Research & reports

Àngels Viladomiu Canela · AusArt · Global

This article reviews artistic interventions that address specific uses of urban territory and forms of cultivation. These actions, through planting and cultivating, create spaces for the expression of artistic, political, and social identities in the interstices of cities, such as abandoned lots, undeveloped areas, riverbanks, and highway verges.

Getting Together Killybegs (MHI) · · Ireland (Donegal Town)

The Donegal Garden G.N.O.M.E.S is a community garden group in Donegal Town, Ireland, that organically grows fruit and vegetables. The group meets weekly on Thursdays from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Bluestack Foundation building. It is partly funded by Donegal Local Development and partners with Mental Health Ireland.

Fernando Richter · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Global

This article examines the current boom in urban agriculture, noting a shift from its historical function of food production to a focus on recreational and leisure activities. It suggests that symbolic dynamics associated with new-ruralism, consumption, and a nostalgic search for authenticity converge in this phenomenon. The study proposes that Leisure Studies offer a valuable perspective for understanding the complexity of urban agriculture as a leisure experience.

Esteban Sinde Stompel · Navarra forestal: revista de la Asociación Forestal de Navarra · Global

Mushroom cultivation is being introduced into urban garden design and as a real silvicultural alternative to be implemented on forest land. In the latter case, the production of saprophytic fungi on valueless wood waste offers a notable environmental advantage by recycling biomass and providing a highly nutritious ecological food.

Xavier Fontich Vicens, Mariona Espinet Blanch, Germán Llerena del Castillo · · Global

This record concerns writing in a school agroecology project and the recovery of an urban garden. It is based on the publication's abstract, as part of a monograph titled "Teaching and Learning Scientific Discourse."

Shelly Errington · Gastronomica The Journal of Food and Culture · Global

The available text for this article consists only of an author biography, not article content. It states that author Shelly Errington is in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studies visible and audible aspects of culture, also produces photographs, video documentary, and line drawings, and describes her own kitchen garden and edible landscape as connecting her to the farm-to-table community. The article is available only as a PDF behind access restrictions, and no further content about its actual subject matter is available from the abstract.

Shane J. Ralston · The Pluralist · Global

This research article, published in The Pluralist in 2012, presents a Deweyan defense of guerrilla gardening. The full text of the article is available only as a PDF.

Eden K Olsen · School for International Training Digital Collections (School for International Training) · Australia

This paper details an internship at the Mullumbimby Community Garden (MCG) in Byron Shire, Australia, focusing on the development of its Children's Garden. The intern spent 152.5 hours over four weeks in late 2012 on tasks including planting, project planning, and designing new structures. The study also examines the broader importance of community gardens and children's spaces, drawing conclusions on environmental education and communication practices based on participant observations and three interviews.

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.

Adam Roigart · · Sweden (Uppsala)

A new patio concept was designed for Hotel and Restaurant Villa Anna in Odinslund, Uppsala, Sweden, exploring how urban farming can thrive in a restaurant context. The design, informed by a literature study on urban farming and storytelling and discussions with the restaurateur, aimed to convey the cuisine's core values and strengthen the sense of place through storytelling. The author found storytelling useful in landscape architecture and highlighted urban farming's potential to offer a new perspective on food procurement and eating trends within restaurants.

Alessandra Giannini, Andrea Oldani · TERRITORIO · Global

Micro-agriculture refers to small-scale agriculture, in contrast to intensive agriculture and monoculture. It is a collection of 'small scale' agricultural practices, including horticulture (such as urban vegetable gardens), fruit-growing, or flower-growing. Micro-agriculture is a landscape defined by garden plots and materials, forming a unified yet diversified whole that differs from traditional agricultural landscapes in its reduced scale, biological richness, material variety, and heterogeneous landscape.

Nicolette Larder, Kristen Lyons, Geoffrey Woolcock · Local Environment · Australia

This article explores the values and meanings domestic food producers associate with urban backyard food production in Australia. Through interviews with eight domestic food producers in one Australian city, the study finds that the act of growing food at home offers space for hope. These small acts are seen as part of the broader food sovereignty movement seeking to remake the global food system.

Avi Friedman · Island Press/Center for Resource Economics eBooks · Global

This chapter discusses the problems of conventional landscaping, which requires excessive water, maintenance, and chemicals, leading to resource depletion and pollution. Alternative practices such as edible landscaping and xeriscaping are gaining traction in residences, as they can significantly reduce adverse environmental effects while maintaining aesthetic value. The principles and applications of these methods are discussed in this chapter.

Fritz Hammerling Navas Navarro, Luz Mila Peña Torres · Revista de Investigación Agraria y Ambiental · Global

Urban Vertical Garden Modules (MHUV) are introduced as a hybrid of vertical gardens and urban agriculture. This study presents a "culinary and medicinal module" that can be placed in kitchens, rooftops, or patios, proposing the cultivation of species like thyme, mint, and parsley. The module consists of three recyclable plastic baskets, each with four rows and a capacity for fourteen seedlings, supported vertically by a recycled wooden structure.

