Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
4283 results(166 / 172)
Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket
2004Brian Halweil · · Global
This book points out that the long-distance food system consumes staggering amounts of fuel, generates greenhouse gases, and compromises food security. Since 1961, the tonnage of food shipped between nations has grown fourfold, with food in the United States typically traveling 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to plate. While this system often runs roughshod over local cuisines, varieties, and agriculture, a local-foods movement is beginning to emerge globally.
Environmental trade-offsFood miles & supply chainFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeUrban–rural linkagePost-structuralist philosophies: Towards an etho-politics of everyday leisure practices
2004Simone Fullagar · World Leisure Journal · Australia
This article draws on Foucault's later work on ethics and subjectivity to consider Socrates' question, "how are we to live?". Through a case study of an Australian community garden project (Northey Street City Farm), it outlines the transformative potential of leisure practices in constituting the ethical self.
CommunityPolicyThe use of wastewater in Cochabamba, Bolivia: a degrading environment.
2004F.P. Huibers, O. Moscoso, Álvaro Ocampo Durán, J.B. van Lier · CABI Publishing eBooks · Bolivia
A study examining wastewater use in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Both vegetable and fodder crops are irrigated with polluted water — diluted or partly treated municipal and industrial sewage — containing high concentrations of pathogens, heavy metals, and salts. In the downstream La Mayca area, where farmers have an agreement with the municipal water and sewerage company, soil degradation has forced them to increasingly replace vegetable crops with more salt-tolerant fodder crops. In other areas around the city, cultivators deny using wastewater and point to nearby wells as their water source, but many of these wells are likely also polluted and do not yield enough water for the irrigated area they serve. Farmers report no specific health problems related to using polluted water, which contradicts reports from local health workers. Because surface water flow and rainfall are low while industrial pollution is high and wastewater treatment capacity is limited, most of the water available to farmers is of poor quality. Options identified for improvement include reducing industrial pollution, increasing treatment capacity, and adopting integrated water management that blends good-quality groundwater with wastewater — but strong traditional water rights, lack of urban planning, and weak institutions are cited as constraints on improving wastewater management in Cochabamba.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthWelfareTeacher Researchers in Agricultural Education: Developing Teacher Leaders through Action Research
2004Cary J. Trexler · The Agricultural education magazine · Global
An essay on action research in agricultural education discusses its concept and value, citing organizing a community garden and determining best practices for it as one example of an action-research project, alongside after-school recreation programs and rural-community documentation efforts. It characterizes the researcher's vested personal interest in the outcome as the defining feature of action research, and frames "teacher research" — an educator's systematic reflection on their own classroom, shop, SAEs, or FFA activities — as one form of it, drawing on Schön (1983) and Mundy and Russell (1994) on knowledge embedded in practice. The piece presents no empirical data.
Food educationCommunityCommunity-Gardens and Science Laboratories as Texts for Science Literacy Development
2004Jrène Rahm · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · Global
A theoretical book chapter examines community gardens and science laboratories as "texts" that mediate the development of science literacy. Drawing on sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, Wertsch), it frames texts not merely as transmitters of information but as tools for dialogue and meaning-making, introducing the notion of texts as dynamic "participants" that change and grow with their users as the analytical basis for reading environments as texts.
CommunityFood educationThe links between urban and rural development
2003Tacoli, C. · Environment and Urbanization 15(1), 3–12 · Global
A classic synthesis of urban-rural interactions, systematizing flows of people, goods, capital and information between countryside and city, and showing—via South Asian and sub-Saharan cases—that cities are essential to rural development.
EconomicsPolicyContesting Capitalism at the Post-Soviet Dacha: The Meaning of Food Cultivation for Urban Russians
2003Zavisca J.R. · Slavic Review · Russia
An ethnographic study showing that dacha food cultivation among urban Russians serves as a discursive arena for debating the rationality and morality of the post-Soviet transition to capitalism, not merely an economic survival strategy.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyTrajectories in People's Farming in Moscow Oblast during the Post-Socialist Transformation
2003Pallot J., Nefedova T. · Journal of Rural Studies · Russia (Moscow Oblast)
Examines the diverse forms and micro-geography of personal food plot production in Moscow Oblast, revealing how geographic, historical, and structural factors shaped household farming during the post-socialist transition.
EconomicsPolicyCommunitySmall-scale Urban Agriculture in Havana and the Reproduction of the 'New Man' in Contemporary Cuba
2003Premat A. · European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies · Cuba (Havana)
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Havana (1999-2001), this article examines urban garden parcelas as sites revealing tensions between private and public domains, finding that revolutionary values around food security and community persisted in post-Soviet Cuba despite assumptions of growing individualism.
CommunityPolicyFood educationWelfareHome gardening in urban poor communities of the Philippines
2003Miura S., Kunii O., Wakai S. · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition · Philippines (Davao City)
A structured survey of 152 mothers in two poor urban communities in Davao City examined home gardening and dietary diversity, finding limited but notable impact of garden produce on micronutrient intake. The study assessed a community-based approach promoting home gardening to address iron and vitamin A deficiencies.
CommunityHealthWelfareFood educationThe African Market Garden: The development of a low-pressure drip irrigation system for smallholders in the Sudano Sahel
2003· Irrigation and Drainage · Sudano-Sahel (Niger)
Documents the development of a low-pressure, low-cost drip irrigation system (the African Market Garden) for smallholder growers in the Sudano-Sahel.
DIYEconomicsHealth Benefits of Urban Agriculture
2003Jac Smit, Anne C. Bellows, Katherine Brown · · Global
This handout, prepared by Anne C. Bellows, Katherine Brown, and Jac Smit, summarizes a fully cited article on the health benefits of urban agriculture. The original article is available for free from the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC).
HealthFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityRural life in the city: the chalet garden in Denmark
2003Amy Damin, James Palmer · · Denmark (Copenhagen)
This paper investigates the history and social life of allotment gardens with small cottages in Denmark, which offer a partial rural lifestyle in urban areas. These gardens allow urbanites to coexist with nature for several months annually through temporary living and plant cultivation. The study specifically examines the Sano garden near Copenhagen.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageA novel living agricultural concept in urban communities: Family Business Garden
2003Thilak T. Ranasinghe · International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology · Sri Lanka
Through experience in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, the "Family Business Garden" concept justifies the necessity of urban agriculture amidst limited urban infrastructure, environmental conditions, and socio-economic situations. This concept, by properly mixing environmental and commercial agricultural concerns, not only addresses family food requirements but also opens the way to produce for markets under liberalized economies by promoting agro-entrepreneurship and social capital development in urban communities.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareImpact Evaluation of School Garden Programmes on Nutrition Knowledge Among Secondary School Teachers in Kigali, Rwanda: Academic Performance Outcomes
2003Kabuye Umugeshiwu · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Rwanda
This comparative study evaluated the impact of school garden programs on nutrition knowledge among secondary school teachers in Kigali, Rwanda. A mixed-methods research strategy, including quantitative surveys (n=120) and qualitative interviews (n=6), was employed. Results showed an average improvement of 35% in teachers' nutrition knowledge post-intervention, indicating that school garden programs significantly enhance teachers' nutrition knowledge, correlating positively with improved academic performance among students.
Food educationHealthUrban Agriculture in Dakar's Slums: Community Gardens and Educational Outcomes
2003Mariama Diop, Aminata Sow, Ibrahima Ndiaye · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Senegal (Dakar)
This research in Dakar's slums used a mixed-methods approach to study the link between community gardens and educational outcomes among school children. A preliminary analysis indicated that students participating in community gardens showed a 15% improvement in reading comprehension scores compared to non-participants. While further statistical testing is needed, the findings suggest a positive correlation between urban agriculture and educational outcomes for low-income children.
CommunityFood educationWelfareHealth第I編 グリーン・コミュニティ・ツーリズム
2003Jitsuo Saito · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Global
This article explores the concept of green community tourism for urban citizens, discussing the ambivalence towards community and the role of green money in fostering green prosumerism. It suggests that green tourism can build communities that integrate both market and non-market economies, strengthening relationships between urban and rural communities and supporting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The article also references the Japanese Organic Certification Rule announced in 2000.
CommunityOrganic cycleEconomicsOn urban agriculture
2003Diao Yong-zuo · Zhongguo Qingnian Zhengzhi Xueyuan xuebao · Global
Urban agriculture is a significant phenomenon of social and economic development and an important constituent of the urban industrial structure. It has overtaken and promoted traditional agriculture, with its function and influence extending beyond traditional agriculture, becoming a significant aspect of the modern urban economy. Actively cultivating urban agriculture is a key task for developing the modern urban economy and achieving agricultural modernization.
EconomicsUrban–rural linkagePolicyIdentification of banana production systems in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Yaoundé
2003Sylvaine Lemeilleur, Ludovic Temple, Moïse Kwa · Agritrop (Cirad) · Cameroon (Yaoundé)
This study states that urban development, a key feature of socioeconomic change in developing countries, presents the challenge of increasing food supply to meet urban consumer demands. While peri-urban agriculture offers favorable conditions for intensifying production systems, there is limited research specifically on bananas. Therefore, this work aims to identify banana production systems in the peri-urban agriculture of Yaoundé, Cameroon's capital (1.4 million inhabitants).
Peri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsHeavy metal levels of pasture grasses in metropolitan area
2003G. B. Luilo, Othman C. Othman · Journal de Physique IV (Proceedings) · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
This study measured heavy metal levels (cadmium, manganese, lead, and zinc) in Cynodon grasses near roads in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. Mean levels of lead and zinc varied exponentially with distance from the road up to 15m and correlated with average daily traffic, suggesting vehicular sources. For public health reasons, it is recommended that pasture grasses in road vicinities not be used for foraging dairy cattle and goats.
Contamination & food safetyHealthEconomicsInfluence of urban wastewater on stream water quality and agriculture in and around Kumasi, Ghana
2003Bernard Keraita, Pay Drechsel, Philip Amoah · Environment and Urbanization · Ghana (Kumasi)
This study in Kumasi, Ghana, investigated the influence of urban wastewater on stream water quality and peri-urban agriculture through interviews and water quality assessments. It found that population increase and underinvestment in sanitation facilities led to large volumes of untreated wastewater entering streams. High levels of faecal coliform were recorded in the city's streams, downstream areas, and on vegetables sold in Kumasi’s markets due to contaminated wastewater.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agriculturePolicyGrowing Awareness in Paraguay: School Gardens Give Children the Tools to Prosper
2003Darcy Varney · Children Youth and Environments · Paraguay
In the summer of 2000, Plan International introduced vegetable gardening to 48 rural primary schools in Paraguay's southern provinces. This program aimed to improve children's health through nutrition and equip them with skills to share with their parents. Plan provided seeds, tools, fencing materials, and technical support to help children and community members build gardens.
Food educationCommunityUrban–rural linkageMultifonctionnalités de l'agriculture dans les territoires périurbains : diversité des formes d'exercice du métier d'agriculteur, insertions de l'agriculture dans l'aménagement des territoires
2003André Fleury, Paule Moustier, Jean-Jacques Toiron · Agritrop (Cirad) · Global
This project aims to analyze the specificities and contributions of peri-urban agriculture to the transformation of peri-urban spaces into urban territories. It seeks to unify analytical concepts for agriculture in urban areas and produce intervention tools for urban planning and agricultural policy. The project hypothesizes that the sustainability of peri-urban agriculture depends on its ability to integrate into urban policy and projects, leveraging diverse urban demands.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsA systematic overview of urban agriculture in developing countries from an environmental point of view
2003Hasan Belevi, Bettina Baumgartner · International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management · Global
This paper provides a systematic overview of urban agriculture in low and middle-income countries, identifying research needs. It highlights the importance of cross-cutting issues between urban agriculture and environmental sanitation, including excreta, wastewater, and solid waste management. Further research is needed to quantify the benefits, risks, opportunities, and constraints of urban agriculture, as well as its impact on food quality and the environment when reusing waste.
Food sovereignty & justiceWelfareOrganic cycleHealthOperation G.R.U.B.: Gardens Replace Urban Blight - An Ecological Alternative for Addressing the Health, Socio Economic, and Environmental Needs of At-Risk Communities
2003Neil S. Brantley · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · Global
This research project aims to provide a framework of relevant information for developing sustainable urban agriculture systems as a tool to improve the quality of life for the urban poor. Two different infrastructure contexts are presented, with the intent of relating the applicability of urban agriculture initiatives to enhancing destitute urban communities in both developed and developing worlds, referencing successful case studies. Urban agriculture is beginning to be recognized by the world community as one viable urban development option.
WelfareCommunityHealthEconomicsUrban–rural linkage