Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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4283 results(160 / 172)
Preliminary Discussion on the City Rooftop Garden
2008Peng Yi-jun · Anhui nongye kexue · Global
This discussion examined the necessity and construction methods of rooftop gardens, along with the key considerations and challenges during their development. It also covered their developmental history, current status, and future prospects.
DIYCommunityClimate change7. Analysing Visual Experience
2008Sarah Pink · Edinburgh University Press eBooks · Global
This research, conducted in autumn 2005, involved interviewing David and Anne about a community garden project, using digital video, still cameras, and audio recording. The study explored the visual elements of the project, noting how participants used spoken words, documents, drawings, and photographs to narrate their experiences. The combination of multiple media provided a comprehensive understanding of the garden's past, planned creation, and future sensory experience.
CommunityApplying Sen's Capability Approach to Poverty Alleviation Programs: Two Case Studies
2008John Schischka, Paul Dalziel, Caroline M. Saunders · Journal of Human Development · New Zealand
This research investigated the application of Sen's Capability Approach to two human development programs: a community garden-based poverty alleviation program in a New Zealand city and a self-help project for women in Samoa. Sixteen focus groups of participants described significant changes in their capabilities, including learning new skills and discovering existing valuable capabilities. This finding aligns with Sen's emphasis on participant agency.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsBuying into Community Supported Agriculture: Strategies for Overcoming Income Barriers
2008Cristin B. Forbes, Alison H. Harmon · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · Global
This article examines strategies employed by Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms to help limited-resource consumers overcome income barriers to membership. Due to the typical lump sum membership fee, CSA can be inaccessible. Identified strategies include accepting government food assistance, offering payment plans, working shares, subsidized or low-cost shares, transportation assistance, bartering, outreach, and connections to emergency food assistance.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceEcological scales and social network structure in urban landscapes: management and governance of urban ecosystem services in Stockholm, Sweden
2008Henrik Ernstson, Stephan Barthel, Erik Andersson, Sara Borgström · · Sweden (Stockholm)
This thesis investigates social-ecological features shaping the generation of ecosystem services (ES) in the urban landscape of Stockholm, Sweden. Through interdisciplinary case studies, it showed that informally managed allotment gardens have a higher abundance of pollinators, and voluntary actor groups motivated by a sense-of-place support ES generation. Social-ecological memory among allotment gardeners retains and transmits practices linked to ES, suggesting that sustaining urban ES requires considering historical property rights, diverse actor groups, and local communities of ecosystem practice.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityPolicyCommunity resilience and contemporary agri‐ecological systems: reconnecting people and food, and people with people
2008Christine King · Systems Research and Behavioral Science · Global
This paper explores how agri-ecological systems such as Organic Agriculture, Biodynamics, CSA, Permaculture, Farmers Markets, and Community Gardens contribute to agri-ecological and community resilience. These systems contribute to more sustainable and resilient communities through community development processes like relationship building, genuine participation, inclusiveness, resource mobilization, and creating space for knowledge sharing. The paper compares ecological systems models to agri-ecological systems and suggests how ecological systems theories might contribute to the future of community-based agri-ecological resilience.
CommunityCSA & TeikeiBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceSTUDY ON THE STRATGY OF ENHANCING THE FUNCTION OF URBAN HORTICULTURE AND ESTABLISHING GREEN REGIONAL ECONOMY
2008Shujun Li · · Global
This article analyzes the economic nature and basic function of urban horticulture, based on market orientation and the aim of establishing a green regional economy and harmonious society. It discusses strategies for developing urban horticulture and provides countermeasures to enhance its function and establish a green regional economy.
EconomicsPolicyUrban–rural linkageThe food security environment nexus in urban agriculture in Harare.
2008R. Machiridza, Emmanuel Manzungu · University of Zimbabwe Institutional Repository (University of Zimbabwe) · Zimbabwe (Harare)
Perceptions of urban agriculture in Harare, Zimbabwe, shifted from prohibition before 1980 due to environmental concerns to de facto government policy after independence due to increasing urban poverty. Land was initially allocated to co-operatives primarily for political support, creating tension between political patronage and environmental protection. Critics argue that authorities only accepted urban agriculture's reality two decades post-independence, driven by its potential for poverty reduction and economic development.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsClimate changeExtreme Local Food: Two Case Studies in Assisted Urban Small Plot Intensive Agriculture
2008Lenore Newman · · Global
This 2008 paper examines barriers to urban agriculture expansion in North America—poor urban soils, lack of knowledge, zoning restrictions, and personal time constraints—through two case studies of assisted urban small-plot intensive farming in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia. In both cases, entrepreneurs installed and tended small plots on participants' land, selling the harvest at local farmers' markets or sharing it directly with the landowners. The paper notes that both projects had strong educational components and engaged a diverse demographic, and that having one farmer tend multiple plots could help address concerns about the carbon footprint of small-plot farming raised elsewhere in the literature.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsMANEJO AGROECOLÓGICO DE PLAGAS Y ENFERMEDADES EN LA AGRICULTURA URBANA. ESTUDIO DE CASO CIUDAD DE LA HABANA, CUBA
2008Luis L. Vázquez Moreno, Emilio Fernández Gonzálvez · · Cuba
A participatory research study conducted in 2003–2005 across municipalities and representative production systems of Havana's urban and peri-urban agriculture — where synthetic pesticides are prohibited in "organopónico" and other orchard systems — characterized farmers' pest management practices. Farmers were found to have adopted agroecological innovations including managing floristic diversity, crop rotations and associations, corn and other plant barriers, repellent plants, peripheral live fences, natural-enemy reservoirs, biopesticide applications, and botanical preparations.
