Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
472 results(15 / 19)
Zero-Acreage Farming in the City of Berlin: An Aggregated Stakeholder Perspective on Potential Benefits and Challenges
2015· Sustainability · Germany (Berlin)
Analyzes benefits and challenges of Zero-Acreage Farming (building-integrated agriculture such as rooftop gardens and greenhouses) in Berlin from an aggregated multi-stakeholder perspective, identifying rooftop greenhouses as the most promising model.
EconomicsPolicyCommunityPerception and acceptance of agricultural production in and on urban buildings (ZFarming): a qualitative study from Berlin, Germany
2015· Agriculture and Human Values · Germany (Berlin)
A qualitative study from Berlin examining public perception and acceptance of agricultural production in and on urban buildings (ZFarming).
CommunityPolicyHealthBetween Boundaries: From Commoning and Guerrilla Gardening to Community Land Trust Development in Liverpool
2015Matthew Thompson · Antipode · United Kingdom (Liverpool)
This paper explores the community land trust (CLT) model as an institutional solution to urban decline, focusing on a case study in Granby, Liverpool, England. The Granby CLT campaign aims to collectively acquire empty homes, with guerrilla gardening playing a role in gaining political trust and financial support. The study discusses the CLT model's potential for democratic stewardship and the contradictions that may undermine its political legitimacy.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceAllotment Garden Dwellings: Exploring Tradition and Legal Framework
2015Maja Lorbek, Milena Martinsen · Urbani izziv · Europe
This paper examines the evolution of allotments and allotment dwellings in Germany and Austria by comparing gardeners' actual practices with the development and changes in the legal framework. It found that legislation and zoning regulations, often established retrospectively, reveal an ongoing negotiation process between informal practices and planning authorities. Allotment gardens, which emerged in the late 19th century, originally served a subsistence economy, providing food and emergency accommodation.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsCivil Society Actors as Drivers of Socio-ecological Transition? Green Spaces in European Cities as Laboratories of Social Innovation. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 102
2015Judith Schicklinski · WIFO Studies · Europe
Across Europe, self-organized civil society movements are emerging to address local challenges, particularly in maintaining and developing green spaces where local governments face budget constraints. Initiatives like urban gardening demonstrate people's ability to cooperate, organize, and take responsibility for green spaces, introducing practices that support socio-ecological transition. These activities contribute to urban sustainability by providing ecological benefits and recreational opportunities.
CommunityPolicyBiodiversityClimate changeL'agriculture urbaine : de l'échelle territoriale à l'insertion architecturale
2015Amandine Joly · · France
This study characterized and strategically analyzed urban agriculture for the IETI external planning and environment consulting firm in Île-de-France, France. The analysis aimed to help IETI position itself commercially in urban agriculture, identifying both the benefits and the obstacles the firm might encounter. The study also briefly discussed the various scales of urban agriculture's integration into the territory and its advantages for the consulting firm.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyPeri-urban agricultureAnálisis de gestión y valoración socio-cultural de los huertos urbanos comunitarios de la ciudad de Córdoba (España)
2015Elena Bertrán Arroyo · · Spain (Córdoba)
This study states that cities are socio-biological systems where social and natural aspects are interconnected through the provision and consumption of ecosystem services.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsVers la mise en place d’une agriculture urbaine ou périurbaine dans les espaces ouverts des villes métropolitaines du Nord et du Sud. Le cas de Saragosse en Espagne et de Lima au Pérou
2015Flor Ccorahua balboa, Sylvie Clarimont · · Spain
This abstract discusses the re-evaluation of nature's role in and around cities, driven by global sustainable development challenges like environmental preservation and food security. It notes that agriculture is increasingly used to reconcile urban and natural spaces due to its recognized multifunctional character. The emergence of new agricultural spaces in intra-urban and peri-urban areas of major cities in both developed and developing countries reflects a shift in local policies towards integrating cities with nature.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCities, Agriculture and Changing Landscapes in Urban Milieu: The case of Rome
2015Aurora Cavallo, Benedetta Di Donato, Rossella Guadagno, Davide Marino · RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA · Italy (Rome)
This paper examines the characteristics and dynamics of urban agriculture in Rome, Italy, aiming to propose a taxonomy of urban agriculture types. It presents a preliminary analysis using criteria to classify the functional and relational features of agricultural activities within the urban phenomenon. The study attempts to reconstruct causal relationships between agricultural production models and their spatial and functional forms in the urban dimension.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsResistances and appropriations. Urban laboratories of social and cultural experimentation in the ci
