Research & reports

Assyifa Fauzia · Journal of Critical Ecology. · Global

This literature review analyzed the role of urban agriculture as an ecosystem service provider within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Urban agriculture in developing countries was found to be adopted as a solution to address poverty and improve the welfare of urban populations, applicable to all SDGs except ocean ecosystems. Urban agriculture contributes to social indicators like employment, food provision, community welfare, education, women's roles, and community forms; economic indicators such as market food reach, job status, land ownership, food subsidies, and credit access; and environmental indicators including water storage, land use, emission reduction, microclimate regulation, and biodiversity.

Lena Katharina Mietz, Bárbara Civit, Alejandro Pablo Arena · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This review focuses on the present state and methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the sustainability of urban agriculture. It notes that while urban agriculture is seen as a potential alternative for a resilient food system, existing case studies are mostly incomplete and lack diversity. Further research is needed, especially the integration of social and economic perspectives, to achieve a comprehensive scientific understanding.

Amirul Asyraf Zhahir, Mohd Ilias M Shuhud, Siti Munirah Mohd, S.K. Kamarudin, Azuan Ahmad, Rossly Salleh, Norita Md Norwawi · Computer Science and Information Technologies · Global

This study proposes a conceptual model for technology adoption in smart urban farming, building upon a previous systematic literature review. The model is founded on Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and incorporates factors from other technology adoption models. The research aims to provide insights into the components influencing technology adoption in smart urban farming, offering a framework for future studies and applications.

Mohd Nazrul Hisham Daud, Mohd Lip Jabit, Norhasni Ramli, Nur Syafini Ghazali, Joanna Cho Lee Ying, Azirah Omar · Bioresources and Environment · Malaysia

This study evaluated the nutritional quality of various vegetables from established Malaysian urban community farming. Analysis measured sugar content, gross energy, vitamin A, vitamin C, and twelve minerals (Al, B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Zn) using HPLC, calorimeter bomb analyzer, and ICP-OES. Results showed all vegetables contained at least two common sugars, with five possessing all targeted sugars, and gross energy ranged from 2900 to 3800 joule/g. Pak choy and sawi exhibited the highest vitamin A and C content respectively, while spinach showed the largest number of highest mineral types including boron, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Matthijs T. Wessels, Shaaban M. Mgana · Urban Forum · Tanzania

Based on ethnographic research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — one of the fastest-urbanizing cities in sub-Saharan Africa — this study examines how farmers configure their day-to-day agricultural practices amid urban change. Contrary to narratives that present agriculture as passive in the face of urban growth, it describes farmers building networks of provision through informal access to land and water, supplying food and employment while actively co-shaping the city. Farmers adapt their strategies in response to land pressure and water resource degradation. The paper argues that better representation of urban farmers and irrigated agriculture in urban planning and governance would reduce uncertainty and risk for both farmers and the wider city.

Victoria Dietze, Amna Alhashemi, Peter H. Feindt · Food Security · Global

Using the Urban Food Production Innovation System (UFoPrInS) concept, a 2024 study analyzed the urban contexts and enabling and impeding factors for implementing controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) in three contrasting locations — London, Nairobi and Singapore — based on document analysis and semi-structured expert interviews. Findings show Singapore as a favorable location because public policies support CEA implementation to reduce food import dependency and enhance the resilience of food supply. In London, high food import dependency is increasingly seen as problematic, but CEA implementation has been hampered by other policy priorities. In Nairobi, where over half the population lives in informal settlements without adequate food, water and sanitation, CEA is unlikely to make an economically efficient contribution to food security. The study concludes that CEA implementation is likely to be suitable in locations with ample capital and knowledge, stable political, social and infrastructure conditions, and limited space, where its value can be linked to hospitality and tourism and supported by favorable pricing for resource savings.

Shu Hua Teoh, Gwo Rong Wong, Purabi Mazumdar · Innovations in Agriculture · Global

A review combining scientific literature analysis and interviews with urban farmers examined urban farming models including community, indoor, rooftop and vertical farms using techniques such as aeroponics, hydroponics and aquaponics. It found that sustainability and yield remain major challenges to fully realizing urban farming's potential, identifying limited land and water resources, pest and disease incidence, financial constraints on setup and maintenance, knowledge and skill gaps among participants, and a lack of effective collaboration between universities, government and industry as the key barriers.

