Research & reports

Stephen Fox · Entropy · Global

This paper aims to extend the theory of synchronous generative development, which balances human and environmental well-being, towards practical application in sustainable development projects. The theory is extended by referencing research on multilevel pragmatics, competing signals, commitment processes, technological mediation, and psychomotor functioning, and is related to human-driven biosocial-technical innovation through the example of digital twins for agroecological urban farming. However, practical examples in the paper suggest that counterproductive complexity can arise from situated entropy amidst biosocial-technical innovations, even when compatible with synchronous generative development.

Vito D'Onghia · IGI Global eBooks · Global

This paper analyzes the cultural debate and policies in urban and rural fields, comparing various actions to outline new opportunities for developing more sustainable cities with inclusive projects. It considers how urban agriculture in policy contexts raises questions about integrating sustainable practices and spatial planning tools to guide local communities. Innovative experiments at national and international levels demonstrate how research and practical experiences can support urban agriculture.

Ananere da Silva Crüz, Márcia Maria Rodrigues Sá, Tarcísio Dorn de Oliveira, Daniel Knebel Baggio, Nelson José Thesing, Sandra Beatriz Vicenci Fernandes · Revista GESTO Revista de Gestão Estratégica de Organizações · Global

This literature review highlights the importance of urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUPs) for food security, household economy, and biodiversity. It concludes that AUPs contribute to job creation, alternative income, supplying small markets, valuing local cultures, community empowerment, and expanding gender participation opportunities. AUPs also improve climate and biodiversity, enhance urban productivity, foster cooperation among residents, reduce temperatures, improve air quality, preserve natural resources, and mitigate food scarcity.

Theodore Ngoufo Sogang, Youssouf Monkouop · Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment · Cameroon

This article proposes a framework for understanding the past, present, and future of urban agriculture in Cameroon, focusing on the period from 1993 to 2017. It examines the subject through five fundamental notions: International Relations and Geopolitical Agriculture, Urban Economic Agriculture, Environmental and Food Climate Stakes, and Science and Culture adapted to agricultural and food mutations. The study aims to provide a comparative review of agriculture in transition by integrating historical, social, economic, and diplomatic perspectives.

Gopika Somanath Prathiksha I. · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global

This paper discusses microgreens as an innovation in vegetable growing, which have gained popularity since their introduction to Californian restaurants in the 1980s. Microgreens are presented as a potential solution for malnutrition and food security, providing nutrient-rich and high-quality phytochemicals. Interest is rising due to their nutraceutical, fresh, and functional food properties, and their abundance of phyto-constituents and minerals.

Olga Orlić, Anita Čeh Časni, Kosjenka Dumančić · Ubiquity Press eBooks · Croatia

This chapter provides an overview of the development of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Croatia, within the broader context of food citizenship and solidarity economy concepts. CSA has gained attention over the past 20-30 years due to increasing awareness of the need to change food politics regarding food security and sovereignty. In Croatia, initiators and actors of CSA groups have been pioneers in achieving food citizenship.

Ramon Majé Floriano · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Colombia

The STEM community gardens project aims to contribute to food security in the San Francisco, Santa Inés, and Holland villages of the Pitalito Huila municipality in Colombia. This report outlines the project's development through three phases: immersion, transfer, and communication.

Jaquair L. Gillette · Educational Media Reviews Online · Global

This is a review of a 2020 documentary film (83 minutes) directed by Caroline Cox. The film presents four stories in a three-act structure: an Indigenous-owned youth organic farm in Hawaii (Ma'O Organic Farm), an African American urban farmer in Kansas City who runs Kansas City Aquaponics (Eric Person), a woman of Mexican and Jewish heritage practicing Kosher butchering, and an Inuit elder in an Arctic community (Marjorie Ovauyak) who uses greenhouse gardening.

Dushyant Singh, Rajeev Sobti, Anuj Kumar Jain, Praveen Kumar Malik, Dac‐Nhuong Le · IET Communications · Global

Against a backdrop of urbanization expected to account for about 50% of the world population by 2050 and projected freshwater shortages in India by the same year, this article examines the potential of IoT (Internet of Things) and machine learning (ML) to support urban and precision agriculture in smart cities, including irrigation, rainfall, and drought condition monitoring to assist farmer decision-making. It presents the design of an intelligent irrigation system based on soil and weather conditions, with parameters selected from prior Agriculture 4.0 and ML research, and compares the developed weather station against existing patented technologies, stating that the resulting system provides a cost-effective solution for local weather monitoring.

