Research & reports

Robin Vande Zande · International Journal of Art & Design Education · Global

This article outlines important concepts for teaching young people about regeneration design and the future of our changing environment. Three regeneration principles adhered to by city planners, architects, and product designers—smart growth, sustainable development, and new urbanism—are highlighted as a common thread in restructuring efforts for cities and buildings to be aesthetically, economically, and ecologically healthier places for human and non-human life.

Carol Skinner · Urban Policy and Research · Australia

While favorable aspects of denser urban development are recognized in Australia and elsewhere, this study also highlights its negative impacts on a city's climate and hydrology. It summarizes the appealing aspects of denser cities and provides examples of adverse effects. Strategies to minimize these negative impacts are proposed, including the widespread use of rooftop gardens.

Ree Ho Kim, Jin‐Woo Jeong, Sang Ho Lee, Chai Sung Gee · Materials science forum · Global

This laboratory-scale study tested incorporating bauxite minerals — red waste from alumina refineries — into a specialized soil layer for rooftop gardens, aiming to address the release of pollutants in urban stormwater runoff, a known issue with green roofs, against a backdrop of declining green-planted surfaces in urban areas. Bauxite minerals were noted for their high trapping capacity for trace metals and other soluble species and ease of integration into rooftop garden systems. Based on equilibrium adsorption capacity, an optimum amount of bauxite minerals was proposed, and rainwater runoff characteristics and pollutant release were compared between standard and modified rooftop gardens at laboratory scale. The green roof system with the bauxite layer was found to reduce heavy metal concentrations, and the technique is suggested as applicable to other green surfaces in housing complexes.

MA Jun-wei · Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment · Global

This theoretical study addresses the "rurban fringe," the transitional zone connecting city and countryside, discussing rural landscape ecological features and landscape functions before setting out the content of landscape ecological construction. It proposes six elements: (1) rural landscape planning based on landscape ecological principles aimed at protecting regional traditions; (2) seeking optimal patterns for coordinated development between city and countryside; (3) developing tourism agriculture and urban agriculture in place of low-efficiency agriculture; (4) developing local rural landscape resources to promote eco-rurban tourism; (5) green landscape construction; and (6) building landscape corridors and networks for biodiversity protection, concluding by identifying trends in rurban fringe development.

André Viljoen, Katrin Bohn, Joe Howe · Architectural Press / Routledge · Global

A pioneering work proposing the concept of 'Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPUL)' that integrates urban agriculture into urban spatial planning. It frames urban agriculture as green infrastructure linking food-producing sites with other open spaces into a continuous linear landscape across the city, and has become a theoretical starting point for productive green infrastructure and edible-city research.

Camacho Villa T. C., Maxted N., Scholten M., Ford-Lloyd B. · Plant Genetic Resources 3(3):373-384 · Global

A foundational paper proposing a working definition of a landrace as a dynamic, locally adapted, genetically diverse population with historical origin, lacking formal crop improvement and tied to traditional farming systems.

LDK. Awono, Sebastian Bernal Hernandez, J. Gockowski, T. Dongmo, Mbang à Moudon · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cameroon (Yaounde)

This study examines peri-urban agriculture in Yaounde, Cameroon, highlighting its importance for employment and food security due to rapid urbanization and underdeveloped systems. It supplies perishable goods like leafy vegetables and bulky items such as fresh cassava, and provides employment for over four thousand women in marketing. Major constraints include pests, diseases, lack of producer credit, and inadequate extension services.

María de los A Pino, María E Dominí, A. Ramírez, Loracnis Hernández, Marı́a Rosa Ponce, Eduardo Calves, Z. Terán, Ania Yong, H. Ríos · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba

This study demonstrated the feasibility of applying participatory plant breeding as a means for urban farmers to access agricultural diversity, through experimentation with participatory methodologies in an urban context. Local actors from the municipalities of San José de las Lajas and Arroyo Naranjo were also involved, leading to the establishment of a working methodology and an increase in diversity for tomato, bean, plantain, and lettuce crops. Training was also provided on the management of these crops, biofertilizers, and artisanal conservation of this diversity.

John Thelen Steere · The Journal of Bahá’í Studies · Global

This essay defines community-based environmental stewardship as an emerging practice encompassing habitat restoration, land conservation, resource management, and the creation of parks and community gardens. It explores the significance and spiritual dimensions of environmental stewardship, examining its relationship to Bahá’í teachings.

Loracnis Hernández, María de los A Pino, Eduardo Calves, María E Dominí, A Ramírez, Z. Terán · Cultivos Tropicales · Cuba

This study executed the first diagnostic phase of a participatory plant breeding project in urban agriculture in the municipality of San José de las Lajas, Havana Province. The research characterized farmers, biodiversity, and crop technologies in the Norte and Sur Popular Councils.

Kwang-Ja Bang, Jin-Hee Ju, Sun-Hae Kim · · Global

This study, conducted from March to September 2002, investigated the growth response of five native plant species (Chrysanthemum zawadskii, Sedum middendorffianum, Thymus quinquecostatus, Allium senescens, Dianthus superbus) to artificial substrate soil depths (5 cm, 10 cm) and irrigation periods (non-irrigation, 1, 2, 3 weeks) for rooftop gardens. Sedum middendorffianum and Allium senescens showed 0% mortality regardless of soil depth and irrigation, making them highly suitable. Chrysanthemum zawadskii, Dianthus superbus, and Thymus quinquecostatus generally performed better with 10 cm soil depth, suggesting a minimum viable depth over 10 cm for these species.

Todd A. Randall, Cameron J. Churchill, Brian W. Baetz · Environment and Planning B Planning and Design · Global

A prototype decision support tool, coded as an ArcView GIS extension, is described for managing existing green spaces and establishing new ones in suburban neighborhoods. It suggests techniques like naturalization of parks and increased street foliage, and allows modeling and evaluating future scenarios for sustainable community development. The tool's applications are discussed to illustrate benefits of neighborhood greening strategies.

E. Makumbelo, L. Lukoki, Sj. Paulus, J., N. Luyindula · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)

A survey conducted in 201 plots within the Limete commune of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, inventoried nineteen cultivated vegetable species and 764 plants from 18 fruit-tree species. Mangifera indica was identified as the most planted tree species, while Ipomoae batatas was the most frequently cultivated vegetable species.

Rodomiro Ortíz, Celia Vera · Cultivos Tropicales · Cuba (Ciudad de La Habana)

This study investigated the agricultural biodiversity in urban gardens across eight localities in the municipalities of Boyeros and Arroyo Naranjo.

Fabio 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.

Raúl Ortíz, Celia Patricia Vera, Antonio Leyva · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba

A diagnostic study was conducted on the conditions of urban gardens, their producers, and families in 20 gardens across five localities in the "Boyeros" and "Arroyo Naranjo" municipalities of Havana, Cuba, between December 1998 and March 1999. While the garden agroecosystems showed satisfactory biodiversity, general knowledge of biological technologies in sustainable urban agriculture remained relatively low. None of the surveyed plot owners consciously knew or used vermiculture, pisciculture, biofertilizers, biopesticides, or biostimulants, and almost half did not consciously use crop rotation.

Isabel María Madaleno · Food, nutrition and agriculture · Global

An essay argues that urban agriculture—food and non-food production occurring throughout urban and peri-urban fabric—could improve city dwellers' nutritional status and food security, strengthen food self-reliance and employment prospects, and make survival strategies more effective. It describes urban agriculture as a setting where children, young people, and adults engage directly in safe food production and develop respect for farmers' work, surveys the evolution of cities and green-space use in Europe and North America, presents recent urban agriculture experiences in African, European, and Latin American countries, and advocates urban agriculture as a local solution to social, ecological, political, and economic problems.

Altieri M.A., Companioni N., Cañizares K., Murphy C., Rosset P., Bourque M., Nicholls C.I. · Agriculture and Human Values · Cuba (Havana)

This study analyzes Cuba's grassroots urban agriculture movement that emerged after the 1989 Soviet collapse, showing how ~8,000 gardens nationwide operated on agroecological principles without synthetic inputs, providing Havana with thousands of tonnes of produce by 1996.

Brush S. B. · Crop Science 35(2):346-354 · Global

A foundational paper presenting three cases of ongoing farmer maintenance of landraces—potatoes in the Peruvian Andes, maize in southern Mexico and wheat in western Turkey—and the rationale for in situ conservation.

H. B. Tukey · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global

This paper defines urban horticulture as the functional use of plants to improve urban environments. It states that urban horticulture contributes to screening views, food production, reducing noise and air pollution, ameliorating urban climates, and improving human well-being. The abstract notes that information on city plants often comes from observations and anecdotes, and that strategies from commercial agriculture do not always apply well to urban horticulture.

H. B. Tukey · HortScience · Global

Urban horticulture is defined as a scientific field focused on the functional uses of plants to maintain and improve urban environments. These functional uses extend beyond aesthetics to include screening against wind and views, influencing climate, reducing noise, combating air pollution, providing food, and enhancing human well-being in densely populated areas. The audience for urban horticulture includes landscape professionals, plant societies, and amateur horticulturists.