Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3622 results(119 / 145)
Horticultura comunitária e construção de sistemas socioecológicos sustentáveis Community horticulture and construction of sustainable socio-ecological
2013Alessandra Pavesi, Denise de Freitas, Bárbara Pacheco Lopes · · Global
This paper reaffirms the importance of community horticulture as a tool for learning scientific and political skills essential for building sustainable and resilient Socioecological Systems (SES). It explores concepts from (Agro)Ecology and Education, reframing community and school gardens from a contextualized perspective to strengthen adaptive capacity and enable systems to respond to disruptions.
CommunityFood educationClimate changePotenciál záhrad a produkčných plôch v súčasnom meste
2013Jana Adamková · Brno University of Technology Digital Library (Brno University of Technology) · Global
This article discusses how productive gardens, historically integral to cities, have been disappearing from urban structures in recent years. As urban agglomerations and their resource uses become dominant, cities increasingly depend on external food supplies. The article highlights the importance of gardens for humans and the role of productive urban space in creating a viable urban environment. It states that as the world urbanizes, urban agriculture plays an important role in contributing to the sustainability of cities in spatial, socio-economic, and environmental ways.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageEconomicsClimate changeSegmentation and Preference Analysis of Urban Farming Patterns
2013Jeong Im Hwang, Yoon Ji Choi, Bo Gyung Jang · The Korean Journal of Community Living Science · Global
This study segmented urban farming patterns and analyzed preferences using two-step cluster analysis, chi-square analysis, and ANOVA, based on face-to-face surveys from 9 urban farms. Three clusters were identified: 'hobby-oriented farming', 'producing-oriented farming', and 'multipurpose farming'. Significant differences were found among these groups regarding age, presence of children under 14, household income, and housing type, indicating that urbanites' farming patterns vary with socio-demographic profiles.
CommunityDIYEconomicsReadjusting to reality
2013Adrian Atkinson · City · Global
This paper analyzes the background to the rapid growth of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) globally over the past three decades. It notes that while food security is a primary consideration in many cities, UPA initiatives are driven by many other concerns, motivations, starting points, and organizational means.
Food sovereignty & justiceClimate changeEconomicsHow Does Your Garden Grow? Environmental Justice Aspects of Community Gardens
2013Heather McIlvaine-Newsad, Rob Porter · Journal of Ecological Anthropology · Global
This conceptual paper focused on the benefits of community gardens, informed by participant observation and literature from the environmental justice movement. Community gardens are stated to be models for improving health through growing and eating local produce, and instruments for generating social awareness and community change.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceGuerrilla warfare in the planning system: revolutionary progress towards sustainability?
2013David Adams, Alister Scott, Michael Hardman · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography · Global
This article examined how planning practice, exemplified by permaculture and guerrilla gardening case studies, can be rooted in confrontation and legal challenge, hindering innovative practices. The findings confirmed that spatial planning theory is largely "disintegrated" from much contemporary planning and environmental practice and wider sustainability discourses. This suggests that planners and decision-makers' prescribed and constrained management of space can impede practices with significant societal and environmental benefits.
Governance failureDIYPolicyCommunityPoľnohospodárstvo v mestskom prostredí a jeho historický vývoj
2013Jana Adamková · Brno University of Technology Digital Library (Brno University of Technology) · Global
This paper discusses urban agriculture as an indisputable part of cities throughout history. It highlights urban agriculture as an important subject for improving city sustainability, enhancing food security, and reducing urban poverty. The study suggests that understanding its evolution could yield valuable information.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyUrban Gardening: espacio de creación, crítica social y activismo ecológico
2013Àngels Viladomiu Canela · · Global
This paper reviews specific artistic interventions that address urban land uses and farming methods. These actions, through the act of planting and cultivating, generate spaces for the expression of artistic, political, and social identities. These places are settling in the interstices of our cities, such as empty brownfield sites, non-urbanized or semi-urbanized areas, riverbanks, highway verges, and railway edges.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceFood Forests and Home Gardens: Their Roles and Functions in Domestic Food Production and Food Security in the Caribbean
2013Clinton L. Beckford, Donovan Campbell · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · Caribbean
In the Caribbean, kitchen gardens are categorized into home gardens and food forests, both grown on home plots. Home gardens are small areas for short-term crops, used for home consumption and sharing, while food forests are low-maintenance agroforestry systems with diverse plant species, including fruit trees and non-food hardwoods. These systems mimic a forest's vertical structure.
DIYFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityOrganic cycleFunctional Change and the Peri‐Urban Region: Food Systems and Agricultural Vulnerability
2013Andrew Butt · Economic Papers A journal of applied economics and policy · Australia
This article reviews changes in farm output and structure in peri-urban regions around Australia's cities. It concludes that farming in these regions is changing differently from other agricultural regions, with productivity centered on a few high-value activities. The majority of peri-urban farming, while potentially providing landscape services, is unable to adjust to changing productivity regimes, creating vulnerabilities for these farming systems.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageTeacher Professional Learning Communities for Sustainability: Supporting STEM in Learning Gardens in Low-Income Schools
2013Sybil S. Kelley, Dilafruz R. Williams · PDXScholar (Portland State University) · Global
A summer program engaged teachers in hands-on STEM education within learning gardens at four low-income schools in southeast Portland. The program aimed to transform teaching and learning by providing experiences that connect STEM to real life and sustainability. Teacher feedback highlighted the value of learning STEM in gardens and addressing social and environmental justice.
Food educationCommunityWelfareSocio-economic characterization of integrated cropping systems in urban and peri-urban agriculture of Faisalabad, Pakistan
2013Shoaib Ur Rehman, Martina Předotová, Iqar Ahmad Khan, Eva Schlecht, Buerkert, Andreas · GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) · Pakistan
A baseline survey conducted in Faisalabad, Pakistan, from 2009–2010 studied 140 households to characterize urban and peri-urban agricultural (UPA) systems. Findings showed 96% of households relied on agriculture, with 70% of heads having primary education. Farmers cultivated 35 species, predominantly vegetables (65%), and faced major problems including scarcity of high-quality irrigation water and inadequate mineral fertilizers. Half of the respondents earned less than US$1.25 daily.
EconomicsUrban–rural linkageCommunityHUERTA URBANA Y SALUD MENTAL: SUS EFECTOS EN LA SUBJETIVIDAD DE NIÑOS Y ADOLESCENTES
2013Fabiana Naiman, Juan José Calzetta · V Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicología XX Jornadas de Investigación Noveno Encuentro de Investigadores en Psicología del MERCOSUR · Argentina
This study is based on a University Extension Program titled "The Urban Orchard: A Tool for Inclusion of Children and Adolescents," conducted under the UBANEX Programme 2012/2013 by the University of Buenos Aires. The program aimed to develop children's and adolescents' ability to generate and produce a self-managed urban garden. Program implementation showed that the urban orchard produced positive effects at both inter- and intra-subjective levels, fostering curiosity, creativity, responsibility, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-criticism, teamwork, and the quality of links between subjects.
Food educationHealthCommunityWelfareDefining the skycourt and skygarden
2013Jason Pomeroy · · Egypt
The ancient Egyptian city of Fustat, now part of Old Cairo, incorporated skygardens. Archaeological findings indicate its importance as a trade hub and production center. Historical accounts describe 14-storey residential buildings with rooftop gardens irrigated by ox-drawn water wheels.
CommunityDIYGrowing Language Awareness in the Classroom Garden
2013Patricia Paugh, Mary Jane Moran · Language Arts · Global
For four years, Pat Paugh and Mary Moran conducted action research on literacy development linked to a third-grade community gardening and urban farming curriculum. They used Critical Pedagogy of Place and Systemic Functional Linguistics frameworks to integrate explicit language instruction with student-centered curriculum. This article illustrates how functional grammar aspects, genre and register, supported linguistic growth and connected literacy learning to community involvement.
Food educationCommunityREAL School Gardens Program: Learning Gardens and Teacher Training to Improve Student Engagement and Academic Performance in Low-Performing Elementary Schools
2013Jeanne McCarty · Journal of Applied Research on Children Informing Policy for Children at Risk · Global
The REAL School Gardens Program builds learning gardens and provides teacher training in 92 low-income elementary schools to enhance student engagement and academic performance. Preliminary findings indicate that 84% of students participating in hands-on lessons in these gardens report high engagement, particularly in math and science. Additionally, partner schools showed, on average, 5.5% higher standardized science test pass rates compared to non-partner schools.
