Research & reports

Heraty J.M., Ellstrand N.C. · Economic Botany 70(1):37-48 · Global

Measures maize genetic diversity in home and community gardens kept by immigrant farmers in Southern California, showing transnational seed dispersal sustains landrace diversity beyond recognized centers of diversity.

Janina Borysiak, Andrzej Mizgajski · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This study identified 64 cultural ecosystem services provided by urban allotment garden ecosystems. These services fit into the lowest level of the CICES v.4.3 classification, representing class types within one section, two divisions, three groups, and eight classes. All identified services were tabulated and discussed in light of the latest scientific publications.

Alexandra Rizhinashvili · Digital Library of the Belarusian State University (Belarusian State University) · Global

This study analyzed the key limnetic parameters of four small shallow lakes: two located in allotment garden areas and two in forest-covered areas. It found that lakes with largely unexploited catchments contain a "hidden" source of nutrient load, primarily phosphates. Furthermore, lakes with catchments occupied by allotment gardens exhibited intensive overgrowth by floating vegetation.

Terry Hartig, Peter H. Kahn · Science · Global

Natural features, settings, and processes in urban areas can help reduce stress associated with urban life. Public health benefits from street trees, green roofs, community gardens, parks, open spaces, and extensive connective pathways for walking and biking. Such urban design provisions also yield ecological benefits, both directly and by shaping attitudes toward the environment and environmental protection.

J. Scott MacIvor, Laurence Packer · PLoS ONE · Global

This study modeled the occupancy probability of six solitary bee species using nest boxes set along an urbanization gradient over three consecutive years. Native M. pugnata showed decreased occupancy with increasing building footprint, and a similar but not significant pattern was found for native O. pumila. Conversely, introduced M. rotundata and M. centuncularis, along with native M. campanulae, exhibited increased occupancy with rising urbanization.

Kajsa Ignell, Åsa Bugge Marin · · Argentina (Buenos Aires)

A field study was conducted in November and December 2015 at six urban agricultural sites in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study aimed to map ecosystem services at these sites and assess urban agriculture's potential to strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience in Buenos Aires. The mapping and research showed that urban agriculture provides many ecosystem services, creating a sense of community and other social values, and contributing to urban temperature regulation, added biodiversity, and water infiltration.

هالة فالح احمد · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Iraq

A field study in Iraq investigated the role and importance of school gardens within educational institutions. The research found that school gardens eliminate desertification, moderate weather, and bring happiness to students and teachers, while their neglect obstructs the teaching process. The study recommends organizing teacher courses on school environment and health, and conducting periodic cleaning and repair campaigns for school gardens and buildings.

Michele Lobo · Geographical Review · Australia (Darwin)

This paper examines public spaces in Darwin, Australia, where the visibility of Aboriginal people and migrants often generates fear and anxiety. Focusing on a drop-in open-air café-community garden-op shop, the study argues that playful events and spontaneous multisensory encounters involving humans, non-humans, and material things can animate these spaces. It suggests that the vibrancy of matter and non-human life forms can inform how diverse cities are co-inhabited, challenging social cohesion policies centered on integration into a dominant white majority culture.

Monika Egerer, Peter Bichier, Stacy M. Philpott · Annals of the Entomological Society of America · Global

This study identified landscape and local habitat factors influencing lady beetle abundance and species richness in urban community gardens. Assessing 19 gardens over two years, it found that the amount of natural area surrounding gardens at 3 km was the strongest correlate of abundance and species richness. Gardens embedded in more urban landscapes had higher lady beetle abundance and richness, suggesting that urban landscape quality and local habitat management may interact to shape lady beetle communities within gardens.

Lalieta Somwaru · Brazilian Journal of Science and Technology · Suriname

In Suriname, "The Green School" project, initiated in October 2013, is being implemented in all primary schools nationwide. This project aims to positively influence children's environmental behavior through practical activities, focusing on biodiversity (including school gardens), waste, water, and energy. Of the 333 primary schools in Suriname, 286 have been officially designated "Green Schools," and monitoring has shown improvements in classroom and schoolyard cleanliness and sustainable water and energy usage.

Antoine Zammit, Ina Šuklje Erjavec, Gabriela Maksymiuk, Dimitra Theochari, Runrid Fox-Kämper, Russell Good, Emanuele Sommariva · · Global

This chapter explores allotment gardens as a challenge for urban designers, identifying specific urban design quality considerations for these green spaces. It also examines the evolving role of urban designers in top-down and bottom-up processes to achieve suitable spatial quality. The chapter suggests that allotment gardens can enhance diversity, robustness, and amenity in urban areas, particularly when accessible from residential developments, and should be designed as safe and secure places.

Annalisa Metta · Iris (Roma Tre University) · Global

This publication compiles visions from 50 architects, landscape architects, designers, and environmental leaders from 15 countries on sustainability, sustainable design, urbanism, and architecture. Through articles, interviews, and project presentations, they share insights from their work, including community gardens and environmental education. Annalisa Metta contributes 10 tips for young designers on responsibility and sustainability in open space design.

Annette Voigt, T. E. Leitão, Andrew Hursthouse, Ari Jokinen, Avigail Heller, Monika Latkowska, Paulo Brito da Luz, Yvonne Christ, Béatrice Bechet, Mart Külvik, Johannes Langemeyer · · Global

This chapter presents guidance on tools for undertaking an ecological assessment with a simple, integrated, and systemic approach using sets of indicators. Agro-environmental indicators allow efficient assessment of the state, trends, and rate of change of environmental status or ecosystem services. Indicators for a garden’s suitability as a habitat depend on selected species and their demands. Gardens near the seashore require coping with difficult environmental conditions, and water requirements vary by climatic zone and crop evapotranspiration rates. Improving physical and chemical soil conditions generally enhances crop growth and reduces risks of erosion, compaction, and poor drainage. Urban gardening can expand habitat areas for particular animal species from nearby green areas. The chapter provides information on minimizing main risks from urban environmental pressures on urban gardening.

Mohsen Kalantari, Somaye Ghezelbash, Bamshad Yaghmaei · Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences · Global

A survey of citizens' expectations and attitudes toward participating in rooftop garden (green roof) development, examined in relation to behavioral, social and demographic variables, was conducted across districts of Zanjan city, Iran, in 2016. A questionnaire was administered to 313 randomly selected residents, with data analyzed using chi-square tests and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Respondents identified the main perceived benefits and barriers of green roofs; while people expressed interest in installing rooftop gardens, no volunteers came forward to do so. Financial and technical support from municipalities and urban managers was the main expectation residents held.

Tkachenko Kirill · HORTUS BOTANICUS · Russia

This study analyzed records of plant introductions over the past 60 years to the North American and Himalayan sections of the Alpinarium (rock garden) at the Peter the Great Botanical Garden in Russia. Around 385 plants from 61 families were introduced during this period: the exposition held about 130 species from 51 families in the 1960s, 254 plants from 55 families twenty years later, and 249 taxa from 52 families in the early 21st century, and following a major reconstruction and collection addition starting in 2010, the exposition comprised 200 species from 54 families as of 2015.

Thomas Elmqvist, Erik Gómez‐Baggethun, Johannes Langemeyer · · Global

A review discussing ecosystem services in rapidly urbanizing settings, framing cities as both major centres of demand for ecosystem services and sources of environmental impact, arising from a tightly coupled social-ecological system. It notes that food supply from urban agricultural land and gardens has played a critical role in cities' historical development, and that urban green infrastructure — particularly trees — removes air pollutants and gases, while features such as coarse woody debris, in-channel gravel beds and wider vegetation buffers can enhance nutrient retention. It states that city authorities worldwide are seeking ways to maintain and expand green infrastructure through urban planning. The text is a review and presents no original data or case measurements.

European Environment Agency · Climate-ADAPT (European Environment Agency) · Switzerland

Basel mandated green roofs on new and renovated flat roofs via a 2002 amendment to its building law, reinforced in 2010. By 2006 the city had 1,711 extensive and 218 intensive green roofs, with about 100 new roofs covering 80,000 m2 installed each year since; by 2019 Basel had 5.71 m2 of green roof per inhabitant, among the highest per-capita green roof coverage in the world. The roofs are reported to cut stormwater runoff by 17-20% and lower indoor temperatures by up to 5°C.

S.G. Potts, V.L. Imperatriz-Fonseca, H.T. Ngo · Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Bonn, Germany · Global

IPBES's first international science assessment on pollinators, pollination and food production (552 pages), approved at its 4th Plenary session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2016. It covers animal pollination as a regulating ecosystem service underpinning food production, gene flow and ecosystem restoration, addressing the roles of native and exotic pollinators, status and trends in pollination networks, drivers of change, impacts on human well-being, and the effectiveness of policy responses. The Assessment was formally endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity's COP13 and prompted national pollinator strategies in countries including France, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa and the Republic of Korea.

Taylor J.R., Lovell S.T. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):22-32 · Global

Studies African American, Chinese, and Mexican-origin home gardens in Chicago, finding that ethnic gardeners saving open-pollinated traditional crop seeds preserve agrobiodiversity while reproducing cultural identity and supporting community food systems.

von Döhren P., Haase D. · Ecological Indicators · Global

Reviewing 103 studies, the paper synthesizes ecosystem disservices, functions of urban green and agricultural spaces perceived as negative for human well-being, such as pests, allergens, pollution, and wildlife conflict, and argues that valuing only benefits while ignoring disservices is inadequate.

Sheryn D. Pitman, Christopher B. Daniels, Martin Edward Ely · Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia · Australia

A literature review conducted between 2012 and 2014 for the South Australian Green Infrastructure Project established the diverse benefits of Green Infrastructure. These benefits include temperature modification, improved human health, enhanced community liveability, effective water management, increased economic prosperity, biodiversity conservation, and extensive urban food production. The paper primarily focuses on Green Infrastructure's contribution to climate adaptation and protection.

Stephane Bour · · Global

Ecotrancoso focuses on restoring life to an ecosystem that has been transformed into a desert by unsustainable agricultural practices. This is achieved through the creation of a food forest.

Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof, Meysam Deghati Najd · Applied Mechanics and Materials · Global

A 2015 study discussed various systems of green facades (vertical greening) as a method of sustainable development in dense urban areas. Based on existing research, the study indicated that green facades offer environmental benefits such as mitigating the urban heat island effect, increasing biodiversity and ecological value, insulating against environmental impact, improving outdoor and indoor comfort, enhancing social and psychological well-being, and improving air quality for city dwellers.

Viorica B Lan, Ioana Ugui · · Romania (Bucharest)

This study aims to present the results of a research synthesis developed from 2007 to 2014 at USAMV Bucharest, concerning the sustainability of fruit growing ecosystems and increasing the diversity of tree and shrub species adapted to urban agriculture. It highlights the importance of encouraging more trees and diversifying species in urban areas, as feeding the growing urban population with healthy food is a national strategic issue amidst increasing urbanization.

Ingrid Jahrl, Otto Schmid · Organic Eprints (International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems, and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture) · Switzerland

In Zurich, Switzerland, urban agriculture policies have evolved towards fulfilling multiple functions. This multifunctional approach aims to provide diverse services for city dwellers, fostering biodiversity, offering attractive recreational landscapes, and creating educational opportunities, with food production being a part but not the main goal. The city administration has implemented various support mechanisms to ensure the concept's implementation and maintenance.