Research & reports

Karen Botes, Christina Breed · Acta Structilia · South Africa

This article reviewed three edible living wall case studies in Gauteng, South Africa, focusing on system resilience, economic feasibility, and edible plant possibilities. Interviews were conducted with clients, contractors, and designers. Findings suggested indirect commercial value through customer experience and educational value, but indicated that economic feasibility and resilience need enhancement for improved urban food production.

L.A. Zhuravleva, A. Aldiab · SCIENTIFIC LIFE · Global

This article discusses innovative directions in urban farming and presents the development of an installation for growing agricultural crops at home with an automatic control system based on the Arduino platform. The control system measures illumination, temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, and water level using sensors, automatically maintaining optimal microclimate parameters. The conducted studies demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of this experimental installation.

Sara Nicholls, Special Collections, Fleet Library · Digital Commons - RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) · United States

"Silty Loam" is an informational pamphlet exploring various methods of food cultivation in urban environments and the motivations behind them. The pamphlet examines how city residents have challenged the separation of agriculture and urban life through initiatives like community gardens, community land trusts, and rooftop gardens. It is part of the "Brain Washing From Phone Towers" series, produced by hand using letterpress and relief printing to combine text and images.

E. V. Koroleva, A. F. Petrov, Yu. V. Chudinova · Bulletin of NSAU (Novosibirsk State Agrarian University) · Russia (Novosibirsk)

This review focuses on the intraspecific variability of ornamental plants of the genus Clarkia (Onagraceae) and the clarification of the systematic status of Godetia species introduced into Novosibirsk. Experimental data from genetic and cytological analyses over the last 100 years are presented, showing morphological, karyological characteristics, and genetic variability in various species of the Godetia section. The article concludes that a comprehensive study of environmental conditions' influence on genetic features, ornamental qualities, and flowering biology is necessary for selecting suitable forms and introducing them into urban gardening for Western Siberia's climatic conditions.

Novisrayani Kesmayanti, Abdul Aziz · Journal of Community Service · Indonesia (Palembang)

This community service activity (PKM) in Palembang, Indonesia, addressed challenges faced by PKK RT 19 RW 05 community members, including limited yard space and farming knowledge. The program provided education, technology transfer, demonstrations, and assistance for independent hydroponic urban farming. The activity successfully helped community members maximize the use of narrow yard spaces, transforming them into productive environments for family food supply through hydroponic cultivation.

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Cristina Madrid‐López, Xavier Gabarrell, Gara Villalba · Environmental Research Communications · Spain (Barcelona)

Implementation strategies for food-energy-water production systems on urban rooftops were evaluated in a typical housing estate in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, comprising 201 buildings and 13,466 inhabitants. Residents tended to choose strategies providing energy and water over the food production potential of rooftops. However, environmental assessment indicated that vegetable production alternatives were the least impactful, meeting 42-56% of residents' fresh produce demand and reducing environmental impacts by 24-37 kg CO2 eq m-2 per rooftop per year. This suggests residents were primarily concerned with energy expenses rather than food insecurity or social cohesion.

Mariam Jibuti · Globalization and Business · Global

This research investigated the use of old and modern technologies for sustainable building, plant/tree medicines, non-timber forest products, water purity and rainwater harvesting, urban farming, and energy-efficient lifestyles. It argues that implementing these techniques can lead to economic awakening and improve current waste and unproductivity. The study states that stone building, the use of trees and herbs, rainwater collection, and urban farming contribute to people's daily lives, national self-reliance and health, and sustainable economic growth.

Dhian Rosalina, Yenni Marnita, Nasrul Kahfi Lubis, Fiddini Alham · SELAPARANG Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat Berkemajuan · Indonesia (Langsa)

This community service activity provided training in Gampong Baroh Langsa Lama, Langsa Aceh city, to 30 day laborers on utilizing household organic waste to create compost blocks for planting media. The training involved socialization, practice, and evaluation, aiming to transform waste into useful products for urban farming. As a result, 50 percent of partners expressed willingness to practice making compost blocks and be periodically evaluated.

Agnieszka Zawadzińska, Piotr Salachna, J. Nowak, Waldemar Kowalczyk, Rafał Piechocki, Łukasz Łopusiewicz, Anna Pietrak · Agronomy · Global

This study investigated the use of compost made from pulp and paper mill sludge, fruit-vegetable waste, mushroom spent substrate, and rye straw as a growing medium for container-cultivated tomatoes. Tomato plants grown in compost-enriched media showed higher leaf greening, more ripe fruit, and increased levels of polyphenols, flavonoids, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and copper compared to controls. Specifically, a medium with 25% compost, 30% high peat, 15% low peat, 20% pine bark, and 10% wood fiber yielded the highest fresh fruit weight, total polyphenol content, and L-ascorbic acid levels.

Yumin Park, Yong-Wook Shin · Journal of people, plants, and environment · Global

A study analyzed the trends and network structure of 'grow-your-own (GYO)' activities by collecting 6,388 Instagram posts containing '#gyo' and '#growyourown' hashtags from June 13, 2020, to April 13, 2021, using social network analysis. The results showed that users expressed preference and interest in GYO through various word combinations, positive emotions and pride through gardening-related hashtags, and participated in urban gardening, indicating trends towards self-sufficiency and sustainable living.

Fauzian Gilang Prananda, Sumeru Ashari · Jurnal Produksi Tanaman · Indonesia

A randomized complete block design trial at 550 m elevation on the rooftop of the Central Building, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia, grown from June to September 2019, compared production of five melon (Cucumis melo) varieties (Melindo-15, Gracia, Madesta, Action, Glamour), measuring female flower count and timing, leaf count, plant length, stem diameter, fruit weight and fruit reduction with ANOVA and 5% BNJ follow-up tests. Growth and fruit yield differed among varieties, with Melindo showing the best production potential.

Isabel Cristina Carvalho, Raquel Luz Sousa, David Leite Viana · Americanae (AECID Library) · Brazil

The informality of urban agroecological space is examined through methodologies from transdisciplinary border zones, particularly the arts, framing the practice of gardening as an act of creation. Ecosophical, aesthetic and artistic concepts (community eco-art practices and digital eco-art) are integrated with socio-economic-political concepts (strengthening production, citizenship and digital literacy) in the context of informal urban agriculture, sketching an application scenario for inclusive community-resilience methodologies.

Syariful Mubarok, Salsabila Ananda, Farida Farida, Ainun Fadilah, Rija Sudirja · Kultivasi · Indonesia

An experiment conducted from August to September 2020 in a densely populated residential area on Jalan Caringin Raya, Bekasi City, Indonesia, used a Randomized Block Design to grow two amaranth (bayam) cultivars, 'Maestro' and 'Mira,' under three different cultivation systems — conventional, verticulture, and floating-raft hydroponics — with four replications each, on narrow urban plots. The results showed that amaranth grown under the floating-raft hydroponic system produced the best growth, yield, yield quality, and revenue compared with the conventional and verticulture systems.

Peter Bengtsen · Street Art & Urban Creativity · Europe

This editorial for the journal Street Art and Urban Creativity reports that since 2015 the journal has published six issues comprising 84 research articles along with essays, working papers, and book reviews. It cites the journal, the annual Urban Creativity conference in Lisbon, and the Urban Creativity Lund research network as signs that the field of urban creativity studies is becoming increasingly established. The field is described as covering a broad range of interests including, but not limited to, street art, graffiti, urban foraging, parkour, skateboarding, and guerrilla gardening, with the editorial noting that as a field settles, a dominant paradigm tends to emerge. As part of the issue's call for submissions, it invites contributions reflecting on the current status and future of this transdisciplinary academic field, which has developed over the past two decades.

Muhammad Taqiyudin Majid, Nurul Aini · Jurnal Produksi Tanaman · Indonesia

Although white radish (Raphanus sativus L.) can be cultivated throughout Indonesia, it is grown in only a few regions; this study examined expanding cultivation via urban farming by testing the interaction between polybag size and planting media composition on growth and yield. Conducted from March to April 2020 in a greenhouse at the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, the study used a factorial randomized group design with two factors and three replications: polybag size (30×15 cm = U1, 35×17.5 cm = U2, 40×20 cm = U3) and cocopeat:compost:sand ratio (1:1:1 = K1, 1:3:1 = K2, 1:1:3 = K3, 3:1:1 = K4). Results showed the appropriate media composition depended on polybag size: the 30×15 cm and 35×17.5 cm polybags produced the highest fresh weight with a cocopeat:compost:sand ratio of 3:1:1, while the 40×20 cm polybag with a 1:1:1 ratio increased the fresh weight of radish tubers.

E. Ramanujam, S. Padmavathi, Nashwa Ahmad Kamal · International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development · India

Rooftop farming is gaining popularity for growing organic vegetables with minimal water use, but is highly vulnerable to pest infestation, and urban residents new to farming often fail to notice pest attacks. Noting that existing image-processing and machine-learning pest identification systems are typically disease-specific with low generalization accuracy and poor usability, this paper proposes a mobile-based pest identification system built on a pretrained convolutional neural network model (AlexNet). Various rooftop pests were evaluated experimentally using different kernel sizes and layer configurations, and the best-performing pretrained model was converted into a mobile application via a REST API to provide pesticide recommendations to novice users.

Jin-Hee Ju, Hee-Yeon Song, Deuk-Kyun Oh, Sun-Yeong Park, Yong-Han Yoon · Journal of Environmental Science International · South Korea

This study, conducted from April to September 2019 on the rooftop of Konkuk University's Glocal Campus in South Korea, evaluated growth, physiological responses, and productivity for different intercropping ratios of cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) with basil (Ocimum basilicum) on rooftops. Five treatments -- single tomato (TC), 2:1 tomato-to-basil (T2B1), 1:1 (T1B1), 1:2 (T1B2), and single basil (BC) -- were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications (15 plots total), measuring plant height, leaf length and width, leaf number, root length, root collar caliper, chlorophyll content, fresh and dry weight, fruit number, fruit caliper, fruit weight, and sugar content. The comparative analysis found growth, physiological, and productivity responses to be efficient when the tomato-to-basil ratio was 2:1 or 1:1.

Mohammed Hussen Alemu, Carola Grebitus · PLOS ONE · United States

This study used choice experiments and latent class analysis in North America to quantitatively examine what drives consumer preferences for growing food in community gardens. It found that providing tools and guidance were the most important contextual factors for participation, that proponents were characterized by high subjective knowledge and perceived benefits, and that opponents had low knowledge. The authors suggest the findings can inform policies promoting sustainable urban food systems.

Bruni C., Akyol Ç., Cipolletta G., Eusebi A.L., Caniani D., Masi S., Colón J., Fatone F. · Sustainability · Italy

Reviews Italian legislation and implemented projects on decentralized community composting, arguing Italy can serve as a model for Mediterranean countries building decentralized composting programs.

· Journal of Cleaner Production · Malaysia

Uses a university case study and life-cycle assessment to demonstrate community-scale food waste composting; with leaves as bulking agent it took 7 months, yielding 30% compost meeting organic fertiliser standards.

· Journal of Economic Entomology · USA

Tests low-cost, spun-bonded-fabric low tunnels as a physical barrier against airborne insects on Brussels sprouts. Finds they reduce insect populations, insecticide applications, and chewing damage.

Chowdhury M.E.H., Khandakar A., Ahmed S., Al-Khuzaei F., Al-Emadi N. · Sensors · Qatar

Design, construction and testing of an automated indoor vertical hydroponic system able to grow common food crops inside homes in limited space independent of outdoor climate, with an open IoT platform for remote monitoring and display of system parameters.

Lobillo-Eguíbar J., Fernández-Cabanás V.M., Bermejo L.A., Pérez-Urrestarazu L. · Agronomy · Spain

Two small-scale aquaponic systems, self-built from cheap and easy-to-obtain materials based on FAO models, were monitored for a year to assess their economic sustainability for self-production.

· Plant Physiology Reports · India

Evaluates chilli, okra and tomato under a low-cost wick irrigation method versus conventional irrigation, reporting improved growth, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and chlorophyll content.

· Cogent Economics & Finance · Ethiopia

Analyses how small-scale irrigation technology affects women's empowerment, including control over household resources, income and decision-making.