Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
4283 results(152 / 172)
Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis
2011Victoria Derr · Children Youth and Environments · Global
This book review examines Sandra Steingraber's "Raising Elijah," which addresses parental concerns about environmental crises and children's protection. The book details environmental hazards and advocates for engagement in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms. It criticizes the inadequacy of policies that force parents to act as "their own regulatory agencies" and suggests that collaborative, multi-agency approaches are necessary for effective environmental protection, beyond individual actions like buying local and organic.
CSA & TeikeiHealthClimate changeNitrate pollution of Neogene alluvium aquifer in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania
2011I Kibona, SL Mkoma, IC Mjemah · International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences · Tanzania (Morogoro)
Groundwater samples were collected from 20 wells in six wards of Morogoro municipality, Tanzania, during March-April 2010, and nitrate concentrations were measured. Nitrate levels ranged from 1.4 mg/L to 32.5 mg/L, with an average of 7.76 mg/L. These concentrations were below the upper limits set by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards and the World Health Organization.
Contamination & food safetyHealthUrban–rural linkagePlant a Seed! Using the Garden for Language Acquisition
2011Maria Lundgren · School for International Training Digital Collections (School for International Training) · Global
This workshop explores how school gardens can be integrated into the curriculum and used for learning. Participants will engage in experiential activities demonstrating the garden's utility in elementary classrooms as a setting for content-based language acquisition.
Food educationCommunityValoración de la cidra papa (sechium edule) como alternativa de alimentación y recuperación de vínculos con el campo
2011Consuelo Montes Rojas, Astrid Alejandra Gomez · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Colombia (Popayán)
This participatory research in three communes and four urban-marginal settlements of Popayán, Colombia, surveyed 116 displaced families to evaluate chayote (Sechium edule) as a food alternative. The study found that chayote adapts well to settlement conditions and serves as an alternative food source, promoting the consumption of underutilized species and encouraging urban agriculture practices.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationCurrent State, Problem and Some Cases of Kleingartens Established by Private Organizations
2011Masao Makiyama, Mami Inoue · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Global
This study examined kleingartens (stay-type allotment gardens) established by private organizations, finding an increasing number of such gardens. Case studies revealed that privately established kleingartens tend to have higher use fees compared to government-established ones. Furthermore, problems identified include the reduction of administrative and maintenance expenses, location conditions, and the succession of managers.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsWastewater
2011Ralf Otterpohl, Christopher Buzie · Waste · Global
This chapter provides an overview of biowaste management solutions, focusing on reuse. It describes high-tech systems, urine diverting flush systems, and modern dry sanitation systems like terra preta sanitation (TPS), which can produce black soil and reusable water. TPS is presented as a promising approach for managing urban household waste, addressing soil degradation and food insecurity, and potentially improving urban agriculture when combined with greywater reuse; however, questions regarding macronutrients and micronutrients remain.
Organic cycleCompostUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justice‘INSTEAD OF BEGGING, I FARM TO FEED MY CHILDREN’: URBAN AGRICULTURE – AN ALTERNATIVE TO COPPER AND COBALT IN LUBUMBASHI
2011Nyumbaiza Tambwe, Michael Rudolph, Ran Greenstein · Africa · Democratic Republic of Congo (Lubumbashi)
A study was conducted in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, from November 2004 to March 2005, on 100 farming households that adopted urban agriculture as an alternative livelihood after the collapse of a mining company. Data collected through semi-structured interviews, in-depth questions, and observation revealed that despite practicing urban agriculture, the living conditions of 75% of households declined, and 20% stabilized their living conditions but could not completely alleviate poverty. Only 5% of farmers achieved food security.
Economic viabilityWelfareEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura urbana: Sistemas de implementación de cultivos hidropónicos
2011Ricardo Alberto Forero Rubiano, Hollman Giovanni Parra Vargas, Ricardo Andrés Luna Cristancho, Edwin Raúl Rivera Casadiego · · Global
This review article surveys different hydroponics systems and examines how they can serve as an alternative to traditional agriculture in urban areas, in the context of population growth and changing housing construction. It notes that hydroponics offers the advantage of producing goods free of chemical insecticides and other harmful pollutants, describing it as a simple, clean and economical method regardless of plant type — ornamental, medicinal, or food.
Digital agricultureEconomicsFoundations in Education, Research, and Development
2011Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba
This chapter discusses the expansion of Cuba's higher-education system after 1959 and the establishment of institutions such as BTJ, ANIR, FCT, and SCIT to encourage technological innovation. Science education was emphasized down to the primary-school level, and Cuba devoted considerable resources to research and development and to building R&D capacity — including founding CIGB for biotechnology, establishing scientific hubs, and developing in vitro propagation technologies. In agricultural research and education, many universities established sustainable agriculture programs, and phyto-sanitary institutions were created to ensure plant health. The chapter ends with a discussion of two examples of urban agriculture outcomes: banana production and nematode control (Hebernem).
