Research & reports

Stacy M. Philpott, Azucena Lucatero, Sofie Andrade, Cameron R. Hernandez, Peter Bichier · Insects · United States (California)

This study examined how native plant species richness, garden management, and landscape composition affect the abundance and richness of native and non-native bees, ladybeetles, ants, and ground-foraging spiders in urban community gardens (urban agroecosystems) in California, United States. Native plants — about 10% of species but only about 2.5% of plant cover — had little influence on arthropods overall, with the only significant effect being a negative one on non-native spider richness, likely reflecting native plants' low cover. Garden size increased native and non-native bee abundance and richness and non-native spider richness; floral abundance increased non-native spider abundance and native and non-native spider richness; mulch cover and tree/shrub abundance increased non-native spider richness; and natural habitat cover increased non-native bee and native ant abundance but was associated with fewer native ladybeetle species. The study concludes that native plant richness does not strongly influence the abundance and richness of beneficial arthropods.

Tailana Fraga Lima, Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio · Revista Brasileira de Tecnologias Sociais · Brazil

Using a bibliographic and documentary survey with secondary data analysis in a descriptive qualitative approach, this article systematically examines the challenges in the Brazilian population's diet posed by excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods. It discusses the relationship between agriculture in urban space and dietary readjustment and food insecurity, observing that urban agriculture can produce effects that contribute both to addressing the public health problem of hunger and to the use of urban space. It argues that occupying underused and idle sites in the city for garden development promotes integrated urban spaces accompanied by changes in eating habits and behaviors, aligned with urban planning aimed at a healthy city.

Nataliya Apanovich, Seth Asare Okyere, Stephen Leonard Mensah, Louis Kusi Frimpong · Societal Impacts · United States

This study examined societal benefits gained by university students participating in community-based learning through the University of Arizona Community Garden (UACG) in Tucson, Arizona, using interviews, participant observation and student activities. Findings showed the community garden provided psychosocial benefits, including social interaction and connection with nature, for the participating students.

Alexis R. Cole, Jennifer Pethan, Jason Evans · Nutrients · United States

An integrative review examines the potential role of teaching kitchens operated in collaboration with local agriculture — including farms, community gardens, vertical farms, and urban agriculture — against the backdrop of diet-related chronic disease in the United States. The paper reviews the current state of agricultural systems, the food-is-medicine concept, consumer behavior, and the roles of each sector, followed by case studies illustrating how gaps between teaching kitchens and agriculture programs have been addressed. It summarizes opportunities for combining teaching-kitchen and agriculture-program knowledge and resources, along with challenges that may arise.

Ana Carla Alves Gomes de Almeida, Maria Lúcia Brito da Cruz · Revista Geonorte · Brazil

A study of Fortaleza, Brazil, examined urban agriculture initiatives in risk areas — including the municipal Hortas Sociais (Social Gardens) project — through literature review and field visits to project sites and relevant agencies. It found that introducing urban agriculture on vacant land in risk areas can help deter irregular occupation and, when incorporated into municipal policy, can provide income and food to the urban poor.

Leonor Ángeles Hernández, Mónica Leticia Acosta Miranda, Julio Pérez Machorro, Daniel Domínguez Estudillo, Leidys Fernández Arias · IPSUMTEC. · Mexico

A project in the eastern Morelos region of Mexico designs and builds urban/family gardens supported by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, primarily targeting small-scale farmers, homemakers, families, and older adults, aiming to let users remotely monitor gardens via mobile device or computer and reduce the time spent on routine care. The project is still under development, building prototype gardens of varying sizes and crops equipped with organic nutrients and an automated irrigation and monitoring system.

André Augusto Manoel, Carolina Andion · Cadernos Metrópole · Brazil

A qualitative intrinsic case study of Florianópolis, Brazil, examines the processes of social innovation generated by urban agriculture practices, using a pragmatist perspective and the analytical framework of ethnography of public arenas. Through a mapping of the city's urban agriculture practices, the study identifies three dynamics of social innovation situated in three distinct public arenas: solid organic waste, the human right to adequate food, and production-consumption cycles. These findings are presented as contributing to understanding the complexity of social innovation processes and their implications for governance in the city.

