Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
9074 results(204 / 363)
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Urban Farming in South African Low-Income Settlements: A Case Study in Durban
2019Iwona Bisaga, Priti Parikh, Claudia Loggia · Sustainability · South Africa (Durban)
This study explores challenges and opportunities for sustainable urban farming as an integrated environmental management strategy for upgrading informal settlements in three case studies in Durban, South Africa. It demonstrates the need for municipalities to support community-driven processes for urban agriculture initiatives and sustained investment for maintenance. Policymakers are urged to create an enabling environment for academics, NGOs, and the private sector to co-develop water-efficient solutions and leverage local community structures.
Food sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunityEconomicsPolicy‘The play’s the thing’: A creative collaboration to investigate lived experiences in an urban community garden
2019Yvonne Black · Management Learning · Global
This article explores a non-traditional qualitative research project that used a creative approach, specifically collaborative performance ethnography, to investigate lived experiences in an urban community garden. Working with a playwright and garden staff/volunteers, the study explored connections between people and nature and their impact on well-being. The creative method, incorporating arts-based inquiry and performance, facilitated relaxed communication with participants and provided new perspectives on data collection and analysis, stimulating discourse on community gardens' role in social and environmental change.
CommunityHealthFood educationCan participating in school gardens increase fruit and vegetable intake, subsequently enhancing students’ academic performance?
2019Victoria Holmes · Proceedings of Student Research and Creative Inquiry Day · Global
This literature review analyzed research data from 2002-2018 to investigate the effects of school garden programs on students' fruit and vegetable intake and the impact of increased intake on academic performance. Findings support the claim that school garden programs promote an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption among participating students. In one study, nutrition education and garden-based activities doubled daily fruit and vegetable servings among sixth graders. A positive relationship was shown between academic performance and fruit and vegetable consumption, but more studies are needed to understand long-term effects.
Food educationHealthCommunitySocial Entrepreneurship and Social Movement Learning: A Reflective Account of the History of the TPSS Food Cooperative
2019Neal Chalofsky · Advances in Developing Human Resources · Global
This paper reflects on the 35-year growth experience of the TPSS Food Cooperative, examining challenges faced by social entrepreneurship. It notes that individuals with vision often lack social movement learning (SML) and human resource development/organization development (HRD/OD) skills to grow and direct organizations, leading to their demise or a shift towards business over social aspects. The paper argues that lessons from the 1970s food cooperative movement can benefit contemporary social entrepreneurships.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsCompostConflation in political gardening
2019Lucy Rose Wright, Ross Fraser Young · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global
This chapter introduces the concept of political gardening, contextualizing its rise within neoliberal processes and academic interest in urban gardening. It conflates political gardening with injustice, drawing on Rawls' theory of social justice. The chapter uses case study examples to define political gardening as a six-stage iterative process that participants undergo to address injustices and become engaged, democratized citizens.
Equity & displacementPolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceAGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2018: SUMMARY AND PERSPECTIVE
2019Carl Zulauf · EСONOMY FINANСES MANAGEMENT Topical issues of science and practical activity · United States
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the latest US farm bill, authorized programmatic changes without major spending realignment across its 12 titles. Commodity assistance payments are now more closely tied to market conditions, and commitment to private-public partnerships for environmental issues increased. US land conservation programs are evolving into a pyramid policy approach, and mandatory funding for research, extension, and agricultural export programs saw significant increases. Issues addressed across multiple titles include urban agriculture, organic production, and assistance for various farmer groups.
PolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Farming Movement
2019Pierluigi Nicolin · IGI Global eBooks · Global
This article describes the urban farming movement as a global phenomenon, emerging in cities worldwide from Mumbai to Tokyo, where cultivated areas produce food distributed locally. Driven largely by the poor and women on small farms, this politico-cultural movement integrates with urban ecosystems through food production, educational aims, and sustainability. It creates new landscapes that warrant aesthetic analysis and could influence urban visual conventions and lifestyles if scaled up.
