Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3622 results(113 / 145)
The Biodiversity Design for Urban Garden Landscape
2014Han Li-yin · · Global
This paper analyzes classic cases of biodiversity design in foreign urban gardens, including New York urban farming gardens and Paris flower and plant gardens. It summarizes four different types of biodiversity design methods for urban gardens. The paper proposes a biodiversity design framework for urban gardens, aiming to enhance biodiversity and improve the quality and spatial effects of urban garden landscapes.
BiodiversityFood educationCommunityA school garden in biotechnical education
2014M. Pogačnik, Dragan Žnidarčić, Jelka Strgar · Archives of Biological Sciences · Global
This study, which has been retracted, compared experiential instruction in a school garden with traditional classroom instruction for 360 biotechnical education students aged 15 to 18. The original findings indicated that experiential instruction resulted in significantly better achievement scores in both knowing and applying cognitive domains.
Food educationPOPULAÇÃO-AMBIENTE. DESENVOLVIMENTO E AGRICULTURA URBANA NUM MUNICIPIO DE HAVANA, CUBA
2014Gilberto Javier Cabrera Trimñio · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba (Havana)
In Cuba, urban agriculture is viewed as a movement to produce food in available urban spaces using local resources under sustainable ecological principles. While large cities like Havana cannot achieve food self-sufficiency, implementing agricultural programs there can foster an understanding of the population-environment-development relationship, which is crucial for public policies addressing environmental vulnerability and climate change impacts.
Food sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCommunityCommunity Role of Civil Society in the Household Waste Management and Urban Farming
2014Dwi A. Nirwana · International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis · Global
This study investigated the community role of civil society in household waste management and urban farming for achieving sustainable development, using a case study method. Data was collected through physical observation, interviews, and literature review. The results indicate that the community plays a significant role in achieving sustainable development.
CommunityOrganic cycleEconomicsPermaculture Design: On the Practice of Radical Imagination
2014Katja Rothe · Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · Global
This article examines permaculture design, developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, not only as an application of systems theory but also as a form of figurative, ecological reasoning. Permaculture challenges the division between theory and practice, or rationality and sensibility, inextricably linking these modes of knowledge in explorations of patterns. Specifically, it describes permaculture design thought through three aspects: visual thinking in patterns, the role of radical imagination and speculation, and systems theory thought drawing from the Gaia hypothesis.
DIYCommunityUrban–rural linkageClimate changeSowing Vegetables and Reaping Morality – Ideals on the Benefits of Kitchen Gardening
2014Jenny Lee · · Global
This paper traces the history of kitchen gardens and their relationship to urban food provisioning, examining how domestic fruit and vegetable production was influenced by commercial production, new distribution methods, and kitchen technology. It discusses how, around 1900, kitchen gardens were viewed as solutions for food scarcity and urban moral hazards, and how gardening evolved from a necessity to a pastime. The paper also notes a recent revival of interest in home food production, highlighting its renewed moral significance in response to the modern food system.
CommunityHealthUrban–rural linkageUrban Land Use Decouples Plant-Herbivore-Parasitoid Interactions at Multiple Spatial Scales
2014Amanda E. Nelson, Andrew A. Forbes · PLoS ONE · Global
This study sampled two plant-herbivore-parasitoid systems across 250 sites in a 360 km2 urban/agricultural landscape to investigate the impact of human development on trophic interactions. It found that herbivorous insect densities were decoupled from host tree densities in urban landcover types at several spatial scales. Furthermore, a parasitoid species was absent from all urban/suburban landcover in one system, even where its herbivore host was common, indicating that human land use patterns limit specialist insect distributions due to dispersal constraints.
Environmental trade-offsBiodiversityPollinatorsUrban–rural linkageWastewater Treatment Project for Palma Soriano, Cuba: Assessment of Cultural and Ecological Conditions
2014Daniela Peña Corvillon · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · Cuba
The Palma Project in Palma Soriano, Cuba, is an experiment using cultural identity to address ecological degradation. It employs environmental, social, and urban analyses to develop a master plan for wastewater treatment, reforestation, urban agriculture, and public space utilization along the Cauto River. The project aims to improve quality of life, provide potable water, restore the riparian zone, and create new food production opportunities.
