Research & reports

Tom Critchley · Temes de disseny · United Kingdom (London)

This ethnographic case study examines DIY design practices at The Grove Skatepark in London, UK, viewing it as an urban commons. Fieldwork revealed DIY practices as "learning-by-doing," fostering vocational and soft skills, and supporting a community that includes a community garden and arts workshops. However, the study also found that while the space is inclusive, its governance centers agency around "core skateboarding," reinforcing masculine hegemonies.

D Kozáková, M. Jebavý, M. Kunt, K. Čechová · Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica · Europe

A study in Prague, Czech Republic (Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica, 2023) tested bulbous plant species for suitability in vertical and rooftop gardens under a temperate climate, recording bloom timing, duration, and resilience by cardinal direction across multiple years. Narcissus performed best in the south-facing section of the vertical garden and was found most suitable for both garden types; Scilla siberica was the worst choice for south-facing gardens in bloom length and quantity of flowering plants; Muscari armeniacum showed balanced bloom results across all cardinal directions; Galanthus woronowii did not show promise for either garden type; and Crocus 'King of Striped' was found unsuitable for vertical gardens.

Dominici L., Comino E., Torpy F., Irga P. · Plants · Italy / Australia

An exploratory review of vertical greening system designs from scientific literature and community/commercial solutions, defining eight design models via six structural criteria and interviewing seven community garden groups to guide low-cost, small-scale DIY systems.

Puig F., Rodríguez Díaz J.A., Soriano M.A. · Agronomy · Spain

Develops a low-cost, open-source IoT platform for smart irrigation that supports many sensors and can be easily integrated with other platforms.

Andrew Millie · Crime Media Culture An International Journal · United Kingdom

This article considered guerrilla gardening, which involves taking on other people’s land without permission. A qualitative study of guerrilla gardeners from the North West of England found that guerrilla gardening is a normalised form of law-breaking. Despite not necessarily being to everyone’s taste and gardeners having an autocratic view of property, it is broadly accepted and welcomed, even by those who enforce the law.

Jonathan Stubberfield, Mads Troldborg, E. Louise Ander, N.M.J. Crout, Scott D. Young, Rupert Hough · Agronomy · United Kingdom

This study investigated the influence of gardening routines on health benefits and risks among 120 urban gardeners in the UK. Participants showed a correlation between autumn/winter gardening activity and fruit/vegetable consumption, with higher physical activity levels and lower BMI than average. However, while gardening offers health benefits, the health risks from gardening on soils mildly contaminated with cadmium and lead may outweigh these benefits, requiring formal consideration within a risk management framework.

Demet Ülkü Gülpınar Sekban, Duygu Akyol · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Turkey (Trabzon)

This study examined the contribution of residential gardens to ecosystem services in Trabzon City, Turkey. It was determined that both spatial needs and ecosystem benefits can be met with the same Green Infrastructure (GI) elements, and landscape value is supported by GI elements such as edible gardens, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, biological ponds, and green roofs. GI elements combining vegetation and water landscape elements have a higher potential for ecosystem services. The study concluded that green areas of residential gardens should be planned and designed through a holistic GI-oriented approach based on the total building parcel.

Danielle Purkiss, Ayşe Lisa Allison, Fabiana Lorencatto, Susan Michie, Mark Miodownik · Frontiers in Sustainability · United Kingdom

A citizen-science study invited 9,701 UK residents to test how biodegradable and compostable plastics actually degrade in home composting. Many items, including certified products, failed to fully break down; 60% of TUV OK Compost Home-certified items were still clearly visible afterward. The authors conclude home composting is not an effective or environmentally beneficial disposal method for these materials in the UK.

· Agronomy · Mediterranean

Measures how simple low tunnels placed inside Mediterranean greenhouses modify the internal microclimate (air/soil temperature and humidity). Quantifies the effect of a low-cost season-extension/warming structure.

Hester Buck · Question Journal · United Kingdom (London)

This paper explores how different understandings of "community" converged during the participatory design of a moss wall at the R-urban community garden in London. The project addressed poor air quality, bringing together residents, activists, academics, and volunteers who formed a community of inquiry through meetings and workshops. The paper reflects on the successes and failures of engagement strategies, including challenges like apathy and misunderstanding.

Miriam C. Dobson, Philip H. Warren, Jill L. Edmondson · Sustainability · United Kingdom

This nationwide citizen science project investigated resource demands of urban horticultural production in the United Kingdom using year-long diaries from 163 allotment gardeners. Findings showed an average allotment required 87 annual visits and 139 km of travel. Each kilogram of food produced used 0.4 hours of labor, 16.9 L of water, 0.2 L of topsoil, 2.2 L of manure, and 1.9 L of compost.

Sangodoyin Olakunle. M, Shehata Mariam, D’Aprile Andrea, Calore Giuseppe, Lorianne Ginot, Correrella Maia, Elian Mariam, Aly Nada, Aboughanema Salma, Ali Sohaila, Aboulnaga Mohsen · International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology · Italy (Rome)

The "Green Symphony" project in Lanuvio, a municipality near Rome, Italy, transformed a vacant ARES site into a smart and sustainable urban farm. The project integrated aquaponic systems, permaculture, vertical farming, and energy harvesting technologies. The developed farm is projected to generate 7 tons of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and fish annually, create 3 stable jobs, and recoup investment costs within a maximum of 5 years.

Felipe Parada, Xavier Gabarrell, Martí Rufí-Salís, Verónica Arcas‐Pilz, Pere Muñoz, Gara Villalba · The Science of The Total Environment · Spain (Barcelona)

This study investigated the agronomic performance and environmental life cycle impacts of three different fertigation management practices (open, 30% recirculation, and recirculation with a further 15% fresh water reduction) for tomato crops in a rooftop greenhouse in Barcelona. All three practices resulted in similar yields, but the recirculation with reduced fresh water input was the most water-efficient, requiring 48.7 liters per kg of tomato. In terms of environmental performance, the recirculation practice showed the best performance in most impact categories, particularly in marine and freshwater eutrophication, with 44% and 93% fewer impacts than the open management.

김명식 · 한국문화공간건축학회 논문집 · Germany

This study analyzes German cases of reduction-type remodeling for aging apartment housings to provide implications for Korea. It finds that reduction-type remodeling should align with urban regeneration plans, involving demolition of upper floors or vertical sections, and integration of units. Improved characteristics include private gardens for ground floor residents, rooftop gardens, and customized spaces after resident consultation.

Gina Patricia Suárez‐Cáceres, Víctor M. Fernández‐Cabanás, José Lobillo-Eguíbar, Luis Pérez‐Urrestarazu · Aquaculture International · Spain

This study aimed to determine the profile and motivations of aquaponic producers, the characteristics of facilities, and production performance in Spain and Latin America. The average producer is a middle-aged man, motivated primarily by producing high-quality, healthy food, environmental concern, and autonomy. Facilities were mainly for education, self-consumption, and hobbies, many located on rooftops, adapting well to urban agriculture. Generally, there is a lack of proper knowledge and expertise to efficiently operate these complex systems.

Bethan R. Mead, Jessica Davies, Natalia Falagán, Sofia Kourmpetli, Lingxuan Liu, Charlotte A. Hardman · Emerald Open Research · United Kingdom

A cross-sectional online survey of 477 UK adults (March-April 2020) investigated the role of home food growing during the early COVID-19 lockdown. Participants engaged in home food growing reported lower perceived food insecurity and higher well-being than non-growers. There were no differences in opinions of urban agriculture compared to pre-pandemic data from a separate sample (N=583).

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Cristina Madrid‐López, Xavier Gabarrell, Gara Villalba · Environmental Research Communications · Spain (Barcelona)

Implementation strategies for food-energy-water production systems on urban rooftops were evaluated in a typical housing estate in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, comprising 201 buildings and 13,466 inhabitants. Residents tended to choose strategies providing energy and water over the food production potential of rooftops. However, environmental assessment indicated that vegetable production alternatives were the least impactful, meeting 42-56% of residents' fresh produce demand and reducing environmental impacts by 24-37 kg CO2 eq m-2 per rooftop per year. This suggests residents were primarily concerned with energy expenses rather than food insecurity or social cohesion.

Peter Bengtsen · Street Art & Urban Creativity · Europe

This editorial for the journal Street Art and Urban Creativity reports that since 2015 the journal has published six issues comprising 84 research articles along with essays, working papers, and book reviews. It cites the journal, the annual Urban Creativity conference in Lisbon, and the Urban Creativity Lund research network as signs that the field of urban creativity studies is becoming increasingly established. The field is described as covering a broad range of interests including, but not limited to, street art, graffiti, urban foraging, parkour, skateboarding, and guerrilla gardening, with the editorial noting that as a field settles, a dominant paradigm tends to emerge. As part of the issue's call for submissions, it invites contributions reflecting on the current status and future of this transdisciplinary academic field, which has developed over the past two decades.

Bruni C., Akyol Ç., Cipolletta G., Eusebi A.L., Caniani D., Masi S., Colón J., Fatone F. · Sustainability · Italy

Reviews Italian legislation and implemented projects on decentralized community composting, arguing Italy can serve as a model for Mediterranean countries building decentralized composting programs.

Lobillo-Eguíbar J., Fernández-Cabanás V.M., Bermejo L.A., Pérez-Urrestarazu L. · Agronomy · Spain

Two small-scale aquaponic systems, self-built from cheap and easy-to-obtain materials based on FAO models, were monitored for a year to assess their economic sustainability for self-production.

· Agronomy · United Kingdom

Assesses waste almond shells and a recycled plastic drainage plank as sustainable hydroponic media alternatives to perlite, evaluating physicochemical properties and lettuce germination and greenhouse growth.

Rogelio Nogales Romero · · Spain (Granada)

This master's thesis outlines the process for creating and implementing a 3.8-hectare urban garden project in Casería de los Cipreses, Granada, Spain. The project aims to transform an abandoned historical site into sustainable, self-managed urban gardens for community building and agro-environmental education. It details the design, social and technical aspects, and the creation of an association to manage the initiative, adhering to municipal legislation and sustainability requirements.

Nicholas Henderson, Quentin Lefèvre · Sens-Dessous · France

This article investigates biology, economics and landscape through the lens of a relational paradigm that the author identifies as pervasive across both the social and life sciences, positing the relational nature of the world as an actant reality that remains largely invisible. It also examines the human relationship to the living world amid what it frames as a crisis in that relationship, and analyzes a shared permaculture garden as a manifestation of "relational design" — an approach to design centered on relationship.

Jakob Laage‐Thomsen, Anders Blok · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · Europe

Drawing on a case study of a civic-driven permaculture garden in Copenhagen, Denmark, this article develops an analytical grid for the imaginative and material domain of public aesthetic norms that shapes tensions over interventions in, and valuations of, the city's multiform green spaces. It models this domain along two axes — "orderliness" versus "wildness," and "pastoral nature" versus city-nature "imbrication" — and uses the grid to make sense of internal debates and external criticisms surrounding the Copenhagen permaculture garden. It explains how and why the garden struggled to secure a legitimate place in a city otherwise committed to urban nature, and argues that attention to variable aesthetic commitments around urban greenery helps recast questions of urban sustainability politics.

Maucieri C., Nicoletto C., Zanin G., Birolo M., Trocino A., Sambo P., Borin M., Xiccato G. · PLOS ONE · Italy

In a low-tech aquaponic system, two fish stocking densities were compared for their effects on water quality, European carp growth and leafy vegetable yield; the lower density (2.5 kg/m3) improved water quality and production.