Research & reports

Michael Carolan · Journal of the American Planning Association · United States

This 2019 study, based on 82 interviews in Denver, New York, and San Francisco, investigated how traditional and digital urban agriculture converge and diverge regarding land use and gentrification. It found that both digital and traditional urban farming systems are linked to gentrification and inequitable land use patterns. Digital urban farming systems also operate in a regulatory gray area, with their "digital" aspects used to gain more zoning permission than traditional urban agriculture.

Annisa Nur Ichniarsyah, Heny Agustin, Maulidian Maulidian · Jurdimas (Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat) Royal · Indonesia (Bekasi)

The Asofa Foundation conducted hydroponic training for the community in Bekasi, Indonesia, covering seeding, transplanting, and mixing hydroponic fertilizers. Participants learned to cultivate plants using hydroponics, but seedlings died after transplanting due to poor local water conditions. The study suggests further training in fruit hydroponics or other cultivation methods suitable for the environmental conditions.

오익근, 서정아, 장승옥 · 한국지역개발학회지 · South Korea

A focus group interview with young urban farmers in Daegu, South Korea, explored job creation through urban farming. Participants perceived farming as physically demanding and unrewarding, despite seeing urban farming as a promising industry for job creation. They also noted a lack of national support policies and difficulties in participation. A contradiction was identified between the young farmers' desire to adopt labor-saving new technologies and the goal of creating jobs through traditional farming.

Chabib Musthofa, Muhammad Andik Izzuddin · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Indonesia

This study developed a hydroponic plant business model using information-based appropriate technology for urban agricultural UMKM communities in SERPIS KRPL, Wonocolo, Surabaya, Indonesia. Employing the ADDIE method, the research quantitatively measured the effectiveness, efficiency, and attractiveness of the developed products. Validation tests showed high scores: content expert validation at 81.29%, media and design expert validation at 96.43%, and individual trials at 81.67%. The developed website and social media successfully met the communication needs of the UMKM KRPL SERPIS community and diverse online users for their business processes.

Kathrin Specht, Felix Zoll, Henrike Schümann, Julia Bela, Julia Kachel, Marcel Robischon · Sustainability · Global

Nineteen qualitative expert interviews were conducted to identify perceptions of sustainability, social acceptability, and ethical aspects of new urban food production approaches. While major perceived benefits included educational effects and efficient resource use, significant conflicts involved negative side-effects, legal constraints, and high investment costs. Acceptance barriers were largely tied to the "unknown," encompassing a lack of understanding of new approaches, uncertainty about benefits, health risk concerns, unfamiliarity with products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare. The study concluded that adapting the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is a crucial first step to foster dissemination of urban food production approaches.

Johanna Lochner, Marco Rieckmann, Marcel Robischon · Journal of Education for Sustainable Development · Global

This systematic literature review analyzed 158 peer-reviewed articles on school gardening, with a focus on Virtual School Garden Exchanges (VSGEs) and their connection to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The study examined the global perspective of ESD, the use of digital media, and international exchanges in school gardens. Only 14 articles directly incorporated these three perspectives, leading to the identification of possible directions for future research on VSGE.

Andy Lockhart, Simon Marvin · Antipode · United Kingdom (Sheffield)

This article explored the phenomenon of automated environmental control, using three sites in Sheffield, UK: a botanical glasshouse, a luxury hotel, and a university plant growth research lab. The study identified technical and ecological tensions and limits of indoor environmental control at each site, which restrict the scope of automation. It also showed that maintaining desired conditions required considerable hidden labor and energy.

Siti Aisyah Salim, Zawiyah Mohammad Yusof, Laili Farhana Md Ibharim, Siti Hajar · Scientific Repository (Petra Christian University) · Southeast Asia

This study conducts a structured literature review on urban farming activities in Southeast Asia, presenting its taxonomy and future research directions. Analyzing 88 articles from ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus, it focused on urban farming activities, technology applications, and smallholder farming. The review identified benefits of urban farming in Southeast Asia, challenges hindering its utilization, and recommendations to improve the acceptance and use of urban farming applications.

Blaire O’Neal · · United States (San Diego County)

This research investigates the significance of soil in distinguishing urban agriculture forms in San Diego County and examines how soil-based and soilless growing methods relate to justice. The results illustrate that while the way food is grown is important for urban agriculture organizations' identity and practices, it is only one of many factors influencing justice, such as socio-spatial context. Justice is an ongoing process that evolves as urban agriculture commodities travel through their circuits and interact with placed networks filled with intentions, actions, discourses, objects, actors, and forces.

Michael Martin, Sofia Poulikidou, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Global

This study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental performance of using urban residual material flows in vertical hydroponic farming. It assessed replacing conventional growing media with paper, compost, and brewers’ spent grains, and conventional fertilizers with biogas digestate. The results indicate significant environmental performance benefits when conventional growing media are replaced, and substantial potential benefits, though less significant, when fertilizers from residual urban streams are used, suggesting potential for more circular hydroponic systems.

Wang, Jiaxin · DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) · Singapore

This project focuses on developing novel sensing and monitoring techniques for urban farming environments, particularly in land-scarce areas like Singapore, to enhance food security. It introduces various IoT platforms and elements, illustrates radio frequency and Bluetooth low energy communication principles, and explains data transmission using IDE programming. The project aims to design a system capable of temperature measurement and TDS value detection in water, combining different sensors with Arduino design.

Florijn de Graaf, Simon Goddek · · Global

This research proposes integrating a neighborhood microgrid with a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics facility to enhance self-sufficiency and flexibility. This "Smarthood" concept, connecting Food–Water–Energy flows, significantly improves microgrid performance. The integration achieved 95.38% power and 100% heat self-sufficiency due to the flexibility of thermal mass, pumps, and lighting systems.

Gabriel Wei En Wee, Haritharan Devanthran · TEST Engineering & Management · Malaysia

This paper explored the development and adoption of smart farming technologies in Malaysia through a meta-analysis of worldwide scientific literature and perspectives from experienced farmers. Research on smart farming in Malaysia began in 1999, with "Internet of Things" identified as the most researched technology. The development trend points towards urban farming solutions and sustainable agriculture.

Justin Pierre, Victoria Fast, Jyothi Kumari, Claus Rinner · GI_Forum · Canada (Toronto)

Cartoforum is a map-based discussion forum developed using the Boundless geostack for crowdsourcing public planning ideas. This paper presents its software architecture and functionality through three pilot studies: cycle lane planning in Toronto, Canada, community garden site-selection in the Toronto region, and campus sustainability at the University of Kerala, India. These studies demonstrate Cartoforum's utility in argumentation mapping and its potential for citizen participation.

Dian Triastari Armanda, Jeroen B. Guinée, Arnold Tukker · Global Food Security · Global

This review examined emerging innovative urban agriculture (IUA) practices, revitalized since 2010 by scientific knowledge and agricultural technology. It assessed IUA's potential contribution to food security and environmental sustainability by comparing scientific literature and actual data from eighteen practitioners worldwide. The most productive IUA practice can yield up to 140 kg of vegetables per m2/year, indicating IUA's potential to support local food supply, strengthen the food value chain, and apply more sustainable practices for global food security.

Munirah Hayati Hamidon, Samsuzana Abd Aziz, Tofael Ahamed, MUHAMMAD RAZIF MAHADI · Jurnal Teknologi · Malaysia

This research designed a compact smart vertical garden system for urban agriculture in Malaysia and analyzed the growth performance of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) within it, comparing it to a commercial conventional hydroponic system. The bottom stack of lettuce in the vertical garden showed maximum height, highest leaf count, and width, though only height had a significant difference across stacks (P < 0.0001). No significant difference was found between the smart vertical garden system and the conventional hydroponic system for lettuce height, number of leaves, or leaf width.

賢二 徳田, 春霞 李 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Kawasaki City)

This study examined the current state of urban agriculture in Kawasaki City and the effectiveness of its multifaceted agricultural innovation policies. In Kawasaki City, while urban farmland is decreasing due to population growth and urbanization, there is a movement towards high-value-added agriculture utilizing ICT, as well as promoting local production for local consumption through new variety development, improved distribution channels, market mechanisms, and collaboration with local retailers. The city aims to improve agricultural management and enhance value creation as an industrial policy, and to ensure appropriate use and conservation of urban farmland as a social policy, thereby building a high-value-added supply chain.

M.Si. Indra, Fitriani Fitriani, Handayani Sri · · Indonesia (Bandar Lampung)

This study outlines the plan for PT ABC, a hydroponic urban farm in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, to develop an "education farming" initiative. The objectives were to describe the business process, identify necessary resources, and design the activities for this educational program, which aims to teach the community about utilizing limited urban land for agriculture. The proposed plan includes defining activity stages, identifying resources such as inventory, promotion, and infrastructure, and structuring activity packages and production processes.

Siti Aisyah Salim, Zawiyah Mohammad Yusof, Laili Farhana Md Ibharim, Siti Hajar Salim · Journal of Building Performance · Southeast Asia

This structured literature review examines urban farming activities, technology applications, and smallholder farming in Southeast Asia, where urban farming is limited and dispersed. The study selected 88 articles from ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus to provide a taxonomy and future research directions. It identifies the benefits, challenges, and recommendations for improving the acceptance and use of urban farming applications in the region.

Monika Szopińska-Mularz, Steffen Lehmann · Future Cities and Environment · United Kingdom

This paper explores the adaptive reuse potential of obsolete inner-city multi-storey car parks for urban farming, specifically hydroponics, in three UK cities (Portsmouth, Bristol, Brighton). The first stage of a multiple-site case study identified planning and technical limitations and opportunities through policy analysis, layout exploration, and field observation. The analysis showed that while these structures present similar adaptive reuse challenges, they could be converted for farming to address social, environmental, and economic issues, though this requires planning document innovations and further efficiency assessment.

Angelo Figliola · IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) · Global

This paper explores post-industrial robotics through prototypes developed with industrial partners, showcasing transdisciplinary experiments where environmental, structural, and material performances guide computational and robotic manufacturing processes. "Fusta Robotica" demonstrates tectonic exploration with non-engineered materials, while "Digital Urban Orchard" expresses a complex functional program based on form, function, and context. The analysis defines the limits and potential of this design approach, opening a debate on technological experimentation in the post-digital era.

Amanda C. J. Vincent, Saravanan Raj, B Suchiradipta · · India

A study in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India, examining information sources used by urban farming practitioners and the impact of urban farming on the cityscape. Online content and virtual knowledge were found to be the most important sources of agricultural knowledge, with practitioners using ICT services such as Facebook groups, online agri stores, and WhatsApp groups; neighbors with similar interests were also a major source of crop production knowledge. The study further found that urban farming was capable of recycling waste, restoring the urban ecosystem, and stabilizing the health of both residents and the cityscape.

Masito Masito, Irawan Setyabudi, Rizki Alfian · Fakultas Pertanian · Indonesia

A qualitative study sampling 20 houses in the Lowokwaru sub-district of Malang, Indonesia, examining vertical-garden facade designs that apply verticulture and urban farming concepts to narrow housing plots. It produced design applications using wall-mounted, hanging, fence-mounted and shelf verticulture along with hydroponics and aquaponics for home front yards, intended to address the loss of garden space to other uses.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.

· International Journal of Forestry and Horticulture · Africa

An article on urban horticulture in Nairobi County, Kenya (International Journal of Forestry and Horticulture, 2019) describes urban horticulture as encompassing fruit, nut, vegetable, ornamental and flower production, citing that 65% of urban farmers are women (Orsini et al. 2013) and noting food insecurity and malnutrition remain problems in Kenyan urban areas despite population growth of 2.11%. The abstract text available presents background and policy context rather than the study's own methods or measured results.