Research & reports

Cassandra Tytler · · Global

A book chapter examines the intersection of place-based art practices, ecological attunement and relational wellbeing through Think Like a Worm, a project using multisensory, embodied approaches that transformed a community garden into a sensory art space. Drawing on feminist and anti-colonial scholarship, it argues for a "politics of location" that acknowledges inequities in environmental impacts and knowledge production.

Ioana Florea · · Global

This chapter finds that while collective urban gardening projects represent forms of resistance against market-based food systems, the precarization of urban natures, and real-estate dominance, their everyday practices often fail to deliver on these ideals and intentions, generating incomplete, contradictory, or temporary results. It proposes a heuristic frame linking space, time, and class to review prior urban-gardening research from a political-ecology perspective, tracing how space's materiality, time embedded in plant growth, and class differences conditioning gardeners' access to space and time produce these contradictions.

Zahara Abdul Manaf, Louise Tee, Nurul Mirza Mohamad Shah, Siti Hajar Mohammad, Abdul Arieffarid Abdul Wahid · Journal of Health Population and Nutrition · Malaysia

This quasi-experimental study involved 72 ten-year-old children at a primary school in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, recruited by convenience sampling. The intervention group received a two-month program combining a talk on fruits and vegetables, educational gardening, cooking activities, and an educational board game, while the control group received only a dietitian's talk on fruits and vegetables. Height and weight were measured to calculate BMI, and changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices around fruit and vegetable consumption were measured with a self-administered structured questionnaire. Knowledge and awareness improved significantly among girls in the intervention group (p = 0.010) but not among boys (p = 0.272), and knowledge improved significantly among overweight and obese participants (p = 0.033) but not among those with normal or underweight BMI (p = 0.215). Attitude (p = 0.980) and practice (p = 0.233) toward fruit and vegetable consumption showed no statistically significant improvement after the intervention.

Nurulanis Ahmad, Zarita Ahmad Baharum, Yasmin Mohd Adnan, Nor Nazihah Chuweni · PLANNING MALAYSIA · Malaysia

This study qualitatively explored stakeholders' perspectives on urban agriculture (UA) toward sustainable urban development in Malaysia, using semi-structured interviews grounded in stakeholder theory. It drew on 15 stakeholders selected from different authority levels -- the Department of Agriculture Malaysia and PLANMalaysia at the federal level, the Department of Agriculture Perak at the state level, Subang Jaya City Council at the local level, private property managers, and academicians -- who were top management, practitioners, and officers with relevant background in urban agriculture, urban planning, and real estate. The findings produced a framework of action plans centred on social, economic, environmental, policy, and technological-innovation dimensions, intended to guide policymakers and urban planners in developing action plans for advancing UA toward sustainable urban development.

Augustin Tshilumba Ilunga, Michel Mbumba Bandi, Albert Tshinyama Ntumba, Damien-Joseph Muteba Kalala · Revue Africaine d’Environnement et d’Agriculture · Democratic Republic of Congo

A study of urban agriculture in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo—a sector described as vital for food security and employment amid rapid urbanization, food insecurity, and unemployment, where farms face significant challenges including land pressure, restricted access to credit, and lack of institutional support. The study aimed to (i) examine the motivations of agri-entrepreneurs, (ii) assess their impact on farm viability, and (iii) identify the economic and non-economic factors influencing business sustainability, using a qualitative and quantitative survey combining 20 semi-structured interviews across three peripheral zones (via snowball sampling) with documentary analysis. Three categories of entrepreneurs were identified: civil servants farming as a supplementary activity, private-sector employees investing in farming, and traders farming to secure their survival. Non-pecuniary motivations such as social engagement and passion strengthened resilience, but land insecurity, a financing deficit, and lack of training were identified as the major obstacles farms face; observed adaptive strategies included diversification and informal partnerships. The study concludes by calling for integrated strategies to secure land tenure, facilitate access to credit, and professionalize the sector while integrating peri-urban agriculture into urban planning processes.

Diana Dushkova, Maria Ignatieva · Diversity · Global

Ongoing urbanization, biodiversity decline, and intensifying climate change are increasingly challenging the sustainability of urban green spaces dominated by conventional, intensively maintained lawns, which are criticized for their low biodiversity value and high resource demands. This paper explores nature-based solutions (NBS) as alternatives for enhancing the resilience and multifunctionality of urban lawns, conceptualizing lawns as intertwined ecological, design, and socio-cultural systems and evaluating strategies for their transformation. Drawing on case studies from ten Eurasian cities, a narrative literature review, and the authors' inter- and transdisciplinary research experience, it develops a typology of NBS alternatives including urban species-rich meadows, semi-natural grasslands, naturalistic herbaceous perennial plantings, mixed-vegetation groundcovers, edible lawns, pictorial (annual) meadows, and rewilded lawns, with key interventions including reduced mowing, multifunctional green spaces, adaptive management, and community engagement. The paper finds that these approaches can enhance biodiversity, ecosystem services, and climate resilience, but that their success depends on local ecological conditions, landscape design, and public perceptions of urban nature; it recommends using native, drought- and trampling-resistant plants with context-sensitive design that respects cultural traditions of urban greening and fosters social acceptance.

Bojan Baletić, Iva Bedenko, Marijo Spajić · · Croatia

A chapter examining the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS) in the Zagreb Living Lab, in the post-industrial area of Sesvete, Croatia, as part of the EU proGIreg project. Key initiatives include the "City Gardens" project, offering citizens free plots for sustainable urban gardening, and a therapeutic garden designed for individuals with disabilities, alongside integration of green technologies including a modular urban farm combining aquaponics with green roofs and walls. Despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and earthquakes, the chapter states these initiatives demonstrated the potential of NBS to enhance urban regeneration, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability, emphasizing co-design processes involving local stakeholders and citizens that successfully fostered community engagement and acceptance of NBS. It discusses challenges and opportunities in operationalizing NBS within urban planning and policy and reflects on the potential for scaling these solutions and their role in shaping Sesvete's future development.

Alejandra Acevedo-De-los-Ríos, Favio R. Chumpitaz-Requena, Daniel R. Rondinel-Oviedo, Úrsula Cárdenas‐Mamani, Johan Manuel Redondo · Environmental Science & Policy · Global

This study used a System Dynamics model to simulate five 10-year policy scenarios for an informal settlement in a developing country, addressing settlement consolidation and women's access to formal employment: business-as-usual, time-quality, women's formal employment, circularity (including organic waste management with urban gardens and urban agriculture), and a comprehensive scenario combining all interventions. Individual solutions alone did not fully capture potential synergies, whereas the comprehensive scenario reduced by 47.5% the time needed to improve women's formal employability, a result linked to the settlement consolidation process.

Riann Lognon, Chetna Khandelwal, Megha Sanyal, Santanu Dutta, Pallavi Banerjee, Pratim Sengupta · Frontiers in Climate · Global

Drawing on a three-year community gardening project co-created with newcomer (refugee) youth of color in North America, this qualitative study analyzed the youths' participatory, embodied and discursive work over the first two years of creating and caring for the community garden, examining how they re-establish relationships with land, air, water and more-than-human life in their newly adopted home. The analysis found the youths' participation centered an anti-racist praxis within the garden, and the study offers an expanded account of how race and climate are implicated together in migration.

Edwin Javier Ortega Zúñiga · Ediciones Comunicación Científica eBooks · Colombia

A study of Palmira, Colombia — a city with a long tradition as the country's agricultural capital — finds that it nonetheless faces significant food insecurity. Prior research reviewed in the study attributes this to an aging rural population and young people's declining interest in farming (which has shrunk the available labor force and limited adoption of new technology), gender inequality that restricts women's access to agricultural resources and decisions, climate change impacts such as droughts and floods on production, and accelerated urbanization that has reduced cropland and fragmented the agricultural landscape. As a potential response, the study describes a pilot project at four sites in the city that installed small-space vegetable production systems, which it reports functioned as a viable source of fresh food in dense urban settings. The authors call for a multidisciplinary approach combining social, economic and environmental factors to address food insecurity in Palmira.

Parisi A., Walthall B., Clerino P., Firmbach P., Onyszkiewicz M., Vicente Vicente J. L. · Environmental Evidence · Global

A protocol for a systematic map of the scholarly literature on the relationship between urban agriculture (UA) and gentrification. The authors note that existing accounts variously present gentrification as a possible outcome of UA activities, as a risk that UA initiatives themselves face, and as other kinds of relationship, and argue that these divergent accounts are partly explained by different theoretical engagements with gentrification and by the breadth of activities gathered under 'urban agriculture'. It sets out the search and review strategy and aims to expose gaps in dominant academic discourses. Being a protocol, it reports no findings yet.

Tanja Kähkönen, Joshua Finch, Michael den Herder · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global

This paper describes community supported agriculture (CSA) as a collaboration model for food production, distribution and consumption involving farmers and consumers. It notes that CSA consumers can include individuals and families as well as other consumers such as restaurants, schools and kindergartens.

Sunamis Fabelo Concepción, Elizabeth Peña Turruellas, Maruchi Alonso Esquivel · Latin American and Caribbean Studies · Global

A discussion piece examines opportunities for cooperation on food security and sovereignty between Cuba and the Republic of Korea following the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It highlights the importance of a legal framework recognizing healthy, adequate nutrition as a fundamental right, and identifies urban agriculture — an area of success for both nations — as a key strategy for pursuing sovereign, local, and sustainable food systems. The piece frames this as an opening for scientific diplomacy grounded in mutual respect and long-term partnership, presenting no empirical data or measured outcomes.

Sarah Kakadellis, Herman D. Delgado, Russell Teall, R. Gándara León, Christopher W. Simmons, Edward S. Spang · Journal of Agriculture and Food Research · Global

This greenhouse experiment tested liquid food waste-derived digestate (FWDD) as a biofertilizer for community learning gardens, growing tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) under four treatments: potting medium alone, medium with synthetic mineral fertilizer, medium with compost, and medium with a compost-FWDD blend. The mineral-fertilizer control produced the highest total fruit yield, but total edible fruit yield and total fruit weight were similar between the control and the compost-FWDD blend, which produced the largest average fruit weight; compost and compost-FWDD treatments produced lighter, tarter—though not more acidic—tomatoes, and no detrimental soil effects from FWDD were observed, though the authors note further research is needed to assess social perceptions and life cycle impacts.

Kelley AT, Boger R · EcoHealth · 米国・ニューヨーク市ブルックリン

A survey of mosquito larval abundance and genera across 22 community gardens in Brooklyn, New York. The authors frame these gardens as social spaces providing food sovereignty to many New Yorkers, while the arrival of Aedes albopictus and the longtime presence of Culex pipiens make socialising in them more dangerous — Ae. albopictus is associated with dengue, Zika and chikungunya, and Cx. pipiens is a longstanding West Nile virus vector. Because both breed in human-made plastic containers, knowing their preferred container types and locations can inform gardeners' best management practices. Non-purposeful container types and lower total volumes of water were significant predictors of higher mosquito densities, though these variables did not predict egg-laying preference.

Otoadese D, Kamara I, Onyango E · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · カナダ・アルバータ州

Community gardens are increasingly popular in Canadian cities and can be transformative spaces where immigrants develop self-reliant strategies for accessing culturally familiar, healthy food — yet many facilitators and barriers limit the engagement of racialized groups such as Black-identifying immigrants. Using a socio-ecological framework and a community-based participatory research approach, this mixed-methods study combined structured surveys (n = 119), in-depth interviews (n = 10) and two Afrocentric sharing circles, with participants recruited through African immigrant-serving community organisations in Alberta. Barriers at several levels of the socio-ecological model interacted to shape interest and engagement, while access to collective gardens was associated with significant benefits: maintaining healthy foodways, knowledge exchange, growing social capital, and community connections supporting overall wellbeing. The authors offer an accessible framework for addressing these barriers and for making urban agriculture initiatives more inclusive and culturally responsive.

Bauer W., Titz A. · Nature-Based Solutions · Malawi (Lilongwe)

Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are promoted globally as multifunctional and cost-effective, and municipal interest is growing in cities of the so-called Global South. Yet research remains clearly biased toward the Global North, with particularly few studies on cities in Sub-Saharan Africa — leaving a high risk that maladapted NbS, modelled on examples from elsewhere that do not meet local requirements, get adopted. This article examines the barriers to adopting urban NbS in Malawi's cities and the opportunities for successful implementation, drawing on qualitative data (workshops, narrative expert interviews, group discussions) gathered over five research stays in Lilongwe between 2022 and 2024, and analysing in detail the strategies used by those implementing the Lilongwe Ecological Corridor Initiative (LECI), a large-scale NbS in the capital.

Luis Andrade · Quito Informa (Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito) · Ecuador

On 29 April 2025, Quito's Metropolitan Council approved the 'Healthy Food Neighborhoods' ordinance, allowing community gardens on idle municipal land and requiring new housing developments to include garden space. The city currently has about 2,000 urban gardens and aims to double that number by 2030. ConQuito, the municipal economic development agency, will provide seeds and training, and produce will be sold through organized bioferias to avoid affecting existing markets.

Municipalidad de Guayaquil · Alcaldía de Guayaquil · Ecuador

An official Guayaquil municipal article on its 'School-Community Gardens Program,' which has set up 57 gardens (50 in schools, 7 community/family gardens) providing free seeds and fertilizer. The program has benefited 67,020 people to date, with participating families reporting household savings of up to USD 80 per month.

Hacemos Memoria · Hacemos Memoria (Universidad de Antioquia) · Colombia

A timeline from Hacemos Memoria tracing the search for people disappeared after military operations (including Operación Orión, 2002) in Medellín's Comuna 13, centered on the site known as La Escombrera. Comuna 13 as a whole records 5,912 disappeared people, with 502 expected around La Escombrera specifically; forensic excavations from December 2024 through 2025 recovered a total of seven sets of remains. The search is led by the national search unit for the disappeared (UBPD) and the transitional justice tribunal (JEP), which ordered precautionary protective measures in 2020.

Heidi Tamayo Ortiz · El Colombiano · Colombia

An article on rooftop terrace gardens in Medellín's Comuna 13, where 37 terraces grow lettuce, basil, chard, kale and European cogollo. The pilot began with five terraces in 2021 and has grown to 25 participating households, mostly women heads of household, including 12 terraces in the San Javier area supported by Fundación Éxito. Produce is sold to restaurants and an Éxito store in Laureles, with workdays capped at 4 hours; the model has been replicated in Bogotá (Ciudad Bolívar) and Cali (Siloé).

Jaime Mulet Martínez, Daniel Melo Contreras, Félix González Gatica, Consuelo Veloso Ávila, Rubén Darío Oyarzo Figueroa, Jorge Saffirio Espinoza · Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados de Chile — Datos Abiertos (WSLegislativo) · Chile

A private member's bill (moción) admitted to Chile's Chamber of Deputies on March 24, 2025, establishing norms for the promotion, development, and registration of urban gardens (huertos urbanos). It was introduced by six deputies led by Jaime Mulet Martínez. The open-data record shows it as admissible, with no voting record yet.

Panțiru I., Ronaldson A., Sima N., Dregan A., Sima R. · Systematic Reviews (Springer), 13:45 · Global

An umbrella review and meta-analysis comparing prior reviews of diverse gardening interventions, including home, allotment, community, and therapeutic gardening. Synthesizing 40 studies, it finds a significant positive effect of gardening and horticultural therapy on well-being, quality of life, and health status.

Edwards F., Mercer H. · Local Environment (Taylor & Francis), 29(10) · Global

An ethnographic study of ShareWaste, an online community-composting platform in Sydney and Canberra that connects food-waste donors directly with households hosting compost heaps to divert waste from landfill. Drawing on environmental humanities and discard studies, it explores the relationships among people, soil, compost, and food waste and the community-building these practices foster.

Alessio Russo · Land Use Policy, 149, 107410 · Global

A conceptual paper extending the ecological-restoration paradigm of rewilding into urban and food contexts, arguing that multispecies-based 'urban rewilding' can simultaneously enhance climate resilience, biodiversity recovery, food-system robustness, water sensitivity and community participation. It also flags trade-offs such as green gentrification and land availability, opening new debate within productive green infrastructure.