Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
8656 results(177 / 347)
Urban community gardening, social capital, and 'integration' – a mixed method exploration of urban 'integration-gardening' in Copenhagen, Denmark
2019Christensen S., Dyg P. M., Allenberg K. · Local Environment 24(3):231-248 · Denmark
Mixed-method study of 'integration-gardening' in Copenhagen examining how urban community gardens build bridging social capital and contribute to social integration of immigrants, while also noting its limits.
CommunityWelfareScoping review of the impacts of urban agriculture on the determinants of health
2019Audate P. P., Fernandez M. A., Cloutier G., Lebel A. · BMC Public Health 19:672 · Global
Scoping review synthesizing 101 studies. Urban agriculture showed positive impacts on food security, fruit and vegetable consumption, dietary diversity and child nutrition, but methodological rigor of evidence was limited.
HealthWelfare「ブランズ練馬中村南」竣工
2019東急不動産株式会社 · 東急不動産 プレスリリース資料 · Japan
Completion materials for Tokyu Fudosan's Branz Nerima Nakamura Minami condominium, planning resident-only 'Hagukumi Garden', a kitchen lounge, and compost-chair food-waste cycling in partnership with Agrimedia for food education and garden community.
CommunityHealthEconomics世田谷区農業振興計画
2019世田谷区 · 世田谷区 農業振興計画 · Japan
Setagaya's ten-year agricultural promotion plan adopted in 2019, setting basic policies and concrete measures for municipal urban agriculture including citizen farms and contact farms using the Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, agriculture-welfare collaboration and sixth-industry support.
PolicyCommunityFood educationEconomics横浜都市農業推進プラン
2019横浜市 環境創造局 · 横浜市 都市農業推進計画 · Japan
Yokohama's urban agriculture promotion plan, linked to the Midori Up programme, organising policies and results for publicly supported citizen farming infrastructure including diverse citizen farms, cultivation experience farms, harvest farms and Megumi-no-Sato districts.
PolicyCommunityFood educationBiodiversity農の風景育成計画（練馬区南大泉地区）
2019練馬区, 東京都都市整備局 · 練馬区 農の風景育成地区計画 · Japan
Nerima's landscape conservation plan for Minami-Oizumi and Takamatsu under Tokyo's Agricultural Landscape Conservation District system, positioning ward allotments, experience farms, farm stands and food-education events as integrated public farmland conservation and revitalisation.
PolicyBiodiversityCommunityFood educationLandscape and local site variables differentially influence pollinators and pollination services in urban agricultural sites
2019Bennett A.B., Lovell S. · PLoS ONE, 14(2):e0212034 · United States (Chicago)
A study of 19 urban agricultural sites in Chicago examining how surrounding land cover (landscape scale) and on-site design (local scale) shape bees and pollination services. Bee responses varied by body size and nesting habit: increasing impervious cover lowered bee richness and reduced pollination services, while more local floral area boosted small soil-nesting bees. It recommends minimizing impervious cover at large scales and adding floral resources locally so urban agriculture can conserve pollinators in the surrounding ecosystem.
PollinatorsBiodiversityPolicyUrban-Rural Linkages: Guiding Principles — Framework for Action
2019UN-Habitat · UN-Habitat · Global
An international normative document codifying 10 guiding principles for urban-rural linkages (rights, participation, governance, food, land, ecosystem services, etc.), advocating multi-sector, multi-level, multi-stakeholder integrated governance.
