Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1022 results(23 / 41)
The former urban school gardens
2019Joanna Dudek-Klimiuk · Technical Transactions · Poland
This study examined the "central school gardens" established in interwar Poland for students of all schools in a given city. These gardens were primarily demonstration gardens, modeled after university botanic gardens, and were characterized by their relatively large scale, public access, and park-like nature. Their layout, architectural details, and plant selection reflected not only their didactic function but also contemporary fashion and design standards for gardens and parks.
Food educationCommunityA social network linking rural and peri-urban agricultural production to the city of Rome: A case study
2019Sabrina Giuca, Simonetta De Leo · ECONOMIA AGRO-ALIMENTARE · Italy (Rome)
This study investigated the role of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) using the "Kalulu" network, a web platform operating in the rural and peri-urban territory of the Metropolitan City of Rome, as a case study. Analysis revealed that this platform creates a local market recognizing fair and sustainable exchange value between producers and consumers. This commercialization model increases consumer awareness and responsibility regarding consumption choices while also ensuring the economic needs of small farmers.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageCommunityEconomicsMultitemporal Geospatial Evaluation of Urban Agriculture and (Non)-Sustainable Food Self-Provisioning in Milan, Italy
2019Giuseppe Pulighe, Flavio Lupia · Sustainability · Italy (Milan)
A spatiotemporal quantification of urban agriculture in Milan, Italy, assessed its food self-provisioning potential using Google Earth images from 2007 and 2014. The study found that even in the best-case scenario, the current urban agriculture production (98 ha of vegetable gardens, 2539 ha of arable land) is insufficient to meet the vegetable and cereal consumption needs of over 1.3 million city residents. It could only satisfy approximately 63,700 vegetable consumers and 321,000 cereal consumers.
Limited or null effectFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsInvestigating circular economy urban practices in centocelle, rome district
2019Francesca Cappellaro, Laura Cutaia, Carolina Innella, Claudia Meloni, R. Pentassuglia, Vincenzo Porretto · Environmental Engineering and Management Journal · Italy (Rome)
This paper presented several circular economy practices integrating circular strategies at an urban scale, focusing on the Centocelle district in Rome, Italy. Through the employment of smart solutions and a collaborative process involving citizens, circular economy urban practices such as community gardens, co-workings, local and km0 production systems, and recycling centers were identified. These practices achieved urban transformation in terms of regeneration, sharing economy experiences, resource optimization, and closed-loop systems, positively and actively influencing the urban community in supporting the transition towards circular economy models.
CommunityOrganic cycleFood miles & supply chainIs urban gardening a source of wellbeing and just freedom? A Capability Approach based analysis from the UK and Ireland
2019Alma Clavin · Manchester University Press eBooks · United Kingdom
A study using qualitative, visual methods and Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach in five community garden sites in the UK and Ireland examined their potential for human agency and ecological sustainability. While positive agency and wellbeing benefits were observed, the gardens were found to be limited in their ability to truly enhance political freedoms and overcome asymmetric power relations. The research indicates that these initiatives may perpetuate neoliberal forms of unsustainable and uneven development, alongside ongoing issues of tenure insecurity.
Equity & displacementCommunityHealthPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeMicroclimates of Urban Reproduction: The Limits of Automating Environmental Control
2019Andy Lockhart, Simon Marvin · Antipode · United Kingdom (Sheffield)
This article explored the phenomenon of automated environmental control, using three sites in Sheffield, UK: a botanical glasshouse, a luxury hotel, and a university plant growth research lab. The study identified technical and ecological tensions and limits of indoor environmental control at each site, which restrict the scope of automation. It also showed that maintaining desired conditions required considerable hidden labor and energy.
Limited or null effectDigital agricultureClimate changeSustainable Community Gardens Require Social Engagement and Training: A Users’ Needs Analysis in Europe
2019J. Ochoa, Esther Sanyé‐Mengual, Kathrin Specht, J.A. Fernández, S. Bañón, Francesco Orsini, F. Magrefi, Giovanni Giorgio Bazzocchi, Severin Halder, Doerte Martens, Noémi Kappel, Giorgio Gianquinto · Sustainability · Europe
A user needs analysis conducted in Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, and Cartagena, Europe, evaluated training requirements for participants in community gardens. The results revealed a need to reinforce training during the formation and community building phases of community gardens, particularly for top-down activities. Users expressed a need for training in crop management skills, such as maintenance and organic practices, and communication skills to disseminate their activities.
CommunityFood educationDIYKent Hakkı ve Katılımcılık Bağlamında Kendin Yap Kentleşme: Roma Bostanı Örneği
2019gökçe öcal · Journal of Planning · Turkey (Istanbul)
This study focuses on the Roma Garden, one of Istanbul's last remaining urban gardens, within the context of "DIY urbanism." In Istanbul, historical gardens are threatened by municipal policies favoring urban development, leading to the formation of "DIY" urban gardens on public land since 2013. These gardens operate without legal ties to the local state, and the destruction of urban public space over the last decade is noted as having paved the way for DIY public gardens as spaces of solidarity and shared knowledge.
