Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
735 results(21 / 30)
Książki z serii „Biblioteka Młodych Miczurinowców” jako przykład łączenia popularyzacji wiedzy i ideologizacji młodego pokolenia w latach 50. XX wieku
2017Bogumiła Staniów · Roczniki Biblioteczne · Poland
This article discusses the "Young Michurinist Library" series, popular science books about nature for children and young people published in post-war Poland from 1953 to 1956. The books in this series provided readers with information on plants, animals, and amateur husbandry, alongside elements of communist ideology. They aimed to disseminate Michurinism and teach pupils how to cultivate crops, maximize the use of available plants, and enrich their diet with easily managed farm animals, often through fictionalized stories.
Food educationCommunityPolicyThe nutritional value of leaves of selected berry species
2017Wioletta Biel, Anna Jaroszewska · Scientia Agricola · Poland (Szczecin)
This study determined the nutritional value of leaves from four berry species (raspberry, blackberry, chokeberry, and sea buckthorn) collected from allotment gardens in Szczecin, Poland. Sea buckthorn leaves were the richest in protein, raspberry leaves in lipids, and all four were rich in crude and dietary fiber. The leaves showed desirable Ca:P and Na:K ratios, suggesting potential as mineral sources for bone formation and hypertension treatment, with sea buckthorn leaves also being a safe source of iron.
HealthCommunityUrban–rural linkageLos huertos urbanos y el cultivo de sí. La agricultura urbana en España y el País Vasco como experiencia de ocio emergente y fenómeno social en expansión
2017Fernando Richter Iturregui · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Basque Country)
This study aimed to understand the current significance of urban agriculture in Spain and the Basque Country as an emerging leisure experience and expanding social phenomenon. It employed a dual-pronged investigation, quantitative to assess the magnitude and qualities of urban agriculture in the Basque Country within the Spanish context, and qualitative to understand how users interpret the practice. The research sought to identify the characteristics describing urban agriculture as a leisure experience.
CommunityHealthPolicyUrban gardens and institutional fences
2017Nadia Tecco, Federico Cóppola, Francesco Sottile, Cristiana Peano · Future of food: journal on food, agriculture and society · Italy (Turin)
This paper, based on fieldwork in two urban communal gardens in Turin, Italy, examined the spatiotemporal dimension of urban gardening, focusing on governance and the impact of regulations. It found that urban garden management is problematic due to the complex relationship between gardeners and allotments. Local government and promoting associations face challenges in adapting to and managing the evolving phenomenon, encountering internal conservative resistance and external pressures for change. These governance aspects have not been sufficiently considered.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyACPNS Legal Case Notes Series: 2017-23 Densham v The Charity Commission For England And Wales
2017Myles McGregor‐Lowndes, Frances Hannah · QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) · United Kingdom
On August 14, 2017, the First Tier Tribunal, General Regulatory Chamber (Charity) in the United Kingdom, ruled on the case of Densham v The Charity Commission For England And Wales. An allotment holder in a community garden failed in their claim that the allotments were not a charity, and the existing Scheme was allowed to stand.
CommunityPolicyThe redefinition of the role of agricultural areas in the city of Catania
2017Alessandro Scuderi, Luisa Sturiale, Claudio Bellia, Vera Teresa Foti, Giuseppe Timpanaro · RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA · Italy (Catania)
This study addresses the proposal by the Municipality of Catania to create one of Europe's largest urban gardens in a marginalized, socio-economically degraded area of the city. Starting from an analysis of urban agriculture at the European level, the work aims to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of this new form of urban green space through a participatory SWOT analysis.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyWelfareZwischen grüner Imageproduktion, partizipativer Politik und Wachstumszwang: urbane Landwirtschaft und Gärten im Kontext neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung in Wien
2017Sarah Kumnig · transcript Verlag eBooks · Europe
This study, titled "Between green image production, participatory politics, and growth pressure: urban agriculture and gardens in the context of neoliberal urban development in Vienna," was published in Umkämpftes Grün on page 139.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsProductive Landscape as a Tool for Urban Regeneration - The Case of Groot-IJsselmonde, the Netherlands -
2017Byoungwook Min, Yoonchun Jung · · Europe
This research is an urban design project focusing on Groot-IJsselmonde, a post-war housing area in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It explores how a landscape approach can contribute to regenerating a decrepit residential district, proposing to add productive functions to unused green areas and meaningless landscapes to enhance the community's economic and social elements.
CommunityPolicyClimate changeHuertos en precario ¿en peligro de extinción? Su encaje en una propuesta integrada de gestión de la agricultura urbana y periurbana en el área metropolitana de Barcelona
2017Elena Domene Gómez, Francesc Coll, Marta Garcia-Sierra · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Barcelona)
Informal vegetable gardens have proliferated in Barcelona's urban periphery since the 1980s, serving as leisure spaces and food sources, and are a relevant form of agriculture. However, these "unregulated" spaces are not considered in urban and peri-urban agriculture promotion policies. A GIS methodology mapped these gardens in the Barcelona metropolitan area for 2009 and 2015, showing an increase in occupied surface during the recent economic crisis. The study evaluates contradictions leading municipal managers to eliminate or regulate these informal spaces, attributing them partly to the subjectivity of the urban and peri-urban agriculture concept and its supposed multifunctionality.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsLe jardin partagé : le jardin Auguste Renoir à Paris
2017Fabienne Charraire · · France (Paris)
Shared gardens are a form of small, collective gardens, often urban, inherited from workers' gardens. Their purpose extends beyond mere gardening, serving as places of social life, often with educational and festive aims, open to all. These gardens are typically managed by an association on temporarily or permanently occupied land.
CommunityFood educationFrom Leisure to Necessity: Urban Allotments in Alicante Province, Spain, in Times of Crisis
2017Ana Espinosa Seguí, Barbara Maćkiewicz, Marit Rosol · ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies · Spain
This article, based on a study of allotment gardens in Alicante province, Spain, explains their specific histories which differ from North American and Northern European contexts. It shows how urban allotments provide insight into economic, land-use, and urban-rural changes during crises. Initially for leisure and greening, these projects shifted after the 2009 economic recession to target people at risk of poverty, focusing on productive, therapeutic, and educational functions, though land speculation remains a concern.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsPolicyLes jardins partagés franciliens
2017Kaduna‐Ève Demailly · Géographie et cultures · France
This article examines shared gardens in the Île-de-France region of France as territories of environmental transition. Based on a study of 48 shared gardens in the Parisian metropolitan area, the analysis of user and political actor discourses and practices highlights their role in improving living environments and raising awareness of environmentally friendly practices that promote urban biodiversity.
CommunityPolicyBiodiversityOrganic cycleUnderstanding the organization of sharing economy in agri-food systems: evidence from alternative food networks in Valencia
2017Isabel Miralles, Domenico Dentoni, Stefano Pascucci · Agriculture and Human Values · Spain (Valencia)
This study investigated the organization of sharing economy initiatives in agri-food systems by conducting a comparative case study across 18 alternative food networks (AFNs) in Valencia. It compared AFN organization in terms of leadership, bureaucracy, shared resources, and participants’ engagement, identifying five sharing economy models: consumer groups, commercial community gardens, and network-based, privately owned, and publicly owned self-consumption community gardens. These models displayed notable differences in their origins, participants’ goals, and constraints.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceALLOTMENT GARDENS: RESEARCH CHALLENGES AND SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
2017Lesley Acton · Archives The Journal of the British Records Association · United Kingdom
This paper documents how archives were used to write a history of the twentieth-century urban allotment movement in England. Beginning with a case study of allotments in Ilford (now London Borough of Redbridge), 100 years of council minutes were used as a foundation. A demographic profile of plot holders in Ilford/Redbridge showed that, contrary to established narratives, they were not necessarily from poor and working classes but reflected their communities.
CommunityPolicyAroma-Home’s edible stories: An urban community garden performs
2017Susan C. Haedicke · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · France (Paris)
Aroma-Home, an artist-initiated community garden in Villetaneuse, France, transformed a bleak construction site into an urban agricultural commons starting in 2013. Local inhabitants and an artist reclaimed public spaces, creating a community garden that wove together food-growing, storytelling, and place-making through cultural practices around growing, preparing, and sharing food among multi-ethnic participants.
CommunityDIYFood educationChallenges for the revitalisation of peri-urban agriculture in Spain: Territorial analysis of the Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas
2017Nerea Morán Alonso, Ícaro Obeso Muñiz, Agustín Hernández Aja, Felipe Fernández García · Moravian Geographical Reports · Spain
This paper analyzed the evolution of peri-urban agriculture in Spain's Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas to identify revitalization opportunities. Using aerial images and cartographic bases, the study found that peri-urban agriculture has suffered from urban occupation and internal changes in crops and agricultural uses, experiencing a process of decline. Innovative initiatives are explored as potential revitalization opportunities.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityJardin partagé Les Yannick aux champs - @ Brest
2017Claire Lp · · France
This abstract describes the initiation of writing for an "Atlas des communs" (Atlas of Commons) in the Brest region, starting on October 21, 2017, during the Brest en communs festival. It invites feedback for improvement.
CommunityThe graveyard and the garden: Reading connectivities in Rana Dasgupta’s “The Changeling”
2017Helle Schulz Bildsøe, Ulla Rahbek · The Journal of Commonwealth Literature · France (Paris)
This article analyzes Rana Dasgupta’s short story “The Changeling” from Tokyo Cancelled. It explores the juxtaposition of systemic and organic networks as a central trope, arguing that the story presents a symbolic transformation of Paris from a national capital to a global city, shifting from a national to a planetary perspective. The story features a systemic network of control in Montparnasse graveyard and an organic network out of control in a community garden, which converge into the metropolis, hinting at worldwide connectivity through local storytelling.
CommunityGrowing the community – a case study of community gardens in Lincoln's Abbey Ward
2017Jennifer Jackson · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United Kingdom (Lincoln)
This qualitative case study examined Green Synergy's community garden initiatives in Lincoln's Abbey Ward, UK, using observation, interviews, a focus group, and a workshop. It explored the social element of community gardening in building connections between social and natural capital. The study found that collaborative creation of green spaces fosters bonding and bridging social capital within communities and challenges narratives of individual and community capacity.
CommunityHealthFood educationOkul Öncesi Eğitim Kurumlarının Bahçelerinin Peyzaj Tasarımı ve Alan Kullanımlar
2017Sertaç Güngör · Journal of Agricultural Faculty of Gaziosmanpasa University · Turkey (Konya)
This study investigated the current state of gardens in 7 nursery schools in Selçuklu district, Konya city, Turkey, regarding landscape design and space usage. The findings revealed that the nursery school gardens were not used effectively, lacked sufficient green space in their landscape design, and were not properly designed to contribute to children's mental and physical development.
Limited or null effectFood educationHealthCommunitySpecificities of French community gardens as environmental stewardships
2017Ana Cristina Torres, Sophie Nadot, Anne‐Caroline Prévot · Ecology and Society · France
This study used participant observation and semi-structured interviews to explore motivations, practices, and processes in French community gardens, relating them to environmental stewardship. It found that environmental, social, and self-motivations drive gardener participation, fulfilling needs through processes like nature contemplation, environmental education, and renewing social-ecological relationships. French community gardens provide new experiences of nature and foster environmental stewardship by cultivating relational values, offering opportunities for creative conservation.
CommunityBiodiversityFood educationPolicyFostering behaviour change to encourage low-carbon food consumption through community gardens
2017Ju Eun Kim · International Journal of Urban Sciences · United Kingdom (London)
This empirical research evaluated the role of London's community gardens in promoting participants' environmentally friendly food consumption patterns, thereby lowering London's foodprint. An online survey was circulated to 95 community gardens in London, with 48 gardeners responding, complemented by semi-structured interviews. The study confirmed that the timespan of community garden participation is not an absolute indicator of low-carbon food consumption choices, while identifying experiential and social learning as key aspects promoting gardeners' behavioral change.
CommunityClimate changeFood educationHealthDinâmicas e potencialidades
2017Delgado, Cecília · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Europe
This study analyzed a set of gardens in Vienna and Lisbon, plus 29 relevant experiences in Portugal, to verify the argument that women are protagonists in urban agriculture. The results demonstrate a favorable evolution towards a greater presence of women in gardens, women's hegemony as process managers and facilitators, and their emergence in social entrepreneurship projects.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsThe ‘Hungry Gap’: Twitter, local press reporting and urban agriculture activism
2017Matthew Reed, Daniel Keech · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United Kingdom (Bristol)
This study investigated how urban food activists related to the media, represented themselves, and how others represented their agenda during 2015 when Bristol was the European Green Capital. The research found that mass media primarily focused on topics other than food, and urban food was not a salient issue in their coverage. The self-representation of urban food networks revealed a narrow focus of interest, which may have contributed to a lack of connection between potential allies within the city, indicating limited connections of urban food networks to circuits of power and influence.
Limited or null effectCommunityPolicyFirst mass development of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)—its surveillance and control in Germany
2017Norbert Becker, Stefanie Schön, Alexandra‐Maria Klein, Ina Ferstl, Ali Kizgin, Egbert Tannich, Carola Kuhn, Björn Pluskota, Artur Jöst · Parasitology Research · Germany
The first mass development of Aedes albopictus, likely introduced by trucks from Italy, was confirmed in an allotment garden area in Freiburg, Southwest Germany, in 2015. Surveillance confirmed a high infestation, with the container index exceeding 30% in August 2015. Control measures, including citizen awareness, environmental management, and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) tablets, successfully reduced the Aedes albopictus population, with the number of gardens without containers increasing from 17% to 35% by September 2015.
Environmental trade-offsHealthCommunity