Research & reports

Dubbeling M.C.E., Merzthal G., Soto N. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · Peru (Lima)

Analyzes the multistakeholder policy formulation process for urban agriculture in Lima's Villa María del Triunfo district, demonstrating that inclusive stakeholder engagement produces more effective municipal policies addressing food security, land use, and economic development simultaneously.

David Baker Architects · · United States

Armstrong Place is an affordable family townhouse community in the United States, designed as a transit-oriented development. The complex features a large shared open public courtyard with allotment gardens for families to grow food and flowers, as well as a rain garden. It includes a total of 124 rental units and ten for-sale townhomes ranging from $175,000 to $345,000 for families earning 60-100% of the Area Median Income (2011 figures).

Evan Marcus Sawyer, Jason Terry Reynolds, Lee F Hermsdorf-Krasin, Robert Brian Grady · Digital WPI · United States (Worcester)

This project aimed to provide AIDS Project Worcester in Worcester, United States, with a visual prototype garden and construction-ready plans. The goal was to facilitate the design, building, and operation of a community garden for the organization.

Irene H. Reti · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (Santa Cruz, California)

This interview is about Paul Glowaski, Garden Director for the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, California. Glowaski, interested in urban agriculture for its self-sufficiency and food security for low-income communities, pursued organic farming training, leading to his current position at the Homeless Garden Project. The project operates a two-acre market farm that trains low-income and homeless community members in sustainable agriculture.

Sarah Rabkin · · United States

Amy Courtney, founder of Freewheelin’ Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, delivers shares by bicycle-drawn trailer. Courtney, a 1997 graduate of UCSC’s Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, started the farm in 2002 with minimal motorized vehicles, utilizing used equipment and recycled materials. She and her partners continue to haul all CSA shares six miles into Santa Cruz by bicycle. Courtney's work is driven by a commitment to social justice, community health, and cultural vitality. The farm collaborates with "Food, What?!"—a youth empowerment program, and hosts cultural and educational initiatives.

Andrew Flachs · Electronic Green Journal · United States (Cleveland)

This paper explored the social and cultural effects of urban gardening in the greater Cleveland area. Fieldwork indicated that gardeners combine economic, environmental, political, social, and nutritional motivations, challenging the presumption that utilitarian function and environmentalist ideology are mutually exclusive. The study aimed to convey the complexity of use, function, and intent in communal gardening spaces.

Éric Duchemin, Fabien Wegmuller, Anne-Marie Legault · VertigO · Canada (Montreal)

A 2010 study on urban agriculture (AU) in Montreal, Canada, examined the city-managed community garden program and six collective gardens managed by community organizations. These AU initiatives, aimed at food security, socialization, and education, were found to serve as significant vegetable production sites and venues for socialization and education, fostering individual and collective social development in neighborhoods with a strong presence of economically disadvantaged populations.

Leonardo da Fonseca Barbosa, José Pedro da Silva, Gabriela Vieira Junges, Weverton de Goes Duarte, Cícero Luiz Calazans de Lima, Jakes Halan Queiroz Costa · REVISTA ELETRÔNICA EXTENSÃO EM DEBATE · Brazil

A preliminary diagnostic study of agricultural and environmental conservation activities in the Tabacaria quilombola community, located in the rural zone of Palmeira dos Índios, Alagoas, Brazil, the only such community officially recognized by the state, used monthly participatory meetings, a questionnaire, and site visits to assess potential locations for a community garden. The diagnosis found an absence of technical assistance or guidance from any public agency and a lack of information reaching the community. Agriculture remained subsistence-based, centered on cassava, corn, beans and fava beans, with ecological soil and water management practices practically nonexistent. The study calls for awareness-raising and information activities to address these gaps and for the development of sustainable agricultural practices.

Stephanie Co · Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) · United States

This piece on urban agriculture and its role in transforming socioeconomic status and food security among refugee communities in the United States was published in the Washington University Undergraduate Research Digest (WUURD) in 2010, under mentor Peter Benson.

Larsen K., Gilliland J. · Health & Place 15(4):1158-1162 · Canada

Evaluates a farmers' market established in a London, Ontario food desert, analyzing its effect on the price and availability of fresh, healthy food and its potential to improve local food access.

Rocha C., Lessa I. · International Planning Studies 14(4):389-400 · Brazil

Describes the distinct food security governance developed by Belo Horizonte (2.5 million people), marked by comprehensive programs, urban/rural focus, flexibility, and commitment to social justice and equitable food access.

Arce B., Prain G., Maldonado L. · Women Feeding Cities: Mainstreaming Gender in Urban Agriculture and Food Security (Practical Action Publishing), Chapter 13 · Peru (Lima)

Examines land tenure insecurity and gender constraints among periurban farmers in Carapongo, Lima, showing that women's time burdens limit participation in horticulture field schools. Based on a baseline survey of 125 producers conducted through the CGIAR Urban Harvest initiative.

· Journal of Community Practice · USA

A case study of a community gardening/conservation program analyzing the individual, social, and community-level benefits generated through participation in the program's activities.

Sarah Dooling · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · USA (Seattle)

Defines 'ecological gentrification' as the implementation of a public green-space planning agenda that displaces the most vulnerable (homeless people) while espousing an environmental ethic—framing green public policy itself as a driver of exclusion.

Samireille Silvano Messias, Ednaldo Michellon, Marcos Rogério da Silva Alves dos Santos, Camila Pereira Croge, Juliano Tait Vareschini, Fernande Antunes Fernandes · REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE AGROECOLOGIA · Brazil (Maringá)

In Maringá, Paraná, the growing need for urban and peri-urban agriculture led to the establishment of the Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Reference Center (CERAUP) by Maringá State University, in partnership with municipal governments and funded by the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger. This project aims to enable the region's most vulnerable families to produce healthy food without pesticides and earn extra income by selling surplus produce. This initiative facilitates food re-education and capacity building for direct beneficiaries and the entire population around these urban agriculture spaces.

Éric Duchemin, Fabien Wegmuller, Anne-Marie Legault · Field Actions Science Reports · Canada (Montreal)

This article discusses urban agriculture (UA) initiatives undertaken in Montreal, Canada, for over 30 years, specifically the City-managed Community Gardening Program and six collective gardens managed by community organizations. These UA initiatives have fostered vegetable production and a socialization and education environment, contributing to individual and collective social development in economically disadvantaged districts. The various approaches achieve their established objectives and serve as multi-dimensional tools for the social development of disadvantaged populations.

LaDona Knigge · Geographica Helvetica · United States (New York City)

A mixed-methods case study drawn from a larger study of community gardens in Buffalo, New York, United States. It examines issues of public space, citizenship, gender and race in the context of state restructuring and welfare reform that shifted responsibility for social services toward private communities through elimination, privatization or devolvement. The study found connections between community organizations' commitment to community gardening and their involvement in providing social, youth and emergency services, including after-school programs, tutoring, refugee services and winter coat drives. It concludes that the everyday lives of Buffalo residents cannot be separated from the effects of larger structural processes such as deindustrialization, privatization and state restructuring.

Mary Beth Pudup · Geoforum · USA (San Francisco Bay Area)

Argues that 'organized garden projects' proliferate in roll-out neoliberal institutions (jails, schools, clinics) to cultivate self-governing citizen-subjects, reframing gardening policy as a technology for downloading social responsibility onto 'at-risk' individuals.

Ioan Voicu, Vicki Been · Real Estate Economics · United States (New York City)

This study estimated the impact of community gardens on neighborhood property values in New York City using a difference-in-difference hedonic regression model. The findings indicate that community gardens have significant positive effects on property values, particularly in the poorest neighborhoods. Higher-quality gardens were observed to have the greatest positive impact.

Anne‐Marie Hamelin, Céline Mercier, Annie Bédard · Public Health Nutrition · Canada (Quebec City)

A study in Quebec City, Canada, interviewed 55 food-insecure households and 59 stakeholders to compare perceptions of food security needs and community programs. While both groups agreed on the need for better financial resources, households reported that food quality and access were neglected, and that existing programs, even combined, were insufficient to meet their needs. Stakeholders, however, largely perceived households as satisfied with programs and believed their primary need was a basic amount of food. The study concluded that community programs alone cannot bring about the social change needed to prevent food insecurity.

Ronald Labonté, Glenn Laverack · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · Canada

In a Canadian city, a group of single mothers living in poverty started a community garden. This garden was primarily about creating capacity and empowering experiences, such as successfully negotiating with authorities, rather than just food production. For some, it served as a tool for political activism, while for others, it provided a sense of control and coherence through gardening.

D. Winterbottom · · United States (New York City)

In New York City, unique park spaces have been created on reclaimed neglected urban land, meeting various community needs including social, spiritual, cultural, and ecological aspects. These gardens, created by Puerto Rican immigrants as recreations of their indigenous landscapes, are valued by users for their restorative benefits such as stress reduction, ability to regain focus, calming engagement with nature, and an increased sense of well-being. This paper presents how these spaces function as restorative refuges and places to express and affirm traditional cultural values.

· · United States (Lawrence)

The JJAMM Food Network was launched in Lawrence, MA, in summer 2006 to address three community needs: health, education, and employment. The program enabled elders and teenagers to learn nutrition, fitness, gardening, and money management, grow crops in community gardens, and sell produce to local restaurants. Although initial funding was challenging, the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted funding for 2007, fostering intergenerational interaction and relationship building.

Ariana de Lena · Occidental College Scholar (Occidental College) · United States (Los Angeles)

This research provides an overview of the environmental justice movement in relation to community gardens and examines two community gardens in Los Angeles: the El Sereno Community Garden and Proyecto Jardín. While both gardens primarily consist of Latino participants, the El Sereno garden was found to have significantly lower rates of participation. The study analyzed how a community garden can best utilize its resources to most benefit its participants and its community.

Christopher Davis · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · United States

A master's thesis addressing persistent socio-economic inequality and environmental destruction in the contemporary American city, particularly environmental injustice, decaying historic structures, poor health, weak community support systems and gentrification pressure in impoverished urban neighborhoods, proposes urban agriculture as a comprehensive, integrated solution spanning urban revitalization, environmentalism and historic preservation. The research culminates in a project adapting rooftops in impoverished urban neighborhoods into a network of public agricultural gardens intended to beautify and revitalize the area.