Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
4283 results(171 / 172)
URBAN AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AND WOMEN'S STRATEGIES IN SUSTAINING FAMILY LIVELIHOODS IN HARARE, ZIMBABWE
1996Godfrey D. Mudimu · Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography · Zimbabwe (Harare)
This study examines the role of women in urban agriculture and perceptions of urban space use for agriculture in Harare, Zimbabwe. Despite its utility in meeting household food needs, urban agriculture is not planned for or supported by urban planners and managers as a legitimate urban land use. The activities of women, who are the main participants in urban agriculture, directly conflict with planning provisions for urban space. The study offers empirical insight on perceptions of space use for agriculture in an urban tropical environment, where conflicts can arise from different perceptions and alternative uses.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyCommunityIn Situ Conservation of Landraces in Centers of Crop Diversity
1995Brush S. B. · Crop Science 35(2):346-354 · Global
A foundational paper presenting three cases of ongoing farmer maintenance of landraces—potatoes in the Peruvian Andes, maize in southern Mexico and wheat in western Turkey—and the rationale for in situ conservation.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicyUrban Agriculture in Zimbabwe: Implications for Urban Management and Poverty
1995Beacon Mbiba · · Zimbabwe (Harare)
This paper addresses the implications of urban agriculture for urban management and poverty in Zimbabwe, covering various aspects such as off-plot cultivation in Harare, urban cultivation at home, urban maize markets, and institutional responses to uncontrolled urban cultivation. Evidence from Harare suggests that urban agriculture can be a counterproductive activity, highlighting challenges and conflicts in urban management.
Governance failureCommunityWelfarePolicyHealthMetals in urban gardens ‐ effect of lime and sludge
1995James R. Preer, Ahmed N. Abdi, Harkewal S. Sekhon, George B. Murchison · Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A Environmental Science and Engineering and Toxicology · Global
This study investigated cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) concentrations in vegetables grown in community gardens on different urban soils. Vegetables from a low-pH urban soil without contamination history showed higher Cd and Zn levels than those from a reclaimed landfill with digested sewage sludge, and also higher than a low-metal, neutral-pH site. Liming on the low-pH site reduced Cd and Zn concentrations in beet, lettuce, radish, and Swiss chard leaves, reaching background levels after four years. The findings indicate that soil pH is more important than total soil Cd and Zn in determining vegetable metal availability.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityOrganic cycleOptions for municipal interventions in urban poverty alleviation
1995Emiel A. Wegelin, Karin M. Borgman · Environment and Urbanization · Global
This paper reviews the wide range of options available to municipalities in the Global South for alleviating or reducing poverty. These options include employment creation, improving low-income groups’ access to justice and protection from crime, and enhancing urban services such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, public transport, health care, and education. The paper also outlines how municipal action must encourage and support community-based organizations, NGOs, and the private sector, and how changes in regulatory frameworks for land management, urban agriculture, and housing can contribute to poverty alleviation.
WelfarePolicyEconomicsCommunityCOMMUNICATING COMPOSTING TO THE PUBLIC.
1995Sandra A. Balch, D. L. Auld · HortScience · Global
This article discusses methods for communicating composting information to the public, noting that many potential composters lack expertise, information, and support. It finds that hands-on instruction and active involvement in ongoing programs, as well as integration into established programs like community gardens, are effective methods for conveying composting information.
CompostFood educationCommunitySmall scale irrigation using collector wells. Pilot project - Zimbabwe. Fifth progress report October 1994 - March 1995
1995Chris Lovell, E. Mazhangara, G. Mtetwa, Timothy Dube, Douglas Thompson, David Macdonald, C.H. Batchelor · NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) · Zimbabwe
This report details the progress of a pilot project in Zimbabwe (October 1994 - March 1995) on small-scale irrigation using collector wells. Nine wells now provide domestic water to 1515 families, and 731 families have allotments in associated community gardens. The first scheme yielded a gross margin of Z$18903 per hectare in its fourth winter season, with an average of Z$22932 per hectare per year over four years. Initial results from five pilot schemes showed similarly high returns, averaging Z$23798 per hectare.
CommunityEconomicsInstitutional responses to uncontrolled urban cultivation in Harare: prohibitive or accommodative?
