Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
5821 results(228 / 233)
Urban Youth Engagement with Community Gardening Initiatives in South African Cities: A Mixed Methods Impact Study on Empowerment Levels
2002Mpho Tshepiso Khumalo, Nomsie Makhubela · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · South Africa
This mixed-methods study investigated urban youth engagement in community gardening initiatives in six South African cities, using surveys, ethnographic observations, structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. Participants reported a significant 34% increase in self-reported empowerment levels after engaging in these initiatives. The findings suggest community gardens can be effective for youth empowerment, but further research on long-term effects and scalability is needed.
CommunityFood educationWelfarePolicyProblem and Corresponding Countermeasure of the Pest and Disease Control at Garden Plants in Kunming Communities
2002Chen You · Forestry Science and Technology · China (Kunming)
This paper investigated the harm caused by important pests and endangered hosts on garden plants in Kunming communities, China. It identified that the low level of pest and disease control is due to an unsound forecast system, an unreasonable management system, and a shortage of knowledge among working personnel. Corresponding countermeasures proposed include establishing a sound forecast system, changing the current management system, and improving the knowledge of working personnel.
Governance failureCommunityOrganic cycleAssessing food security in the Monteverde Zone: a multi-method approach
2002Jennifer Andia, Emilie Davis, Rebecca Klein, Elisabeth Wirsing · Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) · Costa Rica
A multi-method study assessed food security and perceptions of nutrition in the Monteverde Zone, Costa Rica, using anthropometric assessment, semi-structured interviews with mothers, 67 Radimer/Cornell Scales, and a focus group. Food insecurity, particularly Adult Food Insecurity, was prevalent across all communities. Despite high nutritional knowledge, a lack of quality nutrition was observed due to economic limitations. The focus group positively received the idea of a community garden as a solution for better quality and more affordable produce.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsAfter Seattle
2002Jonathan Rutherford · The Review of Education Pedagogy & Cultural Studies · United Kingdom (London)
This record describes demonstrations in Parliament Square, London, on May Day 2000. Reclaim the Streets organized a Guerrilla Gardening spectacle, digging up the lawn in the center of the Square and planting in protest against capitalism.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceImpact of Community Gardening on Urban Nutrition Security in Cape Town Slums: A Replication Study
2002Sipho Maseko · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · South Africa (Cape Town)
To evaluate the impact of community gardening on urban nutrition security in Cape Town slums, a mixed-methods study was conducted over two years. Data collected through surveys and interviews revealed a statistically significant increase in dietary diversity (p < 0.05) among community gardeners compared to a control group. This study confirmed the positive impact of community gardening on urban nutrition security and diet quality in Cape Town slums.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceMmakolwane J. Maswikaneng, M Tech Student Wim Van Averbeke, Professor
2002E. Albertse, Technikon Pretoria · · South Africa (Atteridgeville)
This article identifies and defines three extension domains among urban farmers in the informal settlements of Atteridgeville, South Africa: home gardeners, community-project gardeners, and users of open urban spaces. A survey (n=120) with face-to-face interviews, structured interview schedules, semi-structured interviews, and observations gathered information on farming space, crops, resources, and socio-economic characteristics. The study concludes by calling for greater government and public extension involvement in urban agriculture in the area, identifying specific constraints for each domain.
CommunityWelfarePolicyEconomics"No House Building without Garden Building!" ("Kein Hausbau ohne Landbau!"): The Modern Landscapes of Leberecht Migge
2001Haney D. H. · Journal of Architectural Education, 54(3), 149-157 · Germany
Examines Migge's designs for Weimar-era Siedlungen of small flats and row houses with adjacent garden plots, arguing that landscape was central to competing visions of interwar modernity and that productive gardens were integral to modern housing.
CommunityEconomicsOrganic cyclePeople, Land and Sustainability: Community Gardens and the Social Dimension of Sustainable Development
2001John Ferris, Carol Norman, Joe Sempik · Social Policy and Administration · USA
This article reports on research and experience from the USA regarding community gardens and their role in the social dimension of sustainable development. It explores how the use of urban green spaces for gardens links to health, education, community development, and food security. The article concludes that using urban open spaces for parks and gardens is closely associated with environmental justice and equity.
CommunityHealthFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareUrban agriculture, gender and empowerment: An alternative view
2001Rachel Slater · Development Southern Africa · South Africa
This study examined urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town, South Africa, focusing on its contribution to low-income households. It found that UA's contribution to income generation and expenditure substitution is limited. However, UA is important to women in low-income households in ways less directly related to monetary gain, being used for empowerment, establishing social networks, symbolizing a sense of security, and encouraging community development.
Limited or null effectWelfareCommunityPolicyEconomicsExperience of World Vision Ethiopia Micronutrient Program in Promoting the Production of Vitamin A–Rich Foods
2001Haile Meskel Balcha · Food and Nutrition Bulletin · Ethiopia
World Vision Ethiopia launched a Micronutrient Program in October 1998 to improve the micronutrient status of mothers and children, promoting vitamin A–rich food production. By 1999, 11,708 backyard gardens, 275 school gardens, and 77 community gardens were developed, contributing to household food security and income. The program found that vitamin A–rich vegetable production was well accepted, sustainable, and cost-effective, but faced challenges with the availability and cost of imported seeds.
Food educationWelfareCommunityHealthTurning municipal waste into compost: the case of Accra.
2001I. Etuah-Jackson, W. P. Klaassen, J. A. Awuye · CABI Publishing eBooks · Ghana (Accra)
This paper reports on solid waste management in Accra, Ghana, examining the experiences of two compost plants, Teshie-Nungua and Ashiedu Keteke (AKCPP), with urban waste composting. It also describes the urban farming systems in Accra and identifies current and potential users of the produced compost.
CompostOrganic cycleCommunityUrban horticulture on the verge of a new century Insights of the International Symposium on Plant Health in Urban Horticulture held in Braunschweig, Germany, from May 22 to May 25, 2000
2001G. F. Backhaus, H. Balder · Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (Julius Kühn-Institut) · Germany
The International Symposium on Plant Health in Urban Horticulture, held in Braunschweig, Germany, from May 22 to 25, 2000, served as a platform to discuss deficits in the care and development of urban greenery and propose integrated concepts. Urban horticulture comprises diverse elements characterizing urban life, but many stress factors damage these components, and integrated concepts for maintaining and preserving urban green areas are lacking. The symposium aimed to jointly prepare future needs for action for the health preservation of urban green at an international level.
CommunityHealthPeri-urban agricultureBridging the Gap: Connecting School and Community with Service Learning
2001Sarah Edwards · The English Journal · United States
This article describes how the author's eighth-grade language arts inquiry-based instruction evolved into student-based community learning. Students brought the community to school with an art exhibit on tolerance, volunteered at a nearby elementary school, created community gardens to fulfill a neighborhood need, and established a new desert habitat community park, connecting the school and neighborhood.
CommunityFood educationSchool Gardens: Raising Environmental Awareness in Children.
2001Shira Brynjegard · Dominican Scholar (Dominican University of California) · United States
This study explored the reasons for gardens and natural spaces on school campuses and their effects on students. Blending case studies, observational data, and personal experience, it discussed the impacts of a garden on participating students, using the balance of administrative, teacher, parent, and student involvement to determine lasting effects on student attitudes toward environmental concerns. Evidence of increased environmental awareness in students was discussed.
Food educationCommunityDIFFERENTIATING MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF GARDEN AND COMMUNITY
2001Hilda E. Kurtz · Urban Geography · United States (Minneapolis)
This paper examines the variations among community gardens in Minneapolis, Minnesota, suggesting they reflect differing interpretations of "community" and "garden" in urban settings. While community gardens are seen as responses to urban decay, the study highlights that issues of enclosure, inclusion, and exclusion are central to their function. Decisions regarding garden enclosure shape their role in urban neighborhoods, indicating potential limitations related to equity.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyGeographies of social activism: Women, democracy, and change in an urban community garden
2001Huei-Hsuan Lin · Syracuse University Libraries (Syracuse University) · United States
This three-year qualitative study of an urban community garden in a mid-size city in upstate New York, United States, examined how women community gardeners perceive their participation. It found that the community garden, intended as a space for social change, paradoxically became a site of internal struggles among participants. Emancipatory efforts to build a less unequal society did not automatically result in an egalitarian space, as the process of community building by individuals with various social positions required arduous efforts and involved negotiation and confrontations, rather than simple unity.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicySpectrophotometric determination of lead in the soil of allotment gardens in Lodz
2001B. Jankiewicz, B. Ptaszyński, Michael Wieczorek · Polish Journal of Environmental Studies · Poland (Lodz)
This study presents the results of lead determination in the soils of six allotment gardens located in various parts of Lodz. Lead was measured spectrophotometrically in the form of pink lead(II) dithizonate.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunity미국과 일본의 CSA운동의 등장, 유형 및 활동사례
2001정진영, 손상목, 김영호 · 한국유기농업학회지 · United States; Japan
This paper studied the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement in the USA and Europe to provide ideas for establishing and promoting CSA in Korea to support organic agriculture. In a CSA system, farmers grow food for a group of shareholders who pledge to buy a portion of the farm's crop for the season. This arrangement provides growers with upfront cash and higher prices by eliminating middlemen. CSA shareholders expect organic farming to protect the environment, maintain soil fertility, preserve diversity, recycle resources, maintain organic food integrity, and develop new technologies considering long-range social and ecological impacts.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsUrban Agriculture in Mwanza, Tanzania
2001Karen Flynn · Africa · Tanzania
This article compares urban farmers in Mwanza, Tanzania, with those in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. In Mwanza, urban agriculturalists are increasingly not among the poorest, often being middle and upper-class males with access to scarce land and inputs, similar to Ghana. They differ from farmers in Kenya and Zambia in terms of gender, socio-economic class, and motivations. Many of Mwanza's wealthier males continue to face enough job/income insecurity to choose to plant crops to support themselves and their household in lean times.
EconomicsCommunityUrban–rural linkageWelfareUrban harvest: cities, food, activism and the third sector
2001Robyn Lynn · ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) · Global
This paper highlights the significance of urban food production, which has been historically neglected despite its potential to address issues of globalization, urbanization, and environmental degradation. It explores the relationship between cities, food production, and activism, noting a growing local food movement that resists global food discourses. The paper aims to identify issues within urban food production activism and its organizational aspects.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changePolicyUrban agriculture, a project for Tunis
2001Moez Bouraoui, Pierre Donadieu, André Fleury · Cahiers Agricultures · Tunisia (Tunis)
In Tunis, the concept of public green spaces has not evolved much, and the risk of continuous urbanization is real, making agriculture not inherently sustainable between dynamic urbanization poles. However, new attitudes are emerging, with environmental concerns influencing public planning policies, and residential forms, recreational/cultural practices associated with agriculture, and new citizen interest in rural areas are appearing. These developments may signal the beginning of a new planning policy and the advent of urban agriculture in Tunis.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageCommunityTeaching and learning in the school garden
2001Elizabeth Lynn Waddell · CSUSB ScholarWorks (California State University, San Bernardino) · United States (California)
This project was developed to encourage educators to establish school site gardens. These gardens offer opportunities to introduce environmental topics and function as hands-on learning centers for various subjects.
Food educationCommunity发展都市农业 优化生存环境——兼谈对发展太原都市农业的认识
2001王雪梅 · 山西农经 · China (Taiyuan)
This paper discusses the "comprehensive urban diseases" resulting from urbanization, such as population concentration, traffic congestion, and environmental degradation, which threaten human health and well-being. It notes that as cities increasingly move away from nature, urban residents long for rural landscapes, prompting a call for green industries to return to cities. "Urban agriculture" has thus emerged in some large cities in China as a response to these challenges and a path towards sustainable urban development.
Urban–rural linkageClimate changeCommunityWie beeinflusst die persönliche Betroffenheit die Einstellung gegenüber Füchsen in der Stadt
2001Fabio Bontadina, Pascale Contesse, Sandra Gloor · DORA WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) · Switzerland (Zurich)
This study analyzed attitudes towards urban foxes in Switzerland using a nationwide survey and questionnaires for households and allotment gardeners in Zurich. While 60% of Swiss respondents were against urban foxes, only 40% in Zurich were; however, 70% of gardeners opposed them, with 55% reporting damage caused by foxes, which negatively correlated with fox acceptance.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityBiodiversity大力发展都市农业，加速农业现代化进程——珠海发展都市农业探析
2001黄大成 · 特区经济 · China (Zhuhai)
A favorable condition for urban agriculture development in Zhuhai City is the purchasing power of its citizens. According to expert analysis, the average annual income for Zhuhai city employees in 1997 was 12793 yuan (approximately 1505.05 USD), significantly exceeding the 500-800 USD per capita annual income considered the take-off period for tourism. A tourism bureau survey indicated that 29.44% of citizens were willing to spend under 100 yuan for a day trip, 43.51% between 100-200 yuan, and 14.11% between 200-300 yuan, which can meet the consumption demands of tourism and leisure-oriented urban agriculture projects targeting ordinary citizens.
EconomicsCommunityPolicy