Research & reports

Anna M. Roodhof · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Netherlands

To map and analyze food forestry (FF) in the Netherlands, a survey of 109 participants and interviews with five experts were conducted, identifying 231 food forests established since 2017. The survey data indicates that while FF initiatives are diverse in goals, few focus on profitability. Practitioners are largely homogeneous, consisting of university-educated individuals aged 40 to 60.

Buonanno Rosa · IRIS UNIMORE (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) · Italy (Reggio Emilia)

This study in Reggio Emilia, Italy, explored primary school children's knowledge of plants and their uses, and aimed to rebuild a plant-focused learning environment with school stakeholders. Qualitative analysis of children's conversations and documentation revealed their innate connection with plants through food or health applications, supporting their "naturalistic intelligence." Teachers reported that the plant project fostered group work, collaboration, and a changing didactic approach, connecting children to the earth's environment.

Silvia Gullino, Heidi Seetzen · · United Kingdom (London)

This ethnographic research in a former Victorian square in South London examined how residents transformed derelict spaces, including creating two community gardens, over three decades. The study found that while informal, bottom-up practices shaped a vibrant urban culture, the neighborhood is now undergoing progressive gentrification. This gentrification reflects trends in other London neighborhoods, posing challenges to community initiatives.

Cosimo Dondini, Xavier Úbeda, Giacomo Certini, Marcos Francos · Journal of Soils and Sediments · Spain (Barcelona)

This study analyzed soils from ten urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, with a special focus on possible contaminants. Irrigation water was also analyzed, and some of the waters contained a high concentration of salts and nitrites, which are listed as a pollutant. While three tests for heavy metals did not attest to significant pollution, other toxic elements not considered in this study could come from road transport gases or the port of Barcelona. Overall, the soil quality was concluded to be suitable for growing vegetables.

Larissa S. Drescher, Carola Grebitus · EuroChoices · Europe

This study investigated the link between growing one's own food and dietary quality, using the Healthy Food Diversity Index, Berry-Index, and a produce consumption indicator. It found that growing food at home and in community gardens is associated with the highest fruit and vegetable consumption, while not growing any food is associated with the lowest produce consumption. Overall, the results indicate that growing food is linked to higher dietary quality values, suggesting potential health benefits from home and community gardens. The negative association between not growing food and diet quality highlights a need to promote food-growing programs.

Jon Marín, Teresa Garnatje, Joan Vallès · Sustainability · Spain (Barcelona)

This study investigated whether agro-food supply chains in peri-urban agricultural areas contribute to preserving local biodiversity, using the Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park in Spain as a case study. Analysis of different food retailers revealed variations in plant diversity, origin, and seasonality. Farmers' markets were found to exhibit higher intraspecific diversity, contributing to local agrobiodiversity conservation.

Mesut YILDIZ, Tayfun Özkaya · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Turkey

This participatory action research was conducted with five community-supported food groups formed by consumers in İzmir province, Turkey, and associations/groups producing wheat landraces in Çanakkale, Balıkesir, and Kars provinces. The research aimed to identify common problems that reduce the separation between wheat production and consumption and to determine how to increase the use of wheat landraces and their products.

Concetta Cardillo, Orlando Cimino · Rural and regional development · Italy

An economic evaluation of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Rome metropolitan area was conducted using Italian FADN data from 2008–2020 to analyze agricultural land use changes. The analysis revealed that farms are mainly specialized in arable land and herbivores, operated predominantly by men aged 40–65 with a high school education. While economic performance was good, it varied yearly, and few farms resorted to other gainful activities to increase income, suggesting greater diversification of agricultural activities is desirable.

Lucas López Sosa, Gloria E. Casanova Molina · Revista Temas Sociológicos · Spain (Barcelona), Chile

This ethnographic study conducted in Barcelona and Santiago de Chile comparatively analyzed the social utilities, conflicts, and tensions faced in the daily management of urban community gardens. The study found significant symbolic and practical similarities between the gardens in both cities, despite geographical and cultural differences, highlighting their value as tools for urban and social regeneration.

Fotini Tsofliou, R. Vijayakumaran, Ashley Wilson, Anthony Mills · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · United Kingdom (Dorset)

This pilot research, conducted with fourteen adults in disadvantaged areas of Dorset, UK, explored perceptions on the importance and roles of community food garden and kitchen initiatives. Four main themes emerged from the participants' perspectives: tackling food insecurity and sustainability, utilization of climate-friendly and organic food, bridging the intergenerational gap, and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Alberto Matarán-Ruiz, David Fanfani, Josefa Sánchez Contreras, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar · · Central America; Europe

This chapter examines bioregional food systems and territorialization processes in peri-urban agricultural areas, using three case studies from Central America and Europe. It notes that the historical co-evolutionary relationship between cities and surrounding farmlands weakened in modernity due to the global capitalist market, which reduced food to a commodity. The study highlights current problems while exploring how inherited relationships are being revived to adapt urban bioregions to climate emergency and resource scarcity.

