Research & reports

Wei Cao, Shenglü Zhou, Minyu Zhou · Land · China

This study analyzed urban-rural reality in Pukou District, Nanjing City, China, and investigated farmers' willingness to achieve urban-rural integration through land use. Pukou District was divided into four land use areas based on resource environment, development intensity, and potential, and most farmers showed a strong willingness for urban-rural integration via land use. The study proposes an operational pattern for regional land use, based on "reality + willingness + policy," utilizing farmland reconsolidation, village reconstruction, and factor reallocation to achieve urban-rural integration.

Yuyang Zhang, Qilin Wu, Lei Wu, Li Yan · Land · China

A study noting that although exposure to green space benefits residents' physical and mental health, its spatial distribution is inequitable, and that existing green equity studies typically rely on administrative units, a macro-scale approach that overlooks the fine-scale green spaces (such as community gardens and lawns) residents encounter most often, risking biased estimates. Using the community as the unit of analysis, the study drew on three types of green-space data - fine-scale green spaces within communities, surrounding large-scale parks, and streetscape imagery - and applied a proposed set of 11 metrics across morphology, visibility, and accessibility to 4,544 communities in urban Beijing. Through spatial visualization, spatial clustering, radar plots, and correlation analysis, the study found large differences and complementary relationships between metric categories, similarities within the same category, and confirmed inequity in green space across regions of the city as urbanization proceeds.

Hamidullah Amin, Mansour Helmi · Environmental Science & Sustainable Development · Asia

A study of agricultural land in the Yakatoot area of Kabul, Afghanistan, examining the economic and environmental impacts of land-use change in the capital. It states plainly that, due to rapid population growth, population densification, and the city's inability to enforce its master plan and regulations, a large portion of agricultural land cover has been transformed into unplanned developments, shifting communities from productive societies into consumer and dependent ones. Using a qualitative approach combining field surveys, aerial photographs from Google Earth, and data from CRIDA, the study describes Afghanistan's land laws and identifies the social, economic and environmental impacts of this land-use change, while also reviewing international experience with land-use change and sustainable responses. The authors recommend incorporating urban agriculture practice into Kabul's master plan and other urban initiatives, though this recommendation is presented as the paper's own policy proposal rather than a measured outcome.

Wei Li, Yang Zhou, Zhanwei Zhang · Land · China

A study analyzing rural planning through policy analysis and focus-group interviews in Pu'an Village, a peri-urban village near Changzhou city in China's Yangtze River Delta. It examines the process of identifying the bulrush as a local multifunctional cultural symbol and proposes a "bulrush + creative industry" framework, with a creative processing industry as the core and creative planting and creative tourism as two extended industries. The research emphasizes participation by local villagers, outsiders and urban tourists, and the creative class and entrepreneurs, stressing the revival of local rural culture in peri-urban villages.

Nur Khasanah · Medikonis · Indonesia

A study examined an urban farming program aimed at increasing national income in Indonesia's Sulampua (Sulawesi-Maluku-Papua) region, using SWOT analysis to identify the program's weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to formulate strategies for optimizing its implementation. Based on the analysis, it recommends that government develop an appropriate urban farming concept, formulate related policy, educate the public, and provide supporting facilities and marketing assistance, that communities select appropriate seedlings and carry out farming practices diligently, and that the private sector provide business-oriented education and CSR funding.

Muhammad Fiar Sandika, Ina Helena Agustina · Prosiding Perencanaan Wilayah dan Kota · Indonesia

A study of resident preferences regarding urban farming in Astanaanyar District, Bandung City, Indonesia, during the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed at formulating development directions based on those preferences. It combined a qualitative descriptive method to identify preferences with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as a quantitative approach; urban farming activity was already occurring in the district but was not optimized. The results point toward developing urban farming on private and shared/government land, growing vegetable or plant-protein food crops using conventional or hydroponic methods or rooftop-garden/vertical techniques, first for personal consumption and then for sale.

Sangmi Lee, Hyung Kwon Yun, Young-Bin Jung, In-Kyoung Hong · Journal of people, plants, and environment · South Korea

Using South Korea's public service design process (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2019) — comprising understanding, discovering needs, defining problems, and developing ideas — researchers analyzed how to manage and operate "urban agricultural parks," a park category established under the 2013 revision of the Act on Urban Parks, Green Areas, Etc. The process generated four idea types for revitalizing these parks: providing information users want, enabling user participation in design, serving as a venue for local communities, and functioning as spaces for health and rest, concluding that such parks need more systematic, diverse operating systems tied to local community revitalization rather than the passive, unified space patterns of conventional urban parks.

Sai Balakrishnan · Cornell University Press eBooks · India

This chapter analyzes the regional class and caste politics of large-scale land investment in Maharashtra, India, through the case of the Khed Special Economic Zone (SEZ), where peri-urban agricultural land was converted into urban real estate. Dominant agrarian castes, long invested in commodity agriculture and closely tied to urban capital, protested vociferously against land acquisition for the SEZ, while Adivasi ("tribal") and Dalit groups historically dependent on land classified as "waste" embraced the forced acquisition. Historic narratives linking poor land quality to the social backwardness of those occupying "wasteland" were leveraged by these lower-caste and lower-class groups themselves to frame land expropriation as a path into the urban economy. The chapter concludes that fictions of "waste" that had previously excluded the most socially subordinated groups from commodity agriculture became, in this case, an instrument of urban inclusion.

Ram Ranjan · Water Economics and Policy · India

This study examines the potential for industrial wastewater remediation through agroforestry in a peri-urban farming region of India. Under a payment for ecosystem services (PES) mechanism, farmers are incentivized to convert farmland into poplar-based agroforestry and use industrial effluent to irrigate the trees, with income from poplar timber sales enhancing the mechanism's attractiveness. A dynamic optimization model compares farmers' optimal land use allocation to a socially optimal case, and compares the firm's effluent discharge outcomes to an alternative arrangement in which it is fined for discharging untreated wastewater without the agroforestry remediation option. The results support the attractiveness of such PES mechanisms in addressing industrial effluent discharge while simultaneously mitigating water scarcity through wastewater reclamation. The optimal tax level required to achieve complete effluent treatment is several times higher than PES payment levels. The incentive to convert farmland to poplar plantations increases with higher PES payments but declines as the profitability of agricultural crops rises.

Shrabana Mazumder, Joydeep Saha, Gouranga Nandi, Mrinmoyee Naskar, Jibananda Gayen, Debajit Datta · SN Applied Sciences · India

A study of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India, used free and open-source geospatial software and multi-temporal databases to assess land use/land cover change from 1990 to 2020, focusing on the transformation of urban and peri-urban agricultural land, and projected cropland change to 2030 using an artificial neural network module (MOLUSCE). Built-up areas persistently expanded into croplands, wetlands, vegetation, and water bodies throughout the period, with an estimated loss of 181.11 sq km of cropland between 1990 and 2020, concentrated in the northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of the study area. The 2030 projection indicates a further loss of 15.46 sq km, bringing the cumulative cropland loss to 37.39% of its 1990 extent under current socio-economic and administrative conditions.

CGTN · CGTN (China Global Television Network) · China

Beijing implemented compulsory four-category household waste sorting for 21 million residents starting May 1, 2020. One year in, daily waste collection fell from 27,700 tonnes (2019) to 20,600 tonnes (early 2021), the recycling rate reached 37.5%, and separated food-waste volume rose to nearly 11.6 times the pre-regulation level.

Pham T.T.H., Turner S. · Land Use Policy · Vietnam (Lào Cai)

Research in Lào Cai, a small border city in northern Vietnam, finds that access to 'safe and clean' vegetables—motivated by distrust of pesticide use—is the primary driver of urban food growing, rather than subsistence food needs.

· Landscape Ecology · China

Examines whether developing a few large or many small cities minimizes farmland loss from urban expansion in China.

· Sustainability · China

Surveys gardeners across community gardens in China to identify design and social factors shaping social capital. Finds that garden location and size affect resident interaction and the formation of bridging social capital.

Rahmi Achmad, Muh Jamil, R M Rukka, Sitti Bulkis, Rahmadanih Rahmadanih, A Amrullah · Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian · Indonesia (Makassar)

This study in Makassar City, Indonesia, aimed to understand the existence of rice farming land, identify strength and weakness factors for farmers, and determine priority strategies for maintaining rice farming land. Informants included farmer group heads and government representatives. Using qualitative descriptive analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the study found that rice farming land physically covers 2,636 hectares. Key strength factors included agricultural products for family food and income, while weakness factors included land ownership, unproductive land, and limited government support. The priority strategy identified was enhancing agricultural production facilities and infrastructure.

Ronny Bowo Leksono, Benedictus Kombaitan, Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, Ridwan Sutriadi · The International Journal of Design Management and Professional Practice · Indonesia

This scholarly article, published in The International Journal of Design Management and Professional Practice, presents a case study from Pekanbaru City, Indonesia. It focuses on initiating consensus building to utilize urban open space for urban agriculture.

