Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
5543 results(221 / 222)
Options for municipal interventions in urban poverty alleviation
1995Emiel A. Wegelin, Karin M. Borgman · Environment and Urbanization · Global
This paper reviews the wide range of options available to municipalities in the Global South for alleviating or reducing poverty. These options include employment creation, improving low-income groups’ access to justice and protection from crime, and enhancing urban services such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, public transport, health care, and education. The paper also outlines how municipal action must encourage and support community-based organizations, NGOs, and the private sector, and how changes in regulatory frameworks for land management, urban agriculture, and housing can contribute to poverty alleviation.
WelfarePolicyEconomicsCommunityAn Improvement of Facilities and Management of Allotment Garden in an Urban Area
1995Rie Matsunaga, Hong Tae Lee, Isoya SHINJI · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan
This study aimed to gather ideas about desirable physical characteristics and management of allotment gardens in an urban area. Standardized questionnaires were mailed to 660 subjects, with 345 responses received. The results clarified current user attributes and usage situations, proposing future improvements regarding traffic means, distance, contract terms, use size, cultivation guidance, facilities or equipment, use charge, and services for urban allotment gardens.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsA Study on the Needs for Allotment Gardens in Sendai
1995Hiroshi Suda, Tetsuaki Kusunoki, Yoshiyuki Tokunaga · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan (Sendai)
This paper analyzed the needs for allotment gardens among citizens of Sendai using a questionnaire and quantification method. The needs were categorized into three types: simply type, enrich type, and middle type. It also discussed differences in citizen awareness of allotment gardens between local cities and metropolitan areas, proposing policies for providing allotment gardens in local cities.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageCOMMUNICATING COMPOSTING TO THE PUBLIC.
1995Sandra A. Balch, D. L. Auld · HortScience · Global
This article discusses methods for communicating composting information to the public, noting that many potential composters lack expertise, information, and support. It finds that hands-on instruction and active involvement in ongoing programs, as well as integration into established programs like community gardens, are effective methods for conveying composting information.
CompostFood educationCommunityA City of Farmers: Informal Urban Agriculture on the Open Spaces of Nairobi, Kenya
1994P. Anyang’ Nyong’o, Donald B. Freeman · Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines · Kenya
This study by Donald Freeman examined informal urban agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya, through on-site surveys of 618 small-scale cultivators in ten different areas. It describes urban farmers, their land use practices, and crops, and discusses the development and significance of urban agriculture within Kenya's social and economic development. The findings suggest a need to redefine urban productive activities in the Third World to include basic food production in cities.
CommunityEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceRutgers Urban Gardening: A Study in Cultural Diversity and Gardening
1994Ishwarbhai C. Patel · HortTechnology · United States
The Rutgers Urban Gardening (RUG) program in the United States fosters cultural diversity by employing six ethnic minority workers and reaching over 30 ethnic groups through various educational programs. It creates an environment where people can connect, share concerns, and solve problems, bridging social, economic, cultural, and racial barriers.
CommunityFood educationWelfareInstitutional responses to uncontrolled urban cultivation in Harare: prohibitive or accommodative?
1994Beacon Mbiba · Environment and Urbanization · Zimbabwe (Harare)
This review examines local government responses to uncontrolled urban cultivation in Harare, Zimbabwe, covering both the colonial period and post-independence since 1980. The study finds that local authorities struggle to manage urban agriculture effectively and sustainably. It suggests new directions for policy and research to address these difficulties.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityUrban agriculture in Kampala: Indigenous adaptive response to the economic crisis
1993Daniel Maxwell, Samuel Zziwa · Ecology of Food and Nutrition · Uganda (Kampala)
This study examines urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda, as an adaptive response to economic hardships. It identifies significant constraints, including institutional obstacles to accessing underutilized urban land, municipal bylaws that suppress urban agriculture, and urban officials' indifferent to hostile views. The study found that these bylaws and views are based on misleading or false generalizations about urban agriculture.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityFurther Report on the Surrey Docks City Farm in London, England
1993Joyce Anstey · Environmental Conservation · United Kingdom (London)
An abstract is not available for this content.
