Research & reports

K. Wróblewska, Byoung Ryong Jeong · Environmental Sciences Europe · Global

This review presents the effectiveness of plants and green infrastructure in ambient particulate matter (PM) removal. It describes the mechanisms of PM capture by plants and factors influencing PM reduction in the atmosphere. The review refers to the effectiveness of plant utilization in various forms of green infrastructure, including trees, grasslands, green roofs, living walls, water reservoirs, and urban farming. Additionally, methods to increase PM removal by plants, such as species selection, biodiversity increase, PAH-degrading phyllospheric endophytes, transgenic plants, and microorganisms, are presented.

Sumita Ghosh · · Global

This research conducted a desktop review and analyzed six international case studies of rooftop urban farms, community gardens, and home gardens. The analysis found that productive landscapes already exist on city rooftops, contributing positively to community, environment, ecology, economy, and society. Planning and designing rooftop gardens in dense urban areas could foster place-making through urban agriculture.

Hayley Q McGough · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · Global

This paper investigates why plant façades on buildings frequently die, preventing them from fully realizing benefits like urban heat island reduction and improved air quality. Through interviews with landscape architects, it examines factors for maintaining plant façades and assesses if new approaches, such as earlier integration of landscape architects or biocurtains, can address the high mortality rates. The study highlights that these plant façades often fail, leading to waste and unfulfilled potential.

Fábio Suzart de Albuquerque, Heather L. Bateman, Cameron Scott Boehme, Daniel C. Allen, Luis Cayuela · Land · Global

This study investigated the effects of land-use and land-cover (LULC) types, vegetation greenness, and climate on avian seasonal variation abundance and richness in urban desert ecosystems, using avian community data collected seasonally (winter and spring) from 2001 to 2016. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) indicated that LULC was the most important predictor of avian abundance and richness. Avian abundance was highest in urban riparian and urban LULC types, followed by agriculture. Avian richness was highest in riparian environments (urban and desert), followed by agriculture, urban, and desert.

Margaret Robertson · · Global

Chapter 13 examines how food is grown, from smallholders and pastoralists to small farmers and industrialized agriculture, addressing issues of ecosystem health, human health, food waste, and the impact of meat diets. It also discusses the importance of pollinators. The chapter then explores finding space for food in cities, including in schools, yards, urban farms, community gardens, and on public lands.

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss · Public · Global

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss has dedicated her life to Indigenous plant remediation and restoration projects supporting wetland ecosystems, food forests, and their wild inhabitants. This work aims to restore what was taken from the natural world over the past 150 years, ensuring the survival of future ancestors. Interdisciplinary documentation, including true plant names in Indigenous languages, ensures future generations remain connected to the natural world.

Sarah Taylor Lovell, John Taylor · · Global

This paper discusses urban agroforestry (UAF) as a strategy to integrate fruit and nut production into urban settings, emphasizing the inclusion of agroecological principles for improved design. It suggests that UAF can be intentionally integrated into urban landscapes, considering synergies with adjacent land uses. Guidelines for planting design can draw from multi-strata systems found in permaculture and food forest literature.

Ayako Nagase, Jeremy Lundholm · Journal of Living Architecture · Global

This review elucidates potential ecosystem services provided by container gardening, which are used in cities globally where access to soil is limited. The services include food production, stormwater management, air quality improvement, energy savings, thermal comfort, plant biodiversity, creation of animal habitats, aesthetic value, communication, and environmental education. The review aims to recognize the value of container gardens to promote them as part of green infrastructure in urban areas.

Miguel A. Altieri, Clara I. Nicholls · Magna Scientia UCEVA · Global

This reflection explores agroecology as a sustainable development alternative for a post-COVID-19 agricultural system, revitalizing peasant agriculture and enhancing urban agriculture. An agroecology-based system can minimize future food supply disruptions by improving links between small-scale food production and local consumption. Agroecology is presented as a strategy for autonomy and resilience, addressing global challenges like climate change and food insecurity.

Fernanda Rodrigues Vieira, Daniel Caixeta Andrade, Francis Lee Ribeiro · Revista Ibero-Americana de Ciências Ambientais · Global

This systematic review analyzed 45 publications from Web of Science up to September 2020 to examine the benefits of bee pollination through the Ecosystem Services Approach. The review found a significant increase in publications over the last two decades, with 84.44% associating pollination with rural agricultural productivity, 8.88% with wild plant reproduction, and 6.66% with urban agriculture. Only 7 of the 45 studies conducted economic valuation of pollination.

Paul Drenning, Shaswati Chowdhury, Yevheniya Volchko, Lars Rosén, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld, Jenny Norrman · The Science of The Total Environment · Sweden

This paper proposed a framework for risk management and communication of Gentle Remediation Options (GRO) to support phytomanagement strategies at contaminated sites. An extensive literature review mapped risk mitigation mechanisms, and the Swedish national soil guideline value model derived human health exposure pathways and ecological risks. Results indicated that most expected risk mitigation mechanisms are supported by literature, but knowledge gaps still exist. The framework was demonstrated to support the identification of GRO options for a case study site under two envisioned land uses: biofuel park and allotment garden.

BMSTU (Mytishchi branch), I.Yu. Bochkova, Yu.A. Khokhlacheva · Лесной вестник / Forestry bulletin · Global

Research conducted in 2018 at the Main Botanical Garden (MBG RAS) identified promising groundcover plants for landscape architecture. From 225 selected plants, field surveys and phenological observations were performed, including biometric measurements and color refinement. The study resulted in a list of 40 highly promising species recommended for urban gardening.

Jean-Marry Exantus, David Beaune, Frank Cézilly · Urban forestry & urban greening · Haiti (Port-au-Prince)

This study assessed bird assemblages in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from January to April 2018, conducting 10 censuses per site across 16 urban green sites (8 forest patches, 8 agroforestry plantations) ranging from 1 to 11 ha. It recorded 32 bird species in forest patches and 34 in agroforestry sites, with an 85% overlap in species composition. Both species richness and diversity were negatively correlated with the percentage of built habitat within a 500-m radius around each site.

Kousaku Ohta, Masatoshi Funabashi · Measurement Sensors · Global

This study achieved high biodiversity (over 200 plant species) on an urban rooftop garden using the Synecoculture method and analyzed soil microbial diversity, activity, and chemical properties over two years. Soil microbes gradually increased in diversity and activity after installation, showing a positive correlation with cation exchange capacity. After two years of continuous practice, human subjective evaluations were qualitatively consistent with objective data, suggesting that trained human subjectivity could be incorporated as part of assessment proxies in future ecosystem management research.

Gail Hansen, Joseli Macedo · University Press of Florida eBooks · Global

Many ecological, political, and economic programs are available to help cities become more sustainable and protect the urban environment. Resilient city planning practices include climate change adaptations, renewable energy technology, reducing urban sprawl, improving urban agriculture and native species use, and using self-sustaining, biophilic buildings. Goals and strategies for implementing these practices rely on citizens accepting responsibility with pro-environmental behaviors that mitigate destructive impacts from development and maintenance practices.

Shannon Davis · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · New Zealand (Auckland)

This article explores the potential contribution of grazing lands within cities of the Global North as a multi-beneficial layer in public greenspace design. While plant-based urban farms and community gardens have seen growth, the integration of grazing lands within urban zones has been largely overlooked. This research considers integrating grazing lands within multi-use greenspace design, undertaking a descriptive critique of Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand, which has provided urban grazing for sheep and cattle since 1903 alongside other land uses.

Fátima Rodríguez Marín, María África Portillo Guerrero, María Puig Gutiérrez · Revista eureka sobre enseñanza y divulgación de las ciencias · Global

This study presents an experience carried out in a classroom with three-year-old children, where the school garden was used as the central axis of a didactic proposal based on the school research model. The results showed that this resource favors environmental literacy, while also serving to articulate didactic proposals that contribute to the population's resilience.

