Research & reports

Partalidou M., Anthopoulou T. · Sociologia Ruralis, 57(2), 211–228 · Greece (Thermi, Northern Greece)

Using Maslow's hierarchy of needs and fieldwork in a municipal allotment garden in northern Greece, the study constructs a typology of gardeners and finds that participation evolves from satisfying basic subsistence needs during economic crisis toward self-actualization and placemaking.

Anthopoulou T., Nikolaidou S., Partalidou M., Petrou M. · In: Soulard CT., Perrin C., Valette E. (eds) Toward Sustainable Relations Between Agriculture and the City. Springer, Cham, pp. 181–199 · Greece

Drawing on fieldwork at three municipal allotment gardens in Greece, the chapter examines the institutional and political context of their rapid proliferation during the economic crisis and identifies governance challenges facing local authorities and urban gardening communities.

Blanca Rosa Restrepo de Peña, José Elvis Sierra Borras, Nubia Esperanza Suárez Suárez · CITAS · Colombia

This descriptive and interpretive study, using Participatory Action Research with 62 randomly sampled families in Loma Linda neighborhood, Soacha, Colombia, investigated urban agriculture's role in addressing food needs and improving family income. The study identified an extremely poor population with an average family income of 252,000 pesos, 49.9% aged 60+, 70% with primary education, and 30% illiteracy. Analysis showed that 50% of basic fruit and vegetable needs could be met through rudimentary but efficient community urban agriculture, leading to the production of family consumption products and commercializable surpluses.

Rebecca Seguin, Emily Morgan, Karla Hanson, Alice Ammerman, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Jane Kolodinsky, Marilyn Sitaker, Florence Becot, Leah Connor, Jennifer Garner, Jared McGuirt · Figshare · Global

This document compiles publication, presentation, and dissemination guidelines for an innovative Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) cost-offset intervention aimed at preventing childhood obesity in low-income families and strengthening local agricultural economies.

Colleen Hammelman · CABI eBooks · Colombia

In Medellín, Colombia, displaced women utilize urban gardens as a survival strategy amidst food insecurity and tenuous support from local government. Urban planning permits these gardens under the guise of supporting displaced families, but also for preserving open space and halting the growth of informal settlements. This chapter provides a clear example of how urban planning impacts the critical survival strategy of growing food.

Never Mujere · CABI eBooks · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This case study in Harare City, Zimbabwe, examined an urban irrigated agriculture project's contribution to household food security and poverty alleviation, including crop types, productivity, and farmer challenges. It found that while urban irrigated smallholder agriculture contributes to livelihoods, numerous socio-economic factors impede greater participation. Furthermore, some participants withdrew due to security threats from perceived political affiliations.

Muzammil H. Syed, Umair Majid, Reda Siddiqui · · Global

This paper proposes that community garden ventures could offer a solution for vulnerable populations struggling with mental well-being in isolation. Through gardening and acquiring agricultural techniques, participants would engage in Principle-Centred Therapy, aiming to guide individuals from dependence to independence and interdependence. Agricultural output would be sold in markets, contributing to community resilience by integrating isolated members and enhancing overall economic vitality.

Christa Wichterich · Feministische Studien · Global

This essay explores the transformative potential of caring and commoning in alternative projects such as community agriculture and urban gardening. While these self-organized experiments develop caring practices towards nature and humans, their transformative impact on society is limited. This limitation stems from unintended mechanisms of social or racist exclusion, or from appropriation by the municipality or the state.

Lorena Meneses · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Colombia (Palmira)

In 2015, Pontificia Bolivariana University implemented the 'Environmental Education' project in Palmira, Colombia. This project aimed to offer an alternative means of food acquisition for children at Fundación Hogar Divino Niño and identify plants usable on the land to minimize negative environmental impact and promote food sovereignty. Although conceived from an agricultural perspective, it became a participatory scenario where non-formal education and communication for social change played a role in uniting a community around a common good.

Nugrahaning Sani Dewi, Masakazu Komatsuzaki, Yuriko Yamakawa, Hiromi Takahashi, Shibanuma Saori, Takeshi Yasue, Tsuyoshi Okayama, Atsushi Toyoda, Hikari Shimonishi, Sei‐Ichi Sasaki · Sustainability · Global

This study investigated the psychological and physical effects of stress from various intensity community garden activities on adults with and without mental disabilities (n=42 for psychological analysis, n=13 for physical assessment). After activities, the group with mental disabilities showed decreased salivary α-amylase levels while the control group showed increased levels, but both groups exhibited lower stress response scale (SRS-18) results. The group with mental disabilities had a significantly lower increase in heart rate ratio during low-intensity work but a significantly higher increase during high-intensity work, and experienced significantly higher fatigue during high-intensity work.

Natascha Wagner, Luca Tasciotti · Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d études du développement · Tanzania

This study explores the link between urban agriculture, dietary diversity, and child health in urban Tanzania, using weight-for-age and height-for-age Z-scores. Utilizing two rounds of observational data for urban Tanzania and an instrumental variables estimation approach, the research shows that practicing urban agriculture leads to the consumption of a greater variety of food items, and the health status of urban children living in households practicing urban agriculture significantly improves in both the short and long term.

Max Counter · Social & Cultural Geography · Colombia (Magdalena Medio)

Based on fieldwork with internally displaced landmine victims in Colombia's Magdalena Medio region, this research highlights how the intersection between physical impairment and forced displacement produces disabling spatial imaginaries of fear and painfully embodied rhythms of daily life. The paper draws attention to urban agricultural projects' enabling potential to produce grounding rhythms of labor for landmine victims.

Séverine Erismann, Serge Diagbouga, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Astrid M. Knoblauch, Jana Gerold, Andrea Leuenberger, Akina Shrestha, Grissoum Tarnagda, Jürg Utzinger, Guéladio Cissé · American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · Burkina Faso

A cluster-randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso, involving 360 children aged 8-15, assessed the impact of school garden, nutrition, and WASH interventions on intestinal parasites and nutritional status. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections significantly decreased in intervention schools compared to control schools (OR = 0.2), and safe handwashing and latrine use improved. However, indices of undernutrition and water quality parameters did not decrease or change in intervention schools.

Shirin Yajam, Mohammad Taghi Alebrahim, Roghaye Majd, Mehrdad Sabouhi · · Global

A study examining the role and benefits of urban agriculture was conducted based on library resources, documents, and evidence of successful examples in other countries. It was shown that urban agriculture can play an important role in increasing food security, improving nutrition, reducing poverty, developing local economies, creating jobs, and recycling municipal waste. The study concluded that urban agriculture can be considered an appropriate solution for sustainable urban development in environmental issues and for improving food security and safety.

José Elvis Sierra Borras, Nubia Esperanza Suárez Suárez, Diana Bocanegra, Blanca Restrepo de Peña · · Colombia (Soacha)

In the Loma Linda neighborhood of Altos de Cazuca, Soacha, Colombia, participatory action research was conducted with 62 randomly selected families living in extreme poverty. The study found that 49.9% of the population was 60 years or older, 50.1% was between 40 and 60 years old, with an absence of young people. The horticultural component of the basic family basket was 50% supplied by artisanal or rudimentary activities, but production volumes could not be quantified, preventing the measurement of production capacity for marketable surpluses.

John Diaz, Sue Webb, Laura A. Warner, Paul Monoghan · HortTechnology · Global

This study demonstrated the use of a Delphi approach with a diverse panel of community garden stakeholders to reach consensus about program outcomes for community garden programs. The panel successfully reached consensus on a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes. The study aimed to provide a framework for program development and evaluation that stakeholders can adopt to show program outcomes, addressing the difficulty of learning lessons from geographically specific community garden studies.

Abdul Rahman Conteh, Alusaine Edward Samura, E. L. S. Hinckley, Osman Nabay, Mohamed S. Kamara · Journal of Agricultural Science and Practice · Sierra Leone (Freetown)

This study was conducted to identify the risks of heavy metal contamination in urban and peri-urban cropping systems in Sierra Leone. Soil and plant samples were collected from 72 sites in Freetown and Bo and analyzed for Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Cd. Heavy metals were detected across all sites, and some mild risk of cadmium toxicity was observed in densely populated areas of Freetown, though this was not reflected in plant uptake of cadmium.