Nur Shuhamin Nazuri, Mohd Roslan Rosnon, Nobaya Ahmad, Siti Shazwani Ahmad Suhaimi, Juwaidah Sharifuddin, Rusitha Wijekoon · Sustainability · Malaysia

This 2022 study surveyed 180 participants of urban agriculture (UA) community programs authorized by the Department of Agriculture in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze how UA participation generates value contributing to community social empowerment. The findings showed that participation in the planning, implementation, and evaluation stages plays an important role in program success, and that such participation should be understood through the roles of government agencies, NGOs, and communities in building the strong networks needed to enhance participants' social empowerment.

Paloma Cariñanos, S. Borelli, Michela Conigliaro, Alessio Fini · Urban Planning · Global

This review traces urban food forests (UFFs) from ancient practices of incorporating edible species into wild forests to their spread into ornamental urban landscapes since the mid-20th century. It argues UFFs face the same challenges as urban forests generally — land tenure, governance, technical capacity, pollution and global change — which must be addressed to balance their productive, environmental and socio-economic functions.

Nur Shuhamin Nazuri, Nobaya Ahmad, Mohd Roslan Rosnon, Mohd Harifadilah Rosidi, Siti Nur Shuhada Nazuri, Sara Shakilla Mohd Salim, Razif Sazali, Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad, Siti Shazwani Ahmad Suhaimi · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

Among participants in a Malaysian urban agriculture (UA) program, the study examined how dimensions of participation (planning, implementation, evaluation) relate to economic and social empowerment, moderated by social capital (bonding, bridging, linking). Most respondents were male, aged 41-60, married, with secondary/vocational education, and 5 to 12 family members. The relationship between participation, social capital, and empowerment was found to be insignificant, and social capital (bonding, bridging, linking) did not function as a moderator between participation and empowerment.

Fjollë Caka · International Journal of Environmental Impacts · Global

This paper reviews the policy environment for urban agriculture in Kosovo, examining agricultural and spatial-planning legal frameworks, strategies, and official reports and data. It notes that urban land in Kosovo continues to be lost to construction, degraded and contaminated, that the actual extent of urban agriculture there is unknown, and identifies barriers to its expansion before proposing policy interventions aimed at fresh food supply, urban poverty alleviation and improved environmental performance.

Irina PANȚIRU, Erzsébet Buta, Dănuţ Maniutiu, Alexandru I. APAHIDEAN, N. Sima, Alex Dregan, Rodica Sima · Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca Horticulture · Global

A 2022 literature review assessed the overall role and benefits of urban allotments and home gardens for urban green infrastructure (GI) in Global North countries, drawing on published evidence from 2000 onward and using narrative synthesis to interpret the research on domestic gardens and identify areas needing further study. The review found key differences in both the nature and management of urban domestic gardens with major implications for their contribution to GI sustainability, alongside heterogeneous social, cultural, ecological and economic contexts shaping that impact. It also noted that domestic gardens act as a source of food security and provide additional ecosystem services. The review concludes that home and allotment gardens are important contributors to urban GI sustainability and should be incorporated into the planning, design and management of urban infrastructure.

Kate A. Congreves · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems ·

An opinion article published in the Urban Agriculture section of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems on 19 August 2022. The available abstract contains only bibliographic information, with no stated study details or findings on urban horticulture.

Ana Spataru, Robert Faggian, Victor A Sposito · International Journal of Agricultural Resources Governance and Ecology · Global

A paper proposing a comprehensive conceptual framework for assessing metropolitan peri-urban agriculture. It argues that peri-urban agriculture provides non-commodity benefits — food security, farm viability, environmental stewardship, and landscape and socio-cultural preservation — that free markets under-recognize, and that the double vulnerability created by urban pressure and systemic agricultural change has led to myopic policy interventions. The proposed framework integrates the concepts of multifunctional agriculture, resilience, climate-smart agriculture and alternative food networks into 21 enabling features across five dimensions.

Tama Bawack Ako, Clarkson Mvo Wanie · Current Urban Studies · Cameroon

This study examined challenges in rural-urban road transportation and coping mechanisms for food security in Maroua municipality, Far North Region, Cameroon. Primary data came from field observation, interviews and 261 administered questionnaires, supplemented by published and unpublished secondary sources, with descriptive analysis conducted in SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Results showed that rural-urban roads in Maroua are dilapidated and inadequate, making movement difficult especially during the rainy season, which negatively affects multiple dimensions of food security. Adaptation mechanisms identified included urban agriculture and rehabilitation of rural-urban road infrastructure, and the study concluded there is an urgent need for stakeholders to improve this infrastructure.

