Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
693 results(14 / 28)
Deploying urban agriculture solutions:a new offer for regions?
2019Loïc Couttelle · OpenEdition (OpenEdition) · Global
Veolia is exploring new urban and peri-urban agricultural production systems to address regional challenges like soil sealing and climate change. Through an innovative experimental approach with partners, an intensive and high-quality agricultural model combining aquaponics and bio-intensive vegetable microfarming has been identified. These solutions, located on available land, aim to provide ecosystem services, efficient production, and respond to consumer demand for short supply chains and traceability.
Climate changePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityFarmers' Perception, Willingness and Capacity in Utilization of Household Sewage Sludge as Organic Resources for Peri-Urban Agriculture around Jos Nigeria
2019Cosmos C. Alamanjo, Abimbola O. Adepoju, H. Martin, R.N. Baines · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Nigeria (Jos)
This mixed-methods study investigated farmers' perceptions, willingness, and capacity to use household sewage sludge as organic resources for peri-urban agriculture around Jos, Nigeria. Farmers were found to use a complex mix of fertilizers and were keen to utilize household sewage sludge for soil fertility, though constrained by accessibility. A critical finding was that household sewage sludge observed in the field is heterogeneous due to its proximity to urban refuse disposal, raising concerns for possible cross-contamination of pollutants and indicating a lack of extension guidance.
Contamination & food safetyPeri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleCompostHealthDrought Mitigation Policies: Waste Water Use, Energy and Food Provision in Urban and Peri-Urban Africa
2019Hendrick J. Bruins · · Africa
This paper discusses drought mitigation in urban and peri-urban Africa, where severe droughts threaten food production under rainfed agriculture. It argues that while urban and peri-urban farming's informal private sector should not be government-controlled, the treatment and use of urban wastewater in agriculture requires government planning, investment, and extension services. Participatory development is suggested to integrate central wastewater planning with private farmer use.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceOrganic cycleDiagnostic Agronomique de la Riziculture Périurbaine dans la Commune de Ziguinchor au Sénégal
2019Maurice Dasylva, Ngor Ndour, Bienvenu Sambou, Sara Danielle Dieng · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Senegal (Ziguinchor)
In Ziguinchor, Senegal, the peri-urban rice farming system contributes to food security but is ignored by decision-makers and suffers from urbanization and physicochemical changes in rice field soils. An agronomic diagnosis, based on 180 yield squares (1/4m side) installed in 4 peri-urban valleys, showed average yields of 4.79 ± 0.35 t.ha-1. However, urbanization, silting, acidification, and progressive salinization of soils are the main limiting factors for this production system.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyPollutants in Urban Agriculture
2019Camille Dumat, Antoine Pierart, Muhammad Shahid, Sana Khalid · · Global
Urban agriculture, while a strategy for sustainable food production, faces a serious threat from natural and anthropogenic pollution sources in urban and peri-urban environments. These sources release hazardous organic and inorganic contaminants, leading to a high likelihood of human exposure. Consumption of vegetables grown on polluted urban soils or those that have intercepted metal-rich atmospheric particles represents a potential route of pollutant exposure and human health hazard.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agricultureMapping and Characterizing the Green Belt of Córdoba: Land Dynamics and the Urban-Rural Transformation Process
2019Nicolás A. Mari, Nicolás A. Mari, Beatriz Giobellina, Beatriz Giobellina, Alejandro Benítez, Alejandro Benítez, Victoria Marinelli, Victoria Marinelli, Victoria Marinelli · Journal of Agronomy Research · Argentina (Córdoba)
A study mapped and quantified urban growth and land use in Córdoba, Argentina's Green Belt. Using remote sensing and GIS, it evaluated urban growth between 1974 and 2014 and land use in peri-urban and rural areas in 2015. The study revealed a 46.5% urban area growth over nearly 40 years, alongside an increase in farm plot size, indicating land ownership concentration and a reduced number of producers. This transformation highlights a conflict between peri-urban horticulture, industrial agriculture, and urban development.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePolicyBiodiversityAshley Vale, Bristol
2019Clare Nash · RIBA Publishing eBooks · United Kingdom (Bristol)
Ashley Vale in Bristol is a unique place featuring a city farm, allotments, a permaculture project, and a farm cafe selling locally sourced foods. The entire development is built on a concrete slab, formerly an industrial warehouse site. A "Homezone" scheme on the street improved its appearance by installing planters and organizing parking.