CommunityFood educationUrban–rural linkageWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceA CASE STUDY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL GARDENS IN DAKAHLIA GOVERNORATE
2019A. Hegazy · Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants /Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants · Egypt
This landscaping study, conducted from 2017-2018, investigated eight school gardens in Mansoura City and Talkha District, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. The study revealed that most school gardens contained toxic plants like weeds and cacti, and that utilized areas were not correctly used with poor maintenance. Roof gardens and improved irrigation systems were suggested.
Limited or null effectFood educationCommunityOrganic cyclePERAN PERTANIAN PERKOTAAN TERHADAP PENDAPATAN RUMAH TANGGA TANI DI DKI JAKARTA
2019Chery Soraya Ammatillah · · Indonesia (Jakarta)
This study analyzed the role of urban agriculture on household income in five districts of DKI Jakarta, Indonesia, using data from 60 respondents in 2017. The average urban agricultural income was 24,431,176 IDR per year, and the average total household income was 38,948,226 IDR per year. Urban agriculture contributed 62.7% to total household income, indicating its role as a main source of income for these households.
EconomicsCommunityThe experience of community urban gardens: Social organization and food security
2019Joeli Silva de Souza, Ryzia de Cássia Vieira Cardoso, Lídice Almeida Arlego PARAGUASSÚ, Sidione Ferreira dos Santos · Revista de Nutrição · Brazil (Salvador-Bahia)
A cross-sectional exploratory study in Salvador-Bahia characterized community gardens, with five out of seven gardens participating and data collected from 13 horticulturists. 80.0% of gardens lacked land legalization, 100.0% operated without technical support, and 60.0% had no social organization. Major difficulties included lack of funding, volunteers, and water use restrictions, indicating insufficient policies limited technical support and financing.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyUrban agriculture in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town: examining the linkages between urban gardeners and supporting actors
2019Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira, Daniel Tevera · South African Geographical Journal · South Africa (Cape Town)
A mixed-methods study in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, examined the linkages between urban gardeners and supporting actors using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Findings indicate that the nature and strength of these linkages are critical for urban gardening success. However, there is minimal cooperation among non-state actors in the area.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban Agriculture Development Experiences in the World and its Enlightenments to China
2019Wei Wei · DEStech Transactions on Social Science Education and Human Science · Global
This paper summarizes and compares successful urban agriculture experiences from the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan, then provides policy suggestions and development ideas for urban agriculture in China based on existing problems. Urban agriculture has become a global trend in modern urban suburban agriculture, solving urbanization and resource allocation issues in many developed countries.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageThe economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London
2018Glavan M., Schmutz U., Williams S., Corsi S., Monaco F., Kneafsey M., Guzman Rodriguez P.A., Čenič-Istenič M., Pintar M. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 36:100-122 · Europe
A study collecting rare economic data (yields, inputs, outputs, gross margins, contribution to household economy) from 180 urban gardeners across Ljubljana, Milan and London. It is one of the few quantitative assessments of the economic performance of urban gardening in Europe.
EconomicsCommunityFood lossFood Waste Recovery with Takakura Portable Compost Boxes in Offices and Working Places
2018Jiménez-Antillón, J., Calleja-Amador, C., Romero-Esquivel, L. G. · Resources (MDPI), 7(4):84 · Global (Costa Rica; Japan-origin method)
A field study placing the Kitakyushu-origin 'Takakura' composting method—widely diffused in Surabaya, Indonesia—as small portable boxes in university offices and workplaces in Costa Rica. Processing food waste from 45 staff over six months, it shows that low-cost, citizen/workplace-scale fermentation composting is viable.
CompostFood lossOrganic cycleCommunityGuerrilla gardening and green activism: Rethinking the informal urban growing movement
2018Hardman M., Chipungu L., Magidimisha H., Larkham P.J., Scott A.J., Armitage R.P. · Landscape and Urban Planning, 170:6-14 · Global
Reviews informal urban-growing (guerrilla gardening) practices across Europe, North America and Africa, showing how in Salford, UK, local authorities have begun tolerating and even encouraging informal growing. It rethinks how a movement of residents greening and growing food on gap spaces and vacant land without permission can be integrated into urban planning and green-space policy.
CommunityPolicyBiodiversity都市農地の貸借の円滑化に関する法律の概要
2018· 農林水産省 · Japan
Official explanation of the 2018 Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, which lets motivated urban farmers, companies, and NPOs lease productive greenland to cultivate or open community farms, excludes statutory lease renewal, and preserves the inheritance-tax deferral after leasing.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityResilience with Mixed Agricultural and Urban Land Uses in Tokyo, Japan
2018Sioen G.B., Terada T., Sekiyama M., Yokohari M. · Sustainability 10(2):435 · Japan
Using GIS grid-cell analysis, the study quantified vegetable-weight and key-nutrient self-sufficiency for each land-use pattern in Tokyo, showing how mixed agricultural and urban land uses contribute to resilience. Tokyo's fruit-and-vegetable self-sufficiency was estimated at 4.27% currently with a potential of 11.73%.
PolicyEconomicsCommunity低未利用土地利用促進協定
2018国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan
Under the Urban Renaissance Act, municipalities and owners of low-/under-used land can agree to develop and manage it temporarily as plazas, community gardens and greenery — part of Japan's response to urban 'sponging'.
PolicyCommunityThe Nutritional Content of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Landraces in Comparison to Modern Varieties
2018Celmeli T., Sari H., Canci H., Sari D., Adak A., Eker T., Toker C. · Agronomy 8(9):166 · Turkey
Compared protein, fat, fatty acids, selenium, iron, and zinc in 10 bean landraces and 5 modern varieties from Turkey. Landrace LR05 surpassed modern varieties in selenium, zinc, and protein, highlighting landraces as nutritional breeding resources.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthUrban Allotment Gardens in Poland: Implications for Botanical and Landscape Diversity
2018Klepacki P., Kujawska M. · Journal of Ethnobiology 38(1):123-137 · Poland
Surveys 46 allotment gardeners in three Polish cities, recording 257 botanical taxa (ornamental, food, medicinal), demonstrating urban allotment gardens as significant reservoirs of botanical and landscape diversity in cities.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityA Comparison of Landraces vs. Modern Varieties of Lettuce in Organic Farming During the Winter in the Mediterranean Area: An Approach Considering the Viewpoints of Breeders, Consumers, and Farmers
2018Casals J., Rivera A., Figàs M. R., Casañas C., Camí B., Soler S., Simó J. · Frontiers in Plant Science 9:1491 · Mediterranean
Compares lettuce landraces and modern varieties under Mediterranean winter organic farming, evaluating their agronomic and use value from the combined viewpoints of breeders, consumers and farmers.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityOrganic cycleEconomics'The dissolution of cities': the Horseshoe settlement in Weimar Berlin
2018Barykina N. · Urban History (Cambridge University Press) · Germany
Analyzes Berlin's Horseshoe Estate (Hufeisensiedlung) by Taut and Wagner, examining how Weimar public-housing policy, new technologies, bureaucracy, and garden-city ideals shaped this modernist Siedlung as both aesthetic vision and social environment.
PolicyCommunityWelfareThe influence of Leberecht Migge in the creation of the modern productive Siedlungen
2018Arredondo-Garrido D. · VLC arquitectura. Research Journal, 5(2), 29-58 · Germany
Contextualizes Migge's collaborations with architects such as Taut, Wagner and May, arguing for his key role in the success of 'productive Siedlungen' in which agriculture was fully integrated into modern housing estates.
CommunityEconomicsOrganic cycleThe Work of Community Gardens: Reclaiming Place for Community in the City
2018Cumbers A., Shaw D., Crossan J., McMaster R. · Work, Employment and Society · United Kingdom
Using Glasgow community gardens as a case study, argues that gardening provides space for important forms of work that address social needs and advance community empowerment in deprived urban areas.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsBuilding sustainable university-based community gardens: Volunteer perceptions of enablers and barriers to engagement and benefits received from volunteering in the Moving Feast
2018Anderson C., Maher J., Wright H. · Cogent Social Sciences · Australia
Qualitative study of volunteers at a university-based community garden in Queensland, Australia, identifying enablers, barriers, and the social, educational, and career benefits relevant to sustaining institution-supported community gardens.
CommunityWelfareFood education