Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1022 results(12 / 41)
«Green» practices of Kharkiv residents during the war: results of Kharkiv Green Urban Tour 2023
2023Ruslan Zaporozhchenko, Denys Shymansky · SOCIOПРОСТІР · Ukraine (Kharkiv)
The Kharkiv Green Urban Tour 2023, held in April-May 2023, aimed to reveal the “green” practices of Kharkiv residents during the war, specifically the continuation of growing and distributing home-grown vegetables and fruits in the context of urban farming. This study, conducted as part of the FUSILLI international research project, seeks to provide a clearer understanding of how residents of an urbanized city engage in improvised farming, adapt to the military situation, and reproduce green practices while helping others.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsThe profile of foreign urban gardeners in the municipalities of Lombardy (Italy)
2023Valentina Cattivelli · Journal of urban regeneration and renewal · Italy (Lombardy)
This paper describes the profile of foreign urban gardeners in Lombardy, Italy, based on questionnaire responses from municipalities. Foreign gardeners predominantly originate from North Africa and Eastern Europe, are mostly over 40 years old, married, and have children. While many Lombard municipalities have urban gardening projects, there is no regional database of cultivated plots or specific information on gardens cultivated by foreign-born residents.
CommunityWelfareHealthResearch Excavation; Evesham Abbey Restoration Archaeological Recording 2021-2023
2023Rachel Heaton · Archaeology Data Service · United Kingdom
This report documents archaeological work conducted during the restoration of Evesham Abbey in the UK from 2021 to 2023, commissioned by Evesham Abbey Trust. Three evaluation trenches revealed modern allotment deposits over abbey demolition material, with structural archaeology including a stone drain and a substantial wall correlating with the abbey church's northern wall. The origin of recorded robber trenches remains unclear.
CommunityUrban Gardens vs. Community Gardens: Tensions and Trajectories for Urban Agriculture in Istanbul
2023Candan Türkkan · Moment Journal · Turkey (Istanbul)
This paper analyzes urban gardening practices in Yedikule Bostanlari and Kuzguncuk Bostani in Istanbul, examining the convoluted relationship between the food movement and urban agriculture. It argues that while urban agriculture initiatives are significant for generating community and proposing alternative uses for urban space, they do relatively little to mitigate the structural problems underlined by the food movement. As such, even though they are examples of urban agriculture in practice, their aspirations do not readily associate with those of the food movement.
Limited or null effectCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyKnowledge-making and the quest for a sustainable city: Promoting community food-growing in London
2023Jens Lachmund · · United Kingdom (London)
This chapter traces the emergence of initiatives promoting urban agriculture in London, a pioneering city for urban agriculture in Europe, from a history of knowledge perspective. It identifies three formative episodes: open civic experimentation in community projects, city modeling and surveying in food planning scholarship, and government-sponsored knowledge mobilization campaigns. These processes shaped London as a food-system and a space for community engagement.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceSchool Gardens in Poland – Rediscovered Places
2023Joanna Ziemkowska · Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae · Poland
A historical outline of school gardens in Poland and their past and current possibilities of use were presented. In recent decades, school gardens had lost their educational appreciation, remaining in few schools primarily for aesthetic functions. This article discusses how school gardens may contribute to preventing "nature deficit" and provide a sense of closeness to nature even in urban realities, noting their re-emerging therapeutic potential (hortitherapy).
Food educationCommunityBiodiversityInfluence of the Type and Use of Soil on the Distribution of Organic Carbon and Other Soil Properties in a Sustainable and Resilient Agropolitan System
2023Purificación Marín Sanleandro, Ana María Gómez-García, M. Arantzazu Blanco Bernardeau, Juana María Gil-Vázquez, María Asunción Alías-Linares · Forests · Spain
This study in the mid-plain of the Segura River (SE Spain) assessed soil properties and agricultural potential by collecting 68 arable soil samples. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in organic carbon distribution between calcaric Fluvisols and calcaric Regosols, and among industrial, cultivated, and abandoned soil uses. Cultivated Fluvisols showed a higher average organic carbon content (11.35 g kg−1) compared to abandoned (9.33 g kg−1) and industrial (5.13 g kg−1) uses.
Organic cycleBiodiversityPeri-urban agricultureLe portage foncier public et sa réception par les agriculteurs. L’exemple du pacte agricole de la région Île-de-France
2023Alioune Badara Dabo · Norois · France (Île-de-France)
This article analyzes how the public land tenure system, introduced in the 2018 "Agricultural Pact" in the Île-de-France region, articulates with local farming systems. Based on a qualitative survey conducted in the Green Belt area, the findings reveal that this land tenure system does not fully align with the strategies of farmers, particularly young people outside family farming who wish to establish themselves in agriculture, as they do not necessarily seek land ownership.
Governance failurePolicyPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsCyber-gardening the city
2023Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto · · Europe
This article introduces the Urban Algae Canopy, an innovative architectural system that redefines farming and horticulture within urbanism. It proposes agriculture as a tool for reprogramming Milan's public realm and challenges the separation between urban and rural conditions. The Urban Algae Folly aims to integrate technical and scientific research with societal needs through architectural design.
Digital agricultureClimate changeUrban–rural linkageBetween ambitions and actions: how citizens navigate the entrepreneurial process of co-producing sustainable urban food futures
2023Koen van der Gaast, J.E. Jansma, Sigrid Wertheim‐Heck · Agriculture and Human Values · Netherlands
This study explored how residents of Almere Oosterwold, Netherlands, envision and organize urban agriculture futures, where 50% of plots must be used for urban agriculture. Using futuring, it found that residents have diverse future perspectives and can formulate specific actions but struggle to commit to them, attributing this to temporal dissonance. The paper concludes that both planning and entrepreneurship are necessary for realizing urban food futures.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityPolicyFormazione e gestione congiunte nel progetto di restauro del paesaggio
2023Branduini P. · Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) · Italy (Milan)
This paper reflects on management and training issues in landscape restoration, based on two pilot water meadow restoration sites in the Milanese peri-urban agricultural area. A training course for "campari" (water flow controllers) was organized at the second site, attracting diverse participants including professionals and vulnerable groups. While the course increased participant awareness, it resulted in a decrease in restoration quality compared to work by professionals at the first site. This led to a participatory management process involving owners, tenants, and volunteers to address the landscape's high perishability.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityWelfareReviving Urban Greening in Post-Industrial Landscapes: The Case of Turin
2023Evinç Doğan, Federico Cuomo, Luca Battisti · Sustainability · Italy (Turin)
This paper explored strategies for reviving urban greening in post-industrial landscapes through nature-based solutions (NbS), using the case of Turin's old FIAT premises in the Mirafiori Sud area. Data were collected through public literature review, interviews, and focus groups with policymakers, volunteers, and inhabitants. Qualitative thematic analysis showed that Mirafiori Sud became a co-creation hub for sustainable solutions, regenerative art in shared spaces was crucial for community engagement, and urban agriculture support could improve alternative food networks.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityPolicyClimate changeEqualizing urban agriculture access in Glasgow: A spatial optimization approach
2023Amy Russell, Ziqi Li, Mingshu Wang · International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation · United Kingdom (Glasgow)
This study investigated the distribution of urban agriculture in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, finding that existing projects are mostly centrally located, covering 36% of the total population (approximately 635,000) within a 10-minute walk. A positive correlation was found between walking travel time to the nearest urban agriculture project and food desert status, indicating access disparity. Using the Maximal Covering Location Problem model, the research identified that a minimum of 15 new urban agriculture projects on vacant and derelict land could increase population coverage to 49% and equalize access disparity to a statistically non-significant level.
Equity & displacementCommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justicePolicyDIY Design and Radical Worldbuilding at The Grove Skatepark, London
2023Tom Critchley · Temes de disseny · United Kingdom (London)
This ethnographic case study examines DIY design practices at The Grove Skatepark in London, UK, viewing it as an urban commons. Fieldwork revealed DIY practices as "learning-by-doing," fostering vocational and soft skills, and supporting a community that includes a community garden and arts workshops. However, the study also found that while the space is inclusive, its governance centers agency around "core skateboarding," reinforcing masculine hegemonies.
DIYCommunityToward Evidence-Based Local Food Policy: An Agroecological Assessment of Urban Agriculture in Rome
2023Davide Marino, Francesca Curcio, Francesca Benedetta Felici, Giampiero Mazzocchi · Land · Italy (Rome)
This paper proposes agroecological assessment as a tool for formulating evidence-based local food policies, adapting the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) model on a sample of 20 farms in the city-region food system of Rome, Italy. Data analysis showed that agroecological principles are not fully adopted by the majority of farms considered in Rome. Additionally, farms with the highest agroecological level are mainly driven by social factors and have a lower propensity for innovation, which could hinder the transformation process of food systems.
Limited or null effectPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsFungal-bacterial associations in urban allotment garden soils
2023Maraike Probst, María Gómez‐Brandón, Cecilia Herbón, María Teresa Barral, Remigio Paradelo · Applied Soil Ecology · Spain
This study evaluated fungal and bacterial communities in 40 soil samples from 10 urban allotment gardens in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, using DNA sequencing. While microbial richness was comparable to less anthropogenically influenced urban soils, the deterministic effect of soil properties and geographical distances was negligible. Fungal and bacterial communities followed a random distribution and formed very small, often unconnected, microbial association modules, suggesting potential implications of anthropogenic activity for soil health and ecosystem functionality.
CommunityBiodiversityOrganic cycleIntroducing Food Sustainability in Formal Education: A Teaching-Learning Sequence Contextualized in the Garden for Secondary School Students
2022Eugenio-Gozalbo M., Ramos-Truchero G., Suárez-López R., Romanillos M.S.A., Rees S. · Education Sciences (MDPI), 12(3):168 · Europe
A study assessing a garden-based teaching unit on 'Food and Nutrition' against a traditional textbook-based unit. The garden-based sequence produced more comprehensive student understanding and better preparation for real-life dietary decisions, representing an educational improvement over traditional teaching.
Food educationCommunityOrganic cycleThe Impact of Therapeutic Community Gardening on the Wellbeing, Loneliness, and Life Satisfaction of Individuals with Mental Illness
2022Wood C. J., Barton J. L., Wicks C. L. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(20):13166 · United Kingdom
A longitudinal study tracking 53 people with mental illness referred to the therapeutic community garden 'Growing Together' in Essex, UK, showing that participation improved wellbeing, reduced loneliness and raised life satisfaction. Benefits held even across the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the value of green social prescribing.
HealthWelfareCommunityAn integrated genomic and biochemical approach to investigate the potentiality of heirloom tomatoes: Breeding resources for food quality and sustainable agriculture
2022Tripodi P., D'Alessandro A., Francese G. · Frontiers in Plant Science 13:1031776 · Italy
Integrated genomic and biochemical analysis of heirloom tomatoes linking fruit shape and size to sugars, organic acids, and aroma compounds. Demonstrates heirlooms as germplasm resources for high food quality and sustainable agriculture.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthOrganic cycleTechno-Economic Assessment of an Office-Based Indoor Farming Unit
2022Cichocki J., von Cossel M., Winkler B. · Agronomy 12(12):3182 · Germany
Assesses technical requirements, productivity and economic viability of a 'Smart Office Farm' indoor unit based on a five-week production cycle of lettuce, pak choi and basil, comparing indoor vertical production with field and greenhouse cultivation in Germany.
EconomicsLand sharing between cultivated and wild plants: urban gardens as hotspots for plant diversity in cities
2022Seitz B., Buchholz S., Kowarik I., Herrmann J., Neuerburg L., Wendler J., Winker L., Egerer M. · Urban Ecosystems, 25(3):927-939 · Germany (Berlin)
A survey of cultivated and spontaneously occurring wild plants in 18 community gardens across metropolitan Berlin, classifying each species as native or non-native. It found that gardens host many plant species — especially wild ones, including some endangered natives — regardless of surrounding urbanization, and that more cultivated species co-occur with more wild species (land sharing). The authors argue urban gardens can be sites of 'reconciliation ecology' that combine food production with conservation of native and wild flora.
BiodiversityCommunityPolicyThe role of the common agricultural policy in contributing to jobs and growth in EU's rural areas
2022Grodzicki T., Jankiewicz M. · PLoS ONE (PMC8812895) · Europe
A quantitative analysis of how the EU Common Agricultural Policy affects rural employment, GDP and poverty in the Baltic states, showing that higher rural employment promotes rural economic growth.
PolicyEconomicsThere Grows the City: A Long History of Urban Agriculture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2022Michael Carriere, David Schalliol · Journal of Urban History · United States (Milwaukee)
This historical essay documents the history of urban agriculture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, complicating the "declensionist" narrative of the twentieth-century U.S. city. It argues that food production played a significant and often overlooked role in Milwaukee's economic, social, and spatial development, even during industrial expansion. The authors show that urban agriculture remained a viable tool for urban redevelopment, used by both public- and private-sector actors well into the twenty-first century.
EconomicsCommunityPolicySoil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, Germany
2022· Frontiers in Microbiology · Germany (Berlin)
Investigated how soil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, highlighting that microbial communities inhabiting urban soils govern nutrient cycling and support of plant communities.
Organic cycleBiodiversityBiodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems
2022Schittko C. · Journal of Ecology · Germany (Berlin)
Shows that biodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems studied in Berlin.
BiodiversityOrganic cycle