Governance failureDIYCommunityPolicyBiodiversityHow Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities
2019Esther Sanyé‐Mengual, Kathrin Specht, Erofili Grapsa, Francesco Orsini, Giorgio Gianquinto · Sustainability · Europe
This study evaluated 11 urban agriculture case studies across Italy, Germany, France, and Spain to identify innovation triggers, characterize novelties, assess their innovativeness, and link them to sustainability. Researchers found 147 novelties, with more in environmental and social dimensions than economic, often originating from specific problems. The analysis suggests that innovativeness enhances overall sustainability in urban agriculture projects.
EconomicsPolicyCommunityClimate changeAgronomic and Environmental Assessment of a Polyculture Rooftop Soilless Urban Home Garden in a Mediterranean City
2019Anna Boneta, Martí Rufí-Salís, Mireia Ercilla‐Montserrat, Xavier Gabarrell, Joan Rieradevall · Frontiers in Plant Science · Spain (Barcelona)
This study analyzed an 18 m2 polyculture rooftop soilless urban home garden in Barcelona city center from 2015 to 2017 to estimate its degree of self-sufficiency and sustainability. A total productivity of 10.6 kg/m2/year was achieved, estimating that 5.3 m2 would be needed to fulfill the yearly vegetable requirements of an average citizen. While a high degree of self-sufficiency was achieved, fertilizers and their associated leachates accounted for the highest environmental impacts in all studied categories.
DIYClimate changeEconomicsUrban–rural linkagePolish Urban Allotment Gardens as ‘Slow City’ Enclaves
2019Robert Bartłomiejski, Maciej Kowalewski · Sustainability · Poland
This article discusses Polish urban allotment gardens (UAGs) as an alternative urban development framework, "Slow City." It notes that increasing problems of soil pollution, abandoned gardens, informal housing, and limitation of access to UAG green areas for other inhabitants reinforce the pressure to reduce the number of UAGs.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeFood for all?
2019Michael Hardman, Mags Adams, Melissa Barker, Luke Beesley · Manchester University Press eBooks · United Kingdom (Todmorden)
The Incredible Edible Todmorden (IET) movement in Todmorden, UK, was investigated using a qualitative approach. The scheme was found to have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the town, providing social, environmental, and economic benefits and contributing to a more just food movement through its "free for all" philosophy. However, negative aspects were also highlighted, including maintenance issues and a lack of perceived inclusivity in some parts.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceWassail! Reinventing ‘tradition’ in contemporary wassailing customs in southern England
2019Edward Wigley · Cultural Geographies · United Kingdom
This research investigated how the historic custom of orchard wassailing is reinvented in contemporary practices, including in community orchards, city farms, and public gardens, in southern England. Through in-depth interviews with organizers of local wassails, it was shown that wassailing, traditionally rural, is now popular in urban areas with little history of fruit farming. Organizers modify historical elements due to contemporary regulations or social attitudes, yet mobilize the notion of "tradition" to authenticate and reassert the local identity of the event, even when recently reinvented.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageAgriculture urbaine : jardiner hors de chez soi
2019Yvon Le, Paula Nahmías, Giulia Giacchè · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · France (Rennes)
This paper is a contribution to the inaugural issue of the journal "Palimpseste," which aims to highlight research conducted within the twenty-two research units of Rennes 2 University.
CommunityDIYThe development process and effects from the management of community gardens in two post-socialist cites: Bratislava and Poznań
2019Lucia Škamlová, Agnieszka Wilkaniec, Magdalena Szczepańska, Vladimír Bačík, Petra Hencelová · Urban forestry & urban greening · Europe
This research conducted a comparative analysis of community gardens in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Poznań, Poland, to understand their development and management in post-socialist urban environments. Extensive field research, including exploratory walks, participatory observation, and semi-structured interviews with community garden representatives, was used. The analysis revealed both similarities and differences in city-specific approaches to establishing, managing, and developing community gardens, concluding that a "copy-paste" management approach does not exist and practices vary by local context.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsl’Horta De València: Past and present dynamics in landscape change and planning
2019Carme Melo Escrihuela · International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning · Spain (Valencia)
The evolution in the preservation, management, and planning of l'Horta de València, a historical Mediterranean huerta in Valencia, Spain, was assessed. It is argued that negative changes and impacts in l'Horta are not simply the outcome of global dynamics but result from the region's planning trajectory and landscape management approach. This approach has been shaped by a lack of territorial and supra-municipal perspective and the primacy of culture, identity, and heritage aspects over the landscape's productive dimension.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageStrengthening social ties in vulnerable cities
2019Jean-Christophe Levassor · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · France
This study addresses social divisions in Le Pile, east Roubaix, France, where over 40% of residents live below the poverty line. It states that without proactive policies, social divisions will worsen, and initiatives like urban farming and zero waste will only have a limited effect beyond a small circle of insiders. La Condition Publique aims to recreate ties among various actors to support urban renovation and foster resilience in this deprived neighborhood.
