Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3274 results(21 / 131)
The contribution of urban farming to urban food security: the case of "Buruan SAE"
2024Giyarsih S.R., Armansyah, Zaelany A.A., Latifa A., Setiawan B., Saputra D., Haqi M., Fathurohman A., Lamijo · International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development · Indonesia (Bandung)
This study finds that Bandung's Buruan SAE urban farming programme meaningfully contributes to household food security, with diverse produce meeting community food needs, some participants achieving farming independence, and urban agriculture providing supplementary income. The research documents a transformation in citizen attitudes toward farming as a viable urban livelihood.
CommunityFood educationPolicyHealthUrban greening in Dhaka: Assessing rooftop agriculture suitability using GIS and MCDM techniques
2024Sultana N., Sharifi A., Haque M.N., Aghaloo K. · Journal of Environmental Management · Bangladesh (Dhaka)
GIS and multi-criteria analysis of Dhaka classified 9% of city area as highly suitable and 68% as suitable for rooftop agriculture, using seven criteria including building age, height, rooftop size, and water availability.
PolicyEconomicsCo-creation of urban agriculture through participatory processes in residential building environment: Insights from Finland
2024Johansson J., Roitto M., Steiner B., Alakukku L. · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption (Elsevier) · Finland
This Finnish study evaluates the co-creation of urban agriculture in residential settings with housing companies, finding that flexible modular planning and availability of key site actors are critical success factors for participatory urban farming initiatives.
CommunityPolicyFood educationAchieving social inclusion for vulnerable urban residents through community gardens: a case of Bulawayo city, Zimbabwe
2024Chari F., Ngcamu B.S. · Local Environment · Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)
This survey-based study of community garden farmers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe assessed the effectiveness of community gardens in promoting social inclusion for vulnerable urban residents, finding that garden participation enhanced social networks, food security, and livelihoods among marginalized groups.
CommunityWelfareHealthPolicyAssessing climate vulnerabilities of urban food systems and institutional responses: the case of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2024Maphosa M., Moyo P. · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)
This study evaluated climate vulnerability in Bulawayo's urban food system and found that the city's 2007 urban agriculture policy lacks climate change provisions, institutional coordination is weak, and extension services are severely understaffed, though NGO-led innovations and national conservation agriculture programs offer promising pathways for resilience.
PolicyFood educationCommunityEconomicsStrengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation
2024Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) · FAO Committee on World Food Security (CFS) · Global
FAO policy report (June-July 2024) highlighting that ~80% of global population lives in urban/peri-urban areas, and >75% of food-insecure population concentrated in urban regions. Provides guiding principles and policy recommendations for reorienting food systems toward nutrition, environmental sustainability, and citizen agency.
PolicyUrban farming system and food security in sub-Saharan Africa: Analysis of the current status and challenges
2024· Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems, Wiley Online Library · Sub-Saharan Africa
2024 analysis of urban farming systems and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Examines role of agriculture in improving urban food security, necessity of public-private partnerships, informal sector positioning, and prospects for addressing urban food insecurity in Africa.
PolicyFrom access toward sovereignty: A scoping review of municipal land access policies for urban agriculture in the United States
2024Raychel E. Santo, Sara N. Lupolt, Katherine M. Uhde, Robert C. Bennaton, Keeve E. Nachman · Elem Sci Anth · United States
This scoping review compares land access mechanisms for urban agriculture across the 40 most populous US cities. It finds 75% of cities used at least one mechanism but only 20% offered multiple options; temporary-use mechanisms (e.g., Adopt-A-Lot programs, city-run farms and gardens) were more common than secure-tenure options like long-term leases and land trusts; 45% of cities designed mechanisms with an equity focus; and fewer than a quarter offered complementary support such as subsidized water, liability insurance, soil testing, or funding.
PolicyCommunityRacial equity and the USDA's Office of Urban Agriculture granting program and urban offices
2024Kristin Reynolds, Cédric Gottfried, Tamarra Thomas · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States
This policy brief reports findings from a study examining, through a racial-equity lens, the rollout of the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production established by the 2018 farm bill. Drawing on national surveys, interviews in New York City and Atlanta, GIS mapping, and policy review, it situates the provisions within the USDA's history of discrimination and offers policy recommendations for engaging socially disadvantaged urban farmers.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsScalability of Urban Agriculture
2024Kristin Jones · Enquiry The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research · United States (Chicago)
Taking Alfred Caldwell's mid-century vision of small-scale farming as social empowerment as its starting point, this study examines three distinct urban farming approaches in Chicago—spanning raised-bed farming, aquaponics, hydroponics, and permaculture across a nonprofit, a community group, and a private entrepreneur—to assess their scalability and broader societal and environmental impact. It identifies numerous opportunities for scaling up and concludes that a multi-faceted, multi-scalar framework is needed to grow urban agriculture within resilient cities.
EconomicsCommunityPolicySustainable agriculture impacts in urban settings make the case for federal investments [Policy brief]
2024Hagan Capnerhurst, Hannah Quigley, Jake Hawes · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States
This policy brief examines the challenges facing urban agriculture in U.S. cities—scant funding, insecure land tenure, and environmental pollution—and profiles the USDA's emerging Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production as a support apparatus. It calls for consistent, permanent federal funding outside the annual budget process to enable tailored technical assistance, reformed grant initiatives, and expanded data collection.
PolicyEconomicsContending food sovereignty with cultivating kinship through community gardens
2024Max Sano · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Santa Clara Valley)
This is a book review of Gabriel R. Valle's "Gardening on the Margins," which draws on anthropological, community-based research in California's Santa Clara Valley. It highlights the La Mesa Verde community, whose gardeners engage in community gardening not only out of necessity but through an "ethic of care."
CommunityPolicySoils information for urban customers: A perspective
2024Hannah M. Ohm, Thomas M. DeSutter, Christina L. Hargiss, Keith A. Anderson, Nathan E. Derby, Beverly Alvarez‐Torres · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States
This perspective article argues that, although urban agriculture is gaining popularity across the United States and national-level soil information exists, urban residents often have limited detail about the soils in their communities. It suggests that agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service could expand existing soil survey programs (e.g., WebSoilSurvey) and that trace-element testing and interpretation would improve knowledge of the risks urban soils pose to food quality. The authors emphasize opportunities for local, state and federal entities to support the soil-science needs of urban growers.
PolicyHealthCommunityGarden access and barriers for low-income community members
2024Cherish Duerst, Robert Williams, Jose Lopez, Douglas LaVergne · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Minnesota)
This study surveyed food-pantry customers in the Bemidji area of rural northern Minnesota about access and barriers to gardening in its many forms—residential, container, and community. Although 91% of respondents wanted to garden and 85% had gardened before, only 31% were active gardeners, and the study identifies specific barriers preventing otherwise motivated low-income individuals from gardening, along with participant-suggested solutions within reach of local policymakers.
WelfareCommunityPolicyReframing Urban Agriculture: Open Land for the Public Good
2024Melody Ng · Critical Planning · United States (California)
This essay uses historical-structural analysis to examine how the history of US municipal land-use policies and urban agriculture informed the design of California's Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones (UAIZs) and their failure to increase land access and security for community food producers. It argues that UAIZs sit at the end of a long history of lot-conversion programs used for urban crisis management, and calls for reframing urban agriculture around land equity—the right not only to occupy but to manage land in service of one's community.
PolicyCommunityThe Impact of Urban–Rural Integration on Food Security: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data in China
2024· Sustainability · China
Uses provincial panel data to analyze how urban–rural integration affects food security across China.
PolicyEconomicsUrban agriculture as a landscape approach for sustainable urban planning. An example of Songzhuang, Beijing
2024· Frontiers in Sustainability · China (Beijing)
Discusses urban agriculture as a landscape approach for sustainable urban planning, using Songzhuang in Beijing as a case study.
PolicyBiodiversityOptimization of land use to accommodate nutritional transformation of food systems: a case study from the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region
2024· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei)
Studies land-use optimization to accommodate nutritional transformation of food systems in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China.
PolicyHealthAssessing the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture in Shanghai's Nine Agriculture Districts: A Decadal Analysis (2010–2020)
2024· Agriculture · China (Shanghai)
Assesses the sustainability of urban agriculture across Shanghai's nine agriculture districts (2010–2020) using a triple-bottom-line framework, finding overall gains but declining economic sustainability.
PolicyEconomicsFood system under COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai: problems and countermeasures
2024· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China (Shanghai)
Examines problems and countermeasures for Shanghai's food system under the COVID-19 lockdown.
PolicyCommunityAchieving coordinated development of multi-functional urban agriculture in Xiamen, China
2024· Sustainable Cities and Society · China (Xiamen)
Builds a framework to evaluate, diagnose, and optimize multi-functional urban agriculture in Xiamen, China, finding strong social but weak ecological functions.
PolicyEconomicsGreen or grain? Impact of green space expansion on grain production in Chinese cities and its implications for national urban greening schemes
2024· Landscape Ecology · China
An analysis of how urban green space expansion affected grain production through cropland loss in Chinese cities from 2000 to 2020, with implications for national urban greening schemes.
PolicyBiodiversityUrban rooftops for food and energy in China
2024· Nature Cities · China
A study evaluating the potential of urban rooftops in China for both food production and energy generation.
PolicyEconomicsCitizen participation and acceptance in the context of urban events. An investigation on regional garden shows in Germany
2024· Planning Practice & Research · Germany
Investigates citizen participation and acceptance around regional garden shows (Landesgartenschauen) in Germany as recurring urban greening and event-driven planning instruments.
CommunityPolicyInitiating, innovating and accelerating edible cities. A case study based on two transition experiments in the city of Dresden (Germany)
2024· Urban Ecosystems · Germany (Dresden)
A case study based on two transition experiments in Dresden, analyzing how edible cities are initiated, innovated, and accelerated.
CommunityPolicyFood education