Research & reports

Rahmad Hendra, Firdaus Firdaus, Samariadi Samariadi · UNIFIKASI Jurnal Ilmu Hukum · Indonesia

A descriptive qualitative study of land disputes between oil palm plantation companies and Indigenous communities in Bencah Kelubi and Subarak villages, Kampar Regency, Indonesia. In Subarak, the plantation investor applied the Free, Prior and Informed Consent principle (locally PADIATAPA) before investing and built a garden for the Indigenous community. By contrast, the other company covered in the study failed to honor its commitment to build community gardens and disregarded the PADIATAPA principle. The study concludes that applying PADIATAPA at the outset could substantially reduce conflict between plantation companies and Indigenous people.

Valéria Borges Yonegura, Henrique Manoel da Silva · Cadernos de Ciência & Tecnologia · Brazil (Curitiba)

A study of urban agriculture's effects in two neighborhoods of southern Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil - an area historically stigmatized for violence and poverty - that observed increases in quality of life, aesthetic improvement of the landscape, a greater sense of security and inclusion, and residents' topophilic attachment to place. Urban agriculture is used in the city's marketing, but the paper states that its continuity is partly threatened by the possible end of a partnership with the local electric utility and by real estate market pressure. Most results come from a master's thesis, with continued monitoring via media coverage and contact with community leaders.

Kübra ÇAKMAK, Aykut Emre Bozdoğan · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Turkey

A mixed-methods study of 24 fifth-grade students at a public school in Sivas, Turkey, during the spring 2020-2021 term, examining a "lamp brightness" activity conducted in the school garden as part of the "Electrical and Circuit Elements" unit. Using a dependent t-test for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data, the study found the activity significantly increased academic achievement in the "Physical Phenomena" learning area and significantly reduced students' science anxiety; interviews indicated students enjoyed the lessons and understood the material better.

Yue Jin, Hee Sun Choi, Daniel C. Elkin · · China

A mixed-methods study of three representative communities in Nanjing, China, examining the value of edible community gardens against the backdrop of COVID-19, associated government area controls, restricted access to daily food supplies, and elderly residents' unfamiliarity with online shopping. The study used GIS mapping of Nanjing's food system, site observations, questionnaires and interviews, analyzed with univariate and multivariate methods. It found that most elderly residents want and value edible community gardens, especially during the epidemic; that the gardens offer opportunities for new companionship and leisure; and that edible landscaping increases communities' ornamental value and interactivity. The gardens were also described as beneficial for sustainable food production in terms of ecological environment, economic benefit, social regeneration and local development.

Sarvenaz Pakravan, Shahin Keynoush, Ehsan Daneshyar · Sustainability · Global

An essay noting the global population is increasing while agricultural land per capita is declining, and that feeding a projected 9.1 billion people by 2050 would require global agricultural output to grow by roughly 60% to 110%, positioning urban agriculture as an alternative that could reduce this future burden. In response, interior architecture design studio-V (INT 401) proposes a futuristic vision built on urban agriculture and defines a pedagogical framework around three notions: (1) residential urban agriculture, (2) a context- and culture-based design approach, and (3) social sustainability, itself structured as development, bridge and maintenance sustainability. This is a proposed teaching framework rather than an empirical study.

Son Truong, Tonia Gray, Kumara Ward · Urban forestry & urban greening · Australia

A study examining the Community Greening program run by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australia, for the past two decades, at six new community gardens built in social housing communities in New South Wales. It used focus group interviews with residents and questionnaires with program staff. Participant narratives showed the gardens function as sites for knowledge generation and connection to nature, for building a sense of community, and for improving residents' sense of pride and public perceptions of public housing. The findings suggest community gardens enhance green infrastructure and support place-making in social housing estates and their surrounding areas, and the study concludes with recommendations for policies and practices addressing social and environmental sustainability priorities in social housing.

Gabriel Elías Chanchí Golondrino, Manuel Alejandro Ospina Alarcón, Manuel Saba · Revista Científica · Global

Motivated by the growing trend of urban agriculture, this study built an IoT system for monitoring and analyzing climatological variables relevant to urban agriculture crops. Development followed four phases: selection of tools and technologies, IoT system architecture design, prototype construction, and a case study on a lettuce crop. The resulting system used open-source hardware and software tools within the conventional four-layer IoT architecture (capture, storage, analysis, visualization). Its stated advantage over existing solutions is the use of portable single-board-computer (SBC) platforms and the inclusion of machine-learning models in the analysis layer. The case study, carried out on a home lettuce crop, concluded that the chosen tools adequately captured, monitored, and analyzed climatological variables of interest, and that the analysis models can be customized to a crop's agroclimatic characteristics, making them useful for decisions related to crop physiology.

Amrik Singh Khalsa, Jonathan Burton, Michael T. Bailey, Jiangjiang Zhu, Kelly J. Kelleher, Ross Maltz, Brett R. Loman, Colleen Spees · BMC Nutrition · United States

Non-invasive human biospecimens including stool, urine, and hair are important for understanding the relationship between diet and changes in human physiologic processes affecting chronic disease outcomes, but collection can be difficult for studies conducted away from a centralized location. This paper describes the protocol and feasibility of collecting stool, urine, and hair biospecimens from parents and children at a remote location, as part of the Summer Harvest Adventure (SHA) study, a randomized controlled, community garden-based intervention targeting children aged 8-11 and their parents from low-resource neighborhoods in the United States. Biospecimens were collected at baseline and post-intervention from willing children and parents in both intervention and control groups, for microbiome, metabolomics, and hair analyses, at a location distant from the academic laboratories conducting the analysis. Of 146 SHA participants (73 parent-child dyads) eligible to provide a biospecimen, 126 consented to hair, 115 to stool, and 127 to urine collection. Among those who consented, 44 children (69.8%) and 38 parents (60.3%) provided at least one hair sample; 27 children (48.2%) and 37 parents (62.7%) provided at least one stool sample; and 36 children (57.1%) and 42 parents (65.6%) provided at least one urine sample. Sample collection, transport, and handling at the academic center were successful, and all biospecimens collected were deemed adequate for analysis. DNA and metabolomics yield on a subset of stool samples showed an abundance of species and metabolites as predicted. Urine and hair analyses were described as still underway, with the study characterized as among the first to describe the feasibility of collecting these biospecimens from both parents and children in this remote setting.

Yuki Kato, Caroline Boules · Journal of Urban Affairs · United States

The disruption of social and food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic presented a distinct set of opportunities and challenges for urban agriculture. Based on 79 in-depth interviews with managers of community gardens, school gardens, and urban farms in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, this study used post-disaster "social recovery" theory to explore how each type of urban agriculture responded differently to the pandemic's social, economic, and personal disruptions. Findings showed significant differences in immediate impacts across the types of urban agriculture, with community gardens being the least affected and urban farms implementing the most variant adaptation strategies. Notable differences also appeared within each type, especially among urban farms. The study attributes these variant adaptation trajectories to pre-disaster conditions, including autonomy over cultivation space, access to resources, and connections with other facets of city life, concluding by underscoring the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity of urban agriculture when assessing its transformational capacity and potential.

Brandy‐Joe Milliron, Dane C. Ward, Janeway Granche, Janell L. Mensinger, Dahlia Stott, Claire Chenault, Franco Montalto, Eugenia Ellis · American Journal of Health Promotion · United States

A cross-sectional online survey of 317 adults aged 18 and older residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, measured nature relatedness (NR) using a 21-item scale with self, experience and perspective subscales, dietary diversity using the FAO's standardized tool (scored 0-9), and fruit and vegetable intake using the NCI's 2-item CUP screener. Multivariable regression models adjusted for age, race, gender and income found that higher NR Total, NR Self, NR Perspective and NR Experience scores were associated with greater dietary diversity, and that higher NR Total, NR Self and NR Experience scores were associated with greater fruit and vegetable intake; these associations remained significant after adjusting for the covariates. NR was associated with better dietary intake even after accounting for sociodemographic factors.

Tama Bawack Ako, Clarkson Mvo Wanie · Current Urban Studies · Cameroon

This study examined challenges in rural-urban road transportation and coping mechanisms for food security in Maroua municipality, Far North Region, Cameroon. Primary data came from field observation, interviews and 261 administered questionnaires, supplemented by published and unpublished secondary sources, with descriptive analysis conducted in SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Results showed that rural-urban roads in Maroua are dilapidated and inadequate, making movement difficult especially during the rainy season, which negatively affects multiple dimensions of food security. Adaptation mechanisms identified included urban agriculture and rehabilitation of rural-urban road infrastructure, and the study concluded there is an urgent need for stakeholders to improve this infrastructure.

Jennifer Catalina Murcia Rodríguez, Adriana Quimbayo Feria · HUMAN REVIEW International Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades · Colombia

This article discusses urban agriculture as a practice that enables the production of food — particularly fruit, vegetables and aromatic plants — while helping reduce ecological footprint and improve self-sufficiency. It frames urban agricultural production as a global trend that, in Colombia, helps mitigate environmental pollution and reduce spending on basic foods, against a backdrop of inflation that has raised food prices and reduced the quantities households can afford to buy.

Celeste M. Schultz, Alexander Rosen · The Journal of School Nursing · United States

A garden-based education program implemented in elementary, middle and high schools on Chicago's South and West Sides was examined for its effects on students. Implementing gardens was found to have a positive impact on the availability, access and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as on students' social-emotional well-being. More rigorous studies controlling for socioeconomic status were identified as needed to establish the long-term effects on obesity prevention, mental health outcomes and economic benefits.

Michelle Tokunbo ‘Tok’ Oluwaseyi Oyewole · Capitalism Nature Socialism · United States (New York City)

Based on the perspectives of gardeners in public schools in Brooklyn, New York, a four-part framework of liberatory practices and potentials via school gardening is outlined, examining what liberatory practices occur in Brooklyn school gardens and their potential for building on them in relation to rectifying injustices faced by racially minoritized communities. Gardens were found to support personal achievement, health benefits, adult mentorship, peer bonding, identity affirmation, community transformation, and positive relationships with the natural world. Some programming addressed social and environmental injustices explicitly, but students and staff identified potential to expand this work, particularly through clearer curricular prioritization and social and material support.

Udi Subagyo, Achendri M. Kurniawan, Bobby Aksumajaya, Nain Dhaniarti Raharjo, Ikrar Hanggara · J-ABDI Jurnal Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat · Indonesia (Malang)

This community service activity worked with the PKK (Family Welfare Movement) Environmental Working Group of RT 06/RW 18 in the Bunulrejo urban village, Blimbing district, Malang, Indonesia, which was already running a greenhouse-based urban farming activity for food resilience. The group faced challenges in meeting residents' demand for vegetables and, in particular, a lack of activities for PKK women to build knowledge and experience. As an initial stage of collaboration between Polinema's community service team and RW 18, the activity constructed and installed vertical garden racks (plant shelving).

Benjamin Hennchen, Martina Schäfer · Frontiers in Sustainability · Global

A comparative study of three food system innovations — citizen shareholder companies, community-supported agriculture, and food co-ops — examining their inclusiveness, degree of member involvement, and quality of experienced connectedness. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey, two focus group discussions, and a broad literature search. All three food innovations were found to show a rather low level of inclusiveness, although efforts are being made to overcome barriers to access. The innovations were found to generate social cohesion between different actors along the value-added chain, constituted differently in a more service-oriented versus a community-oriented model. The study concludes these innovations provide momentum toward the dominant food regime by rewarding producers for sustainable practices, establishing stronger producer-consumer relationships, and motivating consumers to assume shared responsibility, and considers the three innovations complementary for food system transitions.

Hazen Arrazie Kurniawan, Nurhajijah Nurhajijah, Wiidani Lubis, Imam Hartono Bangun · Jurnal Abdi Insani · Indonesia

In Pematang Ganjang village, Indonesia, where rice farmers relied on a single, seasonal source of income, a community service program used a participatory rural appraisal approach with lectures, demonstration plots, and mentoring to teach a fertigation system for growing cauliflower on unused yard land. The program reports that farmers responded enthusiastically to the technology transfer and adopted urban farming on yard plots as a supplementary income source beyond their original single livelihood.

Ghozlane Fleury‐Bahi, Jean‐Michel Galharret, Colin Lemèe, Inga Wittenberg, Pablo Olivos, Ana Loureiro, Yvette Jeuken, Pauline Laïlle, Óscar Navarro · Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being · Europe

A survey of 1,343 residents across seven European cities, combined with satellite-imagery indicators of the objective quantity of urban natural space, examined how the amount and perception of nearby nature relate to well-being, moderated by respondents' connectedness to nature. Regression models linked well-being to perceived amount of nature, accessibility to a community garden, and level of connectedness to nature, and found perception of nature to be a better predictor of well-being than the objective satellite-based measure; connectedness to nature had a moderating and negative effect on the association between perceived quantity of nature and well-being, meaning the link between perceived nature and well-being weakened as connectedness to nature increased.

