Research & reports

Dilebo T., Feyissa T., Asfaw Z., Zewdu A. · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 18:74 · Ethiopia

An ethnobotanical survey of 240 households across four zones of southern Ethiopia documenting on-farm landrace diversity, use patterns and farmer conservation of the staple crop enset.

練馬区 · 練馬区 調査報告書 · Japan

Final report of Nerima's review panel building on the World Urban Agriculture Summit, organising directions for publicly supported urban agriculture under four pillars — circulation, environment, fairness and collaboration — including farmland conservation, agriculture-welfare links, ward allotments and outreach.

名古屋市 · 名古屋市 農業振興地域整備計画 · Japan

Nagoya's agricultural revitalisation area development plan, setting the institutional framework for municipally supported urban agriculture through conserving quality farmland, modernising facilities, promoting farmer-led citizen farms and collaborative local land use.

Seitz B., Buchholz S., Kowarik I., Herrmann J., Neuerburg L., Wendler J., Winker L., Egerer M. · Urban Ecosystems, 25(3):927-939 · Germany (Berlin)

A survey of cultivated and spontaneously occurring wild plants in 18 community gardens across metropolitan Berlin, classifying each species as native or non-native. It found that gardens host many plant species — especially wild ones, including some endangered natives — regardless of surrounding urbanization, and that more cultivated species co-occur with more wild species (land sharing). The authors argue urban gardens can be sites of 'reconciliation ecology' that combine food production with conservation of native and wild flora.

UN-Habitat · UN-Habitat · Global

Frames the role of urban-rural linkages in biodiversity conservation, presenting integrated urban-rural governance through ecological corridors, green belts and farmland protection.

UNCCD · UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) Working Paper · Global

A policy analysis of how urban expansion cascades into rural land degradation and ecosystem loss, arguing for urban-rural linkage governance to drive land restoration and combat desertification.

Biskupovic C., Maurines B., Carmona R., Canteros E. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Chile

This qualitative comparative study of community and shared gardens in France and Chile found that small-scale collective gardening fosters human–nonhuman relationships and the transmission of caring practices, thereby promoting ecological citizenship and more sustainable forms of community living.

Jayakody S.K., Basu M. · Blue-Green Infrastructure Across Asian Countries (Springer Singapore), pp. 223–249 · Sri Lanka (Kandy)

This book chapter examines how traditional homegardens in the Kandy District function as integrated urban agroforestry systems supporting biodiversity conservation, physical exercise, and mental health, while noting that increasing urbanization threatens their long-term sustainability.

Ashley Conway, Christine Nieman · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States

This literature review identifies three key barriers to keeping livestock in US urban and peri-urban agriculture—animal feed resources, water quality and nutrient cycling, and use of heavy-metal-contaminated sites—and argues that agroforestry (silvopasture) practices can help address them. The authors propose two theoretical silvopasture systems, one for urban and one for peri-urban settings, and call for future whole-system research.

Joshua Earl Arnold · Insects · United States (California)

Over two growing seasons, this study sampled brassica crops at urban agriculture sites spanning a gradient of surrounding landscape imperviousness, size, and management to assess parasitic Hymenoptera abundance, richness, and parasitism of the cabbage aphid. On-farm agroecological practices—mulch coverage, floral richness, and crop-plant richness—and larger on-farm noncrop area increased parasitoid abundance, and greater crop-plant richness raised aphid parasitism, supporting the enemies hypothesis in urban agroecosystems.

María Teresa Gómez-Villarino, Teresa Briz · California Agriculture · United States (Berkeley)

This study examined urban gardens in Berkeley, California, and Madrid, Spain, to observe how agroecological principles—efficient, sustainable use of local resources and inputs—are practiced. It reports that gardens using good ecological practices provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including cultural services such as places to socialize, and can serve as model urban agricultural centers contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

· Land · China

Analyzes how urban expansion drives the loss and fragmentation of cropland in China's major grain production areas.

· Frontiers in Microbiology · Germany (Berlin)

Investigated how soil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, highlighting that microbial communities inhabiting urban soils govern nutrient cycling and support of plant communities.

Schittko C. · Journal of Ecology · Germany (Berlin)

Shows that biodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems studied in Berlin.

· Local Environment · Global

Analyzes urban community seed-sharing and seed-swap initiatives as social practices and how they contribute to just transitions to sustainability.

Lawrence D. Harder, Ronald M. Miksha · Oecologia · Germany (Munich)

A re-analysis of the observations behind Renner et al. (2021), which had concluded that an increase in managed honey bee hives between 2019 and 2020 intensified competition with non-Apis bees in the Munich Botanic Garden, Germany. The comment shows that the change in hive numbers did not statistically alter honey bee visitation to 29 plant species either within or between years, so the shift in the proportion of non-Apis bees among visitors is better explained as a response to reduced overall floral resource availability in 2020. The claim that urban beekeeping suppresses native pollinators is therefore supported by some observational studies and contested by re-analyses that find the statistical basis insufficient.

Joshua Newell, Alec Foster, Mariel Borgman, Sara Meerow · Cities · United States (Detroit)

A study in Detroit's Lower Eastside (~15 sq. miles) examined the spatial extent, characteristics, and residents' perceptions of urban gardens using spatial analysis and interviews. Gardens covered less than 1% of vacant land and were often ephemeral. Primary obstacles to scaling up urban agriculture in Detroit include uncertainty over land tenure, environmental pollutants, potential ecosystem disservices, and a lack of government support and capital investment.

Aleksandra Nowysz, Łukasz Mazur, Magdalena Daria Vaverková, Eugeniusz Koda, Jan Winkler · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

This study explored urban agriculture (UA) as an alternative source of food and water security, employing a mixed-method approach including literature survey, case studies, and comparative analysis. It compared 25 existing projects in the global north, including allotment gardens, community gardens, and urban farms, categorizing UA into architectural-urban, ecological, social, and economic aspects. The analysis concluded that UA fulfills economic, social, and environmental functions, aligning with the concept of sustainable development.

Fa Likitswat, Alisa Sahavacharin · Journal of Architectural/Planning Research and Studies (JARS) · Thailand (Bangkok)

This research analyzed landscape transformations, specifically agricultural landscape structures and functions, in eight selected sites in the urban fringe of Bangkok from 1952 to 2018. The study found that the significant loss of agricultural landscape in Bangkok's peri-urban areas resulted in the loss of seasonal water retention areas, productive landscapes, and urban wildlife habitats. It concludes there is a research gap regarding the lack of policies and practices to promote ecosystem services linked to preserving peri-urban agriculture in Bangkok.

Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · Journal of Latin American geography · Global

This edited book explores how various displacements lead people to re-engage with plant life, creating meaning and sustaining biodiversity. It examines how gardening, seed saving, and cooking restore social and cultural continuity, connecting past and present. The volume, rooted in anthropology, discusses plant-human engagements in movement ("itineraries") and emplaced efforts of belonging ("sanctuaries").

Donald Gray · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

A 2022 paper examined the role of school gardens in addressing children and young people's decreasing experiences with natural environments, increasing mental health concerns, and growing worries about global environmental problems. Drawing on three initiatives from an original pilot school garden program, the paper presents evidence that garden-based learning can positively contribute to improved health and wellbeing, learning, and environmental awareness.

Alejandro Castillo Nolte, Sascha Buchholz, Nadja Pernat, Monika Egerer · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This study investigated diurnal and nocturnal temperature ranges, and daily maximum and minimum temperatures in 18 urban gardens during the peak summer agricultural growing season. It analyzed how temperatures correlated to local land cover factors within the garden, surrounding landscape imperviousness at various spatial scales, and environmental justice indicators of garden neighborhoods. Nocturnal temperature range was negatively correlated to landscape imperviousness, with the relationship decreasing in strength with increasing spatial scale.

Avi Friedman · · Canada (Montreal)

This chapter explores how food production can initiate change at the neighborhood level and how using native flora in landscaping decreases water consumption and benefits local biodiversity. The Benny Farm Project in Montreal, Canada, is presented as an example of a highly productive urban agriculture undertaking.

Joan Casanelles‐Abella, Simone Fontana, Bertrand Fournier, David Frey, Marco Moretti · Ecological Applications · Switzerland (Zurich)

This study in 23 urban gardens in Zurich, Switzerland, examined feeding niche partitioning between wild bees and honeybees. Researchers found that feeding niche partitioning increased with wild bee species richness and in sites with lower landscape-scale resource availability, which also had lower honeybee abundances. However, beekeeping intensity at local and landscape scales did not directly influence community feeding niche partitioning or wild bee species richness, suggesting direct competition for resources was not a main driver for the wild bee community.

Alan Dorin, Tim Taylor, Adrian G. Dyer · PLOS Sustainability and Transformation · Global

This study used an agent-based model to explore the impact of insect flower constancy, heterospecific pollen transfer, and crop patch size on pollination in urban farms. It found that highly constant pollinators were most effective in the smallest patches, while less constant insects performed better in intermediate-sized areas. The model identified an optimal "Goldilocks zone" for pollination around 11m x 11m, suggesting that collaborative management to increase single-crop patch size could improve pollination in community farms.