1994Beacon Mbiba · Environment and Urbanization · Zimbabwe (Harare)
This review examines local government responses to uncontrolled urban cultivation in Harare, Zimbabwe, covering both the colonial period and post-independence since 1980. The study finds that local authorities struggle to manage urban agriculture effectively and sustainably. It suggests new directions for policy and research to address these difficulties.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityUrban horticulture: a part of the biodiversity picture
1994H. B. Tukey · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global
This paper defines urban horticulture as the functional use of plants to improve urban environments. It states that urban horticulture contributes to screening views, food production, reducing noise and air pollution, ameliorating urban climates, and improving human well-being. The abstract notes that information on city plants often comes from observations and anecdotes, and that strategies from commercial agriculture do not always apply well to urban horticulture.
BiodiversityHealthClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban agriculture in Kampala: Indigenous adaptive response to the economic crisis
1993Daniel Maxwell, Samuel Zziwa · Ecology of Food and Nutrition · Uganda (Kampala)
This study examines urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda, as an adaptive response to economic hardships. It identifies significant constraints, including institutional obstacles to accessing underutilized urban land, municipal bylaws that suppress urban agriculture, and urban officials' indifferent to hostile views. The study found that these bylaws and views are based on misleading or false generalizations about urban agriculture.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityUrban food self-reliance: significance and prospects.
1993L. J. A. Mougeot · PubMed · Global
A news account covering the satisfaction of urban food needs where retail costs are prohibitively high in developing countries, reporting that 50-80% of average income is spent on food in nearly half of developing countries' largest cities, a range of 60-80% confirmed by late-1980s surveys, with urban food costs 10-30% higher than for rural dwellers. Urban household food production is described as a practice dating to Aztec, Inca, and Mayan cities, with records of Javanese and Tigris-Euphrates city dwellers growing their own food; Asian policymakers promote urban food production as critical to urban survival, and its extent is shaped by factors including rapid urbanization, ineffective agricultural policies, inadequate food distribution, subsidy withdrawal, wage reduction, inflation, unemployment, lax urban regulation, civil strife, and drought, with government agencies sometimes acting as obstacles by outlawing the practice. Recent government support is reported in ten Asian, six African, and six Latin American countries; worldwide, 200 million people are reported as urban farm workers and 700 million as beneficiaries of urban agriculture, while 25% of US urban households engaged in urban food production during the 1980s. The account calls for better comparative and longitudinal research on urban poverty and its links to nutrition, income, employment, waste, and environmental issues, states that urban planners may need to incorporate city farming into conventional land-use planning if cost-benefit analysis finds a positive impact, and notes that street food vending is an important income source particularly for women, while urban farming requires efficient use of space and knowledge of relevant technology and planning.
CommunityEconomicsWelfareUrban agriculture for sustainable cities: using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources
1992Jac Smit, Joe Nasr · Environment and Urbanization · Global
This article describes how urban agriculture can transform cities from mere consumers of food and agricultural products into sustainable generators of these products. It focuses on using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources to achieve resource conservation and health improvement.
CommunityOrganic cycleClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceLAND USE AND TRAVEL DEMAND
1992James W. Roberts, C Wood · · Global
This paper proposes a three-way study for 1992, building on previous case studies in Milton Keynes (UK) and Almere (NL) that noted substantial differences in travel behavior due to land use. The proposed study would cover Manchester, Berlin, and a low-density, car-dependent suburb in Melbourne, examining travel habits under diverse demographic and land use conditions. It suggests potential changes in travel modes and trip lengths following planned urban structural alterations, such as reduced car space in Manchester, S-Bahn and airport extensions in Berlin, and light rail near Melbourne.
PolicyCommunityMedicinal plants and primary health care: part 2.
1991· PubMed · Global
This paper emphasizes the need for technological infrastructure to maximize the value of medicinal plants within primary health care (PHC). The WHO Programme on Traditional Medicine highlights the importance of appropriate drug availability in PHC and recommends cultivating medicinal plants in home or community gardens. It advocates for strengthening data gathering and analysis capabilities for economic mapping of medicinal flora in developing countries and for clinical research on the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines used by traditional health practitioners.
CommunityHealthDIYThe International City Design Competition: Introduction
1990Jeffrey E Ollswang · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Global
This introduction to the International City Design Competition outlines a vision to humanize cities by implementing tools over time, including narrowing streets, introducing electric mini-buses or light rail, and bold civic gestures. It proposes using pre-industrial town building principles and strategically building on existing character, with a focus on densification, incremental small-scale infill, domestication of highways, and urban food production.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageHORTICULTURAL THERAPY
1990Joel Flagler · HortScience · Global
An overview of horticultural therapy, describing how trained therapists prescribe and administer planting and gardening activities for people with physical, mental and social disabilities in hospitals, geriatric centers, schools, rehabilitation facilities, community gardens and prisons. It states that research measuring effectiveness in clinical and correctional settings, and databases documenting the benefits, are underway, without giving specific figures or results.
HealthWelfareElderlyCommunity‘Three's a crowd’: knowledge, ignorance and power in the context of urban agriculture in Rwanda
1989Johan Pottier · Africa · Rwanda
This article explores the themes of knowledge, ignorance, and power in the context of a Rwandan development project, demonstrating how ignorance is generated through agricultural extension. It argues that agronomic services rely on power structures reminiscent of social inequality, and assesses whether the project-induced creation of ignorance leads to the displacement of local knowledge and the adoption of new methods.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceStudies of the role of school gardens in Combatting malnutrition in Sri Lankan children†
1988Kasipathy Kailasapathy · Ecology of Food and Nutrition · Sri Lanka
This study developed a model school garden (28m²) in Sri Lanka to provide part of the nutritional requirements for school children. The garden produced an average daily yield of 813g of vegetables, supplying significant percentages of a 10-12 year old child's recommended daily intake, including 115% of calcium, 151% of iron, 557% of vitamin A, and 1222% of vitamin C.
Food educationHealthWelfareUrban Cultivation: A Reflection of Household Investment
1985· Food and Nutrition Bulletin · Global
Urban cultivation is an innovative response by the urban poor to insufficient real income, viewed as a form of long-term investment. This investment requires a minimum threshold of predictability of return, and most households need seven to eleven years of urban residence to gain access to land. Variations in cultivation patterns result from differences in land access and the need to maximize the return on domestic labor time. Policy implications include encouraging cultivation, providing legal land titles for land access, and increasing the productivity of rainy-season gardens.
EconomicsWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceThe Joys of Gardening: Collectivist and Bureaucratic Cultures in Conflict
1985Michael S. Jamison · Sociological Quarterly · Global
This study assesses the organizational cultures of collectives and bureaucracies within the urban gardening movement, finding serious underlying differences despite government assistance. Although government agencies provided resources and established projects, collectives and bureaucracies interpreted the urban gardening experience differently. This divergence in understanding the benefits and structuring the experience reveals a source of potential bureaucratic/collectivist conflict.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyCommonplaces
1984Allan Bunch · Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication · Global
A short 1984 review (Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication) of the third edition of the "Community festivals handbook," published by Community Projects Foundation. The review describes the handbook as a practical guide to organizing local, day-to-multi-day community festivals, covering committees, publicity, legal and site-management aspects, and notes it is also relevant to other community-based activities such as barbecues, fundraising, adventure playgrounds, or "setting up a city farm." The review does not report any study, data, or findings specific to urban farming.
CommunityUrban Horticulture: Horticulture for Populated Areas1
1983H. B. Tukey · HortScience · Global
Urban horticulture is defined as a scientific field focused on the functional uses of plants to maintain and improve urban environments. These functional uses extend beyond aesthetics to include screening against wind and views, influencing climate, reducing noise, combating air pollution, providing food, and enhancing human well-being in densely populated areas. The audience for urban horticulture includes landscape professionals, plant societies, and amateur horticulturists.
CommunityHealthClimate changeBiodiversityL'Anti-Alborz : un espace marginal aux portes de Téhéran
1982Bernard Hourcade · Revue Géographique de l Est · Iran (Tehran)
This research investigates the origins and current economy of the Anti-Alborz region, an arid mountain east of Tehran, Iran. Due to military compounds and royal hunting grounds, the expansion of Tehran has been artificially limited, leaving the Anti-Alborz as a remote area. In this region, urban, agricultural, and pastoral economies are growing in conflictual ways, indicating governance challenges in managing land use and development.
Governance failureUrban–rural linkageEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureVegetables Food for man and animals
1980· Nutrition & Food Science · Global
The Institute of Biology held a symposium to assess the value of vegetables for feeding people and livestock. The symposium considered the energy, labor, and monetary inputs required for vegetable production across various scales, from allotments to large market gardens. Discussions also included the role of traditional and unconventional animal species within vegetable growing systems.
DIYCommunityEconomicsRurbanisation et analyse des espaces ruraux péri-urbains
1980Martine Berger, Jean-Pierre Frust, Françoise Plet, Marie‐Claire Robic · L’Espace géographique · Global
The concept of rurbanisation is ambiguous, referring either to population overspill into peripheral rural space or to processes affecting peri-urban rural space that lead to a slackening of urban functions. Studies on peri-urban space focus on land assignment changes, social change, land issues, and the specificity/future of peri-urban agriculture. Peri-urbanisation occurs within interacting systems, including socio-economic, state-specific, and urban region systems.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePolicy