Research & reports

이숙미, Kim In Ho · · Global

Aiming to develop approaches for enhancing the self-support capability of vulnerable groups, this study analyzed foreign cases in which urban agriculture activities were used for self-support. The analysis classified urban agriculture activities into four types depending on participants' level of self-support capability and employment status: a healing type that helps mind and body recover through engagement, a self-consumption type that supports healthy eating and cuts food expenses, a social-relation type built around interaction with the community, and an occupation type providing jobs and income through production activities.

Jennifer Vansteenkiste · Development in Practice · Global

This paper examines the social and gender politics of a women's urban garden project in Cap Haïtien, Haiti, supported by the International Organisation for Migration. The study finds that the development process created an unmonitored symbolic space in which society's normalized gender processes were reproduced, importing broader social inequalities that in turn prevented the project from meeting the women's practical and strategic goals. It discusses how an ecohealth approach, as an alternative design framework, could make this symbolic space visible for critical engagement and analysis by participants.

Muhammad Bello Ibrahim, Nobaya Ahmad · Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository (Universiti Putra Malaysia) · Global

This review paper examines the concept and role of peri-urban agriculture (PUA) as a contributor to solving urban food crises in developing countries. It reviews the historical development and current state of PUA across different parts of the world in relation to rising urban vegetable demand, noting that agricultural communities engaged in PUA make multifunctional contributions to national economies. As approaches to PUA vary by country, the paper argues it is the community's role to identify the functions that benefit local people most, and discusses how PUA, through community and rural development, can boost urban food supply and serve as an income-generating option for farmers in developing countries.

Matejowsky T. · Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies · Philippines (Urdaneta City, Pangasinan)

This ethnographic case study examines Urdaneta City's backyard and community gardening program launched in 2009 to address food insecurity and household self-sufficiency in a provincial Philippine city. It analyzes the interplay between municipal government objectives and citizens' subsistence and economic needs.

Kirstie Cadger, Thembela Kepe · Development in Practice · Botswana

Challenges facing community garden initiatives among the San of Botswana were analyzed through semi-structured interviews and participant observation in two San communities. The study found that the failure of the gardens related to how the San are treated and how they view their situation as destitute people. Forced resettlement, historical livelihood disruption, and government and NGO policies of development through welfare neglecting genuine empowerment were concluded to be responsible for the limited success of the community gardens.

Melvin Delgado, Denise Humm-Delgado · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

Community gardens, particularly those involving food security, have become a focus for community asset assessments. Community gardens can address instrumental community needs such as food security, spaces for intergenerational and interethnic contact, and community beautification. They can also meet expressive community needs by fostering social capital bonding and bridging, providing a place for residents to gather and connect, and promoting the exchange of knowledge and abilities related to growing food across generations and cultures.

Douglas Carl Reeser · Development in Practice · Belize

An analysis of an NGO school garden program in two Q'eqchi' Maya communities in southern Belize revealed challenges faced by NGOs. These challenges included issues of legitimacy, cultural appropriateness, self-interest, and constructed conceptions of their target communities, raising questions about the priority between autonomous, healthy communities and the preservation of the NGO program.

Juan José Quintero, Matías Álamo · Americanae (AECID Library) · Argentina (Bahía Blanca)

This study analyzes the role of institutional and social actors in the Pro-Huerta program, implemented by INTA in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. The program fosters community engagement through inter-institutional articulation and volunteer work, promoting organic family and community gardens in socio-economically marginalized areas like peripheral neighborhoods and schools. The research investigates the work of the NGO "Red de Voluntarios" within this program, using bibliographic information and interviews with key informants.

Sybil S. Kelley, Dilafruz R. Williams · PDXScholar (Portland State University) · Global

A summer program engaged teachers in hands-on STEM education within learning gardens at four low-income schools in southeast Portland. The program aimed to transform teaching and learning by providing experiences that connect STEM to real life and sustainability. Teacher feedback highlighted the value of learning STEM in gardens and addressing social and environmental justice.

Fabiana Naiman, Juan José Calzetta · V Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicología XX Jornadas de Investigación Noveno Encuentro de Investigadores en Psicología del MERCOSUR · Argentina

This study is based on a University Extension Program titled "The Urban Orchard: A Tool for Inclusion of Children and Adolescents," conducted under the UBANEX Programme 2012/2013 by the University of Buenos Aires. The program aimed to develop children's and adolescents' ability to generate and produce a self-managed urban garden. Program implementation showed that the urban orchard produced positive effects at both inter- and intra-subjective levels, fostering curiosity, creativity, responsibility, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-criticism, teamwork, and the quality of links between subjects.

Jeanne McCarty · Journal of Applied Research on Children Informing Policy for Children at Risk · Global

The REAL School Gardens Program builds learning gardens and provides teacher training in 92 low-income elementary schools to enhance student engagement and academic performance. Preliminary findings indicate that 84% of students participating in hands-on lessons in these gardens report high engagement, particularly in math and science. Additionally, partner schools showed, on average, 5.5% higher standardized science test pass rates compared to non-partner schools.

Ian Hardy, Peter Grootenboer · Journal of Curriculum Studies · Australia (south-east Queensland)

This paper investigated the efforts of teachers and associated school personnel to engage poor and refugee students through a community garden located in a school in a low socio-economic urban area in south-east Queensland, Australia. Drawing on interview data with teachers, other school staff, and community members, it revealed the interrelating actions, discussions, and relationships involved in developing and using the garden for academic and non-academic purposes. By understanding these interrelationships as "practice architectures," the paper shows how teachers facilitate learning practices for marginalized students.

Catherine Closson · · Belgium (Brussels)

A study assessed the job creation potential of urban agriculture in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. Etterbeek residents are struggling to transition from theory to practice. While professional integration has not yet been achieved, the social dynamic around the vegetable gardens is proving effective.

Philani Moyo · Journal of Human Ecology · Zimbabwe

This study qualitatively examined the role and contribution of urban agriculture to household food security, employment creation, and income generation among low-income working-class and urban poor households in Bulawayo townships, Zimbabwe. It was found that urban food production significantly contributes to household food access and security, improving dietary diversity and nutritional intake. However, the potential of urban agriculture is constrained by factors including land tenure insecurity, erratic water access, small plot sizes, inadequate capital for optimizing plot productivity, and ambivalent application of urban land-use laws.

Max Pearlstein · · Cameroon

Rachel Gilbert, Grace Lange, and Sarah Wright, alumni of Dickinson, founded Cameroonian Roots. This program disseminates microfinance opportunities and education in urban agriculture and women's empowerment.

Rob Porter, Heather McIlvaine-Newsad · Leisure/Loisir ·

This ethnography examines the origins and growth of a rural community garden through the lenses of food security, leisure and social capital within an environmental justice framework. Community residents, including low-income populations, people with disabilities and senior citizens, came together with support from local leaders to grow healthy produce out of concerns over produce cost and commercial growing practices; participants entered mainly for food security but came to recognize leisure benefits such as socializing, and the external social networks that facilitated the garden also generated internal social capital, including increased gardening knowledge and shared skills.

Sylvester Jatta · Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) · Global

A paper using a newly compiled dataset combining comparable, nationally representative household survey data from 15 developing or transition countries to analyze, in comparative international perspective, the importance of urban agriculture for the urban poor and food insecure. The potential for urban agriculture to play a substantial role in reducing urban poverty and food insecurity should not be overemphasized, the study finds, as its share of income and of overall agricultural production is often quite limited. At the same time, its role should not be too easily dismissed either: particularly across much of Africa, agriculture provides a substantial share of income for the urban poor and constitutes an important livelihood source for the households that rely on it. The study finds fairly consistent statistical evidence of an association between engagement in urban agriculture and dietary adequacy indicators.

Ruth Stewart, Marcel Korth, Laurenz Langer, Shannon Rafferty, Natalie Rebelo Da Silva, Carina van Rooyen · Environmental Evidence · Global

This is a systematic review protocol — not a completed review — that sets out methods for identifying, appraising and synthesizing evidence on how urban agriculture programs affect food security and nutrition in low- and middle-income countries. It notes urban agriculture is widely promoted as providing the urban poor with food and income while improving the urban environment, but also carries potential disadvantages: use of wastewater can contaminate produce, intensive irrigation can spread malaria and water-borne disease and strain limited water supplies, and soil erosion and intensive fertilizer/pesticide use can pose health risks and environmental damage. Despite the current policy drive to promote urban agriculture, the paper states that the evidence base for its benefits and harms is not well understood. As a protocol, it reports planned search, screening, bias-appraisal and synthesis methods rather than results.

Guitart D., Pickering C., Byrne J. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 11(4):364-373 · Global

Review of English-language community gardens research, summarizing who studies them, locations, methods, plants grown, participants, and the motivations, benefits and limitations, while outlining future research directions.

Godfrey Tawodzera, Lazarus Zanamwe, Jonathan Crush · Scholars Commons (Wilfrid Laurier University) · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This study conducted an AFSUN baseline food security survey in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2008 to investigate the city's food insecurity situation. The survey revealed results sharply at odds with official surveys from 2003-2009, which had indicated food insecurity was not a serious problem. Findings showed that by 2008, Harare had become the most food-insecure city in the SADC region, with extraordinarily high levels of food insecurity as poor households struggled to find income for food. Participation in the informal food economy and urban agriculture for home consumption were major crisis responses.

Jenny Calabio, Ma. Luisa Albacete · WVSU Research Journal · Philippines (Iloilo City)

This study, conducted from July 2007 to July 2008 at the Urban Agriculture Demonstration Site in La Paz, Iloilo City, evaluated soil media and ameliorants for container-grown green onion, pechay, and tomato. Pure compost was found to be the best medium for increasing yields. However, the use of IMO and rice hull as soil ameliorants did not increase yields for the three tested vegetables, and rice hull generally reduced pechay yields.

Adetola I. Adeoti, Olufunke Cofie, O. I. Oladele · Journal of Sustainable Agriculture · Ghana (Accra)

A study in Accra, Ghana, analyzed the gender dimensions of urban agriculture's contribution to sustainable livelihoods among vegetable producers. The study surveyed 92 male and 8 female producers, finding male producers had a mean age of 39.4 years and 6.4 years of schooling, while female producers averaged 49.8 years and 7.1 years of schooling. Farm size and access to credit were significant determinants of income from urban agriculture.

Carmenza Ochoa Ochoa · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Colombia

Applied research based on Participatory Action Research (IAP) was conducted in Soacha municipality, Cundinamarca, Colombia, with vulnerable populations participating in an urban agriculture program. The study aimed to develop local and simple alternatives for environmental management and landscape improvement, focusing on the reuse and proper management of wastewater for crop irrigation. The project was carried out as stipulated and evolved during its implementation due to its IAP methodology, with observations, conclusions, and notes presented.

Ian Michael Mearns · University of Washington Tacoma Digital Commons (University of Washington Tacoma) · Global

This paper proposes urban agriculture as a community system, similar to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), to provide homeless citizens with access to food, housing, vocational opportunities, and social resources. It suggests that urban agriculture can address the lack of employment, nutritional food sources, and housing resources that have contributed to increased homelessness over the past decade.

Jessica Isler · Educational Media Reviews Online · Global

The 2011 film "A Community of Gardeners" explores the impact of community garden projects in various urban settings. It highlights that community gardens fulfill important needs for individuals and communities by providing access to fresh food, increasing self-sufficiency, improving urban aesthetics, and strengthening communities through connections across diverse socio-economic groups. The film also presents the historical origins and different incarnations of community gardens.