Research & reports

Ermias Debie · City and Environment Interactions · Ethiopia

A study in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia examined the integration of urban agriculture (UA) and green infrastructure (GI) through surveys and interviews with 99 stakeholders, supplemented by participatory observation. The main barriers to integration, based on multiple-response data, were a lack of supportive policies and regulatory frameworks (87%), limited awareness (57%), and space constraints (51%). Multicriteria decision analysis ranked integrated practices as the most effective strategy (score 16.81), followed by edible tree planting at garden centers (16.18), small gardens (13.83), and fence-edge greening (11.46). Structural equation modeling identified thermal regulation and access to fresh food as critical factors for planning sustainable urban systems.

Christos Ioannides, Alexandra Tsatsou, Daniel Mamais, Simos Malamis, Georgios Tsimiklis, Dimitra Tsiakou, Z. Tsiropoulos, Mariarina Michailidou, Apostolos Tzourtziotis, Christina Karaberi, Orestis Raptis, Constantinos Noutsopoulos · Urban Water Journal · Europe

This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a city-wide pilot of circular urban agriculture across 31 locations in Trikala, Greece. The pilots included rainwater harvesting, precision irrigation, composting, and an online monitoring platform. Assessed through a mixed-methods approach using 20 environmental, economic, and social indicators, the system showed stable technical performance and effectiveness in reducing resource consumption.

Jannatul Nayma Bona, Md. Zaki Faisal, Durjoy Hur, Saniya Afrin Swarna, Md. Muntaseer Al Mamun · Agriculture Archives. · Asia

In the Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh, a mixed-methods study of 100 randomly selected rooftop gardeners drawn from a target population of 250 used structured interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews between March and May 2024 to examine the environmental and nutritional benefits of rooftop gardening (RTG). 49% of respondents perceived moderate environmental benefits and 25% perceived high benefits, with increased rooftop vegetation (mean perception index 245), reduced indoor temperatures and improved biodiversity as ecological outcomes. On nutrition, 65% reported significant benefits, 63% reported healthier dietary habits and 75% reported meeting a substantial share of their vegetable needs through rooftop cultivation; both environmental and nutritional benefits correlated positively with respondents' education level (r=0.628 and r=0.544) and gardening experience (r=0.946 and r=0.532) at the 1% significance level. Over half of participants, however, cited limited technical knowledge (perception index 231), seasonal water scarcity, high input costs and pest management difficulties as challenges.

Yago Evangelista Tavares de Souza, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · Coleção Estudos Cariocas · Brazil

This article examines the evolution of urban-planning policy regarding nature and urban agriculture, from federal legislative texts to Rio de Janeiro's municipal master plans, analyzing documents including the 1976 draft Urban Development Law and the 1979 Federal Land Subdivision Law No. 6766. It traces decades of changes and revisions to show how legislation and public policy shaped the urban environment in relation to nature and agriculture, and it discusses the challenges small farmers face amid urbanization along with environmental approaches within the master plans.

Luciana Daniela Portella Carreño, Carla-Maria Strejanțu, Florica Morariu, Dumitru Popescu, Eugen Cătălin Zoican · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This study compared the growth performance of basil (Ocimum basilicum) grown in a hydroponic system versus a conventional soil-based environment over a six-week period under controlled conditions in a small plastic greenhouse. Measuring plant height, leaf number, and total water consumption, it found that hydroponically grown basil showed faster growth, required significantly less water, and had healthier leaf structures with fewer visible defects than the soil-grown basil.

Jan Grossarth · Discover Cities · Global

This paper critically examines the dominance of quantification—certification scores, KPIs, life-cycle assessment—in sustainability practice for cities and buildings (including urban agriculture), arguing that data-driven metrics strip out the emotional and narrative meaning of sustainability. The authors label the shift from a culturally rich orientation to a purely technical, quantitative practice a "tragedy of sustainability," and argue that narrative-focused interviews and real-life storytelling in architecture and urban planning should not just accompany KPIs and ratings but be prioritized over them. The paper is a conceptual argument, not an empirical study with data or case findings.

Getachew Demissie Desta, Zeleke Gonfa Wordofa · International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development · Ethiopia

A study of the rate and direction of spatial expansion of Robe Town, Ethiopia, into surrounding rural kebeles, and its effect on the tenure security of peri-urban landholders. It combined socioeconomic data from 202 sampled household heads with spatial data from Landsat images taken in 1987, 2002, and 2020. The town grew annually by 18.6% (1984–1994), 11.3% (1994–2007), and 9.3% (2007–2020), with its total area rising from 5.1 km² in 1984 to 80.2 km², a 40.9% overall increase. Over the 33-year period, built-up area expanded fastest southward, reaching 9.91 km from the town's mean center, and grew from 4.38 km² in 1987 to 27.9 km² in 2020; about 10.2 km² of farmland was converted to built-up land between 1987 and 2020. In peri-urban areas of Robe town, 48.9% of landowners lost around half of their farmland, leaving peri-urban landowners feeling insecure about their tenure due to fear of eviction and expropriation at minimal compensation.

Anna Stage (17743305), Marie Caroline Vermund (11075551), Mads Bølling (6661577), Camilla Roed Otte (21175813), Alberte Laura Oest Müllertz (21175816), Peter Bentsen (3527732), Glen Nielsen (10468844), Peter Elsborg (8894495) · Figshare · Europe

This is the SPIRIT checklist for the FoodACT protocol, a multimethod, quasi-experimental study preregistered with ClinicalTrials.gov (#NCT05839080) investigating how the existing Danish school garden program Gardens to Bellies (GtB), delivered at six locations across Region Zealand and Region of Southern Denmark, affects fourth-grade pupils' food literacy, climate change literacy, school motivation and physical activity. Approximately 1,600 pupils attending GtB form the intervention group and approximately 1,600 pupils from non-participating schools form the control group, with pupils in the eight-session program growing, preparing and cooking foods; outcomes will be measured via pre/post surveys, accelerometry in a 900-pupil subsample, text-message surveys and semi-structured and focus-group interviews, analyzed using linear mixed models and thematic analysis. As a protocol document, it describes study design rather than results.

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.

Verheyden, Johan G.L. · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Africa

This literature review examines the intersection of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in the Great Lakes region of Africa — Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo — a region undergoing rapid urbanization amid growing climate change vulnerability. It examines how CSA practices such as agroforestry, composting, water-efficient irrigation, and resilient crop varieties are being adopted and adapted within diverse UPA systems, synthesizes evidence on their impacts on food security, nutrition, environmental sustainability and socio-economic wellbeing, and analyzes the governance, policy and institutional factors enabling or constraining uptake. The review identifies critical research gaps, including the need for long-term impact assessments, locally adapted CSA strategies, effective governance models, and a better understanding of land tenure and nutritional outcomes, and outlines future research directions and policy recommendations with particular attention to Kenya's evolving urban landscape and devolution framework.

ER Ramesh Chand, Ridhima Arya, Ravi Pratap Singh, Devi Singh, Vedant Singh · International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research · Global

A review article surveys evidence on rooftop vegetable farming's ability to absorb carbon and noise, lower air temperatures on and around roofs, and reduce urban heat-island effects, alongside using composted kitchen waste as a substitute for mineral fertilizers. It cites prior research showing compost can raise soil moisture content, decrease soil erosion, and help manage pests, weeds, and diseases, in place of mineral insecticides and fertilizers currently used in some urban rooftop gardens. The review notes rooftop gardening is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh and is intended to support further study of the practice there.

Carolina Ceci Moino Alves Theodoro, Marcelo de Andrade Roméro · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil

Drawing on an analysis of recent crises in Brazil—transportation strikes, floods, prolonged droughts, the pandemic, currency fluctuations, and international conflicts—that exposed fragilities in the food supply chain leading to food insecurity, food deserts, and shortage risk, this study proposes urban food self-sufficiency strategies using nationally and internationally recognized urban agriculture techniques. It examined hydroponic cultivation and vertical farms through technical site visits, literature review, and interviews with managers and nutritionists, defining the built and cultivable area needed to guarantee a minimum survival diet for an estimated population, and, given the relevance of energy consumption to final food cost, incorporated solar power installations sized to different demand levels to reduce grid dependence; the plan was conceived initially as an alternative system with potential to evolve into a redundant, mitigating system.

Lafia N' Gobi GM, Moussa S, Falalou H, Degla P · Scientific Reports · ニジェール・ニアメ市（サヘル）

A study of how 150 urban pearl millet farmers aged at least 40 in Commune V of Niamey — an area the authors note is often overlooked in agricultural studies, since most work focuses on broader farming systems — perceive climate change and what they do about it. Respondents were reached by snowball sampling; data came from structured interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews with the Agricultural Extension Unit, alongside an analysis of 30 years of rainfall data (1991-2020). Farmers showed a high level of climate awareness over the past 30 years and had adopted both local and extension-based adaptation measures, and significant disruptions in rainfall were confirmed in the record. The adaptation strategies used were soil fertility regeneration techniques, crop diversification, crop defence, improved seeds, organic fertilizers, adjusted planting calendars, water conservation techniques, and prayers or rituals. Descriptive statistics, statistical tests and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify the determinants of adoption.

