Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3274 results(111 / 131)
Sustaining livelihoods under a changing climate: the case of urban agriculture in Lusaka, Zambia
2012Mulala Danny Simatele, Tony Binns, Munacinga Simatele · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · Zambia (Lusaka)
This paper, based on recent field-based research in Lusaka, Zambia, examines the relationships between urban agriculture (UA) and extreme weather conditions, and their impact on the livelihood options of the urban poor. Despite its significance as a source of food and income in many sub-Saharan African cities, UA has not been integrated into urban development and planning policy and has come under increasing pressure from extreme weather events like droughts and flooding over the last two decades.
Food sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyEconomicsAnalysis and Optimization of the Industrial Structure in Quanzhou City with the “West Coast of the Taiwan Straits” as the Background
2012Qiu Yan · Journal of Quanzhou Normal University · China (Quanzhou)
This article analyzed Quanzhou City's past ten years of three production sectors, labor structure trends, and their influence on the Strait West Coast economic area's industrial structure. Using GDP proportion, contribution rate, structural similarity, and comparative labor productivity, it suggested that Quanzhou should optimize its industrial structure and promote cross-strait economic zone development. Optimization suggestions included advancing agricultural multi-function transformation, forming regional urban agriculture, fostering strategic emerging industries, and strengthening modern service industries.
EconomicsPolicyDiscussion on Tianjin urban fisheries' development
2012Huang Xue-qun · · China (Tianjin)
This paper analyzed the development status of Tianjin urban fishery, finding it to be in an early stage. Problems identified included a low level of industrial development, an unscientific development mode, and weak innovation capability. The study proposed development paths and measures for industrial transformation and upgrading.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyCommunityAnalysis Based on Diamond Model of Nanchang Urban Modern Agriculture Competitiveness
2012Wenjuan Hu · Tianjin Agricultural Sciences · China (Nanchang)
This paper analyzed the competitive power of Nanchang urban agriculture using the Diamond model. The analysis considered production factors, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, business strategies and structure, and horizontal competition. The study presented countermeasures and suggestions, including developing low-carbon agriculture and optimizing organizational forms.
EconomicsPolicyClimate changePerspectives on The Effectiveness of NGO Initiatives in Urban Agriculture In Zimbabwe
2012Batanai L Sammie, Charles Nyamutowa, Munyaradzi Gwazane · International Journal of Scientific Research · Zimbabwe
This study used FGDs and case studies to identify perceived causes of failure of NGO urban agriculture initiatives in Zimbabwe. The study identified the principal-agent relationship between NNGOs and LNGOs as the epicenter of all initiative failures.
Governance failurePolicyCommunity对西宁市川浅村庄发展“城郊都市型”农业的调查与思考——以湟中县拦隆口镇泥隆台村为例
2012Hua Zhu, 杨军 · 青海社会科学 · China (Xining)
This paper studies the current status, existing problems, and development countermeasures for peri-urban agriculture in Xining City's Chuanqian villages. By analyzing agricultural development in Nilongtai Village, it discusses development models and policy suggestions for peri-urban agriculture in Chuanqian villages. Xining City's Chuanqian villages are a key area for urban agriculture development during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyResearch on the Dynamic Model for the Urban Agriculture Planning——Take the Dutch City of Delft as an Example
2012Lijie He · · Netherlands (Delft)
This study investigated urban agriculture development within city planning, using the Dutch city of Delft as a case study. It developed a dynamic model for land allocation in urban agriculture by applying Multi-criteria Evaluation (MCE) to assess its relation to other city development factors. MCE and Geographic Information System (GIS) were integrated to create suitability maps, providing references for urban agriculture land utilization for planners and policymakers.
Policy農の風景育成地区制度
2011東京都都市整備局 · 東京都都市整備局（民有地の緑の保全・創出 制度） · Japan
A Tokyo system created in 2011 to conserve dwindling farmland as open space and carry the agricultural landscape into the future. Districts where farmland and homestead groves remain clustered are designated so that scattered farmland can be conserved collectively as urban-planning parks/green space. Designations include Setagaya's Kitami (the first) and Nerima's Takamatsu and Minami-Oizumi, providing the policy framework for municipal urban-farmland conservation.
PolicyBiodiversityCommunityAssessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change
2011Bellon M. R., Hodson D., Hellin J. · PNAS 108(33):13432-13437 · Mexico
Assesses farmer-based traditional maize seed systems in Mexico and their vulnerability to climate change, with implications for maintaining and adapting landrace diversity in situ.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityPolicySustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba
2011Koont S. · University Press of Florida (Contemporary Cuba series) · Cuba
This book provides a comprehensive account of Cuba's world-leading sustainable urban agriculture program, documenting a thousand-fold increase in urban agricultural output since 1994 and analyzing how government organizational infrastructure and human capital investment enabled this transformation.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsOrganic cycleThe role of green roof technology in urban agriculture
2011Leigh Whittinghill, D. Bradley Rowe · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Global
Urban agriculture faces limitations including competition for space, lack of formalized land use rights, and health hazards from food contamination. Green roof technology is proposed as a method to alleviate these issues, potentially reducing the use of contaminated land and water at ground level. However, for large-scale implementation, installation costs must be reduced, roof weight limitations assessed, and appropriate management practices developed.
Contamination & food safetyDIYHealthPolicyClimate changeSisters of the Soil: Urban Gardening as Resistance in Detroit
2011Monica M. White · Race/Ethnicity Multidisciplinary Global Contexts · United States (Detroit)
This article analyzes the experience of black women activists in Detroit who engage in urban agriculture as a form of resistance. They use urban gardening to reassess cultural roots, reclaim personal power, and build a sense of community. The study examines their efforts to transform vacant land into a community-based food system and safe, green spaces, challenging racial and class-based barriers to healthy food access.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyDynamics of land-use and land-cover change in Freetown, Sierra Leone and its effects on urban and peri-urban agriculture – a remote sensing approach
2011Gerald Forkuor, Olufunke Cofie · International Journal of Remote Sensing · Sierra Leone (Freetown)
A land-use and land-cover (LULC) change mapping exercise in Freetown, Sierra Leone, used multi-temporal Landsat data from 1974, 1986, and 2000 to map nine LULC classes. Built-up areas increased by at least 140% between 1974 and 2000, and 882 ha (27%) of agricultural lands in 1986 were converted to residential purposes by 2000. These conversions indicate a strong link between urbanization, agriculture, and deforestation, negatively impacting agricultural land availability.
Governance failureUrban–rural linkagePeri-urban agriculturePolicyThe role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries
2011H. de Zeeuw, R. van Veenhuizen, Marielle Dubbeling · The Journal of Agricultural Science · Global
This paper summarizes the available evidence regarding the potential of urban agriculture to respond to key urban challenges and reviews the perspectives on urban agriculture applied by local and national authorities.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeActually Existing Commons: Three Moments of Space of Community Gardens in New York City
2011Efrat Eizenberg · Antipode · United States (New York City)
This paper analyzes community gardens in New York City as an urban space argued to function as the commons in a neoliberal city. It unpacks this space according to three Lefebvrian moments: material space, representations of space, and lived space. Engaging alternative conceptualizations of social relations in the urban space, it complicates and explicates the notion of the commons and its actually existing manifestations.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunity Gardens, Ghetto Pastoral, and Environmental Justice
2011Robert Emmett · ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment · United States (Los Angeles)
The South Central Farm in Los Angeles, a 14-acre community garden cultivated by hundreds of residents for over a decade, was a significant site against environmental racism. However, urban development ultimately led to its destruction. As of this writing, satellite images show the former lush gardens replaced by a scraped, vacant field, highlighting the impermanence of such community-led green spaces in the face of dominant urban development narratives.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCritical urban gardening as a post-environmentalist practice
2011Chiara Certomà · Local Environment · Global
This paper investigated the emergence of the urban gardening movement as a form of post-environmentalist political practice. Despite the general acknowledgment of environmental issues, Post-Environmentalism suggests that environmental thinking is becoming increasingly "de-politicised." This study aimed to suggest that "re-politicisation" of environmental politics is possible by considering political practices emerging in urban space. Critical urban gardening, for instance, uses biological material as a form of political expression and activates material-semiotic networks in the urban environment.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceThe Comparison of Allotment Garden in Europe and Community Garden in the United States
2011Jin Qian · Xiandai chengshi yanjiu · Europe; United States
This paper compares allotment gardens in Europe and community gardens in the United States. It notes that stable European allotment gardens rely on policy frameworks, national laws, and cooperation among local government, public, private, and non-profit organizations. In contrast, American community gardens often depend on loosely organized non-profits to acquire land and foster community autonomy without official support.
CommunityPolicyFarmers' Professional Cooperative Organization is Important Industrial Organization to Develop Modern Urban Agriculture——A Case Study in Wuhan,Central City in Central China
2011Yang Yu-xian · Huazhong Nongye Daxue xuebao · China (Wuhan)
This paper investigates farmers' professional cooperative organizations in Wuhan, China, examining their social basis, characteristics, and organizational forms. It identifies these cooperatives as a new type of rural economic organization and an effective vehicle for modern urban agriculture. The study concludes that developing such organizations is necessary for them to become an important industrial basis for modern urban agriculture and rural areas.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyNot Quite Right Landscapes: Designing within Redundant Space in a Peri-urban Agriculture Region
2011Michael D. Howard · Design Principles and Practices An International Journal—Annual Review · Australia (Melbourne)
This case study explores potential new land-use patterns in under-utilized spaces within an intensive horticultural region in peri-urban Melbourne, Victoria, where a mismatch between title boundaries and commercial production methods has created redundant land. The project aimed to increase efficiency, introduce cross-programming, and develop a recreation strategy. It offers a design framework for reorienting land use while preserving the unique qualities of such places.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkage“Perennial Growth” in a Shrinking City: A Case Study of Urban Agriculture Policy and Planning in Cleveland, Ohio
2011Elizabeth S Schuering · Digital Commons-DePaul (DePaul University) · United States (Cleveland)
This paper examines urban agriculture as a strategy for managing vacant land in Cleveland, Ohio, a shrinking city facing population loss and economic decline. The study analyzed Cleveland's urban agriculture movement and municipal policies, including eighteen interviews with local policy experts. Findings indicate that the municipal government supports urban agriculture as a tool for the city's revitalization efforts.
PolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageAn analysis of urban irrigation farming and its urban planning imiplication: case study of Katsina Urban area, Nigeria
2011MM Ruma · Bayero Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences · Nigeria
This paper examined wastewater reuse in urban farming in Katsina, Nigeria, by interviewing 130 households out of 276 registered with the Katsina Urban Planning Authority. It found that wastewater reuse in urban farming is a full-time, sole income source for many households and an indispensable activity for the town. Recommendations were provided for promoting and integrating this activity into local planning processes.
EconomicsPolicyPeri-urban agricultureCommunityUrban Agriculture and Its Development Strategy
2011Weiming Liu · Economic Research Guide · Global
This paper discusses how urban agriculture accelerates after industrialization and urbanization reach a certain level, keeping pace with the development of industrialization, urbanization, and the economy. It states the importance of recognizing the need for good city planning with reasonable layout and design for urban agriculture, while also strengthening research and exploitation of urban agricultural technology.
PolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageDigital agriculturePOLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS EM AGRICULTURA URBANA E PERIURBANA NO BRASIL
2011Pedro Paulo Videiro Rosa · Revista Geográfica de América Central · Brazil
This paper provides a preliminary analysis of a document by FAO and Brazil's MDS, which identified and characterized urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) initiatives in Brazilian Metropolitan Regions. The article relates this document to existing Brazilian legislation and public policies, discussing the refunctionalization of urban spaces to integrate economic, sociocultural, and environmental factors. It also reports on contemporary UPA experiences aligned with agroecology principles and discusses the definition of urban agriculture to identify bottlenecks in its promotion.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityURBAN AGRICULTURE WAYS TO URBAN ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION IN BEIJING
2011Huang Qin · Resources and Industries · China (Beijing)
This paper, based on a case study of Beijing, China, discusses the necessity of integrating urban agriculture into urban ecological infrastructure construction. Through data review and comprehensive analysis, it examines the diverse services of urban agriculture, urban morphological evolution problems, green space construction bottlenecks, and urban-rural integrated development requirements. The paper analyzes specific ways urban agriculture can support urban ecological infrastructure in suburban, outer suburban, and mountainous regions, proposing government policy guarantees like optimized planning and financial support.
CommunityPolicyClimate changeUrban–rural linkage