CommunityFood educationRecognizing Ethiopia's urban farmers.
1993Lee M · PubMed · Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, urban agriculture faces significant challenges due to government disapproval of public land use for farming and difficulty in obtaining credit. A 1983 survey in Addis Ababa found that 17% of 1352 households produced their own food on less than 25 sq. meters, with 90% of non-farmers citing lack of land. Despite urban agricultural cooperatives demonstrating 70% higher member income, their lack of government legalization prevents access to loans for productivity improvement.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceHealthWelfareClimate changeUrban–rural linkagePeri-urban agricultureFood educationBiodiversityCompostDIYElderlyFood lossHeirloom & landraceOrganic cyclePollinatorsFood miles & supply chainCSA & TeikeiDigital agricultureUrban irrigation and cooperative organisations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1993Axumite G. Egziabher · Digital Library Of The Commons Repository (Indiana University) · Ethiopia
This paper summarized the character and role of urban agriculture in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the organization of producers for whom urban agriculture is the sole means of survival. While urban agriculture contributes to food provision, employment, and income for producers, cooperatives face the challenge that concerned authorities cannot grant them legal status for credit access due to their urban location.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban agriculture for sustainable cities: using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources
1992Jac Smit, Joe Nasr · Environment and Urbanization · Global
This article describes how urban agriculture can transform cities from mere consumers of food and agricultural products into sustainable generators of these products. It focuses on using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources to achieve resource conservation and health improvement.
CommunityOrganic cycleClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceLAND USE AND TRAVEL DEMAND
1992James W. Roberts, C Wood · · Global
This paper proposes a three-way study for 1992, building on previous case studies in Milton Keynes (UK) and Almere (NL) that noted substantial differences in travel behavior due to land use. The proposed study would cover Manchester, Berlin, and a low-density, car-dependent suburb in Melbourne, examining travel habits under diverse demographic and land use conditions. It suggests potential changes in travel modes and trip lengths following planned urban structural alterations, such as reduced car space in Manchester, S-Bahn and airport extensions in Berlin, and light rail near Melbourne.
PolicyCommunityTurning sunshine into water: PV water pumping in South Africa
1992Richard Gosnell Richard Gosnell · Waterlines · South Africa
This study assesses the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) pump installed at Sondela Community Garden in South Africa. The garden is a vegetable garden managed by 46 Zulu women in a semi-rural area. The research investigates whether solar-electric water pumping can provide water supplies in a region with abundant sunshine but limited water resources.
CommunityPeri-urban agricultureClimate changeCity and Country: That Awkward Embrace
1991John M. Merriman · Oxford University Press eBooks · France
This chapter emphasizes the “awkward embrace” between city and country in the faubourg and the persistence of an urban agricultural population. It also considers how the troubled relationship between state and city affected the urban periphery and provides an overview of industry's role in faubourg development. To understand the urban periphery in France during the first half of the nineteenth century, it explores the state-city relationship (reflected in town walls), the persistence of rural life at the edge of and within cities, and industry's place in the emergence of the nineteenth-century faubourg.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyCommunityChapter 7: Urban Gardens
1991David R. Coffin · Princeton University Press eBooks · Italy (Rome)
This chapter, authored by David R. Coffin, explores urban gardens in Papal Rome. It contrasts these secular urban horticultural retreats with the cloistered gardens of monks.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageThe Meaning of Gardens: Idea, Place, and Action
1990Mark Francis, Randolph T. Hester · · United States
This publication is a collection of essays exploring the multifaceted meanings of gardens. It examines gardens through the lenses of metaphor, power, ordering, cultural expression, personal expression, and healing. Each section features various authors discussing how gardens relate to faith, social structures, design, community, individual experience, and well-being.
CommunityUrban–rural linkage‘Three's a crowd’: knowledge, ignorance and power in the context of urban agriculture in Rwanda
1989Johan Pottier · Africa · Rwanda
This article explores the themes of knowledge, ignorance, and power in the context of a Rwandan development project, demonstrating how ignorance is generated through agricultural extension. It argues that agronomic services rely on power structures reminiscent of social inequality, and assesses whether the project-induced creation of ignorance leads to the displacement of local knowledge and the adoption of new methods.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Agriculture: Research Questions and Zambian Evidence
1988Rakodi C. · The Journal of Modern African Studies · Zambia (Lusaka)
A field-based study of Zambian urban settlements in the 1970s-1980s, finding that urban cultivation serves as a vital survival strategy for low-income households and warrants integration into urban development planning.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyHealthL'agriculture dans la ville : l'exemple de Bangui
1988François Villien · Cahiers d Outre-Mer · Central African Republic (Bangui)
Bangui, Central African Republic, exhibits significant inter-urban agricultural activity, reflecting population poverty. This agriculture is categorized as "inter-domain," practiced within concessions near houses, or "extra-domain," conducted outside family domains. Inter-domain agriculture includes small "jardin de case" (hut gardens) for diverse foodstuffs and larger "champ de case" (hut fields) for single crops like manioc, now also serving as income sources. Extra-domain agriculture utilizes empty land in peripheral districts for food, income, or temporary pioneer front crops, sometimes becoming permanent and hindering urban expansion. Urban agriculture is considered essential for the survival of many family units and for integrating the city into its food supply space.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsCommunity gardens as food producing units∗
1988C J van Vuuren · Development Southern Africa · South Africa
This article discusses the nature and functioning of community gardens in Ciskei, KwaZulu, and KwaNdebele, South Africa. It found that these community gardens are indigenous, acceptable to the local people, and are actively producing food, also demonstrating significant local expertise that should be recognized and developed by agencies. The article argues that these units have often been neglected by agricultural officers.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsEvaluation on Urban Agricultural Land from Residents' Views in Urban Fringe Area
1988Chiaki Negoro, Atsushi Tunekawa · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan
This paper examines the public perception of urban agricultural land as valuable open space in urban fringe areas. The study found that urban agricultural lands are considered valuable "green" spaces, with orchards (mainly persimmon trees) and farms being particularly highly evaluated. These positive perceptions were observed in both agricultural and nearby residential areas.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityEconomicsBestimmung des Gehaltes ausgewählter Lebensmittel an Blei, Cadmium, Kupfer, Zink und Eisen
1988M. Krelowska‐Kulas · Food / Nahrung · Poland (Kraków)
An investigation using atomic absorption spectroscopy in Kraków, Poland, found that vegetables from urban allotment gardens had average levels of lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, and iron several times higher than control samples from farms 100 km away. In some cases, maximum levels of certain elements approached the admissible limit. However, average levels of lead and cadmium in pigs and cattle showed no reason for objection.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityHorticultural activities and demographic factors influence childrens's self-esteem
1987Williams, Patrick Neal. · K-State Research Exchange (Kansas State University) · United States (Manhattan, Kansas)
A five-month study of children gardening in the Manhattan Community Garden, Manhattan, Kansas, investigated differences in self-esteem, horticultural knowledge, and garden quality. Children without other siblings gardening showed higher self-esteem, gained more horticultural knowledge, and had better appearing gardens than children with other siblings gardening.
Food educationCommunityHealthA Comparative Study on the Types of Community Farms by Urban Residents
1987Yuzo Uchida · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan
This study aims to clarify the situation and types of community farms in Japan, their usage patterns, and their impact on the lives of urban residents. It notes the strong demand for community farms for cultivating vegetables and flowers among urban residents. Various types of community farms exist, including allotment gardens, Japanese Kleingartens, self-supplying community farms, and full-scale orchards in the countryside.
CommunityEconomicsHealth