Sanzidur Rahman · PEARL (University of Plymouth) · Bangladesh

This study examined socio-economic factors influencing monthly household income in poor urban slum settlements across four secondary cities in Bangladesh, based on a census survey of 33,049 households. Using a Tobit model, it found that education, public sector employment, business, self-employment, homestead land ownership, family size, female occupation, and urban agriculture significantly increased income. Conversely, households with female heads, unemployed heads, and children under 5 earned significantly less income.

Suzanne Smith, K. Anne Wright, Lauren Hrncirik, Mary Katherine Deen · Journal of Extension · Burundi

University faculty and Extension educators implemented the "Cultivating Learning with School Gardens" curriculum in Burundi, Africa, to address food insecurity, youth development, and experiential learning. Washington State University personnel trained Burundian NGO staff via videoconferencing, who then trained teachers in pilot programs at four Burundian schools. First harvests occurred in May 2016, with support from an agricultural consultant.

Haruka Yamashita, Akira Ishida · Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics · Bangladesh

This study identified factors affecting urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) decision-making among poor urban slum dwellers in Bangladesh, using a logit regression model with secondary household data. In Jessore, households with more family members (without children under five), some savings, owned or rent-free housing, and 1-60 days of waterlogging were more likely to engage in UPA. In Tongi, households with owned or rent-free housing, longer residency, less than four months of waterlogging, or reliance on neighbors were more likely to engage in UPA. The findings indicate that UPA engagement factors vary across urban settings.

Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa · Geographical Research · Ghana

This paper descriptively analyzed the contribution of household engagement in agriculture to urban food security in Techiman and Tamale, Ghana, using household data. The study found that nearly half (43%) of urban residents participate in food production, primarily for consumption and surplus sale. For households engaged in both urban and rural agriculture, agricultural income was the highest, contributing 43% of total cash income in Techiman and 33% in Tamale.

Ellen Burke · Landscape Research · Global

This paper is a transdisciplinary literature review addressing how to measure the performance of food production landscapes in urban, suburban, campus and other design contexts. Noting that such performance is currently most often measured by the weight and value of harvest alone, it aims to identify expanded methods and metrics, particularly for health and well-being benefits. Through the review it presents evidence for mental well-being, physical activity, and human nutrition benefits, and catalogs performance metrics and evaluation methods.

Joshua Sbicca · Digital Collections of Colorado (Colorado State University) · Global

An article examining food as an entry point into the politics and processes of gentrification, discussed with reference to cities globally rather than a single case. Where traditional explanations of gentrification hinge on either political-economy or cultural drivers, the article shows the relationship between the two to argue that food gentrification is multifaceted, changing a neighborhood's class and ethnoracial demographics, foodscapes and foodways, and housing. It states that poor communities in cities around the world can experience harmful effects of food-driven gentrification, such as developers using urban agriculture to attract new residents and increase property values. It also describes food itself as being gentrified in two ways: for communities marginalized by race or ethnicity, culturally important foods become "cool," unaffordable and dispossessed from them, while the upscaling of food retail displaces former bars, cafes, restaurants, grocery stores and gardens. The article closes with a brief discussion of social movement strategies and policy approaches to prevent these harmful effects.

Pranee Liamputtong, Erin Sanchez · Activities Adaptation & Aging · Australia

A study of older residents in a rural Victorian town in Australia examined perceptions of, and reasons for participating in, a community garden through in-depth interviews with 10 older persons. Participation built social support networks and social capital and created social connectedness among participants. The main reason for initial involvement was that participants were new to the area and sought to build local support networks in their new living environment.

Jim Downing · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

The 2017 DOAJ-indexed abstract states only that the work operates at the intersection of technology, civic society and sustainability to build food security and community-university connections; no specific study site, method or findings are given.