CommunityOrganic cycleFood sovereignty & justiceOptions for local financing in urban agriculture
2014Irene S. Egyir, Olufunke Cofie, Marielle Dubbeling · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Ghana (Accra)
This chapter, based on a 2009 study in Accra, Ghana, assessed the practices of institutions and programs that could finance urban agriculture, as well as existing bottlenecks and opportunities in financing. Information was gathered through surveys involving 179 respondents from financial institutions, urban farmers, traders, and processors, alongside literature reviews, stakeholder mapping, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a validation workshop.
EconomicsPolicyFood Science Education Publications and Websites
2014Jim Bird · Journal of Food Science Education · Global
This column aims to highlight innovative publications and websites in food science education and allied topics. An article featured discusses garden-based service-learning projects (Fairmount Community Garden, North Side Garden Survey, Como Community Garden) that aim for food justice, better undergraduate education, and strengthened campus-community ties. It also briefly mentions a qualitative case study conducted at four schools, evaluating the effects of free school meal interventions on pupils' learning over 20 weeks.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceIrrigated vegetable farming in urban Ghana: a farming system between challenges and resilience
2014Pay Drechsel, Andrew Adam‐Bradford, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Drechsel, Pay, Adam-Bradford, A., Raschid-Sally, Liqa · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Ghana
This chapter introduces urbanization in West Africa, particularly Ghana, the general role of urban agriculture, and the common use of polluted irrigation water. It focuses on irrigated smallholder vegetable production, reflecting on the key challenges, dynamics, and resilience of this farming system.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureTransnational at Home: Intercultural Gardens and the Social Sustainability of Cities in Innsbruck, Austria
2014Markus Schermer · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Austria (Innsbruck)
This paper examines an intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. It uses interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings to describe how intercultural gardens function as transnational spaces. These gardens foster new social networks and learning processes, impacting urban social cohesion and community stability by enabling interaction beyond assimilation.
CommunityPolicyWelfareThe role of intercultural gardens in the construction of a sustainable city. The example of Innsbruck in Austria
2014Markus Schermer · Hábitat y Sociedad · Austria (Innsbruck)
This paper examines the importance of social stability and cohesion for urban sustainability amidst changing relations between diverse cultural groups due to global migration. It analyzes the role of intercultural gardens, which are gaining attention for migrant integration, using the intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. The empirical material is based on interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings.
CommunityPolicyCity Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing
2014Michael Classens · UnderCurrents Journal of Critical Environmental Studies · Global
This is a review of Lorraine Johnson's book "City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing" by Michael Classens. Johnson argues that small-scale 'city farmers' are the vanguard of an emerging transformation of the contemporary food system, despite urban farming being more prefigurative than productive in aggregate. The book reveals the potential in interstitial urban spaces for food production and urges a reimagining of our relationship to cities as farms.
DIYCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeS'intégrer pour se pérenniser : pratiques d'agriculteurs urbains dans trois villes du Sud
2014Ophélie Robineau, Julia Tichit, Thomas Maillard · Espaces et sociétés · Global
This study examines the socio-spatial integration of urban agriculture in three Southern cities, despite its limited consideration in urban planning policies. In Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), farmers secure access to productive resources through social relations. In Metro Manila (Philippines), local actor networks ensure the sustainability of practices. In Saint-Louis (Senegal), farmers' self-initiated organizations enable them to assert their interests with urban authorities, highlighting the challenge of urban agriculture not being adequately integrated into planning policies.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsGovernmentality in urban food production? Following “community” from intentions to outcomes
2014Luke Drake · Urban Geography · Global
This study analyzed six case studies of community gardens, categorized by grassroots, externally-organized, and active nonprofit management, to examine how "community" definitions influence participation or resistance in urban food production. The analysis highlights specific organizational and management moments that affect engagement, scrutinizing community gardens as sites of governmentality that produce neoliberal subjects.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsStudy of the influence of environmental factors on the occurrence of Balantidium coli cysts in an urban aquatic system in Cameroon
2014Gideon Aghaindum Ajeagah, Yaka Diane Armelle Moussima · Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment · Cameroon
A study in an urban stream in Yaoundé, Cameroon, characterized Balantidium coli cysts and evaluated environmental factors influencing their dispersal. Round (825 ± 610 cysts/L) and oval (246 ± 300 cysts/L) cysts were found. High abundances of cysts were observed in stations along a piggery effluent near a major market, with higher densities recorded during the short rainy season. The lowest cyst densities were found upstream and downstream.
