Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
5823 results(178 / 233)
Utilizing Michigan Brownfield Policies to Incentivize Community-Based Urban Agriculture in Detroit
2014Nicholas Leonard · Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law · United States (Detroit)
This article argues that Detroit could use the Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act to incentivize community-based urban agriculture on abandoned properties. It contends that many cities where urban farming has flourished are riddled with brownfields, and that leveraging brownfield policy could promote urban agriculture as a cost-effective revitalization tool while protecting farmers and food from toxic contamination, giving Detroit a viable strategy to reverse blight.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsChallenging Inclusivity Urban Agriculture and Community Involvement in San Diego
2014Bruno Monardo, Anna Laura Palazzo · Advanced Engineering Forum · United States (San Diego)
This article discusses how urban agriculture is being used across US cities—shaped by 'food deserts' that limit access to fresh, local, healthy food—to give new perspectives to blighted post-crisis neighborhoods and address social distress linked to migration. Focusing on the New Roots Community Farm in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, it highlights the farm's potential to combine social inclusion with physical and economic redevelopment.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsWhere have all the houses (among other things) gone? Some critical reflections on urban agriculture
2014Laura B. DeLind · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Lansing)
Using Urbandale Farm in Lansing, Michigan as a case, this paper critically reflects on how urban agriculture can inadvertently rationalize the displacement and continued inequity of urban neighbors rather than reinforce place-making and neighborhood empowerment. It questions the movement's underlying assumptions and beneficiaries and suggests how UA might be reconfigured to shed its neoliberal tendencies.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsResource needs for a socially just and sustainable urban agriculture system: Lessons from New York City
2014Nevin Cohen, Kristin Reynolds · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (New York)
Drawing on the two-year "Five Borough Farm" study of urban agriculture projects in New York City, this paper examines the resource needs of urban farms and gardens in terms of viability and equity. It documents that resource needs extend beyond land, soil and money to include government support and networks of practitioners, nonprofits and philanthropies, and that significant disparities in access to resources make the city's urban agriculture system unequal. The paper concludes with strategies to align resource needs with urban agriculture goals in New York and other cities.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsIntercultural Gardens: The Use of Space by Migrants and the Practice of Respect
2014Moulin-Doos C. · Journal of Urban Affairs · Germany
Examines how intercultural gardens in Germany respond to migrants' need for spaces of interaction outside home and work, offering a setting to build social capital and practise the mutual respect essential for integration.
CommunityWelfareThe Multiple Functions and Services of Community Seedbanks
2014· Resources · Global
Reviews community seedbanks worldwide and classifies their multiple functions and services, including conservation, exchange, and sharing of seeds.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityWorld Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) in the United States: locations and motivations of volunteer tourism host farms
2014· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States
Analyzes the locations and motivations of WWOOF volunteer-tourism host farms in the US, finding host distributions are spatially skewed toward the west coast and Appalachia.
EconomicsOrganic cycleCommunityGreening the urban frontier: Race, property, and resettlement in Detroit
2014Safransky S. · Geoforum · Detroit, USA
Analyzing plans to repurpose Detroit's vacant lots as urban farms and green infrastructure, the article argues that framing this land as 'empty' and 'wasted' legitimizes the racialized dispossession of nonwhite residents, distributing the costs and benefits of 'green' redevelopment unevenly.
PolicyCommunityUrban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship
2014Rina Ghose, Margaret Pettygrove · Antipode · USA (Milwaukee)
Case study of Milwaukee community gardens challenging the assumption that participation is empowering: under neoliberal restructuring, volunteer-dependent garden governance shifts state responsibility onto residents and produces uneven, tension-ridden citizenship outcomes.
PolicyCommunityWelfareSustainable Food Systems for Future Cities: The Potential of Urban Agriculture*
2014Kubi Ackerman, Michael Conard, Patricia J. Culligan · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Global
This multi-year study by the Urban Design Laboratory at the Earth Institute assessed urban agriculture in New York City (NYC). It presented metrics on potential growing capacity, surveyed NYC urban farmers on production challenges, and monitored a commercial rooftop farm in Brooklyn. The study aimed to provide insight into urban agriculture's role in creating sustainable food systems for NYC and other cities.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunityFood educationCritical geography of urban agriculture
2014Chiara Tornaghi · Progress in Human Geography · Global
This paper defines the scope and an initial agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture, noting that despite growing interest across disciplines, it remains a marginal field in human geography. Beyond rhetoric, urban agriculture raises questions for critical geographers, particularly regarding its role in reshaping urban landscapes and experimenting with alternatives to capitalist urban organization. The paper highlights that urban agriculture is sometimes establishing embryonic forms of recreating the Commons.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceInnovation in urban agricultural practices: Responding to diverse production environments
2014Anne Pfeiffer, Erin Silva, Jed B. Colquhoun · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States
A project centered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison gathered data through site visits and interviews with urban agricultural organizations in seven US cities. It examined how structural and strategic food system factors shape urban agricultural efforts, considering diverse business and production models. The study discusses unique innovations in space-intensive agricultural production and assesses significant challenges facing urban agriculture.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAllotment Gardens Contribute to Urban Ecosystem Service: Case Study Salzburg, Austria
2014Jürgen H. Breuste, Martina Artmann · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Austria (Salzburg)
This study investigated how urban allotment gardens contribute to ecosystem services in Salzburg, Austria. A survey was conducted with 156 allotment gardeners across four allotment associations, focusing on the role of allotment gardens in recreation, food production, nature experience, ecological gardening, and environmental behavior. The results indicated the importance of allotment gardens for recreation and nature experience, alongside a declining importance of traditional food production. An increasing interest in ecological gardening and general environmental awareness among allotment gardeners was also observed.
CommunityBiodiversityPolicyFood educationFarming Cuba: Urban Agriculture From the Ground Up
2014Carey Clouse · · Cuba (Havana)
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Cuba developed a significant urban agriculture initiative. By 1998, Havana alone had over 8,000 urban farms, producing nearly half of the country's vegetables. This grassroots effort evolved into the largest sustainable agriculture program, establishing Cuba as a world leader in urban farming.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCommunity Gardens to Fight Urban Youth Crime and Stabilize Neighborhoods
2014Art McCabe · International journal of child health and human development · Global
This paper discusses how reclaiming abandoned properties and vacant lots in inner-city areas and converting them into community gardens or pocket parks can address urban health challenges and youth crime. It suggests that these conversions can reduce health disparities, eliminate blight, stabilize neighborhoods, and foster community engagement. The paper highlights that community gardens can serve as a cost-effective, multi-purpose urban asset, meeting the demand for such spaces, especially among immigrant populations.
CommunityHealthWelfareFood educationConceptualizing Community Buy-in and Its Application to Urban Farming
2014Melissa N. Poulsen, Marie L. Spiker, Peter J. Winch · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Baltimore)
This study explored the perceived importance of community buy-in for urban farming, along with its barriers, facilitators, and strategies, through participant observation at urban farms and interviews with urban farmers, neighborhood leaders, residents, and key stakeholders in Baltimore, Maryland. Findings revealed that residents' unfamiliarity with urban farming, concerns about negative neighborhood impacts, and perceptions of urban farms as "outsider projects" were barriers to buy-in. Strategies for gaining buy-in were shown to follow three main phases: gaining entry into a neighborhood, introducing the urban farm idea, and engaging the neighborhood.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsPolicyExploring guerrilla gardening: gauging public views on the grassroots activity
2014David Adams, Michael Hardman, Peter J. Larkham · Local Environment · Global
This paper explores those affected by guerrilla gardening, noting that it often colonizes land without permission and transforms areas without consulting local communities. Grounding its argument in evidence from three guerrilla groups, the study investigates the public's views on several informal gardening projects. Responses were very mixed, ranging from positive comments about improving aesthetics to negative remarks surrounding the practices of some groups. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that although often promoted as constructive, guerrilla gardening can result in adverse impacts on those who surround colonized sites.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEvaluating the functionality of agricultural systems: social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. The “Huerta de Valencia” as case study
2014Inmaculada Marques-Pérez, Baldomero Segura García del Río, Concepción Maroto · Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research · Spain (Valencia)
This paper presented a descriptive approach to the multifunctionality of agricultural systems and described a methodological approach to evaluate social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. This approach is based on a review of scientific literature focused on multifunctionality and the goods and services of agricultural systems. The proposed methodology was applied to the "Huerta de Valencia," a rich peri-urban agricultural system with diverse resources, yielding results useful for enriching the political-institutional debate on defining its protection scheme.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityUrban Community Gardeners' Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Contaminant Risks
2014Brent F. Kim, Melissa N. Poulsen, Jared D. Margulies, Katie L. Dix, Anne Palmer, Keeve E. Nachman · PLoS ONE · United States (Baltimore, Maryland)
This study characterized urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of soil contaminant risks in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, through surveys with 70 gardeners from 15 gardens and interviews with 18 key informants. It found low levels of concern and inconsistent knowledge regarding heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants among gardeners. Furthermore, barriers to investigating garden site history and conducting soil tests, along with limited knowledge of best practices for reducing exposure, were identified.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthPolicyUnpermitted Urban Agriculture: Transgressive Actions, Changing Norms and the Local Food Movement
2014Sarah Schindler · Faculty publications · Global
This article explores unauthorized actions in urban and suburban communities that further local food goals, despite violating existing laws and norms. Examples include keeping chickens, planting gardens on foreclosed lots, and operating underground restaurants. The study examines the overlap between food policy and land use law concerning these transgressive activities.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceStudy protocol: effects of school gardens on children’s physical activity
2014Nancy M. Wells, Beth M. Myers, Charles Henderson · Archives of Public Health · United States (New York State)
This study is a protocol for a randomized controlled trial involving 12 schools in New York State. It aims to examine the effect of school gardens on children's overall physical activity, sedentary behavior, and physical activity during the school day. Data will be collected at baseline and at three post-intervention follow-up waves at 6, 12, and 18 months using surveys and accelerometry.
Food educationHealthCommunityResearch on development strategy of urban agriculture based on customer value
2014Long Cheng-zh · Guangdong nongye kexue · Global
This article, based on comprehensive literature research, proposes a framework for an urban agriculture strategic development plan. The framework is rooted in customer value theory, focusing on modern industry competition and strategic theory. It suggests that the strategic approach for urban agriculture should fully activate the entrepreneurial spirit of market participants while maintaining its quasi-public product attributes.
EconomicsPolicyHealthCommunityClimate changeGrowing Everyday Multiculturalism
2014Hongxia Shan, Pierre Walter · Adult Education Quarterly · Canada
Based on a qualitative study of the learning experiences of six Chinese immigrants in community gardens on a university campus in Canada, this article identifies three ways of learning that foster knowing, connecting, and hybrid knowledge production across cultures. These include learning through communities of conviviality, learning mediated through nonhuman things like land, waste, and free-floating seeds, and learning through assemblages that integrate culture, place, and space.
CommunityFood education미국 학교정원운동(School Garden Movement)의 발전과정
2014금혜진 · · United States
This study examined the philosophical background and historical development of the school garden movement in the USA to derive implications for Korean school gardening programs. The movement emerged from late 19th-century educational ideas, showing a process of formation (1891-1914), decline (post-WWI, 1950s), and revival (from 1990s). The revival was driven by efforts to address childhood obesity, nature-deficit, and improve academic achievements.
Food educationHealthCommunityKnowing “Good Food”: Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity
2014Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern · Antipode · United States
Research on farmworker food insecurity in the USA points out that food assistance providers often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color do not know "good" food. This study argues that food security and healthy eating are not a matter of consumers making healthy "choices," but rather a matter of class-based and racial differences within the food system.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceHealthWelfare