Research & reports

· International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science · Global

An IoT and artificial intelligence-based smart gardening and irrigation system was developed to simplify the maintenance of rooftop and balcony gardens for urban greening. The system utilizes hardware such as NodeMCU ESP8266, a water motor, battery, relay module, rain sensor, temperature and humidity sensor, and soil moisture sensors. It enables users to water plants manually or automatically via the internet from anywhere using a smartphone, making gardening easier for individuals with limited time.

Jung-Ho Byeon, Yong-Ju Kwon · Journal of Baltic Science Education · Global

This study developed a biology class program where students constructed a virtual world and explored living organisms using a digital twin platform, addressing challenges of frequent outdoor inquiry in school gardens. Researchers assessed changes in students' affective domain. The experimental group showed more positive changes in the affective domain of learning biology compared to the control group, attributed to replicating the school garden for indoor and outdoor exploration.

Anthony Silva Ferraz, Raick Silva Sousa, Maria Cristina da Silva de Carvalho, Valter dos Santos Mendonça Neto, Carlos Costa Cardoso · Revista Eletrônica Multidisciplinar de Investigação Científica · Brazil

This study presents the development of a mobile application providing information on seedlings cultivated and made available by the Municipal Nursery of Açailândia, Maranhão, Brazil. The software was built using the Kodular tool, and seedling information was extracted from a survey conducted at the nursery and complemented with data from specialized websites. Evaluations were conducted with 52 people aged 12 to 27 who installed and tested the application, with results showing good public acceptance regarding the software's utility and applications.

Rendra Adi Sasongko, Eny Krisnawati, Abito Bamban Yuuono · Journal of Architecture Cultural and Tourism Studies · Indonesia (Surakarta)

This study in Surakarta, Indonesia, addressed the problem of decreasing agricultural land due to population growth and urban development. The research aimed to obtain a planning and design concept for an aquaponics edutourism building that could accommodate educational tourism and cultivation activities using an aquaponics system. A descriptive qualitative analysis-synthesis method was used, and a planning and architectural design concept for an Aquaponics Edu-tourism building in Surakarta, utilizing a Bioclimatic Architecture Approach, was obtained.

Claudia 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.

Laura Amelia López, Juan Pablo Ayala, Nicoll Yeliltza Parra, Adriana Alejandra Vargas, Juan Sebastián González, John Manuel Silva · Encuentro de Ciencias Básicas · Colombia (Bogotá)

This study presents a project by students from the Catholic University of Colombia, focusing on community-oriented urban agriculture to promote food security in vulnerable populations. An experimental strategy was used, employing a vertical module with an ESP 32 board and sensors to observe variables such as temperature, humidity, and pH. Prototype development, device design, and the production and growth of Batavia lettuce seedlings were achieved, followed by field piloting of the sensor application in community urban farming modules.

Theochrasia Latue, Philia Christi Latue, Heinrich Rakuasa · Nusantara Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences · Indonesia (Bandung)

This descriptive qualitative research examined hydroponic salad cultivation by the Bandung Gardening community in Bandung City, Indonesia. The study found that hydroponics is an efficient and effective method for producing high-quality salads in an urban environment. Hydroponic plants showed faster growth, higher yields, and better nutritional quality compared to soil-based cultivation, while also reducing water and land use.

Raj, T. Yuvan, Divashen, C., Pillaiy, K. Nishart, Pretthic, S., Rishwin, S. · UiTM Institutional Repositories (Universiti Teknologi MARA) · Global

This smart aquaponic garden system integrates aquaculture and hydroponics with IoT sensors to monitor water parameters and optimize plant growth. A central monitoring platform processes real-time data to maintain optimal conditions for plants and fish and detect abnormalities. The system offers remote access and control, aiming to promote sustainable agriculture, reduce water consumption, and provide an accessible platform for local food production in urban farming and community gardens.

Faathiyah Harun · MIMBAR AGRIBISNIS Jurnal Pemikiran Masyarakat Ilmiah Berwawasan Agribisnis · Indonesia (Makassar)

This research analyzed the influence of urban farming motives on the behavior of urban farming practitioners in using social media as a cyber extension in Makassar City, Indonesia. Questionnaires were administered to 50 respondents, and regression analysis was employed. Results indicated that urban farming motives have a significant relationship and influence on online media usage behavior for seeking urban farming information. This motive affects the choice of social media platforms and influences respondents' attitudes and knowledge after receiving information.

Muhammad Izzad Ramli, Muhammad Azizi Mohd Ariffin, Zarina Zainol, Mohd Nazrul Mohd Amin, Dedeng Hirawan, I D Sumitra, Nursuriati Jamil · Pertanika journal of science & technology · Global

This paper proposes a design for a Smart Portable Farming Kit, an IoT-based system for cultivating short-duration vegetables and mushrooms indoors in urban areas. The prototype design is simple, lightweight, and durable, requiring minimal user attention. It proved better than traditional setups by increasing mushroom yield, making oyster mushroom cultivation easier and more profitable in urban areas.

David Vallejo-Gómez, Marisol Osorio, Carlos A. Hincapié · Agronomy · Global

This research aims to conduct a systematic review of available literature on smart irrigation systems. It focuses on systems using artificial intelligence techniques for soil crops in urban and rural agriculture to identify those currently in use or adaptable to urban agriculture. A modified PRISMA 2020 method was applied, screening 170 articles, with 50 selected for detailed analysis.

Tirto Wahyu Widodo, Damanhuri Damanhuri, Ilham Muhklisin, Sonia Budiarti, Dian Agustina · Jurnal Ilmu Pertanian Indonesia · Indonesia

An experiment examining the response of rice plants to non-soil planting media based on alternate wetting-drying irrigation, aimed at soilless rice cultivation as an urban farming method for subsistence food production. Conducted at a screen house in Sumberjeruk Village, Jember Regency, Indonesia, from January to May 2022, the study used a two-factor, fully randomized factorial design with three replications: husk-to-water ratio (0:1, 1:4, 1:6, and 1:8, total media volume 25 L) as the first factor, and rice variety (Inpari 46 and IR 64) as the second. The combination of a 1:6 husk:water ratio with the Inpari 46 variety had a significant effect on the number of productive tillers (25.17 stems) and grain weight per hill (34.07 g); the 1:6 ratio showed no significant difference from 1:4 in total grain number (124.21) or full grain number (83.52). The Inpari 46 variety showed the highest values for total grain number (133.07), full grain number (84.88), and 1000-seed weight (22.43 g). The study concludes that husk-and-water media at the right ratio is an ideal medium for landless rice cultivation because it can supply oxygen to the media.

Josep Pueyo‐Ros, Joaquím Comas, Ina Säumel, Joana Castellar, Lucía Alexandra Popartan, Vicenç Acuña, Lluís Corominas · Nature-Based Solutions · Global

A paper addressing the problem that serious games proposed as a tool to foster civic participatory processes often fail due to lack of funding or design skills, presenting a new framework for designing serious games for participatory planning of nature-based solutions, with guidance on definition, content, and evaluation steps. The framework's usefulness is illustrated through the design of the Edible City Game (ECG), a digital serious game for participatory planning of edible city solutions (urban nature-based solutions with a food component), which was implemented on Tygron, a platform providing a graphical interface for urban-planning serious games. The paper argues that while Tygron provides user-friendly software for designing serious games, the final product still requires a proper design-oriented process to fulfil its purpose.

Ryan Fraser Kirwan, Farhat Abbas, Indriyati Atmosukarto, A. W. Y. Loo, Jong‐Hwan Lim, Sang-Soo Yeo · Frontiers in the Internet of Things · Global

This study, conducted with a Singaporean urban farming company, presents an IoT-based automated farming system consisting of an agnostic growbox and a web dashboard for monitoring crop growth. Using an image analytics approach to classify crop disease phenotypes — specifically chlorosis and tip burn — in lettuce, the researchers compared it against a machine learning approach on the same dataset. The image analytics approach showed scalability, time efficiency, and accuracy in disease detection, with advantages over the machine learning approach in time and cost efficiency.

Nasreen Khan, Teck Chai Lau, Booi Chen Tan · Food Research · Global

A qualitative content analysis examining social entrepreneurship and adoption factors behind smart urban farming among elderly people. Interviews were conducted via purposive sampling and analyzed using the framework method, drawing on diffusion of innovation theory and the theory of planned behavior. It found that positive attitudes and positive social influence increase adoption of smart urban farming, that using technology can help elderly farmers continue farming, and that effective social entrepreneurship involvement - providing information and technical advice - influenced adoption. Ease of use was the most important adoption factor, with attitude and subjective norms also shown to be influential.

Lara Houston, Sara Heitlinger, Ruth Catlow, Alex Taylor · Bristol University Press eBooks · United Kingdom

This piece asks under what technoscientific conditions food scarcity might be understood as contingent on heterogeneous actors, and how the possibility of food abundance might be approached as a reparative project revaluing those manifold relations, framing blockchain as an infrastructure offering both productive imaginaries and challenges to such work. A series of workshops critically experimented with these possibilities and challenges, working with diverse participants — community growers, organizers, artists and technologists — who used playful methods to act out fictional scenarios set in 2025, a speculative future in which all of London had been transformed into a city farm. For the organizations and participants involved, reparation meant working in the aftermath of social and environmental collapse to bring into being more-than-human value systems that radically decentered human knowledge and experience.

Amy Hui‐Mei Lin, Andrea Gómez‐Maqueo · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A review paper (2023) examines the challenge of strengthening food security — especially production of staple food carbohydrates — in places with limited or unavailable land and natural resources, using the city-state of Singapore as its case. Unlike some alternative foods such as cultured meat, producing carbohydrate foods through conventional agri-food approaches requires substantial natural resources unavailable in regions like Singapore, so the paper argues for developing new, sustainable methods to increase the quantity and nutritional quality of carbohydrate-rich foods. It reviews technology developments such as indoor vertical farming and urban farming used to improve crop quality and production, and recommends exploring underutilized and unconventional resilient, nutrient-dense crops, identifying hidden resources in local ecosystems such as revalorizing agri-food processing byproducts, and producing alternative carbohydrates including microbial and synthetic sources, suggesting Singapore's experience and approaches may serve as an example and inspire creativity for other regions.