Pedro Neto · Sophia · Global

This editorial essay introduces the third thematic cycle, "Landscapes of Care," opening volume 7 of the journal Sophia, on contemporary photography and visual practices addressing how architecture, broadly conceived, can help heal a damaged planet. It draws on Elke Krasny's reframing of architecture as a form of caring labor and Wilfried Wang's argument that changes such as the renewal of urban farming, decentralized renewable energy harvesting, and smaller production facilities should reshape conventional zoning, and situates the "landscapes of care" concept — drawn from health geography, the arts, and architecture — as a lens for understanding architecture, city, and territory. The piece is an introductory editorial for the issue's theme and presents no empirical data or case findings.

Ningombam Sushma Devi, Preeti Hatibarua, Ningombam Bijaya Devi, Tadar Jamja, Nangki Tagi, Ruthy Tabing · Ecology Environment and Conservation · Global

This review argues that, amid exponential population growth, expanding urban dwellings, climate change, and limited natural resources, planting fruit and vegetable home gardens and using rooftops and small plots for small-scale vegetable production can provide households with sufficient production and income generation. It states that meeting the food and nutritional needs of growing urban populations requires integrating information-technology tools, breeding crops suited to urban farming, and closing water, waste, and energy loops, and it outlines the significant features of contemporary urban horticulture alongside the traditional practices, technologies, and innovations that support it.

Singapore Food Agency · Singapore Food Agency (SFA) · Singapore

Published by the Singapore Food Agency on 11 Nov 2022, this article explains that Singapore is vulnerable to supply shocks because it imports more than 90 per cent of its food, while less than 1 per cent of its land is set aside for farming, and sets out the country's '30 by 30' goal to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.

CONQUITO · CONQUITO (Agencia Metropolitana de Promoción Económica) · Ecuador

CONQUITO's presentation page for its AGRUPAR participatory urban agriculture programme, stating that more than 4,500 farmers participate each year, 84% of whom are women heads of household, and that around 105 organic products are handled through the programme.

Thulani Dube, Saziso Sibanda, Phibion Chiwara · Cogent Social Sciences · Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)

This study investigated farmers' perceived effects of climate change on peri-urban agriculture in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and their adaptation methods. Using a sample of thirty peri-urban plots, findings revealed that farmers perceived significant climatic changes negatively impacting their farming activities, including reduced precipitation, increased atmospheric temperature, and diminishing borehole yields. Adaptation methods included repeated planting, watering plants at night, renting animal space in other farms with more water sources, and purchasing supplementary feed for livestock.

Victoria Schoen, Chris Blythe, Silvio Caputo, Runrid Fox-Kämper, Kathrin Specht, Agnès Fargue‐Lelièvre, Nevin Cohen, Lidia Poniży, Konstancja Fedeńczak · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global North

This 2021 paper, based on data collected in summer 2020 from five Global North countries (France, Germany, Poland, UK, USA), examined the effects of COVID-19 on urban farms and gardens. The pandemic presented multiple challenges, including loss of support services, lost income, and reduced output due to labor supply issues. It also created opportunities like new local markets and increased community cohesion, demonstrating how gardens adapted to become more resilient.

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Cristina Madrid‐López, Gara Villalba, Xavier Gabarrell, Arne Björn Hückstädt, Matthias Finkbeiner, Annekatrin Lehmann · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · Global

A comprehensive environmental and social life cycle assessment of perlite, peat, and coir growing media, imported to Spain from Turkey, Germany, and the Philippines respectively, was conducted for urban rooftop farming. Environmentally, coir had the lowest burden, while perlite had the highest impacts due to mining and transport. Socially, peat performed best, but coir showed the worst scores in community infrastructure and human rights, and perlite performed lowest in health and safety.

Christina Ergas · · Cuba

This chapter examines Cuba's urban agricultural food production, which developed through top-down government initiatives that later decentralized and subsidized local efforts in response to resource scarcity. While Cuban urban farmworkers' cooperatives enable local residents to sell produce at low costs, the program still faces social environmental stumbling blocks despite its successes in achieving high human development with a small ecological footprint.