Lorien Nesbitt, Daniel L. Sax, Jessica Quinton, Leila M. Harris, Camilo Ordóñez Barona, Cecil Konijnendijk · Ecology and Society 28(4): art29 · Canada (Metro Vancouver, Greater Toronto Area)

An online survey of 51 urban greening practitioners in Metro Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area. Most respondents defined green gentrification as the displacement of vulnerable residents caused by new or improved green space that attracts wealthy in-movers and raises property values. The largest group identified greening itself as the main driver of green gentrification, while a minority saw greening as a secondary factor alongside other systemic drivers. Practitioners cited multiple barriers to addressing it - limited institutional capacity, limited access to data and information, policy or mandate restrictions, and a lack of engagement tools - showing a gap between practitioners' concern and what they can act on in their day-to-day work.

Jordan Ashby, Clarissa Libertelli · Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) · United States

Just after NYC announced expansion of mandatory residential organics collection by 2024, the mayor's office eliminated funding for the city's community composting program. The article identifies three failures reflecting national trends: government 'composting' programs that actually rely on anaerobic digestion, centralized processing that concentrates environmental burdens in vulnerable neighborhoods, and mandatory government programs undercutting community composters' viability.

Seattle Department of Neighborhoods · Seattle Department of Neighborhoods · United States

This Seattle Department of Neighborhoods page traces the history of the city's P-Patch community garden program from its 1970 origins at the Picardo Farm through the city's 1973 purchase of the farm and 1974 formal establishment as a city program, growing to 90 gardens and over 3,500 participating households by 2023. It also reports 2022 figures including $66,152 in subsidies to 858 low-income gardeners and 44,403 pounds of donated produce.

Joyner L., Yagüe B., Cachelin A., Rose J. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 11(2):67-88 · United States

Community-engaged study partnering with a CSA farm in Salt Lake City's Westside, examining how political-economic practices produced food apartheid and the limits of urban agriculture in advancing food justice in marginalized neighborhoods.

Colson-Fearon B., Versey H. S. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(19):12752 · United States

Case study examining urban agriculture as a sustainable strategy against food insecurity in Baltimore, finding it builds social capital, educates residents on healthy eating, and facilitates distribution of affordable food toward food sovereignty.

Hawes J. K., Gounaridis D., Newell J. P. · Landscape and Urban Planning 225:104447 · United States

Analyzes the link between urban gardens and gentrification in Detroit, finding no clear association but showing gardens cluster in younger, affluent, educated, less-Black neighborhoods—gardening remains unequal.

Cosco N.G., Wells N.M., Zhang D., Goodell L.S., Monsur M., Xu T., Moore R.C. · Frontiers in Psychology, 13:993637 · United States (North Carolina)

An RCT of the Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) garden intervention in 15 Wake County childcare centers serving ages 3–5. Using a waitlist-control design, it tests effects on fruit and vegetable identification, liking and snack-time consumption, demonstrating collaborative garden-based outdoor learning in early childhood settings.

Manda S. · Journal of International Development · Zambia (Chongwe, Lusaka)

This study examines how Zambia's COVID-19 'new normal' policies disrupted peri-urban food production and market access near Lusaka, finding that ~53% of small-scale farmers reported zero agricultural income and that policy responses lacked systematic agricultural support.

Harvey S., Mount P., Valentine H., Gibson C. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 11(4):233-247 · United States

Interviewing 12 farmers who participated in a gleaning program and 16 who did not in the Greater Kansas City metro area, this study analyses motivations for and barriers to donating surplus produce to food-rescue organisations such as food banks. Participants cited ease of donating and tax incentives; non-participants cited safety and liability concerns. It informs the design of food-rescue schemes that redirect urban and peri-urban farm surplus to community food aid.