Mélanie Douziech, Stefan Mann, Stefan Galley, Jens Lansche · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global

Urban agriculture is often associated with sustainable practices, but the diversity of systems classified as urban agriculture and limited information on their sustainability call that link into question. Drawing on 91 scientific papers, a study proposes a holistic classification of urban agricultural systems combining technical, social and economic characteristics, with economic production intensity and the intensity of cooperation among actors as key axes. One end of the scheme covers ground-based, open, socially motivated systems with high cooperation and low production intensity; the other end covers building-integrated, quasi-closed systems with high production intensity. Mapping sustainability claims from the literature onto the scheme associated "urban farming" with job creation, food safety, water savings and higher yields, and "urban gardening" with educational potential, biodiversity improvements and lower yields.

Jessica Ann Diehl · · Global

This chapter investigates urban agriculture in Singapore through a political ecology lens, examining food security from the perspective of traditional commercial farmers. Growing urban food demand and risks inherent in reliance on the global food system have spurred city governments to implement diversified strategies for integrating urban agriculture at different scales; Singapore, a high-earning city-state that imports 90% of its food, has set a target of raising domestic food production to 30% under its Singapore Green Plan 2030 "30 by 30" Grow Local target. The chapter questions whether this level of food independence is achievable if food production shifts away from traditional farming toward high-tech operations such as rooftop or vertical farms. Semi-structured qualitative interviews covered four topics: general farm practices, social networks, benefits and barriers, and livelihood alternatives. Findings were examined in the context of a rising generation of high-tech entrepreneurial farmers facing the challenge of meeting consumer demand against land and labor scarcity. The in-depth case study demonstrates that technology is only one driver, among many, of the sustainability of the local food system in Singapore, and traditional commercial farmers face pressure on their livelihoods as policy shifts toward high-tech production.

Godwin K. Naazie, Isaac Agyemang, Anthony Mwinilanaa Tampah-Naah · Heliyon · Ghana

A quantitative survey of 362 urban households across diverse neighborhoods in Ghana used descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary regression to examine socioeconomic factors behind urban agriculture participation under climate stress. Household size and income were significant at the 0.05 level, middle- and high-income households participated more than lower-income ones, and land was acquired mainly through purchase, which the study identified as a barrier to participation.

Héctor Ávila Sánchez · Investigaciones Geográficas Boletín del Instituto de Geografía · Global

This conceptual article examines periurbanization as one of the most dynamic territorial expressions in contemporary society, discussing the reconfiguration of food-production spaces in peri-urban areas that form part of metropolitan systems as a social and territorial process. It addresses proximity, the consolidation of short supply circuits, and new territorial forms such as city-region food systems and "agrarian parks" (parques agrarios) — a form found mainly in Europe that the article frames as a territorial innovation countering the disarticulation of peri-urban agrarian space under growing metropolization. It discusses the spread of cooperative-based forms (food hubs, cooperative supermarkets, shared workshops) and the roles of social movements, producer organizations, and public institutions in shaping peri-urban territorial governance, framed through solidarity economy and social justice.

Górna, Ada · · Global

A book examines the position of urban agriculture within the spatial and functional structure of cities in the Global South through case studies of three cities: Havana, Singapore and Kigali. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in each city, it documents the diverse characteristics of urban agriculture across differing socio-economic, spatial, political and environmental conditions and identifies constraints on its development.

Rosli Muhammad NAIM, Maisarah Abdul MUTALIB, Aida Soraya SHAMSUDDIN, Mohd Nizam LANI, Indang Ariati ARIFFIN, Shirley Gee Hoon TANG · Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering · Global

A review article on sustainable agriculture and food systems characterizes sustainable agriculture as farming practices that meet immediate needs while preserving future generations' capacity to meet theirs, with sustained productivity, pollution reduction, and economic viability as primary aims. Drawing on existing research, it reports benefits including climate resilience, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved water quality, enhanced biodiversity, improved soil fertility, and stronger rural livelihoods, alongside challenges such as substantial transition costs, conflicting policy objectives, and the persistence of conventional methods. The review identifies strategies including agroforestry, agroecology, urban agriculture, farmer knowledge exchange, ecosystem-service payments, and shorter supply chains as ways to accelerate progress, contingent on appropriate policy and incentive support.

Pei-Yuan Chen, Chuan-Ching Pang, Guan-Yi Sung · Heliyon · Global

This study analyzes how evapotranspiration and substrate moisture variations affect indoor temperature reduction from a green roof, developing two multiple linear regression models: an operation-stage model based on field observations and an integrated planning-stage model combining hydrological and building energy simulations. The operation model achieved RMSE 0.64C and adjusted R2 0.55, the planning model RMSE 1.02C and adjusted R2 0.80, with maximum summer indoor temperature reduction reaching 10.65C and an average of 5-6C.

· Wikipedia · Singapore

According to the English Wikipedia article 'Vertical farming', Sky Greens Farms opened the world's first commercial vertical farm in Singapore in 2012. It is three stories high and currently has over 100 nine-metre-tall towers. It is cited as the starting point of commercialized urban vertical farming.

Neetu Choudhary, Alexandra Brewis · Journal of Urban Health · Global South

A narrative review of 169 papers on food and nutrition in cities of low- and middle-income countries. Urban agriculture is the most common theme, and studies report gains in dietary diversity and food expenditure — but the review notes it is the relatively well-off, not the poor, who are found to practise urban agriculture, and land-access constraints exclude the poorest from those benefits. It also documents the nutrition transition toward processed, high-fat and high-sugar foods and a resulting double burden of malnutrition. Cash assistance shows promise during crises, but social protection alone is insufficient against food insecurity. Four evidence gaps are named: gender dynamics, WASH linkages, equity and intersectionality within cities, and the role of local government.

Government Outcomes Lab, University of Oxford · Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab), Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford · Global

Published 5 November 2024, announcing that the INDIGO Impact Bond Dataset run by Oxford's Government Outcomes Lab had reached 300 projects, described as the world's largest open-access resource of its kind. It lets governments, practitioners, investors and researchers share standardised data on outcomes-based contracts. The outcomes-based financing pipeline has more than tripled over the past three years, and eight practitioners from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the UK describe using INDIGO to inform programme design and research.

· LCR Diario Digital · Argentina

A regional Argentine newspaper report on the national Ministry of Human Capital's March 2024 discontinuation of ProHuerta, the national program providing free seed kits for household gardens. In the Villa Regina area of Río Negro province, the local Comisión de Fomento of Valle Azul stepped in to purchase and freely distribute 100 seed kits for the spring-summer season, while INTA (the national agricultural technology institute), though no longer funded to buy seeds, continues to offer free technical advice on soil improvement and pest control.

Moghimi F., Asiabanpour B. · Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 25:1837-1855 · Global

Presents the first quantitative model evaluating the economic prospects of vertical farming in a competitive market, analyzing investment and operating costs against market prices to identify conditions for profitability and the central role of energy cost.

Chicoine M., Rodier F., Durif F. · Agriculture and Human Values 40(3):1153-1170 · Global

Analyzes how companies use commercial urban agriculture labeling in product marketing, examining the consumer-perceived benefits and risks of leveraging urban farming as a brand and value proposition.

Oh S., Lu C. · The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 98(2):133-140 · Global

Review of commercial vertical farming with IoT-based precision control, discussing its contribution to food security and the sustainability and profitability challenges facing the indoor farming industry.

Riaño-Herrera D.A., Varela-Martínez D.A., Chenet J.G., García-García D.A., Díaz-Verus S.D. · Sustainable Cities and Society · Colombia (Bogotá)

This case study analyzed rooftop organic agriculture in Bogotá over 11 months, documenting an 82.1% relative yield from 336 harvested vegetables and estimating food autonomy potential for over 11,000 families through 432 projects.

Ngetleh N., Bime-Egwu M., Tambi M. · Agricultural Sciences · Cameroon (Bamenda)

This study identifies the socioeconomic and institutional drivers behind innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) adoption in Bamenda City, Cameroon, demonstrating that UPA is a critical livelihood strategy for the urban poor amid rapid urbanization. The findings inform policy recommendations to support sustainable urban food production.

Kueh Yung Shin K., Tan P.P., Goh Boon Ling M., Chong C.J., Bolhassan N.A. · HardwareX, 16:e00498 · Malaysia

An open-hardware study designing and publishing SMART GROW, a low-cost automated IoT hydroponic system paired with an Android app for small-scale urban farming. It monitors and controls basic parameters such as pH, EC and water level and can be readily replicated, self-built and customised at home. It exemplifies DIY and maker culture in which citizens tackle urban food production with self-built equipment.

· Agriculture · Global

Presents a conceptual design and simulations of a self-assembling, low-cost, fully automatic vertical farm with a small footprint intended to be installed and used by a non-specialist. Cost minimisation is achieved by using one set of resources moved by a robot arm to service the plants.