Research & reports

Clive L. Spash, Andreas Exner, Stephanie Arzberger, Livia Cepoiu, Carla Weinzierl · WU Research · Europe

A study analyzing how edible city initiatives emerge, who creates, supports or impedes them, and how they develop, focusing on the relationships between city administration/government actors and civil society. Based on interviews with city administration, government and civil society actors and case comparisons drawing on media reports from Austria, Germany and France, it found that unlike community gardens, the City of Vienna does not yet substantially support the edible city idea. It concludes that edible city initiatives emerging from joint activity between city administrations/governments and civil society actors have the greatest potential to foster civic action and collective empowerment.

Concepción Santiago Cubas, Concepción Paredes Gil · Modern Environmental Science and Engineering · Spain

A study on Gran Canaria, Spain co-composted municipal and agricultural plant residues with three manure types — chicken, goat and cow — in an open dynamic windrow system of three trapezoidal piles (1.5 m high, 2.5 m wide, 16 m long), mixed at 37.6% straw, 32.7% manure and 29.7% pruning residue by fresh weight. Temperature, humidity and physico-chemical parameters were tracked through the process. All three piles reached the sanitation threshold required by regulation (≥60°C for at least 7 days) and produced compost suitable for agricultural use.

Monika Egerer · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Germany

Researchers documented Lasioglossum limbellum, a bee species not previously recorded in the Berlin, Germany region, in a community garden built on concrete slabs and planted with annual and perennial vegetation. The species nests in cavities in soft rock cliffs, a habitat that does not functionally exist in urban areas, making its presence in the garden notable; the report presents the discovery as a basis for further research on wild-bee diversity and distribution changes in urban areas.

Lucia Masón, Lucia Manzione, Angelica Ronconi, Francesca Pazzaglia · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Europe

A within-subjects study of 65 second- and third-grade students in Europe compared a single regular lesson taught in a green school garden with a similar lesson taught in the classroom. Cognitive measures were selective and sustained attention and math calculation performance; affective measures were positive/negative mood and perceived environmental restorativeness. After the green-space lesson, children showed greater selective attention and better math calculation performance on two tasks than after the classroom lesson. Children with higher self-reported emotional difficulties showed a larger increase in selective attention, a statistically significant increase in positive affect, and a near-significant decrease in negative affect. Students also rated the green space as more restorative than the classroom.

Christopher Young, Nicole Bauer · Urban forestry & urban greening · Europe

This mixed-methods study examined the experience and effects of allotment garden loss among gardeners in Zurich, Switzerland, using field conversations with gardeners from an area slated for clearance and a natural experiment surveying the same gardener population before (2018) and after (2019) the clearance to measure effects on social networks, social support, and general and mental health. Qualitative analysis showed the (imminent) loss of the garden was a distressing experience for most participants, corroborated by descriptive survey results; ANCOVA models of the quantitative data supported a negative effect of garden loss on the number of social contacts and on emotional well-being, but not on other factors measured.

Kübra ÇAKMAK, Aykut Emre Bozdoğan · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Turkey

A mixed-methods study of 24 fifth-grade students at a public school in Sivas, Turkey, during the spring 2020-2021 term, examining a "lamp brightness" activity conducted in the school garden as part of the "Electrical and Circuit Elements" unit. Using a dependent t-test for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data, the study found the activity significantly increased academic achievement in the "Physical Phenomena" learning area and significantly reduced students' science anxiety; interviews indicated students enjoyed the lessons and understood the material better.

Ghozlane Fleury‐Bahi, Jean‐Michel Galharret, Colin Lemèe, Inga Wittenberg, Pablo Olivos, Ana Loureiro, Yvette Jeuken, Pauline Laïlle, Óscar Navarro · Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being · Europe

A survey of 1,343 residents across seven European cities, combined with satellite-imagery indicators of the objective quantity of urban natural space, examined how the amount and perception of nearby nature relate to well-being, moderated by respondents' connectedness to nature. Regression models linked well-being to perceived amount of nature, accessibility to a community garden, and level of connectedness to nature, and found perception of nature to be a better predictor of well-being than the objective satellite-based measure; connectedness to nature had a moderating and negative effect on the association between perceived quantity of nature and well-being, meaning the link between perceived nature and well-being weakened as connectedness to nature increased.

Luís Loures, Ana Pereira, Rui Alexandre Castanho · WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT · Europe

Using urban agriculture in Porto (Oporto), Portugal, as a guiding case study, this article works to recover and re-establish a continuous productive urban landscape. It expands existing urban planning policy and proposes new policy for protecting and inserting this continuous productive landscape into urban design while accounting for the urban/agricultural dichotomy and its processes, flows, and systems. Drawing on research focused on recovering Oporto's ancient rural ring, the article defines urban agriculture as a method for reliably integrating it into urban space planning, concluding with a newly defined urban farming network for Oporto that connects rural areas within the city to rural areas outside it.

Eugenio Antonio Climent López, Raúl Lardiés Bosque, Samuel Esteban Rodríguez · Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles · Spain

Since the 2008 crisis, alternative economic practices to the dominant system have proliferated, especially in urban areas where new social movements have taken stronger root. This study examines Zaragoza, Spain, governed in the previous legislative term by a new-left coalition, one of the so-called "councils of change." It selected practices operating at the local scale through unconventional procedures: community urban gardens, agroecological consumption markets and groups, community currencies (time banks, barter markets, and social currency), and self-managed social centers. A qualitative methodology combined semi-structured interviews with closed questionnaires and participant observation. These practices were found dispersed across the urban space and linked to urban social movements and local politics. The study concludes that their impact is limited in quantitative terms, but that they hold broad transformative potential owing to the characteristics of their practitioners and the support of local administration.

Per-Anders Langendahl, Maria Tunberg, Suvi Kokko · · Europe

Smart urban agriculture — food produced in closed, controlled and digitally augmented environments such as vertical farms, plant factories and aquaponics systems — is found in cities worldwide and is said to produce fresh food year-round using fewer chemicals and fewer food miles. However, critiques of smart urban agriculture note it is a marginal activity that often produces food with low nutritional value and requires energy-intensive artificial lighting. Using qualitative research methods, this report examines the development of smart urban agriculture in Sweden, identifying experimental and entrepreneurial initiatives and analyzing them in relation to high-level policy agendas such as food policy, smart cities and digitalisation. The findings show Swedish smart urban agriculture broadly consists of technology-oriented entrepreneurial start-ups and experimental initiatives split into production-oriented (mainly herbs and leafy greens), community-oriented (prioritizing social benefits), and technology-oriented (developing and supplying digital solutions and services) types. However, product output was limited to a small variety of financially high-margin crops sold at premium prices. In relation to high-level strategic agendas, smart (urban) agriculture is recognized for environmental and social benefits such as mitigating flooding.

Michael Hardman, Andrew Clark, Graeme Sherriff · Agronomy · United Kingdom

Using a qualitative approach across the UK's largest urban farm and a range of other urban agriculture (UA) sites, this study examined the barriers to upscaling city farming. Evidence pointed to urban soil contamination and hesitation about growing crops in cities as a core issue preventing UA from scaling up, alongside public hesitancy and financial barriers, despite the practice's potential social, environmental and economic value through job creation, biodiversity enhancement and shorter food supply chains. The paper concludes that public hesitation, financial barriers and soil quality prevent development, and calls for a more pragmatic approach to these barriers.

Ezgi Duman, Beyza Şat · Journal of Design Studio · Turkey

A case study examining urban agriculture potential in Ataköy, Bakırköy, Istanbul, against the backdrop of Istanbul receiving 42.5% of Turkey's internal migration in 2019 according to TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute). Using literature review together with feasibility and field studies based on the R-URBAN strategy, the study examines idle industrial areas and vacant lots in Ataköy for urban agriculture potential, and develops a scenario and implementation model for the area.

Isabel Müller, Karina Pallagst, Patricia Hammer · Ra Ximhai · Germany

A case study of Kölner Neuland e.V., an urban gardening project that revitalized part of a 44,000 m² former industrial brownfield in Cologne's Bayenthal district, Germany, framed as a "Green Innovation Area." Based on a literature review and an expert interview, the study examines the project's history, financial aspects, marketing measures, and goals, then assesses its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It reports the project is evaluated "quite positively" overall, while also noting that some aspects show a need for action, and it formulates recommendations in the areas of financing, public perception and management/control for future development of the project and similar brownfield-revitalization efforts.

Emanuele Sommariva, Nicola Canessa, Giorgia Tucci · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Europe

An article links the role of ecosystem services to growing research and development funding attention to green infrastructure and urban greening strategies, positioning ecosystem services as a new parameter for assessing urban green infrastructure and re-naturalization processes that counteract climate-change effects such as flooding and heat islands while promoting conservation, resilience, and biodiversity of natural habitats. It identifies urban agriculture and community gardens as playing an important role in securing socio-ecological benefits at the local level and promoting access to healthy, "Zero Km" food sources. Drawing on the European project Creative Food Cycles, the article outlines ideas for circularity and recycling of waste across the food chain.

Rafael Bláquez Madrid, Ricardo Martín de Almagro, José Mora Jordano, Ángel Lora González, Encarnación Taguas Ruiz · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Barcelona)

This entry records a paper on territorial stewardship strategies through urban gardens, presenting descriptive indicators meant to extrapolate the experience of IMGEMA (Córdoba's municipal environmental management body) in Córdoba, Spain, published in Cuadernos de Ordenación del Territorio, No. 5, 2022, by authors Rafael Bláquez Madrid, Ricardo Martín de Almagro, José Mora Jordano, Ángel Lora González, and Encarnación Taguas Ruiz. Only this bibliographic information is available; the record contains no description of methods or findings.

Danielle Purkiss, Ayşe Lisa Allison, Fabiana Lorencatto, Susan Michie, Mark Miodownik · Frontiers in Sustainability · United Kingdom

A citizen-science study invited 9,701 UK residents to test how biodegradable and compostable plastics actually degrade in home composting. Many items, including certified products, failed to fully break down; 60% of TUV OK Compost Home-certified items were still clearly visible afterward. The authors conclude home composting is not an effective or environmentally beneficial disposal method for these materials in the UK.

Jan Eelco Jansma, Sigrid C. O. Wertheim-Heck · Land Use Policy · Netherlands

A paper (Land Use Policy, vol. 117, 2022, article 106104) analysing the peri-urban development of Oosterwold in Almere, the Netherlands, where 51% of the planning area is allocated to agriculture and left to residents' self-organisation. It classifies Northwest European peri-urban agriculture into three types and examines how new residents shaped the planning process, finding that agricultural practice in Oosterwold developed toward 'hobby garden farming'.

Isabelle Anguelovski, James J. T. Connolly, Helen Cole, Melissa Garcia-Lamarca, Margarita Triguero-Mas, Francesc Baró, Nicholas Martin, David Conesa, Galia Shokry, Carmen Pérez del Pulgar, Lucia Argüelles Ramos, Austin Matheney, Elsa Gallez, Emilia Oscilowicz, Jésua López Máñez, Blanca Sarzo, Miguel Angel Beltrán, Joaquin Martinez Minaya · Nature Communications · Europe and North America (28 cities)

A 2022 test of the green gentrification hypothesis across 28 cities in 9 countries in North America and Europe, using a spatially weighted Bayesian model, in response to the limited quantitative evidence on the temporal relationship between new greenspaces and gentrification across whole cities. The study found a strong positive and relevant relationship lasting at least a decade between greening in the 1990s–2000s and gentrification occurring between 2000 and 2016 in 17 of the 28 cities — which also means no such relationship was established in the remaining 11, so greening does not invariably produce gentrification. The analysis further determines whether greening played a 'lead', 'integrated' or 'subsidiary' role in explaining gentrification. It supplies cross-city quantitative backing for the argument that new green infrastructure, including greenspace and community gardens, can create social and racial inequalities in access to the benefits of greenspace; the sample is confined to North America and Europe.

Scarano A., Semeraro T., Chieppa M., Santino A. · Horticulturae · Italy

Review of neglected and underutilized plant species from the Apulia region of southern Italy, highlighting their adaptive, nutritional, and economic potential and the case for re-including them in the daily diet.

Sinesio F., Cammareri M., Cottet V., Fontanet L., Jost M., Moneta E., Palombieri S., Peparaio M., Romero del Castillo R., Saggia Civitelli E., Spigno P., Vitiello A., Navez B., Casals J., Causse M., Granell A., Grandillo S. · Foods 10(11):2521 · Europe

Assessed traditional and modern tomato varieties in France, Spain, and Italy at physicochemical, trained-panel, and consumer levels. Multi-level approach revealed how sensory traits drive perceived quality across regionally familiar cultivars.

Ferrer Valverde M.A., Sánchez-Palomo E., Osorio Alises M., Chaya Romero C., González-Viñas M.A. · Foods 10(8):1683 · Spain

Characterized the traditional Trujillo melon from La Mancha, Spain, over three harvests, identifying 55 volatile compounds. Sensory profile featured jam, cucumber, sweet, and honey aromas, documenting quality of a regional heirloom melon.

Rosa-Martínez E., Adalid A.M., Alvarado L.E., Burguet R., García-Martínez M.D., Pereira-Dias L., Casanova C., Soler E., Figàs M.R., Plazas M., Prohens J., Soler S. · Frontiers in Plant Science 12:633957 · Spain

Evaluated 44 Mediterranean 'de penjar' long shelf-life tomato varieties under two nitrogen levels. Local varieties exceeded commercial ones in sweetness-to-acidity ratio and vitamin C, with lycopene varying over four-fold, supporting low-input breeding.

Martínez-Ispizua E., Martínez-Cuenca M.-R., Marsal J.I., Díez M.J., Soler S., Valcárcel J.V., Calatayud Á. · Molecules 26(4):1031 · Spain

Evaluated bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of Valencian pepper landraces relative to commercial types. Landraces displayed rich diversity in nutritional and functional compounds, reinforcing the value of regional Capsicum genetic resources.

Ludwig B. · Sustainability (MDPI) · Germany

Analyzes the significance of green-space design in early modernist housing estates (1919–1927) in then-German Lower Silesia, addressing urban layout, public/private greenery systems including gardens, and protection of valued trees from natural, landscape, and social perspectives.

Störtkuhl B. · Architectus, No. 3(67), pp. 25–37 · Germany

Studies how the self-build Reichsheimstätten, originating as a late-Weimar crisis measure, became central to Nazi housing policy aimed at 're-rooting' the population in German soil, using Breslau as a case study.