Anna Biebrauer · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · Global

This handbook provides a basic design primer for urban farmers, gardeners, and community groups interested in creating pocket farms, community gardens, or CSAs. It compiles urban agriculture components, precedents, and design considerations for arrangement, construction, perception, and use by farmers and their communities. The suggested ideas and plants are tailored for the Northern climate (hardy to USDA Zone 4).

Yang Dan-ni · Journal of Changjiang Vegetables · Global

This paper examines the changing functions of vegetable production in urban agriculture and highlights the significance of promoting ornamental vegetable production and marketing. It proposes that the research and development of ornamental vegetables represents a viable urban agriculture production mode, facilitating cultivation shifts from rural areas to cities, enterprises to families, and fields to balconies. Key development areas include cultivar selection, equipment innovation, cultivation technology, marketing, and service system construction.

Maira Echeverry, Sebastián Gutiérrez, Julián Pineda, Nelson Ravelo · · Colombia

This account describes Barrio San Luis, an informal settlement on the eastern hills of Chapinero, Bogotá, Colombia, formed by rural-to-urban displacement and still undergoing legalization, where residents obtained services such as a community-run water system through collective organizing. It describes the Casa Taller Las Moyas, a project founded roughly seven years earlier to serve neighborhood children and youth left without care while parents work, offering workshops in baking, ceramics, crafts and urban agriculture in two daily shifts organized around school schedules; the text ends mid-sentence and provides no further data on the seed-conservation activities named in the title.

Leigh Whittinghill, D. Bradley Rowe · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Global

Urban agriculture faces limitations including competition for space, lack of formalized land use rights, and health hazards from food contamination. Green roof technology is proposed as a method to alleviate these issues, potentially reducing the use of contaminated land and water at ground level. However, for large-scale implementation, installation costs must be reduced, roof weight limitations assessed, and appropriate management practices developed.

S. L. Balcău, Maria Apahidean · Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca Horticulture · Global

This paper emphasizes that vegetables can be used not only for alimentary purposes but also for decoration, proposing the "edible landscaping" system. Root vegetables can be used for creating vegetation carpets and beds, kale for borders, squares, and flower stands, and vegetables cultivated for pods, beans, and capsules for decorating pergolas and towers. Green vegetables are preferred for creating colorful views or color contrasts. To arrange beautiful gardens using ornamental vegetables, basic landscape architecture principles must be followed, and plants chosen carefully.

A. J. Gilbert, Yael Raviv · Women & Performance a journal of feminist theory · Global

The abstract for this record is incomplete. It introduces "Sharecropper," a series of micro farming installations, as an artistic, practical, and philosophical exploration of growing, cooking, and eating food within a community.

David Tracey · · Global

This text outlines various ideas and designs for urban agriculture, ranging from small-scale indoor cultivation like windowsill herbs and sprouts to container gardening in tight spaces. It also covers integrating food-growing into backyards, utilizing front lawns for food movements, engaging in public and community gardening, establishing community orchards, and exploring future farm concepts for higher yields.

José Luis Galdeano Tostado · Creatividad y sociedad: revista de la Asociación para la Creatividad · Global

This paper observes an increasing awareness of environmental issues and neighborhood action in city centers, with concepts like urban gardens and self-managed spaces becoming more familiar. It suggests that vacant lands and unused building sites in cities offer significant potential for citizens' creative initiatives. The abstract does not present any specific findings on governance challenges or critical interventions.

Teofilo Cuesta Borja, Ditter Horacio Mosquera Andrade · · Colombia (Quibdó)

This article presents the results of a structural and functional characterization of urban productive systems in Quibdó, Colombia. The study analyzed vegetation by growth habit and conducted a Rapid Rural Appraisal on species utilization. Residents use mixed home gardens, rooftops, and potted plants for urban agriculture, along with animal husbandry. 58 species across 51 genera and 41 botanical families were found, distributed in three strata. These species are important for food and traditional medicine, indicating that urban productive systems in Quibdó are oriented to supply food and medicinal needs.

Alex Nicol · Australasian parks and leisure · Australia (Sydney)

This article describes the initial apprehension of Warringah's Parks Department in Sydney, Australia, regarding the establishment of a community garden due to budget constraints. This perspective shifted when the "Guerrilla Gardener" show initiated a project on council open space at Manly Vale, transforming an eyesore into a green oasis. The specific site, however, was already designated for a district playground.

Craig Pearson · Urban agriculture · Sri Lanka

Each community in Sri Lanka developed its own Green Plan and decided what vegetables or plants it would grow. Home garden plots and community gardens were created with seed and plant donations from a university, with planting occurring in April and May 2004. Community residents assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the plants, while Sevanatha and university staff visited the sites regularly to monitor and provide consultation.