Olga Ergunova, Andrey Somov · EKONOMIKA I UPRAVLENIE PROBLEMY RESHENIYA · Europe

This article discusses the prospects for developing local food systems (LPS) in St. Petersburg, focusing on urban agriculture (GSH) as a key component. The study analyzes current trends and statistical data to forecast GSH's impact on the city's environmental and socio-economic situation by 2030. Projections indicate that GSH can be an important tool for food supply and sustainable urban development, with advanced technologies and integration into urban planning as key development directions.

Adriana Flores-Guevara, María de Lourdes Hernández- Rodríguez, María Esther Méndez- Cadena · Revista Investigium IRE Ciencias Sociales y Humanas · Spain (Madrid)

This 2018-2023 study in Madrid, Spain, investigated socio-environmental phenomena in the Community Urban Gardens Network (RedHMad) to understand how they foster sustainable neighborhood development. Researchers conducted open interviews with ten participants, performed participatory observation, and reviewed RedHMad assembly minutes. Findings indicate that community urban gardens generate social cohesion and coexistence, supporting cultural, artistic, experimental, environmental education, and health activities, and facilitating social organization when needed.

Ion Martínez Lorea · Revista Española de Sociología · Spain (Pamplona)

This article uses Henri Lefebvre's concept of concrete utopia to analyze the practices of community urban gardens in Pamplona-Iruña, Spain. It interrogates their potential and limitations in responding to various situations of social vulnerability and rethinking the relationship between the rural and the urban.

Chloé Duffaut, Florence Brondeau, Julien Gasparini · Cybergeo · France (Paris)

A questionnaire survey of 200 individuals in Paris, France, from May 2017 to March 2018, assessed the appreciation and perception of pigeons, rats, and hedgehogs in various urban locations. The study found clear differences in appreciation based on species and perceived usefulness, with rats disliked (2.2/10), hedgehogs liked (7.7/10), and pigeons receiving mixed reactions (4.7/10). Age, gender, education, or survey location were not decisive factors.

Francesca Monticone, Antonella Samoggia, Elena Viti · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · Italy

This mixed-methods study investigated Italian consumers' perceptions, barriers, and drivers for urban food purchasing and consumption apps, and analyzed the features of existing apps. The desire to eat fresh and seasonal food was identified as the main driver for buying from (peri)urban agriculture initiatives, and a mismatch emerged between consumer needs and app features. Sustainability food profiles and information on seasonal food are preferred by consumers but are present in a limited number of apps.

Véronique Saint-Gès, Bethsabée Warin, Antoine Jacobsohn · Sustainability · France

A study of two French public urban farms, the Potager du Roi in Versailles and the Cité Maraîchère in Romainville, using the concept of the triple-layered business model to examine their sustainability strategy through empirical case-study research. The evaluation of their economic, social, and environmental impacts shows their dependence on multiple interlinked public policies, and points to the justification for significant, recurring public funding on grounds of general interest.

Simone Trimmel, Stefan Wagner, Laura Feiner, M. Feiner, Daniela Haluza, Rebecca Hood‐Nowotny, Ulrike Pitha, Thomas Prohaska, Markus Puschenreiter, Philipp Spörl, Andrea Watzinger, Elisabeth Ziss, Johanna Irrgeher · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · Europe

A study of urban gardens in Vienna, Austria, building on a previous study of eleven gardens in the city that found elevated lead (Pb) levels in some soil and plant samples. This work examined the elemental composition of soil and plants from two of the affected gardens one year after compost amendment. ICP-MS analysis of tomato fruit skin, pulp and seeds showed only minor variations in elemental composition unlikely to affect food safety, whereas radishes showed a tendency toward contaminant accumulation in root tips and leaves. Washing lettuce significantly reduced levels of potentially toxic elements including Be, Al, V, Ni, Ga and Tl, underscoring the importance of washing garden produce before consumption; compost amendment was associated with reduced Zn, Cd and Pb levels in radish bulbs. Lead isotope ratios in soil and spinach leaf samples from the earlier study, assessed by MC-ICP-MS, showed a direct linkage between the Pb isotopic signatures in soil and spinach leaves, supporting their use as tracers of Pb sources in the environment.