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

An EPA summary of its 2024 survey of anaerobic digestion facilities processing food waste in the U.S., covering 313 identified facilities with 65 operating facilities responding (24% response rate). Excluding beverage-industry waste, processed tonnage rose from about 1.36 million tons in 2022 to about 1.43 million tons in 2023.

ADEME · ADEME Infos · France

One year after France's January 2024 mandate for source-separated food waste, ADEME reports that about 50% of residents (32.1 million people) now have access to municipal sorting services, 56% sort their food waste, and 9 million tonnes of biowaste per year have been diverted from incineration and landfill, backed by €100 million in green-fund investment since 2023.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · US EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) · United States

According to US EPA's LMOP page, landfill gas is roughly 50% methane and 50% CO2, and methane is at least 28 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat over 100 years. Municipal solid waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the US, accounting for about 14.4%. There are 542 operational LFG energy projects nationwide, about 63% generating electricity and about 20% producing renewable natural gas.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Global

According to FAO, disasters have recently affected 4.03 billion people, up 124% compared to the previous two decades, with direct economic losses reaching nearly USD 3 trillion, an increase of 182% since 1980–1999. Climate-related disasters accounted for 91% of direct economic losses globally and affected 3.6 billion people. Between 2008 and 2018, agriculture absorbed 26% of the overall impact of medium- to large-scale disasters in least developed and low- and middle-income countries. Some 2.5 billion people worldwide depend on agriculture for their livelihoods; FAO promotes disaster risk reduction through coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the SDGs.

European Environment Agency (EEA) · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

According to this EEA indicator, water scarcity affected 28% of EU territory during at least one season in 2023. Although water abstraction fell 14% across the EU between 2000 and 2023, the area affected by water scarcity has not shrunk overall. Southern Europe experiences water scarcity year-round, with about 30% of the population in areas of permanent water stress and up to 70% in areas of seasonal summer stress; Cyprus and Malta are the most severely affected (seasonal WEI+ above 40%), with Greece, Romania, Portugal, Italy and Spain also notably affected in spring and summer.

· Wikipedia (italiano) · Italy

An Italian Wikipedia article on marcite, a traditional Lombard irrigated-meadow technique combining supply and drainage channels on gently and evenly sloped land to keep grass growing through winter under a thin flowing water layer. While ordinary meadows are cut 4-5 times a year, marcite could be harvested 7 or more times, often 9, with the third cutting in late May (maggengo) alone accounting for roughly 25% of annual yield. Origins are uncertain, though Cistercian monks from France are credited with spreading the technique in northern Italy; it was largely replaced by maize cultivation in the 20th century, and today 41 marcite are protected within Parco Agricolo Sud Milano.

European Environment Agency · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

This EEA indicator page defines water scarcity as river sub-basins where the water exploitation index plus (WEI+) exceeds 20% for at least a quarter of the year, tracking conditions across the EU27 from 2000 to 2023. The data combines EEA water quality monitoring, Eurostat abstraction and population statistics, and JRC river flow and climate data.

European Environment Agency · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

According to this EEA indicator, 2020-2023 EU water abstraction breaks down into power cooling (33%), agriculture/irrigation (31%), public water supply (21%), and manufacturing (14%), with total EU27 freshwater abstraction falling 14% from 224 billion m3 in the 2000s to 192.6 billion m3 in 2020-2023. However, groundwater abstraction by the agricultural sector rose 52%, from 11 to 16.5 billion m3.

European Environment Agency · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

This EEA briefing from the 2025 Europe's environment report states that water stress affects roughly 30% of Europe's land area and 34% of its population every year, and that EU water abstraction fell 19% between 2000 and 2022. It also reports that flooding caused average annual economic losses of EUR 6.5 billion between 1980 and 2023, and 5,582 direct deaths between 1980 and 2022.

Eurostat · Eurostat · Europe

Published around World Water Day, this Eurostat article reports the EU's overall water exploitation index plus (WEI+) reached 5.8% in 2022, the highest since data collection began and up 0.9 percentage points from 2000. Cyprus stood at an unsustainable 71.0% and Malta at 34.1%, with values above 20% generally considered a sign of water scarcity and above 40% severe water scarcity.

東京都環境局 · 東京都環境局 · Japan

Tokyo's Green Plan System, based on the Tokyo Ordinance on Protection and Recovery of Natural Environment, requires development and building projects on sites of 1,000 sqm or more (250 sqm or more for national/local government sites) to meet a minimum greening standard. It cites heat island mitigation, air purification, and rainwater infiltration as goals, and publishes wall-greening guidelines and rooftop greening performance data.