Julia N. M. Campbell · Digital Archive @ GSU · United States

This paper discusses how brownfield sites affect physical health (injury hazards, disease transmission, chemical exposure) and social health determinants such as neighborhood social capital, and argues that reusing brownfields as community gardens reduces environmental and associated health hazards while increasing nutrition access — especially for low-income populations — community aesthetics, social cohesion, and recreational or therapeutic opportunities. It states that special precautions are required to protect public health when converting a brownfield to a garden, including chemical sampling, soil cleanup, and protective garden design, and concludes that the community benefit is worth the initial investment required, without presenting site-specific measured outcomes.

Nadia Nadia, Agus Juono, Dio Ramadan Nugroho, Mifta Nurjanah, Adine Christiningtyas, Marthinus Masriat, E.Y Gitari, Andy Nugroho, Abdurojak Abdurojak, K.J Dahu, Bayu Suseno · Jompa Abdi Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat · Indonesia

This community outreach program in Padukuhan Singosaren I, Indonesia — a country ranked second worldwide for plastic waste entering the ocean — used socialization sessions to address low public awareness and inconsistent waste management, teaching a "stacked bucket" (ember tumpuk) decomposition method that processes organic waste into solid and liquid organic fertilizer usable as growing media for urban farming ("hydroganik"). The outreach concluded that well-managed waste can become useful and that community participants were enthusiastic, and it recommends that Singosaren I households adopt the stacked-bucket method at home so household waste can be converted into fertilizer for hydroganik growing media.

Dea Widyaningsih, Ait Maryani, Achmad Musyadar · Jurnal Penyuluhan Pertanian · Indonesia

A survey of 40 youth farmers aged 15-35 across three sub-districts of Tarogong Kidul, Garut Regency, West Java, Indonesia, examined preferences toward urban farming between April and June 2020. Using descriptive analysis, multiple linear regression, and Kendall's W concordance analysis, the study found that 65% of respondents favored urban farming, with location type and market orientation identified as the influencing factors.

Kyle Richardville, Dan Egel, Andrew Flachs, Amit K. Jaiswal, D.J. Perkins, A. W. Thompson, Lori Hoagland · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global

A two-year field trial tested whether amending degraded urban soils with locally made leaf-mold compost could improve soil chemical and biological properties and support the survival of a plant-growth-promoting, disease-suppressive microbial inoculant (Trichoderma harzianum T-22) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production. Compost-amended plots showed markedly higher active soil organic matter and marketable fruit yield in both years, lower foliar disease severity in year two, and reduced transplant-stress deaths from T-22 inoculation in one cultivar, but the authors caution that all composts must be tested for heavy metals or pathogens and that overapplication can reduce crop health.

Luís Loures, Ana Pereira, Rui Alexandre Castanho · WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT · Europe

Using urban agriculture in Porto (Oporto), Portugal, as a guiding case study, this article works to recover and re-establish a continuous productive urban landscape. It expands existing urban planning policy and proposes new policy for protecting and inserting this continuous productive landscape into urban design while accounting for the urban/agricultural dichotomy and its processes, flows, and systems. Drawing on research focused on recovering Oporto's ancient rural ring, the article defines urban agriculture as a method for reliably integrating it into urban space planning, concluding with a newly defined urban farming network for Oporto that connects rural areas within the city to rural areas outside it.

Catherine E. Sanders, Don W. Edgar, Casandra Cox, Leslie D. Edgar · Journal of Human Sciences and Extension · United States

This study explored the social networks and interactions among urban producers in Arkansas, USA, through social network analysis. Using a mixed-methods approach, it collected data on participants' social network interactions and their methods of seeking information about urban farming. The results showed how and where participants preferred to obtain information, peer-to-peer interactions within the network, and key players or opinion leaders in the network. The methods used may serve as an example of network mapping for populations lacking a formal network, to help Extension outreach reach communities that may otherwise be underserved.

Silvia Septhiani, Diah Oga Nusantari, Ihwan Zulkarnain · PUNDIMAS Publikasi Kegiatan Abdimas · Indonesia

This report describes a community-service activity in Harapan Jaya, Cibinong District, Bogor Regency, Indonesia, aimed at improving residents' productivity and health during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic producing a lack of productive at-home leisure activity and a sense of stagnation among residents, urban farming is positioned as one pandemic-era activity offering economic, health, and environmental benefits, covering food crops, medicinal plants ("living pharmacy"/apotik hidup), and ornamental plants. The team provided residents of Harapan Jaya with information on family medicinal plants (TOGA). The activity is described as increasing residents' understanding of medicinal plants and fostering productive attitudes and a healthy, green environment.