Contamination & food safetyHealthTowards urban food sovereignty: the trials and tribulations of community-based aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne
2014Julia Laidlaw, Liam Magee · Local Environment · Global
This paper explores stakeholder experiences of community-based urban aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne using a comparative case study methodology and in-depth interviews. It aims to understand the internal and external factors impacting their success or failure. The study highlights challenges in establishing these enterprises.
Economic viabilityFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsOn showing and being shown plants ‐ a guide to methods for more‐than‐human geography
2014Hannah Pitt · Area · Global
This paper proposes a methodology for more-than-human geography, focusing on understanding plants as agents through a "showing and being shown" approach. Drawing on ethnographic research in community gardens, the author demonstrates techniques like walking, talking, doing, and picturing to engage with human and nonhuman guides. The study identifies limits to understanding plants without specialist botanical training.
CommunityBiodiversity도시농업의 이론, 패러다임 및 유형 분석을 통한 지속가능한 개발방향에 관한 연구
2014한주형, 장동민 · · Global
This study aimed to propose sustainable development directions for urban agriculture by analyzing its theories, paradigms, and types. It classified urban agriculture definitions into five types, identified four similar concepts, and defined sustainable urban agriculture theory using four keywords: eco-environmentalism, human socialism, high-tech, and capital economy. The study also derived 16 development types for urban agriculture, suggesting its evolution into a "new 6th industry" through a feedback linkage from primary to fifth industries.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsClimate changeDigital agricultureLos latidos de la tierra: Arte ecologico para acompasar nuestros ritmos
2014Ma Isabel Soler Ruiz, Pilar Soto Sánchez · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This paper reviews the evolution of ecological movements from the late 19th century to the mid-1960s, focusing on the defense of natural spaces and urban sustainability actions. It examines collective initiatives like the reforestation of abandoned industrial areas and the creation of urban gardens, as well as individual artistic actions that aim to reconnect viewers with the earth.
CommunityDIYUrban–rural linkageLocal Food Futures and Healthy Communities: Role of Sustainable Practices
2014Dilip Ghosh, Debasis Bagchi, Tetsuya Konishi · · Global
This study highlights the importance of local food movements and urban agriculture, citing Havana, Cuba, as an example of self-reliance achieved through food growing in urban spaces. In 1999, allotment gardens in London produced 232,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, supplying 18% of the population's daily intake. Urban food growing spaces encompass diverse typologies, varying in their production potential and health contributions.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityHealthUrban–rural linkageEmergence and Effects of Urban Agriculture in Cuba
2014Janice Argaillot · Espaces et sociétés · Cuba
This article analyzes the development of urban agriculture in Cuba. Driven by crises from the USSR collapse and US blockade, Cuba developed an internationally recognized agricultural model. The study explores the causes of urban agriculture's emergence in Cuba, its various forms, and its repercussions on citizens' social and cultural life.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyCommunityUrban Farming and Transition Towns Initiatives: Practices and Paths of Urban Regeneration
2014Maurizio Bergamaschi, Marco Castrignanò, Alessandra Landi · Journal of Nutritional Ecology and Food Research · Global
This paper examines community vegetable gardens and Transition Towns initiatives. It finds that these experiences contribute to sustainable urban development, improve environmental health and quality of life, reshape urban image and morphology, and enhance cities as forms of social cohesion.
CommunityClimate changeHealthA MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT GREEN WALL: THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF REAFFORESTATION IN SENEGAL
2014Anna Eugenia Alsobrook · · Senegal
This in-progress assessment investigates the Great Green Wall (GGW) reafforestation project in north-central Senegal, which aims to restore degraded land and improve local lives. Using field experiences, interviews, and observations, the study found that young GGW trees decreased land-surface temperatures and solar radiation, improving environmental conditions. While gardening and economic components showed positive village-level impacts, problems with water and grazing areas led to negative perspectives from stakeholders.
CommunityClimate changeBiodiversity