2015· REGAC - Revista de Estudios Globales y Arte Contempor�neo · Spain (Valencia)
This paper maps collective initiatives in Valencia, Spain, that emerged in response to inadequate national and local cultural policies. These initiatives, including urban orchards, acted as resistance to institutional policies or appropriated spaces due to a lack of public institutional interest. They function as urban experimentation laboratories for social and cultural transformation, forming a dense local network.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceFinding Spaces for Urban Food Production – Matching Spatial and Stakeholder Analysis with Urban Agriculture Approaches in the Urban Renewal Area of Dortmund-Hörde, Germany
2015Michael J. Roth, Miryam Frixen, Carlos Tobisch, Thomas Scholle · · Germany (Dortmund)
This study analyzed how urban agriculture can stimulate and support urban renewal in an economically declined neighborhood in Dortmund-Hörde, Germany, using a case study. A project path was developed using participatory action research to involve residents and stakeholder groups, fostering collective stewardship for urban agriculture forms. The research concluded that synchronously combining research, planning, design, and implementation with intense feedback loops can achieve synergies for academic knowledge on urban agriculture's potential performance in sustainable development, as well as benefits for the case-study area and individual urban gardeners.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageCivil society actors as drivers of socio-ecological transition?: Green spaces in European cities as laboratories of social innovation
2015Judith Schicklinski · Econstor (Econstor) · Europe
This article examines the role of civil society movements in managing green spaces across European cities, particularly in the context of socio-ecological transition and tight public budgets. It highlights how self-organized initiatives like urban gardening contribute to maintaining and developing biodiverse green spaces, offering recreational, ecological, and climate resilience benefits. The discussion explores how citizen groups can expand green spaces and which policy frameworks foster collaboration for innovative urban food production and green-space management.
CommunityPolicyClimate changeMonitoring the Urban Tree Cover for Urban Ecosystem Services - The Case of Leipzig, Germany
2015Ellen Banzhaf, Helen Kollai · The international archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences/International archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences · Germany (Leipzig)
This study monitored urban tree cover in Leipzig, Germany, over a decade to understand its distribution and changes for sustainable urban development. Using digital orthophotos, a digital elevation model, and a digital surface model, an object-based image analysis scheme was employed for detailed tree mapping. The results demonstrated high accuracy in tree detection and effective avoidance of misclassification caused by shadows.
CommunityBiodiversityClimate changePolicyRadiomonitoring of the Opole industrial district
2015Piotr Godyń, Maria Zielińska, Agnieszka Dołhańczuk-Śródka, Zbigniew Ziembik · Geology Geophysics & Environment · Poland
Soil samples were collected from 19 sites around the Opole industrial zone in Poland to determine the influence of the local metallurgical industry on soil contamination with metals, using Pb-210 as a contamination tracer. Results indicated that the metallurgical industry is not a source of environmental pollution in the immediate vicinity. Excessive lead concentrations ranged from 1 Bq/kg d.m. to 100 Bq/kg d.m. but were not strongly correlated with distances from the presumed source of contamination.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPolicyVegas and Deltas in the Vicinity of Medium-Sized Cities in Andalucia, Spain: Landscapes under Pressure but Scarcely Considered in Planning
2015Rocío Pérez-Campaña · European Planning Studies · Spain
This research analyzed land-use transformations of peri-urban agricultural deltas and vegas in Andalucía, Spain, focusing on medium-sized cities between 1956 and 2007. It also assessed their consideration in regional spatial planning. The findings indicate that these landscapes are changing land use and sometimes disappearing, receiving meagre attention and vague consideration in spatial planning.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageThe Agricultural District of Milan (Dam) and the peri-urban agriculture at ‘Parco delle Risaie'
2015Gioia Gibelli · TERRITORIO · Italy (Milan)
Agriculture has long been an important resource for Milan and its surroundings, with its significance increasing in recent years. Agricultural areas near the city can enhance urban metabolism and citizens' quality of life through ecosystem and landscape services, providing cultural and environmental services, and improving urban resilience. In this context, two important initiatives, the Agricultural District of Milan (DAM) and 'Parco delle Risaie', have been underway in Milan since 2008.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityPolicyBiodiversityClimate changeDoes the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children? Results from two randomised controlled trials
2014Christian M., Evans C., Cade J. · Public Health Research, Vol. 2, No. 4 (NIHR Journals Library) · United Kingdom
Two randomised controlled trials in London primary schools evaluating the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. They found gardening alone had very little impact on children's fruit and vegetable intake, suggesting it must be combined with nutrition education to change diet.
Food educationHealthPolicyThe Influence of Hannes Meyer and the Bauhaus Brigade on 1930s Soviet Architecture
2014Tomita H., Ishii M. · Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering · Germany
Analyzes the influence of Bauhaus's second director Hannes Meyer and his Bauhaus Brigade on Soviet urban and architectural planning, examining Meyer's socially-oriented functionalism and planning features including mass demonstration spaces and broad greenery, using unpublished sources.
PolicyCommunityReview: Susan R. Henderson, Building Culture: Ernst May and the New Frankfurt Initiative, 1926–1931
2014Bishop P. · Journal of European Studies (SAGE) · Germany
A scholarly review of Henderson's study of Ernst May and the New Frankfurt initiative, critically assessing Weimar modernist social housing, garden and green-space programs, and Existenzminimum dwelling within their historical significance and limitations.
PolicyCommunityWelfareUrban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship
2014Rina Ghose, Margaret Pettygrove · Antipode · USA (Milwaukee)
Case study of Milwaukee community gardens challenging the assumption that participation is empowering: under neoliberal restructuring, volunteer-dependent garden governance shifts state responsibility onto residents and produces uneven, tension-ridden citizenship outcomes.
PolicyCommunityWelfareEvaluating the functionality of agricultural systems: social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. The “Huerta de Valencia” as case study
2014Inmaculada Marques-Pérez, Baldomero Segura García del Río, Concepción Maroto · Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research · Spain (Valencia)
This paper presented a descriptive approach to the multifunctionality of agricultural systems and described a methodological approach to evaluate social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. This approach is based on a review of scientific literature focused on multifunctionality and the goods and services of agricultural systems. The proposed methodology was applied to the "Huerta de Valencia," a rich peri-urban agricultural system with diverse resources, yielding results useful for enriching the political-institutional debate on defining its protection scheme.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityAyer, hoy y mañana de los huertos urbanos en Andalucía
2014Raúl Puente Asuero · · Spain
This record is a summary of a conference on urban gardens in Andalusia, Spain, delivered by D. Raul Puente Asuero at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Malaga on April 7, 2014. No specific findings or details about urban gardens are provided in the abstract.
CommunityPolicyUrban Environmental Quality and Sustainable Food Sourcing: A Spatial Approach Using Italian Provincial Data
2014Massimiliano Agovino, Antonio Garofalo, Angela Mariani · RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA · Italy
This paper assessed and compared the urban environmental quality performance of Italian provinces using the Legambiente Index and the Local Moran Transition Probability Matrix. The results revealed a persistent dualism between Northern and Southern Italy and a lack of positive environmental spillover among neighboring provinces. The study suggests that Southern Italy should prioritize improving sustainable food sourcing for urban development.
HealthPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeShop & live in to [sic!] green : un progetto di trasformazione per l’area HT6 Bordina
2014Roberta Pucci · · Italy (Settimo Torinese)
A project for urban transformation in the HT6 Bordina area of Settimo Torinese, Italy, was proposed. This project critiques a previous plan for 15-story buildings as invasive for the surrounding low-rise residential area and presents a more sustainable alternative, including social and production spaces like an urban garden, playground, and commercial square. The proposal aims to connect existing green areas, residential areas, and a historic farmhouse.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageA desalambrar. Agricultura urbana, huertos comunitarios y regulación urbanística
2014Nerea Morán Alonso, José Luis Fernández de Casadevante · Hábitat y Sociedad · Spain
In Spain, urban agriculture is gaining importance, but faces difficulties in municipal regulation, particularly for community gardens. This regulatory challenge perpetuates the insecurity and precariousness of urban agriculture projects.
Governance failureCommunityPolicy