Wendy Davies · · Europe

A historical chapter exploring why monasteries were interested in acquiring gardens in the tenth century. It concludes the likely reasons included increasing the regular supply of garden fruit, legumes and medicinal herbs for expanding monastic communities, along with a regular supply of textile fibres. Some rural monasteries bought gardens in towns and operated shops there, supported by an available road network and plentiful draught animals as necessary elements of a distribution system. Textiles and plant dyes appear to have been supplied to urban communities, and the chapter suggests garden plots may have been acquired specifically to focus on textile and dye plants for cloth production and distribution, marking a new direction in monastic enterprise with a corresponding shift in garden output.

Remigio Paradelo, Cecilia Herbón, María Teresa Barral · Journal of Soils and Sediments · Spain

This study examined 64 urban soils in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, across different parent materials and land uses, assessing physical properties including bulk density, porosity, water holding capacity, aggregate stability, water-dispersible clay, permeability, and resistance to penetration in field and laboratory measurements, along with erosion risk estimated via the K factor of the RUSLE. Results show heterogeneous physical properties typical of urban soils; high organic matter and iron content were associated with low bulk density and high aggregate stability. Compaction issues were widespread but land-use dependent: soils under urban agriculture had higher permeability and lower compaction than urban grasslands and forests. High infiltration despite compaction was attributed to abundant coarse fragments and preferential flow paths. Overall erosion risk was found to be low based on K factor values, but the study concludes that sound management remains essential because relief, climate, and human behavior can increase erosion risk at specific points.

Valeria Di Martino, Gian Vito Zani · Rivista di estetica · Italy

This paper examines the distinction between public goods and common goods (commons) as understood in economics and applies it to a typical public good — urban green areas. While public goods involve openness to all and state management, commons require management that is common yet still limited; the two also differ in the kind of agent involved, with public goods presupposing an aggregate of individuals and commons presupposing a plural subject capable of acting in concert to manage the good. After exploring this distinction in detail, the paper applies it to green areas in cities and shows the theoretical advantages of a commons-based framing, including through the concrete case of community gardens.

Michele Deri · Florence Research (University of Florence) · Italy

This paper examines the peri-urban agricultural park, an instrument that has gained significant importance in Italian territorial policy in recent years, as a tool for integrated governance of peri-urban territory and socio-ecological factors. Based on a desk analysis, it selects several major Italian experiences and presents an initial overview of the characteristics this tool presents in various contexts, in terms of both process and project. The paper highlights the relevance and diffusion of the instrument in public discourse and territorial governance practices, as well as the strengths, limitations, and critical issues the various cases present in operational terms, concluding that further exploration of its design and management characteristics as a connective element between planning and rural development is needed.

Henriette John, Martina Artmann · International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development · Germany

Based on a German case study, this paper introduces an integrative framework for evaluating the environmental, social and economic sustainability of urban agriculture, applying multi-criteria analysis via the Analytic Hierarchy Process combined with a participatory approach. Analyzing the examples of vertical farming and community-supported agriculture, the environmental dimension received the highest weight, followed by the social and then the economic dimension; among sub-criteria, species diversity received the highest weight and food quality and safety the lowest.

Constantine Manolchev, David Watson, Laura A. Colombo, Patrick Elf, James Scott Vandeventer · · United Kingdom

A chapter examines the role of technology across the European 'agrifood' system, an umbrella term for the agriculture, horticulture, food, and drink sectors. Placing the dysfunctional consequences of making economic growth the driver of food-system organization in historical context, it shows through a case study of a daffodil farm in South West England that when technology is deployed as an engine of efficiency, unbridled growth, and profit maximization, it vastly improves productivity through worker quantification—time, motion, and output tracking—while transforming worker-nature relationships in exploitative ways. By contrast, when used to prioritize non-exploitative, collaborative relationships, technology can support sustainable well-being and ecological production, illustrated through three alternative food network cases: a UK community garden, a UK Community Supported Agriculture scheme, and a network of social agricultural cooperatives in Italy.

Matthias Winfried Kleespies, Dorian D. Dörge, Norbert Peter, Anna V. Schantz, Ajdin Skaljic, Viktoria Feucht, Anna Lena Burger-Schulz, Paul Wilhelm Dierkes, Sven Klimpel · Biological Invasions · Germany

Surveying more than 2,200 people across nine stakeholder groups in Germany involved with invasive species—hunters and hunting association members, farmers, environmental and conservation organization members, allotment garden club members, animal welfare supporters, divers, zoo employees, regulatory authority administrative staff, and speleologists—this study investigated how these groups perceive invasive species. The number of invasive animal and plant species in Germany was roughly correctly estimated across all groups, but the economic damage they cause was substantially underestimated. Species named were mostly conspicuous ones such as raccoons (Procyon lotor) or Impatiens glandulifera, and while all groups showed notable interest in invasive species and regarded them as an environmental issue, the study found a need for greater education about inconspicuous invasive species and the damage they cause.