Organic cycleCommunityPolicyIncreasing recognition of urban and peri-urban agriculture: emerging declarations for its support and policy review
2008Camillus J. Sawio · Journal of Building and Land Development · Global
A largely literature-review paper on the growing international, regional and local recognition of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) compared with three decades earlier. It frames UPA as increasingly understood to contribute to feeding poor urban populations especially in developing countries, alleviating poverty, and addressing hunger, food security and sustainable urban and environmental management, and credits organizations including the Support Group on Urban Agriculture (SGUA), The Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Netherlands-based RUAF network, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNDP, and CGIAR with systematically organizing regional consultative seminars and workshops that produced municipal declarations supporting UPA. The paper states the impact of these declarations on policy review still remains to be seen.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceAnálisis económico del empleo de la fuerza de trabajo en la Agricultura Urbana del Municipio de Sancti Spíritus (Referencia bibliográfica)
2008Irenio Curbelo Tribicio · OBSERVATÓRIO DE LA ECONOMÍA LATINOAMERICANA · Cuba
Set against Cuba's demographic backdrop of accelerating urbanization, declining birth rates, gradual population aging and an uneven distribution of the workforce, this reference paper argues for the need to understand imbalances between labor supply and demand in urban agriculture and to establish measures to improve its use. It states that wage and incentive systems must align with the rational use of human resources in order to secure workers' fair compensation under the principle of socialist distribution. No specific survey findings or figures are presented.
EconomicsCommunityGröna upplevelser för alla
2008Ann Hallén · · Sweden
A landscape-design thesis proposing a school garden for Jallaskolans upper secondary school outside Uppsala, Sweden, which had requested a garden for students including those with special needs. Based on a site inventory, literature review and visits to other educational and therapeutic green spaces, the author produced a plan scheme intended to stimulate the senses and serve a habilitating function for all visitors. The work stops at the design proposal stage and does not report construction or measured outcomes.
Food educationCommunityUrban agriculture in Accra metropolis: dimensions and implications for urban development
2008Olufunke Cofie, Larbi, Theophilus Otchere, George Danso, Ernest Mensah Abraham, S.K. Kufogbe, N. Obiri-Opareh · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Ghana
A book chapter addressing urban agriculture in the Accra metropolitan area, Ghana, included in Parrot et al. (eds.), "Agriculture and Urban Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Environment and Health Issues" (Paris: L'Harmattan). The available abstract consists only of this bibliographic citation; no study methods or findings are given.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceA summing up: Synthesis 2007: Changing the way we manage water for food, livelihoods, health and the environment
2008Larry Harrington, E. M. L. Humphreys, Annette Huber‐Lee, Sophie Nguyen-Khoa, Simón Cook, Gichuki, Francis N., Nancy L. Johnson, Claudia Ringler, K. Geheb, Jonathan Woolley · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Global
A synthesis report summarizing activities and achievements of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) through the end of 2007, an initiative addressing global water scarcity and food security across nine benchmark river basins organized around five themes. Achievements in rainfed environments include advances in no-till conservation agriculture, "slash and mulch" replacing "slash and burn" in hillside farming, dryland water-harvesting systems, understanding of livelihood vulnerability and farmers' coping strategies, and distribution of drought-tolerant sorghum and wheat through participatory varietal selection and seed schemes. In irrigated and salt-affected environments, progress included development and testing of salt-tolerant rice germplasm, understanding of how wastewater can be used in irrigated peri-urban agriculture to grow safe, nutritious vegetables, and development of aerobic rice germplasm and management practices that use less water.
Food sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyAnálisis económico del empleo de la fuerza de trabajo en la Agricultura Urbana del Municipio de Sancti Spíritus (Proyecto)
2008Irenio Curbelo Tribicio · OBSERVATÓRIO DE LA ECONOMÍA LATINOAMERICANA · Cuba
A research project conducted at the Granja Urbana (Urban Farm) of Sancti Spíritus municipality, Cuba, aiming to apply and evaluate a set of economic and financial analysis tools within the category of "labor force and wages," in order to determine the factors influencing the interrelationship and variation of gross value added (VAB), labor productivity, and average wage. The abstract states only the study's aim and object of analysis; it does not report specific findings or figures from the evaluation.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityRussia's Unknown Agriculture: Household Production in Post-Socialist Rural Russia
2007Pallot J., Nefedova T. · Oxford University Press (Oxford Geographical and Environmental Studies Series) · Russia
A monograph based on four years of fieldwork across European Russia examining the scale, geography, and socioeconomic significance of household plot production in post-socialist rural Russia.
EconomicsPolicyCommunityWastewater Agriculture in Kurunegala City, Sri Lanka
2007Jayakody P., Gunawardana I., Guneratne S., Clemett A., Dissanayake P. · IWMI Research Reports (WASPA Asia Project Report 8), International Water Management Institute · Sri Lanka (Kurunegala)
This IWMI report documents peri-urban paddy cultivation using diverted municipal wastewater around Kurunegala city, highlighting the practice as representative of urbanization impacts on Sri Lankan agriculture while identifying significant public health risks from untreated effluent irrigation.
EconomicsHealthOrganic cyclePolicySharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture
2007E. Elizabeth Henderson, Robyn. Van En · · Global
This book serves as a citizen's guide to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). It covers the context of CSA, how to get started, organization, food aspects, various models, and its future. The guide also includes CSA resources, references, and an index.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityDIYOn Development of Urban Gardening from Perspective of Sociology
2007Xiaolan Tang · Nanjing Linye Daxue xuebao · Global
This paper examines the sociological implications of urban gardens from an urban sociology perspective. It discusses traditional gardens as collective memory, modern gardens as urban development symbols, and new gardens as shared social spaces. The paper also explores the future urbanization trend of natural ecology and offers suggestions for addressing challenges in urban gardening development.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageChallenges and key success factors to integrating learning and change in monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
2007Bertha Camacho Tuckermann · Knowledge Management for Development Journal · Cuba
An action-research study within an Urban Agriculture project in Cuba identified challenges in integrating learning and change into the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of development projects. The main challenge was that the project team did not recognize M&E as a learning tool, believing results could be used against their work. A lack of time for learning and knowledge sharing was another observed challenge. To address these, resistance was overcome through dialogue, reflection, and action, leading to team empowerment, and the role of an external facilitator proved key in steering the learning process.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityUrban Horticulture and Agriculture in the Developing World
2007Jim Godfrey · The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology · Global
This article, titled "Urban Horticulture and Agriculture in the Developing World," was published in The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 82(1), p. 1. The abstract provides only the publication details and title of the article.
Urban–rural linkageEconomicsCommunityRisk factors for Schistosoma mansoni and hookworm in urban farming communities in western Côte d'Ivoire
2007Barbara Matthys, Andres B. Tschannen, Norbert T. Tian‐Bi, Hermann Comoé, Salia Diabaté, Mahamadou Traoré, Penelope Vounatsou, Giovanna Raso, Laura Gosoniu, Marcel Tanner, Guéladio Cissé, Eliézer K. N’Goran, Jürg Utzinger · Tropical Medicine & International Health · Côte d'Ivoire
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in urban farming communities in Man, western Côte d'Ivoire, involving 113 farming households (586 individuals) and 21 non-farming households (130 individuals). The prevalences of S. mansoni and hookworm in farming households were 51.4% and 24.7%, respectively. Risk factors for S. mansoni included close proximity to the Kô River, water contact with irrigation wells and ponds, and low education attainment, while risk factors for hookworm included living in smallholder irrigated rice plots or large rice perimeters, using domestic well water, and low socioeconomic status.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityMeeting Youth Where They Live: Participatory Approaches to Research with Marginalized Youth Engaged in Urban Agriculture
2007Caroline Keenan · Children Youth and Environments · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
This study explored the potential of urban agriculture projects to improve the lives of marginalized youth in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It employed various participatory research approaches, emphasizing the importance of engaging young participants to ensure their voices and experiences are heard.
Food educationWelfareCommunityChanges in Understanding Environmental Health Risks Linked Participatory Education and Action Research Among Senegalese Farmers
2007Nita Chaudhuri, Daryl Cole, D S Niang · Epidemiology · Senegal (Dakar)
A Participatory Education and Action Research (PEAR) process was conducted with 3 farmers in periurban Dakar, Senegal, and surveyed 55 farmers using pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Post-intervention, farmers showed a clearer understanding of environmental impacts like water contamination and pesticide runoff, and perceived a broader range of health risks linked to urban agriculture. Observations also indicated reduced pesticide container litter in the fields.
HealthFood educationCommunityPeri-urban agriculture