CommunityPeri-urban agricultureBiodiversityThe potential for heavy metal pollution in crops from urban and peri urban horticultural farms in the Gaborone environs: a review
2019L.C. Obuseng · Botswana Journal of Agriculture and Applied Sciences · Botswana (Gaborone)
This review highlights the potential for heavy metal accumulation in soil and crops from urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) around Gaborone, Botswana, due to the intensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, wastewater, sludges, and industrial effluents. A literature review showed that fertilizers contain heavy metals, and the use of treated or untreated sewage water by UPA farmers can lead to heavy metal accumulation in soil and crops, posing a danger to human health. Information on heavy metal accumulation in soils is limited in Botswana, despite high agrochemical use in UPA vegetable production.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleThe multifunctionality of urban horticulture and its integration with the city ecosystem: a brief review of concepts and the case of São Luís
2019João Flávio Bomfim Gomes, Renata SB Gomes, Alex Oliveira de Souza · Horticultura Brasileira · Brazil (São Luís)
This review examines the multifunctionality of urban agriculture globally and details the case of São Luís, Brazil. In São Luís, agricultural production has low expression in municipal GDP, with producers facing challenges such as small production areas, a need for technical assistance, and poor transport conditions. The study found a lack of public support for urban farmers in São Luís, contrasting with successful urban agriculture experiences that benefit from converging public policies.
BiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureLIMITANTES TÉCNICO-PRODUCTIVAS Y SOCIOECONÓMICAS PARA LA ADOPCIÓN DE LA AGRICULTURA URBANA. EL CASO DE LA RED DE AGRICULTURA URBANA Y PERIURBANA DE XALAPA, VERACRUZ
2019Guadalupe Del Ángel-Lozano, Martha Elena Nava-Tablada · Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems · Mexico (Xalapa)
This study analyzed technical-productive and socioeconomic limitations to urban agriculture adoption among members of the Network of Urban and Periurban Agriculture (RAUP) in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. Researchers applied 25 questionnaires to active members and 10 to non-practicing participants. Both groups of RAUP participants identified socioeconomic factors, such as lack of space and limited free time due to urban lifestyles, as the main constraints, while technical-productive limitations were not considered relevant.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureA social network linking rural and peri-urban agricultural production to the city of Rome: A case study
2019Sabrina Giuca, Simonetta De Leo · ECONOMIA AGRO-ALIMENTARE · Italy (Rome)
This study investigated the role of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) using the "Kalulu" network, a web platform operating in the rural and peri-urban territory of the Metropolitan City of Rome, as a case study. Analysis revealed that this platform creates a local market recognizing fair and sustainable exchange value between producers and consumers. This commercialization model increases consumer awareness and responsibility regarding consumption choices while also ensuring the economic needs of small farmers.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageCommunityEconomicsLa agricultura en los periurbanos de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y Santiago (Chile): Territorios en transición
2019María Carolina Feito, Sofía Boza, Santiago Peredo · Repositorio Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires) · Argentina
This study focused on the reality of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (AUPU) in Latin America, comparing cases in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area and the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Both cities form complex territories strongly related to their periphery, but the debate regarding AUPU's future development model remains open, reflected in contradictions even in public policies. The strong link between family farming and AUPU further complicates the situation due to the intrinsic limitations of family farming.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsDirectorio Distrital De Huertas Urbanas Y Periurbanas Asistidas Por El Jardín Botánico De Bogotá
2019Christopher Torralba Pita · · Colombia (Bogotá)
This directory provides information on urban and peri-urban agricultural processes assisted by the Bogotá Botanical Garden in Colombia. The document records the names, addresses, phone numbers, and products and services (classified into 8 categories) of the gardens. The directory is organized by urban localities and includes 20 cartographic maps showing the georeferenced gardens.
