Research & reports

Attila Tóth, Axel Timpe · Moravian Geographical Reports · Europe

This paper presents and discusses the application of figure-ground plans combined with complex land-use maps as a tool for spatial analysis of urban agriculture in European cities and their multifunctional green infrastructure, using 'Urban Atlas' data. Urban fabric, agriculture, and non-agricultural open spaces were analyzed and compared in selected cities and metropolitan areas, including Dublin, Ruhr Metropolis, Geneva, and Sofia. The results reveal the scale and land-use diversity of metropolitan regions and different spatial patterns of urban agriculture at both regional and central urban levels.

Pere Serra, David Saurı́, Luca Salvati · Landscape Research · Spain (Barcelona)

A quantitative approach was proposed to analyze peri-urban agriculture (PUA) dynamics in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, profiling farm types and related landscape structures. Results indicated that PUA is based on five typologies with varying territorial values, reflecting diverse economic relevance, socio-environmental weight, and landscape prominence. A conservation strategy is proposed to preserve the residual PUA landscape by promoting a polycentric functional network of farming with natural vegetation.

Hanna Hilbrandt · Urban Studies · Germany (Berlin)

This paper investigates the powers at play in informal housing practices and their regulation within Berlin's allotment gardens, where residency is prohibited. It argues that gardeners' ability to remain in these sites depends on their mediation of regulatory practices through relationships with state actors or institutional frameworks. This process highlights the co-construction of order and the establishment of boundaries for inclusion and exclusion.

Barbora Duží, Bohumil Frantál, Marian Simón Rojo · Moravian Geographical Reports · Europe

This article provides a theoretical and conceptual introduction to urban agriculture in Europe, reviewing its diverging issues from a geographical perspective. It discusses urban agriculture within the context of urban and rural transformations, urban regeneration, agricultural restructuring, and land-use conflicts. The paper summarizes current research and presents main trends and concepts, emphasizing the challenges they pose to geographers.

Laura Calvet‐Mir, Hug March · European Urban and Regional Studies · Spain (Barcelona)

In Barcelona, Spain, the characterization and evolution of urban gardening initiatives in the context of the 2007-2008 economic crisis and post-crisis were investigated. Using qualitative methods including participant observation, literature review, and semi-structured interviews, three prominent initiatives (54 gardens by the end of 2016), namely the Network of Municipal Gardens, the Network of Communitarian Gardens, and the Empty Plots Plan, were analyzed. The results show that urban gardens within the city are an expression of different, non-exclusive meanings that explicitly or implicitly mobilize notions of political gardening in a crisis and post-crisis context.

Annalisa Lodigiani · · Europe

This research addresses the ineffective governance of peri-urban agricultural territory in Europe, noting that spatial planning lacks the tools to guide agricultural sector forces influencing landscape transformation. Public action, through agricultural and rural development policies, significantly transforms the environment and territory but does not directly target space. The study finds that the separation between spatial planning and rural development policy creates ineffectiveness and stalemates in governing peri-urban agricultural land, concluding that integration of these two fields is required.

Leonardo Zaffi · Florence Research (University of Florence) · Italy

This chapter reconstructs the main themes and implementation methodologies characterizing spontaneous practices and micro-interventions for the transformation of residual urban spaces. It outlines the characteristics of experiences such as public art, placemaking, active design, and urban farming, considering their compatibility and potential effectiveness for systemic "urban acupuncture" actions in the oldest parts of cities. The final part focuses on action methodologies like DIY and user involvement to investigate the potential of "urban acupuncture" in the oldest parts of cities.

Elsa Perroit · · France

This article reflects on the French agricultural model and the absence of urban agriculture from the "Etats généraux de l’Alimentation" (General Assembly on Food). Despite its multifaceted nature and role in urban food security, urban agriculture was relegated to a non-productive status, with its food functions disregarded. The article concludes that while urban agriculture possesses many qualities, it is not and will not be sufficient to feed urban areas.

Magdalena Szczepańska · Europa XXI · Poland

In Poland's Poznań agglomeration, agricultural functions tend to be marginalized in urban development concepts and documents due to urbanization. Despite their ecological, health, landscape, recreational, and social functions, family allotment gardens are alarmingly perceived as restricting urban spatial development. This study presented the current state of family allotment gardens in the Poznań agglomeration and offered recommendations for spatial policy.

Judith Schicklinski · · Europe

This chapter discusses the reasons behind the re-appropriation of public space and its relation to urban food production. The commodification and privatization of public spaces are considered a spatial structure that transforms spaces into strategic resources. The urban gardening movement in European cities has drawn attention to using common green spaces for urban food production.

Evelyn Gustedt · Challenges in Sustainability · Germany

This article reflects on traditional and contemporary gardening movements in Germany, focusing on gardening in spaces subject to land lease agreements, tenancy, or illegal land take. The author examined various definitions, the historical development of urban gardening, and the values users relate to these activities. Based on a literature review, observations, and discussions, the author concludes with considerations on these gardening movements in relation to urban sustainable developments.

Emanuela Saporito · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · Italy (Turin)

This action-research study in Turin, Italy, examines the OrtiAlti project, which revitalizes abandoned urban buildings through rooftop community gardens. The research aims to understand how rooftop farming, framed as a social innovation practice, contributes to urban regeneration, place-making, and urban resilience. It discusses rooftop food gardens as urban regeneration devices that combine environmental and social benefits through food production.

Teresa Briz, Isabel de Felipe-Boente · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Spain

This study tested a method for identifying urban green areas and assessing residents' attitudes towards ground and roof greening in Madrid, Spain. Researchers quantified available roofs and interviewed residents about their willingness to install and maintain green roofs, using a techno-socioeconomic evaluation and the Willingness-To-Green Index (WTG). A new Green Evaluation Weighted Index (GEWI) was proposed, showing that districts like Salamanca (Madrid), San Martí (Barcelona), and Nervión (Seville) had a greater presence of urban agriculture.

Stephanie Nuria Spijker, Constanza Parra · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · Europe

This paper discusses the potential of social innovations to transform urban green spaces in Groningen and London, applying the concept of socio-ecological practices to urban and guerrilla gardening. Based on document analysis, interviews, and garden observations, the study examines links between behavioral drivers, social innovation, and green space governance. It finds that underlying motivations like values and self-efficacy contribute to place-keeping transformations, suggesting socio-ecological practices can generate socially innovative physical, social, and policy changes in urban green space governance.

Ida Åberg, Sophia E. Hagolani‐Albov · · Europe

This study states that urban agriculture is a phenomenon occurring in built environments that does not necessarily disrupt the city's form and function. It mentions the close proximity to nature in urban areas but does not elaborate on its details in the abstract.

Lidia Poniży, Kamila Stachura · Quaestiones Geographicae · Poland (Poznań)

This case study of Poznań, Poland, examines urban spatial policy regarding allotment gardens. It finds that despite their importance as green infrastructure, allotment gardens receive little attention in city plans and policies, and face threats from investment pressure due to an underestimation of their role. The study emphasizes that preserving these gardens relies on local spatial planning.

David Arredondo Garrido · ZARCH · Spain

This study analyzed four urban agriculture and gardening initiatives in the city centers of Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, and Zaragoza, Spain, over the last decade. These projects aimed to counteract the homogenization of urban historical landscapes and create spaces for culture and social interaction. Despite difficulties in their management and their minor impact, these interventions demonstrated a method for reconfiguring urban landscapes in abandoned central areas.

Bernd Pölling, Marcus Mergenthaler · Sustainability · Germany (Ruhr Metropolis)

This empirical study investigates determinants of diversification strategies among 123 urban farmers in Germany's Ruhr Metropolis using binary logit models. "Deepening" strategies (e.g., direct sales) are encouraged by larger farm sizes, high-value production, organic farming, and livestock. "Broadening" strategies (e.g., tourism, care farming) are prevalent on smaller farms with horses and higher grassland shares. Proximity to the city increases the likelihood of both diversification types.

Luca Salvati, Lorenza Gasparella, Michele Munafò, Raoul Romano, Anna Barbati · Annals of Silvicultural Research · Italy (Rome)

This paper quantified the impact of urban expansion on the Roman Campagna's landscape characteristics between 1974 and 2008. Using spatial pattern analysis and multi-factor analysis to assess changes in landscape composition and structure, the study found that the distinctive features of the Roman Campagna landscape are now blurred. A generalized landscape mixité was generated by the juxtaposition of different fragmented land uses.

Marthe Ortolo · Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) · Netherlands

This study outlines a plan to assess air pollution risks in urban agriculture in the Netherlands, focusing on heavy metal (Cd, Hg) and PAK accumulation in spinach in Amsterdam urban gardens. It includes a literature review, policy maker interviews, and practical measurements of airborne contamination. The study aims to model different uptake routes by plants, but actual findings on contamination levels are not presented in this abstract.

Marlinde Koopmans, Daniel Keech, Lucie Sovová, Matthew Reed · Moravian Geographical Reports · Europe

This paper analyzed urban agriculture (UA) and place-making in Ghent, Brno, and Bristol, using a spatial lens across three case studies. It revealed that local authorities struggle to find space for UA, leading to its frequent, often temporary, emergence in marginal areas vulnerable to planning changes. The analysis exposed inherent tensions within UA, conceptualized as tensions between abstract space and concrete place narratives. It was suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places, contributing to place-making, and urban planning should secure physical spaces and create possibilities for local autonomous governance.

Jonida Alliaj · · Europe

This qualitative investigation examined rooftop farming in Turin, Paris, and Rotterdam, focusing on local practices, policies, and stakeholder perceptions of sustainability and social impact. Findings reveal significant differences in governance: Turin's OrtiAlti project faced difficulties due to absent city strategies and policies, while Paris has a moderate number of rooftop farms with recent supportive policies. Rotterdam's Dakakker is a consolidated project, supported by local government through multi-stakeholder participation.

Rafał Jasionkowski, Anna Lewandowska-Czarnecka · Ecological Questions · Poland

This paper aims to present the possibilities of food production in cities in Poland, particularly in the context of sustainable development. Urban agriculture can play an important role in the sustainable development of cities, with the idea of crop cultivation and its implementation dating back centuries, and new forms of ecological farms being designed with technological advancements.

Veronica Barry · BCU Open Access Repository (Birmingham City University) · United Kingdom

This paper discusses the recognized link between spatial planning and public health, highlighting urban agriculture (UA), gardening, and food growing as contributors to healthier urban environments. It states that UA can benefit health at community and individual levels through land regeneration, while also supporting broader health policy development.

Bogumiła Staniów · Roczniki Biblioteczne · Poland

This article discusses the "Young Michurinist Library" series, popular science books about nature for children and young people published in post-war Poland from 1953 to 1956. The books in this series provided readers with information on plants, animals, and amateur husbandry, alongside elements of communist ideology. They aimed to disseminate Michurinism and teach pupils how to cultivate crops, maximize the use of available plants, and enrich their diet with easily managed farm animals, often through fictionalized stories.