CommunityPolicyFood educationCreating Material and Moral Incentives to Motivate Workers
2011Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba
This chapter describes how Cuba's 1980s economic reforms ("perfeccionamiento empresarial") sought to link urban agriculture workers' incomes more closely to their production output, noting that Cuba's urban agriculture price-formation and supply-demand mechanisms provide relatively high incomes for the workforce, and that non-monetary "moral" incentives—awards such as "de referencia" and "de excelencia" status given to individuals, collectives and provinces, plus an annual December 27 meeting between the President and outstanding urban agriculturalists—operate alongside material incentives to raise workers' self-esteem and social standing.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyVALORACIÓN DE LA CIDRA PAPA (Sechium edule) COMO ALTERNATIVA DE ALIMENTACIÓN Y RECUPERACIÓN DE VÍNCULOS CON EL CAMPO VALORAÇÃO DA Sechium edule COMO ALTERNATIVA DE ALIMENTAÇÃO E RECUPERAÇÃO DOS VINCULOS COM O CAMPO VALUATION OF Sechium edule AS AN ALIMENTARY ALTERNATIVE AND RECUPERATION OF BONDS TO THE COUNTRY
2011CONSUELO MONTES R, ASTRID ALEJANDRA GÓMEZ G · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Colombia
This participatory study evaluated Sechium edule (chayote, locally "cidra papa") as an alternative food source for displaced families living in marginal urban settlements of Popayan, Colombia, aiming to recover traditional knowledge of its use and management, identify ecotypes, capture its sociocultural significance as a means of maintaining ties to the countryside, and assess its productivity and management potential in marginal urban spaces. Using participatory methods including recreational activities, awareness workshops, and knowledge- and seed-exchange tours, the study covered three communes in Popayan, applied 116 surveys across four selected settlements, and conducted monthly visits with informal dialogue with participating families. It confirmed that plants such as chayote adapt to conditions in the settlements and can serve as an alternative food source for these populations, and the activities encouraged consumption of underutilized species, knowledge exchange, and conservation of ecotypes and plant species able to withstand marginal conditions.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationEvaluating the Success of Cuban Urban Agriculture
2011Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba
An assessment of Cuban urban agriculture's production and distribution outcomes finds that the most successful subprogram is fresh vegetable production, which has grown rapidly island-wide, while other subprograms remain active but less developed. Distribution occurs through thousands of points-of-sale, MALs, self-provisioning, and MAEs, with social consumption at workplaces, hospitals, and schools. Urban agriculture plays a significant role in improving Cuban diets but has not led to food sovereignty; other outcomes cited include employment generation, environmental benefits, and community building.
Limited or null effectCommunityEconomicsHealthBiodiversityCo-constructing the sustainable city: how indicators help us “grow” more than just food in community gardens
2011Ruth Beilin, Ashlea Hunter · Local Environment · Australia
In Australia, a 2011 study developed a set of social and ecological indicators aligned with local government policy areas and accountability frameworks through a participatory process involving local government officers, community garden (CG) members and industry experts. Since Agenda 21, local governments have sought ways to engage urban citizens in building more sustainable cities, and community garden activities are frequently described as contributing to socially and environmentally sustainable local communities, yet a suitable set of indicators for valuing these benefits had not previously been established. The indicators were designed so individuals could use and learn from them, contributing to policy decisions and being meaningful to urban planners and local gardeners. The study demonstrates the practical necessity of devising indicators that CG participants can realistically monitor and that hold political and ideological value for local governments and wider community stakeholders.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceA GIS-based approach for integrating agriculture into urban and peri-urban planning
2011Gerald Forkuor, Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Ghana
With land zoning for urban farming remaining a major obstacle to urban and peri-urban agriculture in most developing countries, a study used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis to demonstrate how city authorities can integrate farming into their planning. The study was conducted in five districts in and around Ghana's capital city, creating spatial layers representing six influencing factors. Results show that, of the five districts, Tema municipality has the highest percentage of land suitable for agriculture, while Akuapim South has the lowest.
PolicyCommunityPeri-urban agricultureSydney's agricultural lands
2011Borce Dimeski, Philip O’Neill, Sarah James · · Australia
This historical analysis examines the reliability of Sydney-region agricultural data by reviewing Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and non-ABS reports on the Sydney area, including the Gosford and Wyong local government areas, from 1992 to 2009. It finds that although the ABS is widely regarded as the most reliable source for Australia's agricultural data generally, this has not held true for Sydney, where non-ABS reports have repeatedly questioned undercounting of small-scale peri-urban farms, particularly underestimates of the value and number of farms in the fresh vegetable industry; this pushed for methodology changes in the 2005-06 agricultural census that led to substantial upward revisions in ABS estimates of the value, area and number of Sydney farms.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyCase Studies of Urban Agriculture
2011Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba
This book chapter opens with a review of various perspectives on urban agriculture in Cuba, gathered by the author through many interviews. It then reports on the author's own urban-agriculture site visits: the Municipality of San Cristóbal (including the IPA Batalla de Rubi hydroponic unit and UBPC El Mango); the Municipality of Matanzas (including Organopónico Triangulo and an Organipónico at the Empresa Forestal); Santiago de Cuba (Organopónicos Luis M. Poz and Roberto Alegre Capriles); and the City of Havana (UBPC Organopónico Vivero Alamar, CCS Antero Regalades Falcón, CCSF Arides Estevez Sánchez, parcela de Falcón, and the patio La Hierba Buena, which holds national-reference status). The chapter is descriptive, presenting site accounts rather than quantitative findings.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyThe incredible shrinking city
2011James Krohe · Planning · Global
This planning article argues that cities facing steady population decline, which often leads to blight, can treat the situation as an opportunity to create more desirable urban spaces through deliberate planning. It describes comprehensive land recategorization based on ecological criteria, land banks that buy up vacant or abandoned properties for later redevelopment, urban agriculture and green space, and improvements to walkability and transportation infrastructure as elements of strategic planning for shrinking cities.
PolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageFORESIGHT PROJECT ON GLOBAL FOOD AND FARMING FUTURES The role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries
2011H. de Zeeuw, R. van Veenhuizen, Marielle Dubbeling · · Global
A Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures paper reviews available evidence on the potential of urban agriculture to address urban challenges in developing countries and surveys how local and national authorities view urban agriculture, closing with the authors' perspective on its role in sustainable city development.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeAgrileisure: re-imagining the relationship between agriculture, leisure, and social change
2011Ben Amsden, Jesse McEntee · Leisure/Loisir · Global
This paper introduces "Agrileisure," a conceptual framework addressing both supply and demand sides of agriculture engaged for leisure and recreation purposes — such as farm-based agritourism, hobby farming, farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture — arguing that existing leisure-studies scholarship on agriculture has largely stopped at farm tourism. The framework draws on theoretical roots in leisure studies, ecology, sociology, psychology, social justice and geography.
CommunityCSA & TeikeiDefining and Applying Sustainability: Connecting Sociocultural, Economic and Biological Concepts
2011Patricia M. Clay, Julia Olson · Anthropology News · Global
The available record for this Anthropology News piece consists only of a keyword list — sustainability, biological anthropology, fisheries management, food system, sustainable fishery, Community Supported Agriculture, food and nutrition, ecology and environment — with no abstract text describing a study, method or finding.
CommunityCSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justice«La tierra abuena a la gente» : programa de agricultura urbana de Rosario (Argentina)
2011Arrate Corres Velasco · Soberanía alimentaria, biodiversidad y culturas · Argentina
The Urban Agriculture Program of Rosario, Argentina, has succeeded in changing part of the city's landscape by integrating a social-economy project into its neighbourhoods. Formerly unused vacant lots are now community gardens managed agroecologically. Mariana Ponce and Raul Terrile, members of the technical team coordinating the initiative, describe what the program involves.
CommunityOrganic cyclePlanning of Communities Gardens in Morden Cities
2011Fang Wei-xun · Heilongjiang nongye kexue · Global
A brief theoretical piece reviews garden planning as a creative process of translating gardens into design plans guided by economic conditions and principles of art, examining the regularity, function and disadvantages of garden planning to provide a theoretical basis for community garden planning.
PolicyCommunityGrowing Greener Cities
2010FAO · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Global
FAO's programme on urban and peri-urban agriculture, presenting a framework to support city food production for food security, jobs, environment and nutrition.
PolicyCommunityHealthEconomicsThe Second Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
2010Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture · Global
FAO's comprehensive global assessment of trends in conserving and using plant genetic resources, documenting genetic erosion, genebank accessions, and policy needs for safeguarding crop diversity for food security.
Heirloom & landracePolicyBiodiversityHome gardens: neglected hotspots of agro-biodiversity and cultural diversity
2010Galluzzi G., Eyzaguirre P., Negri V. · Biodiversity and Conservation 19:3635-3654 · Global
Reviews home gardens worldwide as hotspots conserving high inter- and intra-specific genetic diversity, especially traditional crop varieties and landraces, linking agrobiodiversity conservation with cultural diversity and local knowledge.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunity