Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
5823 results(166 / 233)
The Impacts of a School Garden Program on Urban Middle School Youth
2016Dennis W. Duncan, Ashley Collins, Nicholas E. Fuhrman, D. A. Knauft, David Berle · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States
This study used a quantitative questionnaire to assess the impacts of an urban school garden program on 31 middle school students enrolled in an agriscience connections course in the United States. Data analysis revealed that the cultivation aspect of the program had the greatest positive outcome on urban middle school youth. Students with a family garden showed greater interest in participating, and culinary activities were highly enjoyed, with over 60% agreement on all related items.
Food educationCommunityHealthScaling impact from grassroots social innovation: a conceptual network-based model
2016Annika Voltan · International Journal of Work Innovation · Canada (Nova Scotia)
This paper develops a conceptual network-based model for scaling grassroots social innovations. It reviews existing theoretical work on social innovation and entrepreneurship, constructing a model with four main elements: the role of agency, relationship density, relationship diversity, and network structure. The model is applied to a case study of nine community-supported agriculture (CSA) food producers in Nova Scotia, Canada, with findings supporting the particular importance of relationship diversity and network structures for scaling social innovations.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsurban communities: the importance of green space
2016Catharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall, Jenny Roe, Lynette Robertson · · United Kingdom
This cross-sectional survey investigated the relationship between access to green space and health outcomes (stress, general health) among 406 adults in four highly deprived urban communities in Scotland, United Kingdom. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three communities and of poor general health in the fourth. The amount of green space in the neighborhood, particularly access to a garden or allotment, was a significant predictor of stress, while physical activity, frequency of winter green space visits, and views from home predicted general health.
HealthCommunityChallenge brings communities together to improve health: Fifty cities, counties receive funding
2016Natalie McGill · The Nation's health · United States
In 2016, in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States, where some residents lived in areas with limited access to grocery stores offering fresh produce, staff at DeKalb County Community Gardens initiated an effort to bring food directly to the people. This initiative aimed to improve residents' health.
CommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceCommunity Supported Agriculture and Preferences for Risk and Fairness
2016Kévin Bernard, Aurélie Bonein, Douadia Bougherara · 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts · Global
This study investigated consumers' preferences for attributes of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) contracts, focusing on risk and fairness preferences. Two incentivized field experiments were combined with a stated choice survey, interviewing 162 CSA members face-to-face. Consumers were found to be averse to advantageous inequality (AI) towards CSA and non-CSA farmers, and to disadvantageous inequality (DI) towards non-CSA farmers, but also showed evidence of DI seeking towards CSA farmers. Consumers preferred longer contracts, driven by risk rather than fairness, and exhibited a dislike for losses and share price increases.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityIntroduction: Urban Agriculture and the Built Environment
2016Gundula Proksch · · Global
"Creating Urban Agricultural Systems: An Integrated Approach to Design" is a resource that documents environmental, systemic, technical, and operational considerations in urban agriculture. It compiles emerging strategies, current practices, and working case studies. This research synthesizes information on inputs and outputs, resource efficiencies, environmental benefits, and operational achievements, based on numerous site visits, examinations of outstanding case studies, and interviews with stakeholders behind innovative farm operations.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeUtilization Analysis on Participants of Functional Vegetable Garden Model for Urban Agriculture
2016Eun‐Hee Park, Eunha Yoo, Kyungsook Han, Yoonah Jang, Sunjin Jeong, Dongkeum Park · Journal of people, plants, and environment · Global
This study analyzed the utilization of a functional vegetable garden model by its users, examining aspects such as product types, quantities, ratios, and existing issues. Many participants reported no prior experience with vegetable garden education, yet found cultivation education helpful for their activities. Vegetables were the main type of plant grown in family gardens, with participants independently determining planting times and methods. The current amount of flowers and herbs in the functional vegetable garden model was deemed appropriate, and a crop ratio of 60.5% vegetables, 21.2% medicinal plants, and 18.3% flowers/herbs was considered moderate.
DIYFood educationCommunityGrowing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?
2016Kirsten Schwarz, Bethany B. Cutts, Jonathan London, Mary L. Cadenasso · Sustainability · Global
This paper proposes reframing the issue of soil lead contamination and urban gardening in shrinking cities from a potential conflict to a potential solution. Many shrinking cities face high soil lead burdens from their industrial past and the historic use of lead-based paint and leaded gasoline, which is often seen as a barrier to urban agriculture. The paper argues that urban gardening can be a solution to the soil lead problem through soil management, including soil testing and the addition of amendments, and through social network and community building.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthFrom green to brown landscapes—and back again: urban agriculture, ecology and Hae-jun Lee’s "Cast away on the moon"
2016Christopher Schliephake · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · South Korea
This essay examines contemporary urbanism's re-negotiation of nature's place in cities, presenting bottom-up and top-down urban agriculture models as alternative approaches to re-embed urban systems in natural cycles. It discusses socio-historical changes in urban landscapes since industrialization and analyzes the cultural urban ecology in South Korean director Hae-jun Lee’s 2009 film "Cast Away on the Moon." The film imaginatively explores these issues, prompting a re-consideration of urban lifestyles and the regenerative potential of working with soil.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityPolicyBiodiversityFrom Urban Food gardening to Urban Farming
2016Marian Simón Rojo, X. Recanes, S. Cllau, Barbora Duží, Sebastian Eiter, Verónica Hernández-Jiménez, Patricia Kettle, Raffaella Laviscio, Frank Lohrberg, Dona Pickard, Lionella Scazzosi, Henrik Vejre · ASEP · Global
This article is a study on the transition from urban food gardening to urban farming.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityPlaces of prosumption: Community gardens putting the ‘we’ into neighbourhoods
2016Deirdre Shaw, John Crossan, Andrew Cumbers, Robert McMaster, Katherine Trebeck, Iain Black · Families Relationships and Societies · Global
This article explores the possibilities of prosumption, encompassing production and consumption, for creating new "we" identities based on nature and community. It focuses on community gardens as places that generate progressive social relations. These relations critique mainstream mass production and environmentally destructive food systems.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceGraduate Internship in Agricultural Education: Joseph Kerr Middle School
2016Christie Elise Liebig · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · United States (California)
This graduate internship involved developing a school and community garden at Joseph Kerr Middle School in California, United States. The garden provides hands-on learning for students, who harvest fresh produce and distribute it to families lacking access to fresh produce. Some produce was also donated to a local food bank, emphasizing the program's focus on teaching sustainable practices.
Food educationCommunityWelfareOrganic cycleCIUDAD AGRÍCOLA: ANÁLISIS SOCIAL DE LOS PROCESOS DE AGRICULTURA URBANA CASO LOCALIDAD BOSA - BOGOTÁ.
2016Vargas Sandoval, Norma Constanza · · Colombia (Bogotá)
This descriptive qualitative research project analyzes how urban agriculture processes in Bosa, Bogotá, contribute to social construction through community development. It characterizes the social structure used by participants, identifying dimensions of community organization, systems supporting social dynamics, and relationships articulating actors for network building. The documentation of these urban agriculture experiences serves as a tool for local and district program planning and execution.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceCreativity
2016Beth R. Crisp · · Global
This chapter explores the potential for creativity across a wide range of life domains, including the arts, social work, and cooking. It notes that poverty and lack of funds are not necessarily an impediment to people expressing their creativity in their places of living. Community gardens can bring together parts of a community who might not otherwise have anything to do with each other, in addition to providing gardeners with physical and mental health benefits.
CommunityHealthResiliencia y organización comunitaria: el caso de la red de huertas en los Altos de la Estancia, en la localidad de Ciudad Bolívar en Bogotá / Resilience and community organization: the case of the network of orchards in the “Altos de la Estancia”, in “C
2016Diana Paola Vargas Huertas, Juan–Carlos Ruiz · Ciudad Paz-ando · Colombia (Bogotá)
This case study analyzed the creation process of an agricultural-based socio-economic network (orchards) in the Altos de la Estancia sector of Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá, from the perspective of social resilience. Using participatory design accompaniment methodologies, the study examined resilience variables, vulnerability, and alternative economies within urban agriculture, and analyzed the social actors involved in the network's formation. The research revealed diverse capacities to face environmental adversity within risk management and community building processes, supported by district institutions, academia, and popular collectives.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceReappearance of the Public: Placemaking, Minoritization and Resistance in Detroit
2016Alesia Montgomery · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States (Detroit)
A case study of downtown Detroit theorizes that the history of clashes between racial capitalism and social movements in public space reappears in the contradictory design of market-driven placemaking. This placemaking subordinates the black urban poor, even while incorporating black entrepreneurs and culture. Consequently, it suppresses the ability of African Americans to shape public space, despite the return of the white middle class to central cities.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsInventing Eco-Cycle
2016Sandy Smith‐Nonini · Anthropology in Action · United States
This article discusses lessons learned from Eco-Cycle, a social enterprise supporting sustainability education in central North Carolina, U.S.A., since 2011. Eco-Cycle faced the challenge that many social justice-oriented green initiatives emulating urban agriculture models are grant-dependent in early years and achieve economic sustainability with difficulty. However, this non-profit co-op of upcycler crafters and vintage vendors grew from the production and marketing of upcycled rain barrels, pursuing economic sustainability through a social enterprise approach.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityPolicyUrban Cultivation and Its Contributions to Sustainability: Nibbles of Food but Oodles of Social Capital
2016George Martin, Roland Clift, Ian Christie · Sustainability · Global
This exploratory study examined three urban cultivation sites in New York, London, and San Francisco to assess their nutritional, ecological, and social sustainability contributions. Field analysis revealed very low food outputs relative to the populations of their catchment areas, indicating that most urban food will continue to come from outside urban peripheries. The study concluded that urban food growing's sustainability benefits are more social than agronomic or ecological.
Limited or null effectCommunityEconomicsHealthClimate changeIdentifying opportunities and hurdles for food security: a critical examination of the City of Edmonton's food and agriculture strategy
2016Lorelei L. Hanson, Deborah Schrader · Interdisciplinary Environmental Review · Canada (Edmonton)
This case study critically examined the development of a food and urban agriculture strategy in Edmonton, Canada, using survey data and semi-structured interviews with citizens and stakeholders. It explored the transformative potential of local urban food initiatives and identified hurdles in moving beyond maintaining the status quo. The study aimed to identify leverage points for long-term local food system transformation within conceptualizations of sustainability.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityA Story of Urban Farming and the Cultivation of Community and the Human Spirit
2016Matthew M. Mars · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Canada (Vancouver)
Michael Ableman's book "Street Farm" tells the story of how an urban farm transformed vacant lots in Vancouver, Canada's Low Tracks neighborhood into sites for food production, partial community restoration, and nurturing the human spirit. The narrative reveals a tenuous balance between the promises of urban farming and the harsh realities of addiction, hunger, homelessness, and violence often characterizing inner-city conditions. Urban agriculture is presented as a means to sustainably produce food for a city while also feeding the souls of disenfranchised individuals and communities.
Equity & displacementCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceDon’t Panic, It’s Organic*: Supporting Sustainable Agriculture and Hunger Relief Efforts at McQuade Library
2016Catherine Wong, Kathryn Geoffrion Scannell · University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) · United States
McQuade Library partnered with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation to become a distributor of local foods, providing fresh produce to Merrimack College and the surrounding community. The library collaborated with Farmer Dave’s CSA, recruiting over fifty members to facilitate weekly food drop-offs for twenty weeks. Unclaimed food shares were distributed to a nearby food pantry, senior center, and an emergency shelter, supporting sustainable agriculture and hunger relief efforts.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceFood Justice and Sustainability: A New Revolution
2016Patrizia Longo · Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia · United States (Lafayette, California)
This paper documents the history of Urban Farmers, a grassroots organization in Lafayette, California, that addresses poverty and sustainability through a community-development approach to food security. The organization's project focuses on localizing the food system and fostering community development.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityWelfareEconomicsHistorical allotment gardens in Wrocław - the need to protection = Historyczne ogrody działkowe we Wrocławiu - potrzeba ochrony
2016Wanda Kononowicz, Katarzyna Gryniewicz-Balińska · Digital library of Zielona Gora (University of Zielona Góra) · Poland
This paper describes the historical development of allotment gardens in Wrocław, Poland, from the mid-nineteenth century. It notes the emergence of various types, including rented gardens, gardens for the poor or factory workers, school gardens, Schreber gardens, and "war" vegetable gardens cultivated between 1914-1918.
CommunityFood educationPolicyFactores que influyen en la práctica de la horticultura periurbana: caso de una ciudad en el estado de Veracruz, México Factors influencing the practice of peri-urban horticulture: study case of a city in the state of Veracruz, México
2016Marco Antonio Toral Juárez, Catalino Jorge López Collado, Felipe Gallardo-López · · Mexico (Veracruz)
This study identified cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors influencing women's disposition to practice home horticulture and the financial profits of container vegetable production. Using non-probabilistic sampling, 114 women were selected in the peri-urban zone of Cardel City, Veracruz, Mexico, and interviewed with a Likert scale survey. The disposition to practice peri-urban horticulture was favorable, and four out of six containers had a positive cost/benefit ratio. Multiple factors affect this disposition, while the environmental factor determines which vegetables can grow.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityDIYA NEW VISION FOR AN OLD INSTITUTION: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES FOR URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AGRICULTURE AT THE WALTHAM EXPERIMENT STATION
2016Kevin C. Hartzell · ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · United States (Massachusetts)
The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Waltham Experiment Station in Waltham, Massachusetts, is slated for redevelopment as a model for multi-use urban agriculture production, research, and education. This project will focus on educational and research categories within the theme of cultural ecosystem services. The aim is to strengthen urban and peri-urban agriculture activities through this new vision for extension.
Urban–rural linkageFood educationCommunityPolicy