Kirti Das, Anu Ramaswami · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States

Based on a survey of 6,152 representative urbanites in three US cities, this paper analyzes the demographics of agricultural gardeners and the types of gardening practiced. It finds low engagement in community gardening (~2%) versus household gardening (~27%), that household gardening was dominated by higher-income White males, and that community gardening was more diverse but too low in participation to scale benefits—underscoring the need for data on who gardens to design equitable urban agriculture.

Domenic Vitiello · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States

Using mixed methods, this article traces the evolution of urban agriculture practice, support, and policy in Philadelphia and Chicago since the 1990s, contrasting cities that treat farming and gardening as public goods with those seeking economic and redevelopment gains. It finds that while both cities became prominent urban farming centers, Chicago increasingly treated urban agriculture as a public good whereas its status in Philadelphia remained contested and unstable.

María Teresa Gómez-Villarino, Teresa Briz · California Agriculture · United States (Berkeley)

This study examined urban gardens in Berkeley, California, and Madrid, Spain, to observe how agroecological principles—efficient, sustainable use of local resources and inputs—are practiced. It reports that gardens using good ecological practices provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including cultural services such as places to socialize, and can serve as model urban agricultural centers contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Alexandra Niedzwiecki, Norah Kates, Sally Brown, Kristen McIvor · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Tacoma)

This study surveyed 66 community gardens (1,960 plots) in the nonprofit Harvest Pierce County program in Tacoma and Pierce County, Washington, which provides gardeners with land, soil testing, clean soil, compost, water, and education. It found gardens were well-used across the program (mean use intensity 2.26 on a 0–3 scale), with larger gardens and plots used more intensively, and gardens well distributed across income, population density, and racial identity—suggesting the resource-provision model is inclusive.

Sinan Kordon, Patrick A. Miller, Cermetrius L. Bohannon · Land · United States (Roanoke)

This study used a scene-rating survey in Roanoke, Virginia, to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of four groups (community gardeners, community-and-home gardeners, home gardeners, and non-gardeners) toward community gardens. Analysis identified seven dimensions important to preferences—including gathering/seating, plots with and without boundaries, focal points, garden entrance, untidy space, and composting structures—with significant group differences on all but "gathering and seating," yielding design recommendations to reduce opposition and support long-term garden survival.

Parvathy Binoy · Human Geography · United States (Saint Paul)

Drawing on ethnographic and visual documentation of the Aurora Saint Anthony Peace Garden in Saint Paul's historic Black neighborhood of Rondo, this article argues that the elder-led Urban Farmer Garden Alliance and its community garden sustain an intimacy of Black food sovereignty amid gentrification. It contends the gardens work to restore collective Black connection to land and food disrupted by urban renewal and a lack of affordable food access.

Eiji Toda, Edward Lowe · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Orange County, California)

This study reports six case studies of community gardens in southern Orange County, California, asking how garden governance and an overarching garden ethos are elaborated. It finds gardens manifest one of three governance approaches—anarchic, democratic, or corporate—and two value frameworks (a community-oriented ethos and an individualistic ethos), arguing postsuburban gardens may address perceived shortcomings of postsuburban regions.

Celina L. Martinez, Daisy Rosero, Tammy Thomas, Francisco Soto Mas · Health Promotion Practice · United States (New Mexico)

This qualitative study assessed how community-supported agriculture (CSA) contributes to human capital and addresses social determinants of health in central and northern New Mexico, using questionnaires with 13 purposively sampled CSAs (8 responded). The responding CSAs reported activities such as training, job creation, education, access to healthy food, food security, health education, social connections, and food justice. The authors argue public health should support CSA and generate evidence on its health and social benefits.

· Landscape and Urban Planning · Canada (Edmonton)

A survey of 90 Edmonton community gardens; gardeners missed social events like pot-lucks and harvest fests yet reported that gardens provided social resilience during the pandemic.