SUEDANUR ÖZDEN, ESRA ARSLANTÜRK, MEHMET SENEM, İmdat As · Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ) · Europe

Focused on a planned future city for 50,000 residents on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, this study (2023, Europe) explores a virtual reality (VR) gaming environment that lets citizens experience smart-city topics including innovative mobility approaches, drone delivery, and urban farming. It frames VR as offering a testing ground for ideas, performance simulation, and crowdsourcing input before a city is physically built, with gamification intended to incentivize citizen participation in the design process and generate a feedback loop for shaping the future city. Citizens can experience the city design through four circulation modes — walking, biking, driving, and flying — within the VR environment, and earn points by engaging with smart-city topics such as urban farming, solar energy use, and carbon neutrality. The project comprises three phases — an immersive head-mounted-display VR version of the city, edutainment/gamification, and integration into Meta's multi-user space — and the paper presents early findings, the methods and tools explored, and a discussion of VR's utility in architecture and urban planning design processes.

Rangga Pahlevi Putra, Ririen Prihandarini, Choirul Anam · JURNAL APLIKASI DAN INOVASI IPTEKS SOLIDITAS (J-SOLID) · Indonesia

A survey of the "Urfam Alam Lestari" urban farming group in Balearjosari, Blimbing District, Malang City, Indonesia, found that although the group cultivates multiple plots producing vegetables and fruit, it lacked digital media to market and sell its harvest, relying only on a WhatsApp group and unable to scale up sales. In response, a community-service team provided a mobile-application solution for marketing and sales, implemented through discussion, design of marketing/sales media, training and mentoring, and evaluation.

Marco Antonio Márquez-Vera, Brenda Eguiluz-Ruiz, Ricardo Calderón-Suárez · Advances in finance, accounting, and economics book series · Global

This book chapter examines the integration of smart technologies—IoT, AI, and data analytics—into urban agriculture. It argues that real-time monitoring, circular resource systems, intelligent irrigation, and controlled environments can improve resource efficiency, productivity, and sustainability in the face of challenges like limited arable land and conventional practices, while acknowledging costs and technology dependence as obstacles and emphasizing collaboration and education for successful implementation; no empirical data are presented.

Leonor Ángeles Hernández, Mónica Leticia Acosta Miranda, Julio Pérez Machorro, Daniel Domínguez Estudillo, Leidys Fernández Arias · IPSUMTEC. · Mexico

A project in the eastern Morelos region of Mexico designs and builds urban/family gardens supported by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, primarily targeting small-scale farmers, homemakers, families, and older adults, aiming to let users remotely monitor gardens via mobile device or computer and reduce the time spent on routine care. The project is still under development, building prototype gardens of varying sizes and crops equipped with organic nutrients and an automated irrigation and monitoring system.

NJBIZ · NJBIZ · United States

NJBIZ reported that Newark, New Jersey-based vertical farming company AeroFarms filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware federal bankruptcy court on June 8, 2023. It cited significant industry and capital-market headwinds, secured $10 million in debtor-in-possession financing from an existing investor group, and had announced 82 layoffs at its Newark headquarters two months earlier. Founder and CEO David Rosenberg stepped down, with CFO Guy Blanchard taking over.

AgFunderNews · AgFunderNews · United States

AgFunderNews reported that controlled-environment agriculture company AppHarvest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 24, 2023. It posted a $176.6 million net loss for fiscal 2022, planned to sell its Berea farm to Mastronardi Produce for about $3.75 million, and aimed to sell its Morehead, Richmond, and Somerset facilities as well. It secured $30 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Equilibrium Capital, enabling operations to continue for 60 more days.

Urban Sustainability Exchange (Metropolis) · Urban Sustainability Exchange (Metropolis) · Colombia

A case study on Bogotá's expansion of urban and peri-urban agriculture as a response to COVID-19 and the climate crisis. With technical support from the Bogotá Botanical Garden, 14,266 people received basic urban-agriculture training and 31,926 received technical assistance between the second half of 2020 and February 2022, while 11,970 vegetable gardens were supplied with inputs. In April 2022 the city launched the AUPA mobile app for real-time data collection and updates.

Grace Ning Yuan, Gian Powell B. Marquez, Haoran Deng, Anastasiia Iu, Melisa Fabella, Reginald B. Salonga, Fitrio Ashardiono, Joyce A. Cartagena · Heliyon · Global

This review examined urban agriculture (UA) across technology, socio-economy, and policy, noting that supporting UA expansion in cities is challenging due to its poor economic profitability. The study highlighted UA's value beyond profitability, including social, health and well-being, disaster risk reduction, and environmental benefits. It also presented advancements in UA technologies and plant biotechnology as potential solutions for increasing the future profitability of commercial UA.