CommunityPeri-urban agriculturePeri-urban agricultural policies in Canada and France
2019Mikaël Akimowicz, Harry Cummings, Charilaos Képhaliacos, Karen Landman · · Canada
This chapter analyzes the impact of two peri-urban agricultural policies: Ontario’s Greenbelt in Canada and the InterSCoT in Toulouse, France, both aiming to regulate urban sprawl and preserve peri-urban agriculture. Ontario’s Greenbelt is a top-down zoning policy, while Toulouse’s InterSCoT results from municipal coordination. Based on farmer in-depth interviews, the study found that preserving farmland alone is insufficient to maintain a sustainable peri-urban farming sector, emphasizing the need for coordination spaces that include farmers' needs during policy design.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsAgricultura urbana: Creación de un Restaurante Gourmet
2019Romero López, Iván Fernando · · Colombia (Bogotá)
This article proposes creating a gourmet restaurant in Bogotá, Colombia, to address food security and generate income for urban farmers in low-resource communities like Comuna 4 of Altos de Cazuca. The restaurant would purchase fresh produce weekly from local cultivators, supporting employment, innovation in cultivation infrastructure, and providing organic, quality products to customers. This initiative aims to improve commercialization for urban farmers who currently only support children's nutrition programs.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculturePráticas de agricultura urbana: uma análise do cultivo de hortaliças em telhados verdes
2019Adriane Cordoni Savi, Ormy Leocádio Hutner Júnior, Fernanda Cardoso Faria, Isaura Marques Souza Uhmann · Brazilian Journal of Development · Brazil
This article demonstrates urban and peri-urban agricultural practices in small backyards, remnant residential garden areas, and green roofs. These practices aim to produce food for self-consumption and to foster farming among neighbors for subsistence or as a source of supplementary family income.
DIYCommunityPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceFood (in)security in urban peripheries: the case of Maré, Rio de Janeiro
2019Antonis Vradis, Timo Bartholl · Journal of the British Academy · Brazil (São Paulo)
This article discusses urban food insecurity and the right to the city in Brazil, specifically in the Maré complex of favelas in Rio de Janeiro. An action-research approach was deployed to study food insecurity, situated in the context of increasing securitization in Brazilian urban peripheries and the ensuing obstacles to populations' right to the city. The article proposes the agroecological approach as a potential avenue to achieve popular food sovereignty in these urban peripheries of the Global South.
Food sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityAGRICULTURA URBANA E PERIURBANA: POTENCIALIDADES E LIMITAÇÕES PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DO MUNICÍPIO DE BENEVIDES (PA)
2019Glenda Maria Braga Abud, Maria Lúcia Bahia Lopes, Rosália do Socorro da Silva Corrêa, Ruth Helena Cristo Almeida · Revista em Agronegócio e Meio Ambiente · Brazil (Benevides)
A descriptive survey was conducted with 25 producers in Benevides municipality, Pará State, Brazil, to analyze the contribution of flower and ornamental plant production to local development. The activity was found to be essentially subsistence-based, with low articulation among producers and technological and productive limitations. These aspects resulted in a restricted capacity to contribute to development in the studied municipality.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsUrban–rural linkageUrban agriculture as a climate change and disaster risk reduction strategy
2019Marielle Dubbeling, R. van Veenhuizen, Jess Halliday · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
Urban and peri-urban agriculture is considered a strategy that can bring multiple benefits and help to build resilient urban food systems at the city region level and enhance the climate resilience of vulnerable residents. Cities, as major emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG), are not only contributing to climate change but are also directly and indirectly impacted by it. Key issues include rising temperatures, increasing rainfall, flooding, and urban food insecurity. Rapid urban growth will only increase the number of highly vulnerable urban communities, with the urban poor being most at risk.
Climate changeFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculturel’Horta De València: Past and present dynamics in landscape change and planning
2019Carme Melo Escrihuela · International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning · Spain (Valencia)
The evolution in the preservation, management, and planning of l'Horta de València, a historical Mediterranean huerta in Valencia, Spain, was assessed. It is argued that negative changes and impacts in l'Horta are not simply the outcome of global dynamics but result from the region's planning trajectory and landscape management approach. This approach has been shaped by a lack of territorial and supra-municipal perspective and the primacy of culture, identity, and heritage aspects over the landscape's productive dimension.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkagePeri-urban agriculture: lessons learnt from Jakarta and Addis Ababa
2019Stephan Pauleit, Didit Okta Pribadi, Hany Abo El Wafa · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Indonesia (Jakarta)
The continued existence of agriculture in and near urban areas, such as in Jakarta and Addis Ababa, is an important means to strengthen city resilience. However, its importance is still poorly, or at best intermittently, acknowledged by politicians and urban planners, who are inspired by visions of "modern" cities where agriculture is considered a negligible activity.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsClimate changePaisaje de huertas periurbanas y ciudad: algunos ejemplos de Castilla y León
2019Juan Ignacio Plaza Gutiérrez, Daniel Herrero Luque, Marta Martínez Arnáiz, Eugenio Baraja Rodríguez · Cuadernos Geográficos · Spain
This article explores the singularity and diversity of peri-urban garden landscapes characterizing the surroundings of several cities in Castilla y León, Spain. The study analyzed the spatio-temporal evolution, landscape dimension, functional relationship with urban space, and the consideration of their protection, management, and maintenance in planning instruments. Results reveal the unequal persistence of traditional garden belts, their diverse types, and their uneven treatment in urban planning in the studied cases.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageGlobal urbanization and food production in direct competition for land: Leverage places to mitigate impacts on SDG2 and on the Earth System
2019Stephan Barthel, Christian Isendahl, Benjamin N. Vis, Axel Drescher, Daniel Evans, Arjan van Timmeren · The Anthropocene Review · Global
Global urbanization and food production are in direct competition for land. Displacing crop production from urban and peri-urban land due to soil quality issues will demand a substantially larger proportion of the Earth’s terrestrial land surface than the area lost to urban encroachment. This risks triggering distancing effects, unfair social-ecological teleconnections, and amplifying effects within the Earth System, potentially leading to food riots in cities of the Global South. The paper identifies multi-level leverage points, specifically an advisory global policy aligned with regional policies enabling robust common property rights for bottom-up actors in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), to navigate urban expansion away from fertile croplands.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkagePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceBringing urban food supply closer to food consumption: opportunities for five European metropolitan regions
2019Guido Sali, Federica Monaco, Stefano Corsi, Chiara Mazzocchi · Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) · Europe
This paper adopts a territorial approach to analyze agro-food systems in five European metropolitan regions. The methodology aims to assess the capacities of urban and peri-urban agriculture to meet urban food demand and its economic role. Preliminary results are provided to inform regulations in the agro-food sector.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCropping Practices and Their Drivers in Various Cropping Systems in Peri-urban Areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2019Delphine Bernadette Ouédraogo, Delwendé Innocent Kiba, Zacharia Gnankambary, Sheick K. Sangaré, Diakouba Sirima, Hassan Bismarck Nacro, Michel Papaoba Sédogo · Journal of Agricultural Science · Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
This study investigated cropping practices and their drivers in 133 peri-urban farms near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soil sample analysis revealed that monoculture led to low soil organic carbon, while polyculture led to low soil available potassium. The socio-economic conditions of the farms explained up to 60% of the variability in cropping practices.
Environmental trade-offsPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsOrganic cycleFood sovereignty & justice