening can result in adverse impacts on those who surround colonized sites.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFarmers perception on excreta reuse for peri-urban agriculture in southern Ghana
2014Nimoh Fred, Ohene-Yankyera Kwasi, Poku Kofi, Konradsen Flemming, Claude-François Robert · Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics · Ghana
A study in Ghana's Shai-Osudoku district investigated farmers' attitudes toward excreta reuse for peri-urban agriculture, surveying 400 randomly selected respondents. A majority of respondents disagreed that excreta are waste and were willing to use them as fertilizer. However, a majority also agreed that excreta can pose health risks, and perceptions on reuse differed among households.
Contamination & food safetyPeri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleHealth