Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
701 results(2 / 29)
Alternative to what? Reassessing Northern AFNs through a Southern Lens
2026Carla Galán-Guevara, Francesca Forno · Agriculture and Human Values · Italy (Trentino)
This qualitative study in Trentino, northern Italy, examined how alterity is conceptualized and enacted across nine Alternative Food Network (AFN) initiatives, using a decolonial analytical lens. Findings indicate that AFNs create meaningful opportunities for collective organization, ecological learning, participatory governance, and solidarity-based exchange, yet are simultaneously shaped and constrained by regulatory frameworks, certification regimes, economic pressures, and uneven organizational capacities. The study interprets AFNs in the Global North as spaces where partial openings and socio-ecological experimentation coexist with broader structures of coloniality, capitalist market relations, and institutional constraint.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBiodiversity Monitoring in Food Forests
2026Jana Marion Böhme · PubData · Europe
This study investigated the current state and professionality of biodiversity monitoring in food forest projects and influencing social-ecological factors through an online survey and interviews with German and Dutch experts. It found heterogeneous characteristics and professionality levels in monitoring activities, primarily due to context factors like actors, governance systems, and socio-economic settings. The professionality of monitoring depended on volunteer and expert availability and funding, indicating a lack of integrated, standardized, and systematic monitoring concepts and institutionalization.
Governance failureBiodiversityCommunityPolicyEconomicsIntroducing Agroforestry into Urban Planning: A Procedural Approach for Italian Cities
2026Marco Focacci, Isabella De Meo, Alessandro Paletto, Francesca Ugolini, Fabio Salbitano · Land · Italy
A study developed a procedural approach to introduce agroforestry into urban planning and tested it in Sesto Fiorentino, Central Italy, involving 170 stakeholders in a questionnaire survey. Respondents preferred gradually introducing agroforestry into green infrastructure, with educational food forests and alley cropping being favored. While decision-makers incorporated agroforestry into city technical standards, urban planners were reluctant to include it at the strategic level in the city development plan.
PolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageFood educationAgronomic and organizational aspects of Barcelona's community gardens
2025· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Spain (Barcelona)
A study analysing both the agronomic and the organisational dimensions of Barcelona's community gardens, examining empirically how citizen-led urban gardens are managed and run.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cycleGlobal Health as Vector for Agroecology in Collective Gardens in Toulouse Region (France)
2025Wilkens J., Mombo S., Dumat C. · Urban Science · France (Toulouse)
Examines 11 years of collective urban gardens in the Toulouse region through the lens of global health—encompassing human well-being, soil health, and interspecies interactions—as a driver of agroecological transitions among gardeners.
CommunityHealthBiodiversityOrganic cycleHow Democratic Is Just Enough? Critical Reflections on the Transformative Potential of the Berlin Food Policy Council
2025· Urban Planning · Germany (Berlin)
Critically reflects on the transformative potential and democratic character of the Berlin Food Policy Council (Ernährungsrat).
PolicyCommunitySupporting the transformation of urban food systems: The food network of the city of Dortmund
2025Leimkühler · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Germany (Dortmund)
Examines the food network of the city of Dortmund and how it can support the transformation of urban food systems.
PolicyCommunityGreen Social Prescribing: A Before and After Evaluation of a Novel Community-Based Intervention for Adults Experiencing Mental Health Problems
2025Darcy · Health & Social Care in the Community · England, United Kingdom
A before-and-after cohort evaluation of nature-based interventions delivered via green social prescribing referral across English 'test and learn' sites, comparing participants' mental health and wellbeing outcomes.
HealthWelfareCommunityUrban Harvesting: Building Resilience Through Circular Agriculture
2025· Sustainability · Barcelona, Spain
A systematic review integrating circular economy principles with urban agriculture to build resilient, low-emission urban food systems, using metropolitan Barcelona as a case, discussing zero-waste strategies including redistribution of surplus food.
Food lossOrganic cycleCommunityCultivating Well-Being: An Exploratory Analysis of the Integral Benefits of Urban Gardens in the Promotion of Active Ageing
2025Noelia Fernández-Salido, Alfonso Gallego-Valadés, Carlos Serra-Castells, Jorge Garcés-Ferrer · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Spain
Analyzes comprehensive benefits of urban gardens for senior active aging. Demonstrates impact on addressing multimorbidity, disability, frailty, and improving mental well-being and social participation.
HealthWelfareElderlyCommunityUrban garden communities' social capital as a support for climate change adaptations – a case study of Warsaw
2025Warsaw Urban Resilience Research Institute · Management and Organizations: Research and Development · Poland
Examines social capital (information sharing, coordinated activities, collective decision-making) in Warsaw garden communities as support for climate adaptation. Documents social bond strengthening through gardening.
CommunityAssessing Citizens' Perceptions of Urban Agriculture and Its Contribution to Food Security—Worldwide Analysis and Specific Case Studies in Spain
2025· MDPI · Spain / Worldwide
Worldwide survey and case studies in Spain (Valladolid and Segovia) analyzing citizens' perceptions of urban agriculture and its contribution to food security. Collected over 250 responses from nearly all continents.
CommunityPolicyA Participatory Analytic Hierarchy Framework for Evaluating Urban Agriculture in Compact Cities: Implications for Sustainable Urban Development and Smart-City Governance
2025Pierluigi Siano, Isam Shahrour, Silvano Vergura · Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities · Germany
This study presents a participatory Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework for evaluating urban agriculture in compact cities, based on a two-stage German case design. A European expert survey (35 responses) identified priority sub-criteria, and a German stakeholder survey (141 responses) weighted these criteria. The AHP structure prioritized the environmental dimension (42%), with biodiversity receiving the highest priority and food quality and safety the lowest.
PolicyEconomicsBiodiversityCommunityFrom Crisis to Opportunity
2025Chris Blythe, Silvio Caputo, Michael Hardman, Paul Milbourne, Mina Samangooei, Victoria Schoen · · United Kingdom
This chapter provides a narrative review of how urban food growing in the UK responded to past crises and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the positive impacts of urban food growing on individual, household, and community resilience, well-being, environment, and local food systems during the pandemic. The chapter suggests that further recognition and support for urban food growing would improve its ability to respond to future crises.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeHomegarden (forest garden) systems and Food Forests: High Productivity on Small Areas
2025Daniel Fischer · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Europe
Homegardens, also known as forest gardens or food forests, are a diverse and sustainable agroforestry model that mimics natural ecosystems by combining trees, shrubs, and other useful plants or small livestock. These systems are gaining popularity in Europe, particularly in Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland, due to their high productivity and the wide range of benefits they offer on limited space. The FAO defines these systems as agrisilvopasture.
DIYCommunityBiodiversityInfrastructuring for caring food practices: learnings from an Alpine community academy
2025Bianca Elzenbaumer, Flora Mammana, Carmen Gonzalez Miranda, Irene Manfrini · Local Environment · Italy
This paper explores grassroots infrastructuring supporting communal learning projects focused on caring food practices, from the perspective of practitioners at La Foresta community academy in the Italian Alps. It presents four interdependent activities—a community garden, a participatory drinks initiative, a mobile bread oven, and a forest school—demonstrating how food fosters community economies and empowers eco-social transformation.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceTransUrba. L’urbanisme transitoire au service des transitions écologique, économique et sociale des territoires
2025Sandra Mallet, Baptiste Colin, Thomas Zanetti, Marc G. Dumont, Annette, Groux · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · France (Bordeaux)
The TransUrba project investigates how different temporalities of action in urban space can be articulated by studying temporary urbanism initiatives. Through an analysis of three areas in France (Bordeaux, Lyon, and Lille metropolitan area), the project aims to understand how temporary urbanism is implemented, its innovative features, its impact on urban space, and how local public action can strengthen transitional urbanism.
Urban–rural linkageClimate changeCommunityPolicyA Question of Collaboration: Scaling the Commons Through Networking
2025Bernd Bonfert · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · Europe
This article investigates the role of 'commons networks' in organizing and scaling a commons-based economy, focusing on community-supported agriculture and energy communities in the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Data was collected from qualitative case studies using interviews, observation, and document analyses. The study reveals a trend towards centralization in network governance, different scaling approaches between the food and energy sectors, and challenges of commodification and institutionalization.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityPolicyEconomicsA Switch to Commons: The Evolution of the Regulation of Urban Agriculture in Rome, Italy
2025Micol Sonnino, Simona Zollet · Urban Planning · Italy (Rome)
This article investigates how framing urban agriculture as a "common good" shapes governance and fosters participatory processes in Rome, Italy. In October 2024, the City of Rome approved a new regulation on urban agriculture, marking an evolution in its legal framework. Field research, including interviews and archival data analysis, found that urban agriculture practices in Rome exemplify collaborative governance, enabling cooperation between citizens and local government.
PolicyCommunityHolistic and integrated life cycle sustainability assessment of community supported agriculture: A case study of school catering in Leipzig, Germany
2025Madeleine Pries, Walther Zeug, Daniela Thrän · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · Germany (Leipzig)
A Holistic and Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (HILCSA) was applied to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in Leipzig, Germany, supplying seven fruits and vegetables to schools, comparing it to a conventional food market. Based on 82 indicators, the CSA showed 63% fewer sustainability risks and a positive contribution to SDGs, with replacing conventional supply for 200 pupils avoiding 1 ton of CO2 equivalents annually. However, the CSA had significantly lower yields than conventional production, despite similar water, land, and energy uses per hectare, and spent mushroom substrate caused the highest upstream impacts.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsClimate changeRestoration of Urban Gardening Practices in Lviv and Their Significance for the Unification of the City’s Community
2025Yaryna Onufriv, Halyna Lukashchuk · Środowisko Mieszkaniowe · Ukraine (Lviv)
In Lviv, Ukraine, urban gardening practices have a historical presence, with the "Nursery" project recently initiated by NGO 'Plato' at the historic Zalizna Voda Park nursery. Despite this, a portion of the historical greenhouses remains dilapidated. Students and teachers from Lviv Polytechnic National University developed a project to restore these greenhouses, aiming to create a modern ecological space. The development of urban gardening, involving the city community and internally displaced persons, is considered important for unification, psychological rehabilitation, and adaptation, requiring specific landscape architecture techniques and evidentiary studies.
CommunityPolicyExamining inclusive governance of community gardens: lessons from European cities
2025Patricia Abrantes, Luís Moreno, Maria Lucinda Fonseca, Burcu Borhan Türeli, Christos Stergiadis, Gábor Szüdi, Martin Felix Gajdusek, Carolin V. Zorell · City and Environment Interactions · Europe
This study examined how governance influences inclusion and long-term viability in seven community gardens in Portugal, Türkiye, Austria, Hungary, and Greece. Using a qualitative comparative design with 65 semi-structured interviews and policy analysis, findings showed that community gardens with stronger relational and procedural governance demonstrate higher levels of inclusion, particularly for women, migrants, and low-income residents. However, weak vertical policy integration across local, national, and European levels in most cases limits their broader systemic impact.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareAsyl, Gemüse und Nachhaltigkeit: Urban Gardening in einer Unterkunft für geflüchtete Menschen
2025Juliane Forßmann, Simon Goebel · Zeitschrift für Flüchtlingsforschung · Germany
An urban gardening project in a residential facility for up to 230 refugees in Germany aims to counteract precarious living conditions. While the garden offers a low-threshold space for knowledge exchange on resource-saving cultivation, biodiversity, and health promotion, this paper also reflects on the project's limits.
Limited or null effectCommunityWelfareHealthBiodiversityFood educationClimate changeEstrategias de alimentación sostenible de los mercados de Madrid. Implicaciones urbanas
2025María Antonia Fernández Nieto, Jose Rodriguez, Jorge Gallego Sánchez-Torija · ZARCH · Spain (Madrid)
This article examines how Madrid's municipal markets are adopting new strategies linked to sustainable food systems in response to competition from supermarkets and online commerce. It highlights how citizen movements and municipal policies, including urban gardens and agroecological cooperatives, are fostering circular economies, responsible consumption, and urban resilience. The research positions markets as social mediators that connect diverse actors and balance economic interests with collective benefits, serving as instruments for regenerative urbanism and food equity.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsA typology of community garden in terms of location and shape in urban spaces
2025Agnieszka Dudzińska-Jarmolińska · Bulletin of Geography Socio-economic series · United States, Europe
This paper aims to present the author's spatial typology of community gardens by defining their spatial characteristics, forms of development, and socio-cultural context in urban spaces. Based on field research conducted in three U.S. cities and three European cities, it was determined that community gardens can be classified into six distinct spatial types.
CommunityUrban–rural linkage