Roberta Moraes Curan, Paulo Eduardo Moruzzi Marques · Estudos Avançados · Global

This article presents a systematic literature review on the multifunctionality of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), conducted using Science Direct, Scielo, and Capes databases. Fourteen articles were selected, and their data were analyzed to identify UPA typologies and functions. The study classified UPA functions into sociocultural, economic, and environmental dimensions, concluding that UPA offers benefits and can be a tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Stefanie Albrecht, Arnim Wiek · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Global

This study compiled evidence from over 200 food forests worldwide, with detailed insights from 14 exemplary food forests in Europe, North America, and South America, gained through site visits and interviews. Findings indicate that most food forests perform well on social-cultural and environmental criteria, such as building capacity, providing food, enhancing biodiversity, and regenerating soil. However, for broader impact, food forests need to enhance their economic viability, as they currently show a deficit in this area.

Gina K. Alexander, Donald R. Grannum · NASN School Nurse · Global

This article reviews existing literature on the benefits of school gardening. It also describes firsthand experiences to achieve success in school gardens.

Renata Michelli Ferretti, Reis Friede, Maria Geralda de Miranda · Revista da Seção Judiciária do Rio de Janeiro · Global

This study, part of the AMBENAP project, discusses environmental education implemented through school gardens in basic education schools. Using problematization theory, the research concluded that school gardens enable students to learn practical environmental care and influence their actions.

Soraya Nór · Revista Latino-americana de Ambiente Construído & Sustentabilidade · Global

This article reflects on the urban landscape, focusing on its environmental dimension, to understand how to better integrate natural and social elements in urban spaces. The study proposes the green and blue infrastructure and urban agriculture as planning and territorial management practices, based on a broad notion of landscape, to favor an expansion of nature's presence in city living spaces. These proposals analyze their environmental and socio-cultural aspects.

E. V. Koroleva, A. F. Petrov, Yu. V. Chudinova · Bulletin of NSAU (Novosibirsk State Agrarian University) · Russia (Novosibirsk)

This review focuses on the intraspecific variability of ornamental plants of the genus Clarkia (Onagraceae) and the clarification of the systematic status of Godetia species introduced into Novosibirsk. Experimental data from genetic and cytological analyses over the last 100 years are presented, showing morphological, karyological characteristics, and genetic variability in various species of the Godetia section. The article concludes that a comprehensive study of environmental conditions' influence on genetic features, ornamental qualities, and flowering biology is necessary for selecting suitable forms and introducing them into urban gardening for Western Siberia's climatic conditions.

Anna Barra Caracciolo, Valentina Terenzi · Microorganisms · Global

A review of the rhizosphere as a microhabitat of intense chemical dialogue between plants and microorganisms covers synergistic interactions that can enhance plant function and productivity, including responses to stress conditions such as heavy metal (HM) contamination, alongside the risks such contamination poses. Where heavy metals are present in agricultural soils, there is a risk of metal uptake by edible plants leading to bioaccumulation in humans and animals with detrimental health consequences, and plant productivity itself can be negatively affected; many bacteria have defensive mechanisms for resisting heavy metals and can improve plant responses to HM stress, but achieving such beneficial rhizosphere interactions is described as hard to attain in agroecosystems managed with traditional practices that focus on maximizing crop yield.

Hannah Hemmelgarn, John F. Munsell · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global

This exploratory synthesis examines functions beyond food production that urban agroforestry systems — urban forest gardens (UFGs) — can serve, focusing on their capacity to include diverse, biologically important, and culturally relevant non-timber forest species with medicinal properties, decorative and landscaping uses, and craft raw materials. Reviewing literature on the social and ecological aspects of designing "beyond-food" specialty crops in UFGs, the study identifies a need for collaborative, participatory, and culturally relevant decision-making that addresses access inequities, potential contamination from urban pollutants, and continued gaps in education and awareness of UFG multifunctionality. It argues these spaces can serve as a biological and cultural repository for otherwise overlooked species, but notes that case studies showing contextual implementation details are still needed to establish specific cultural and health-sovereignty benefits.