Said Nasuiton, Asep Nurjaman · Journal of Local Government Issues · Indonesia (Malang)

This study, conducted in several villages across five sub-districts of Malang, investigated the extent to which the urban farming program influences community food security, particularly family food needs. Results from this qualitative descriptive research showed that the urban farming program impacts several aspects of food security, including food availability, quality, and affordability. However, the research also revealed that some locations struggle to develop urban farming programs effectively due to a lack of supervision, socialization, and technical guidance.

Sulistiya Sulistiya · Jurnal Pertanian Agros · Indonesia

This qualitative study in Indonesia investigated citizen participation in community-based urban agriculture, finding that while overall participation was high, the decision-making stage showed the lowest level of engagement. Most citizens had low group experience and had lived in their housing for less than 30 years. Age, education, income, and family burden were not significantly related to participation, but group experience, length of stay, activity methods, and service quality were significant factors.

Hoang Tien LE, Thi Huong Ly VO, Ngoc Han CHAU · Journal of Vietnamese Environment · Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City)

This study investigated the role of agricultural land for a resilient city amidst challenges like climate change and food scarcity. Using Ho Chi Minh City as a case study, it examined current food security and proposed productive green solutions at various scales, from land-use planning to green roofs. A-Go-Gro technology was shown to be effective for vertical farming, and green roofs were found to decrease stormwater volumes by 65% and reduce electromagnetic radiation penetration by 99.4%.

김은영, 이태희 · 경영컨설팅연구 · South Korea

This study explored strategies for promoting urban agriculture in the rural-urban complex area of Pohang City, South Korea. It analyzed central government and local government urban agriculture plans and current conditions in major municipalities using SWOT analysis. The findings suggest that successful urban agriculture activation requires creating healing spaces, utilizing idle land, and linking with urban regeneration projects. Additionally, it calls for human resource development, incorporating citizen feedback, developing a sixth-industry-linked urban agriculture model, and implementing sustainable practical promotion through Living-Lab projects.

Khilda Wildana Nur · Journal of Architecture and Urbanism · Indonesia (Makassar)

This qualitative study in Makassar, Indonesia, examined the revitalization of urban alleys, which began in 2014 to change negative perceptions and enhance community awareness. Using observation surveys and walk-through analyses, the research found that successful government programs should empower cultural values, with local "genius loci" programs being more recognizable for building belonging and promoting urban resilience. Alley revitalization provided communal space and urban farming harvests, leading to green economy improvements and settlement arrangements.

STP Astrina Yulianti, Yovita Anggita Dewi, Ume Humaedah, Maesti Mardiharini · Jurnal Pengkajian dan Pengembangan Teknologi Pertanian · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This study, conducted in Jakarta and nearby cities from October-November 2016, aimed to identify factors influencing the adoption of urban farming innovations. Using correlation tests, multiple linear regression, and ordinal regression on 14 variables, it found that dissemination channels, perception of urban farming roles, and knowledge and skills significantly influenced the number of innovations applied. Furthermore, the number of applied innovations significantly influenced creativity in modifying innovations.

Luh Putu Kirana Pratiwi, Nyoman Yudiarini · Scientific Research Journal · Indonesia (Denpasar)

In Denpasar City, the subak institution is threatened by urban agricultural land degradation, prompting the city to plan a Subak Lestari Zone for sustainable food agriculture. This study analyzed the impact of developing rice-fish cultivation on farmers' income and identified strategies for sustainable urban rice-fish farming. Using quantitative feasibility analysis and qualitative SWOT analysis, the results showed that rice-fish farming had higher feasibility than traditional rice farming, yielding a net income of IDR 7,165,250 (a 35.29% increase) and an R/C ratio of 2.97.

Nisa Maidah Rahmawati, Joko Winarno, Agung Wibowo · · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This study investigated community empowerment activities through urban farming in Marunda flats, North Jakarta. The flats' irrigation has deficiencies and group working is not yet fair, leading the society to choose to do agriculture activities by themselves. The research identified external factors (natural resources, environments, group dynamics, networking, human resources, policy, facilities and infrastructure) and internal factors (skill, non-formal education, and income) that obstruct empowerment activities.

Ren Yan · Academic Journal of Business & Management · China

This article discusses how the development models of modern urban agriculture in Western countries offer valuable experience and a new perspective for China's urban-rural coordinated development. It suggests that these models can serve as a reference for accelerating rural modernization and constructing new rural areas in China, especially given the challenges of urbanization, rural labor transfer, and urban population growth.