Food educationWelfareCommunityFood and Green Space in Cities: A Resilience Lens on Gardens and Urban Environmental Movements
2013Stephan Barthel, John N. Parker, Henrik Ernstson · Urban Studies · Global
This article examined the role of urban gardens during historical collapses in urban food supply lines and identified social processes needed to protect open green spaces and the collective memory of food production during crises. Over the past 50 years, urban dependence on global food systems has increased, eroding collective memory of food production and losing suitable urban gardening spaces, heightening the potential for food shortages during crises. Urban gardening is effective during crises, and allotment gardens transmit social-ecological memories of food production. Urban environmental movements protect urban green space, and urban gardening and social movements can build local response capacity against food supply collapses.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyAnalysis and comparison of vacant land resources for urban food production
2013Benjamin Kerrick · The Knowledge Bank (The Ohio State University) · Global
This research aimed to understand how vacant land resources vary by ownership and urbanization, studying over one hundred sites in seven central Ohio counties around Columbus. GIS-based classification identified publicly and privately owned vacant land suitable for vegetable production. No appreciable differences were found between publicly and privately owned land in terms of parcel size, perimeter-area ratio, or quality; however, privately owned land was more prevalent and, when present, tended to occur in greater quantities.
Urban–rural linkageEconomicsCommunityContextual Interaction Theory for assessing water governance, policy and knowledge transfer
2013Jaap Evers · · Global
This paper discusses the use of untreated wastewater for irrigation in urban and peri-urban agriculture, noting its prevalence in four out of five cities in the developing world according to a 2008 survey. It highlights that local policymakers are often unaware of the significance and opportunities of this practice, despite its potential for nutrient recovery and integration into urban sanitation systems. Planning for wastewater use requires multi-agency involvement.
PolicyOrganic cyclePeri-urban agricultureDesign Thinking on Urban Agricultural Construction of Intelligent Ecological Residential Building
2013Xiao Di Li, Wei Hu, Xiao Yang · Applied Mechanics and Materials · Global
This research aims to create intelligent ecological residential buildings with small, limited agricultural rooms for city residents, fulfilling their psychological desire for nature, eco-protection, work-life balance, and a residential agronomic garden. Through logical reasoning, it was found that rapid social, political, technological, and economic development sufficiently supports the realization of intelligent eco-building ideas for urban agriculture. This is expected to initiate social concerns and further research on urban intelligent ecological agricultural buildings.
DIYClimate changeDigital agricultureFrom Garden City to City in a Garden (Case Study: Shiraz City as a ""Permaculture"" Model in Iran)
2013Sara Fattahi · · Iran (Shiraz)
Focusing on Shiraz City, Iran, rooftop gardens were examined as an example of incorporating passive, eco-friendly technology for sustainable development. Rooftop gardens are stated to help mitigate negative environmental impacts by conserving energy and water, improving air and water quality, assisting in storm water management, absorbing solar radiation, becoming a source of local food production, providing habitat restoration, and creating natural retreats.
DIYClimate changeBiodiversityOrganic cycle“Vertical Farms, Urban Restructuring and The Rise of Capitalist Urban Agriculture ”
2013Lindsey Sarann Hallock · · Global
This paper examines the rise of vertical farms, arguing that they advance the corporate food regime and promote urban elite consumption. It differentiates vertical farms as local food projects that reproduce the capitalist industrial system rather than challenging it, facilitated by devalued built environments and labor surplus in neoliberal cities. The study concludes that these farms reproduce troubling trends in the corporate food regime, signifying capital's ability to standardize food cultivation and incorporate it into factory-like production systems.
Economic viabilityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePolicyUrban–rural linkageUrban farming a reality at the Sydney Cooking School
2013Brett Deverall · Practical Hydroponics and Greenhouses · Australia (Sydney)
The Sydney Cooking School has embraced urban farming by growing their own herbs for use in cooking classes. Chef and owner, Brett Deverall, is passionate about using the freshest produce possible and decided to implement a self-contained growing system from Elevated Gardens.
Food educationDIYCOMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA)
2013Atănăsoaie George Sebastian · Annals - Economy Series · Global
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms are an alternative to conventional agriculture but face numerous policy issues related to product, price, distribution, and promotion. A literature review indicated that farmers need to offer more flexible basket content in terms of quantity and product type, and consumers require information on product preparation and preservation. To offset the negative impact of high prices, measures such as cost reduction, flexible payment rescheduling, and compensation for financial resource deficits are necessary.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceSchools, teachers and community: cultivating the conditions for engaged student learning
2013Ian Hardy, Peter Grootenboer · Journal of Curriculum Studies · Australia (south-east Queensland)
This paper investigated the efforts of teachers and associated school personnel to engage poor and refugee students through a community garden located in a school in a low socio-economic urban area in south-east Queensland, Australia. Drawing on interview data with teachers, other school staff, and community members, it revealed the interrelating actions, discussions, and relationships involved in developing and using the garden for academic and non-academic purposes. By understanding these interrelationships as "practice architectures," the paper shows how teachers facilitate learning practices for marginalized students.
CommunityFood educationWelfare