Limited or null effectCommunityPolicyWelfarePaisaje de huertas periurbanas y ciudad: algunos ejemplos de Castilla y León
2019Juan Ignacio Plaza Gutiérrez, Daniel Herrero Luque, Marta Martínez Arnáiz, Eugenio Baraja Rodríguez · Cuadernos Geográficos · Spain
This article explores the singularity and diversity of peri-urban garden landscapes characterizing the surroundings of several cities in Castilla y León, Spain. The study analyzed the spatio-temporal evolution, landscape dimension, functional relationship with urban space, and the consideration of their protection, management, and maintenance in planning instruments. Results reveal the unequal persistence of traditional garden belts, their diverse types, and their uneven treatment in urban planning in the studied cases.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageBringing urban food supply closer to food consumption: opportunities for five European metropolitan regions
2019Guido Sali, Federica Monaco, Stefano Corsi, Chiara Mazzocchi · Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) · Europe
This paper adopts a territorial approach to analyze agro-food systems in five European metropolitan regions. The methodology aims to assess the capacities of urban and peri-urban agriculture to meet urban food demand and its economic role. Preliminary results are provided to inform regulations in the agro-food sector.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceIntroduction by the editors
2019Ian Siddons Heginworth, Gary Nash · · United Kingdom (London)
This introduction provides an overview of a book discussing an eighteen-week environmental arts therapy pilot group for adult mental health clients. The book explores themes related to hostile mothering and connections to nature, and considers trauma-informed environmental arts therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. It also describes the Community Outdoor Art Therapy Service (COATS) in London, which uses urban parks and community gardens.
HealthCommunityElderlyWorking the fields: The organization of labour in community supported agriculture
2019David Watson · Organization · United Kingdom
This article explores the experience and organization of labor within a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in the United Kingdom, drawing on Marx’s concept of alienation. It presents a case study of how labor in a CSA scheme counteracts experiences of alienation created by capitalism and considers how this might inform the reorganization of labor in the food system more generally.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityExperiencias pedagógicas en el ámbito del diseño para la transición. Estudio de un caso: El proyecto de comunicación del Espai Quiró
2019Joan Morales Moras · Kepes · Spain (Barcelona)
This study examined an academic project in Barcelona, Spain, where design students collaborated with the self-managed Espai Quiró urban agriculture and organic community project in the La Salut neighborhood. The involvement of the community managers and students in this pedagogical experience responded to a design model committed to citizens and citizen-led neighborhood associations. This participated in the idea of transition towards a new alternative way of living in cities, advocating for the reappropriation of public space.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cycleTemporary urban landscapes and urban gardening
2019Sofia Nikolaidou · Manchester University Press eBooks · Europe
This chapter examines new forms of urban gardening, often involving informal and temporary reuse of vacant land, and their impact on urban green space governance and planning practices. Using examples from Greece and Switzerland, it highlights differences and similarities in practices, social and institutional contexts, and collaborative governance patterns. The study calls attention to the critical role of the temporary nature of these initiatives, which affects new configurations of urban green areas and public space, and related planning practices.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsUrban Farming in Inner-city Multi-storey Car-parking Structures- Adaptive Reuse Potential
2019Monika Szopińska-Mularz, Steffen Lehmann · Future Cities and Environment · United Kingdom
This paper explores the adaptive reuse potential of obsolete inner-city multi-storey car parks for urban farming, specifically hydroponics, in three UK cities (Portsmouth, Bristol, Brighton). The first stage of a multiple-site case study identified planning and technical limitations and opportunities through policy analysis, layout exploration, and field observation. The analysis showed that while these structures present similar adaptive reuse challenges, they could be converted for farming to address social, environmental, and economic issues, though this requires planning document innovations and further efficiency assessment.
Digital agriculturePolicyEconomicsThe economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London
2018Glavan M., Schmutz U., Williams S., Corsi S., Monaco F., Kneafsey M., Guzman Rodriguez P.A., Čenič-Istenič M., Pintar M. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 36:100-122 · Europe
A study collecting rare economic data (yields, inputs, outputs, gross margins, contribution to household economy) from 180 urban gardeners across Ljubljana, Milan and London. It is one of the few quantitative assessments of the economic performance of urban gardening in Europe.
EconomicsCommunityFood loss