PolicyCommunityScaling out access to land for urban agriculture. Governance hybridities in the Brussels-Capital Region
2019Manganelli A., Moulaert F. · Land Use Policy · Belgium (Brussels)
This paper applies a Hybrid Governance Approach to analyze the Boeren Bruxsel Paysans coalition in the Brussels-Capital Region, revealing how scaling out land access for urban agriculture produces governance tensions across local, regional, and institutional scales.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban agriculture, food security, and development policies in Jakarta: A case study of farming communities at Kalideres – Cengkareng district, West Jakarta
2019Chandra A.J., Diehl J.A. · Land Use Policy · Indonesia (Jakarta)
This study finds that despite urban agriculture occupying approximately 21% of Jakarta's green space, local government policies have failed to recognise its food security potential, leaving farmers with insecure land tenure. The research characterises Jakarta's urban farming as medium to highly commercialised, domestically run small and medium enterprises supplying local markets.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsUrban and Peri-Urban Agriculture, the Dairy Farms of Cairo, Egypt: Existence, Transformations and Possible Futures of Family Farms
2019Daburon A., Alary V., Ali A., El-Srogi M., Tourrand J.F. · Diversity of Family Farming Around the World (Springer) · Egypt (Cairo)
Examines family farms engaged in dairy and market gardening in and around Cairo (population ~20 million), analyzing their role in the city's food supply chain and the transformations they undergo under urbanization pressure. Based on collaborative fieldwork by CIRAD, Ain Shams University, and the Animal Production Research Institute.
EconomicsCommunityPolicyThe sustainability of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention: a case study from urban Senegal
2019Nordhagen S., Thiam K., Sow S. · Food Security · Senegal (Dakar)
A post-project survey in Dakar found that microgardens were largely abandoned (5% continued use) while poultry activities persisted strongly (75%) due to income-generation potential, suggesting urban nutrition interventions must align with economic incentives to achieve lasting adoption.
HealthEconomicsCommunityFood educationA systems approach reveals urban pollinator hotspots and conservation opportunities
2019Baldock K.C.R., Goddard M.A., Hicks D.M., Kunin W.E., Mitschunas N., Morse H., Osgathorpe L.M., Potts S.G., Robertson K.M., Scott A.V., Staniczenko P.P.A., Stone G.N., Vaughan I.P., Memmott J. · Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(3):363-373 · United Kingdom
A large, well-replicated study of floral resources and pollinators across 360 sites in four British cities, comparing pollinator abundance among urban land uses. It shows that residential gardens, allotments and community gardens are urban pollinator hotspots, demonstrating that citizen-tended plots are central to urban biodiversity conservation, and models the benefit of interventions such as adding flowerbeds.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityPolicyFertile cities: Nutrient management practices in urban agriculture
2019Wielemaker R., Oenema O., Zeeman G., Weijma J. · Science of the Total Environment, 668:1277-1288 · Global
Drawing on a survey of urban agriculture practitioners in industrialised countries, this study characterises how city-derived resources such as compost, food waste and urine are used as fertiliser and how nutrients are managed. It maps the practices and challenges of cycling urban organic waste back to farmland, systematising on-the-ground approaches that link food-waste composting to urban agriculture.
CompostOrganic cycleFood lossCommunityDecentralized community composting feasibility analysis for residential food waste: A Chicago case study
2019Pai S., Ai N., Zheng J. · Sustainable Cities and Society, 50:101683 · United States
Using Chicago as a case study, this analysis assesses the feasibility of decentralized community composting on portions of public parks in terms of cost and greenhouse gas emissions. It finds decentralized composting delivers outreach, landfill diversion and cost-saving benefits, with an estimated net benefit of about $100 per tonne, indicating the financial viability of a city-wide strategy to compost household food waste locally.
Food lossCompostOrganic cycleEconomicsUnderstanding Urban Food Producers’ Intention to Continue Farming in Urban Settings
2019Kumudu P.P. Kopiyawattage, Laura Warner, T. Grady Roberts · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Columbus)
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to describe factors influencing the intention of urban food producers in Columbus, one U.S. city, to continue farming in urban settings. It found that perceived complexity can negatively influence attitude and hinder intention, while subjective norms shaped by peer growers and family members may heighten the intention to continue. The findings also revealed personal characteristics, such as education and access to resources, that may enhance perceived behavioral control.
CommunityEconomicsWhose Sustainability? An Analysis of a Community Farming Program's Food Justice and Environmental Sustainability Agenda
2019Sarah Grace Davenport, Joanna Mishtal · Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment · United States (Florida)
Based on 2017 ethnographic fieldwork, this paper critically examines the sustainability initiatives and practices of an urban farming program in Florida, exploring the extent to which they consider a community's race and socioeconomic class. The authors argue that the program's initiatives overlook food justice concerns and apply the same approach across disparate communities, focusing on environmental rather than community benefits. They call for incorporating social justice themes into sustainability agendas.
PolicyCommunityBuilding Gardens: Food Justice, Community Engagement, and Gardens for the Asian Pacific Islander Community in the San Gabriel Valley
2019Juily Phun, Elise Dang · AAPI Nexus Journal: Policy, Practice, and Community · United States (San Gabriel Valley)
This article focuses on a service-learning program at Cal State LA (Food Justice, the Body, and the Environment in the API Community) that partners with schools across the San Gabriel Valley to build culturally relevant produce gardens for students in a region with a large low-income Asian American population. The essay centers on the partnership process, noting that a lack of procedural transparency within university structures is one of the greatest barriers to community–university partnerships.
CommunityFood educationPolicyGardeners’ Past Gardening Experience and Its Moderating Effect on Community Garden Participation
2019Jae Ho Lee, David Matarrita-Cascante · Sustainability · United States (Austin)
Using a survey of gardeners at three plot-based community gardens in Austin, Texas, this study examined how past gardening experience moderates the motivations behind community garden participation. Results showed that greater gardening experience strengthened the effect of emotional motivations on participation, while it had no effect on the relationship between functional motivations and participation.
CommunityPerspectives on Heavy Metal Soil Testing Among Community Gardeners in the United States: A Mixed Methods Approach
2019Candis Hunter, Dana Williamson, Matthew Gribble, Halle Bradshaw, Melanie Pearson, Eri Saikawa, P. Ryan, Michelle Kegler · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · United States
Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, this mixed methods study examined community gardeners' beliefs about and intentions to conduct heavy metal soil testing. It combined five focus groups of garden leaders in Atlanta, Georgia with a questionnaire administered to 500 community gardeners across the United States, finding that soil testing intention was associated with attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.
CommunityHealthWho Speaks for (and Feeds) the Community? Competing Definitions of “Community” in the Austin, TX, Urban Farm Debate
2019Rachel Romero, Deborah A. Harris · City & Community · United States (Austin, TX)
This study uses in-depth interviews with urban farmers and their supporters and with residents of gentrifying East Austin to examine competing definitions of "community" in the dispute over rewriting Austin, Texas's urban farm code. Drawing on the concept of "interpretive communities," it argues that when communities feel threatened they coalesce to defend their position, showing how class, race, and ethnicity remain tied to environmental justice.
CommunityPolicyFactors Affecting the Dynamics of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Membership
2019Junhong Chen, Zhifeng Gao, Xuqi Chen, Lisha Zhang · Sustainability · United States
Drawing on a national U.S. survey of 795 respondents, this study analyzed how motivation, perceived barriers, and advertising methods shape consumers' past, current, and future participation in community-supported agriculture (CSA). Younger consumers, higher-income families, and supporters of sustainable agriculture were more likely to renew subscriptions, and members were sensitive to the timing, price, and location of food distribution. The effects of barriers and advertising varied with members' participation status.
EconomicsCommunityCommunity-Supported Agriculture Marketing Performance: Results from Pilot Market Channel Assessments in Colorado
2019Becca B. R. Jablonski, Martha Sullins, Dawn Thilmany McFadden · Sustainability · United States (Colorado)
This pilot study assessed the marketing performance of community-supported agriculture (CSA) relative to other direct-market channels using data from 42 Colorado farms between 2016 and 2017. Farms incorporating CSA sales tended to be smaller in scale and to use more diverse markets, and while they had lower average weekly sales, they showed the highest average marketing profit margins among direct-market channels.
EconomicsTechnology-Driven Transition in Urban Food Production Practices: A Case Study of Shanghai
2019· Sustainability · China (Shanghai)
Examines the technology-driven transition of urban food production in Shanghai, including the Sunqiao modern agriculture zone.
PolicyEconomicsCommunity-Engaged Research for the Promotion of Healthy Urban Environments: A Case Study of Community Garden Initiative in Shanghai, China
2019· International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · China (Shanghai)
Case study of a university–community partnership deploying community gardens across many Shanghai neighborhoods, aiming to improve local environments and residents' health through collaborative horticulture.
HealthCommunity