Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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9385 results(232 / 376)
Teaching Spatial Thinking and Geospatial Technologies Through Citizen Mapping and Problem-Based Inquiry in Grades 7-12
2018M. Beth Schlemper, Brinda Athreya, Kevin Czajkowski, Victoria C. Stewart, Sujata Shetty · Journal of Geography · United States
A project introduced students in grades 7 through 12 to spatial thinking and geospatial technologies within the context of community challenges. A mix of inquiry levels, from teacher- to student-guided, was used through a citizen mapping group activity. Qualitative methods evaluated students' knowledge, showing that their awareness of their community, spatial thinking, and geospatial technologies increased as a result of participation.
Food educationCommunityThe potential contribution of disruptive low-carbon innovations to 1.5 °C climate mitigation
2018Charlie Wilson, Hazel Pettifor, Emma Cassar, Laurie Kerr, M. Wilson · Energy Efficiency · Global
This paper investigates the potential for consumer-facing innovations to contribute to emission reductions for limiting warming to 1.5 °C. The study identifies 99 potentially disruptive low-carbon innovations related to mobility, food, buildings and cities, and energy supply and distribution, including car clubs and urban farming. The potential emission reductions from these innovations were assessed using two methods: a survey of experts' perceptions and a quantitative scaling-up of evidence to the UK population.
Climate changePromising sustainable foods
2018Tanja Schneider · · Switzerland (Zurich)
This chapter presents the conceptual framework for studying entrepreneurial visions of sustainable food. It highlights trends in the growth of agtech and foodtech startups and reviews debates on food security and sustainable food systems. UrbanFarmers (UF), an urban agriculture company founded in Zurich in 2011, is presented as an example that builds rooftop farms for commercial growers in the city.
EconomicsClimate changePROSPEK KEGIATAN KAMPUNG URBAN FARMING “GELINTUNG GO GREEN” RW 23 KELURAHAN PURWANTORO KECAMATAN BLIMBING KOTA MALANG
2018Lutfi Asnan Qodri · SKRIPSI Jurusan Ekonomi Pembangunan - Fakultas Ekonomi UM · Indonesia (Malang)
This qualitative exploratory study assessed the prospects of the "Gelintung Go Green" urban farming village in Malang City, Indonesia. It analyzed initial formation data, vision, mission, roadmap, and development efforts to examine its prospects from economic, social, and ecological aspects. The study concluded that the village has good prospects for future continuation if these three aspects are adequately fulfilled.
CommunityClimate changeEconomicsEnvironmental Impacts of Urban Hydroponics in Europe: A Case Study in Lyon
2018Daina Romeo, Eldbjørg Blikra Vea, Marianne Thomsen · Procedia CIRP · France (Lyon)
This paper analyzed the environmental impacts of ReFarmers' pilot farm, a high-yield vertical hydroponic croft in the urban area of Lyon, France, from a life cycle perspective. Results indicated that the hydroponic farm performed better than cultivations in heated greenhouses and similarly to conventional open field farms. Furthermore, the electricity input source was a determinant factor; if carbon neutral (e.g., wind energy), vertical hydroponic production could outperform the two conventional agriculture types.
Climate changeEconomicsUrban–rural linkageL’agriculture urbaine comme opportunité de construction politique
2018Marie Gisclard, Richard Raymond · Institut français d’études anatoliennes eBooks · Turkey (Diyarbakır)
This article examines the Hevsel Gardens in Diyarbakır, Turkey, which face sustainability challenges due to the city's growth and an asymmetric relationship where the city dominates the gardens. It highlights the unbalanced relationships between the gardens and the city, stemming from a lack of quality and quantity in water resources. The coexistence and competition of three socio-political projects, including centralized political networks and farmer-specific adaptations, call for a re-examination of this relationship and an alternative to the concentration of powers in the metropolis.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceMANAJEMEN PROGRAM SCHOOL GARDEN GUNA MEWUJUDKAN SEKOLAH ADIWIYATA
2018Rakhmawati Indriani · JMSP (Jurnal Manajemen dan Supervisi Pendidikan) · Indonesia (Malang)
This qualitative case study at SMAN 7 Malang, Indonesia, described the management of its School Garden program, including its background, planning, implementation, evaluation, and supporting factors, as part of the Adiwiyata program. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The study found that the program's success was evident in the school's achievements post-Adiwiyata implementation, and its execution and management were strongly influenced by the support and participation of all school members.
Food educationCommunityPolicyGrowing Economic Possibility in Appalachia: Stories of Relocalization and Representation on Stinking Creek
2018Kathryn Engle · UKnowledge (University of Kentucky) · United States (Kentucky)
This project explores the agricultural heritage and social landscape of the Stinking Creek community in Knox County, Kentucky, focusing on the Lend-A-Hand Center Grow Appalachia Gardening Program. Through participatory research, it examines the diverse economy and potential for post-coal futures in central Appalachia. The program developed agricultural initiatives, re-localized food systems via home and community gardens, and established a farmers' market over three years.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceA Rede de Dinamização das Feiras da Agricultura Familiar – REDIfeira: o caso da criação da FEPORg – Feira de Produtos Orgânicos de Maringá e Região
2018Ednaldo Michellon, Jaqueline da Silva Rosa, André Coelho Braga, Victor de Canini Cezar, Tiago Ribeiro da Costa, Wellington Fernandes Pereira · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Maringá)
The REDIfeira project, part of the University Extension Program in Parana, Brazil, aims to boost the production and commercialization of family agriculture products through monitoring and technical assistance. This work presents the case of the FEPORg – Maringa Organic Products Fair and Region, which was established through community initiative with support from Maringa City Hall, the REDIfeira project, CerAUP, and PPCPO.
CommunityOrganic cyclePeri-urban agricultureEconomicsPortable Water Distribution Problems in Kano Municipal, Nigeria: Implications for Urban Agriculture
2018Ibrahim Aliyu Kankara, Hani Farouk · Annals of Geographical Studies · Nigeria (Kano)
This research evaluated potable water distribution problems in Kano municipal, Nigeria. Using data from 384 questionnaires and investigations of water supply institutions, the study concluded that water supply in Kano municipal does not meet demand due to problems such as insufficient water treatment plants, power failure, and funding shortages.
Limited or null effectUrban–rural linkageClimate changeEconomicsUrban Gardening as a Multifunctional Tool to Increase Social Sustainability in the City
2018Alisa Koroļova, S. Treija · Architecture and Urban Planning · Europe
This article provides evidence of the multi-functionality of urban gardening in addressing various societal issues. Case studies from Malmo, Birmingham, and Riga demonstrate how urban gardening contributes to social integration, inhabitants' well-being, and urban regeneration.
CommunityHealthFood educationPolicyEconomie solidali creatrici di comunità ecologiche
2018P Cacciari · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Italy
This article argues that diverse economic forms exist beyond the market economy, including natural, gift, domestic, informal, and solidarity economies. Solidarity economy, based on ethical principles like sustainability, mutuality, cooperation, and democracy, is presented as a transformative, post-capitalist alternative applicable to all sectors of production, distribution, and exchange. Case studies include buildings as common goods in Naples and Arvaia, a community-supported agriculture initiative in Bologna.
EconomicsCommunityCSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceAn Analysis on the Importance of Medicinal Garden as Teaching Resource in A School in Northeast of Brazil
2018Natalia Caroline de Souza Aguiar, Marcelo Alves Ramos, Múcio Luiz Banja Fernandes · Asian Journal of Applied Sciences · Brazil
This study analyzed the views of thirteen teachers in a public school in northeastern Brazil regarding the importance and use of a medicinal garden planted in 2014. Interviews revealed a lack of interest among teachers in using the school garden, despite most recognizing its importance as a didactic resource. The findings suggest that intervention projects in schools require teachers to be prepared for their use, highlighting the need for a teacher training plan.
Limited or null effectFood educationCommunityChinatown and Beyond: Ava Chin, Urban Foraging, and a New American Cityscape
2018Shiuhhuah Serena Chou · ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment · United States
Urban foraging reemerged at the turn of the twenty-first century as a mode of urban food production, leading to a diverse body of literature including field guides and personal accounts. This literature suggests that the resurgence of urban foraging, as seen in works like Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006) and Tama Matsuoka Wong's Foraged Flavor (2012), may be more than a fad. The practice of finding, harvesting, and consuming edible wild plants challenges the idea of American cities as food deserts, presenting urban spaces as sites of cultural and environmental sustainability.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityDIYSocio-economic and ecological transition in community supported agriculture: from the 'transitional' to the 'ideal' CSA
2018Erin Whittingham, Nhu Tuyên Lê, Claudio Vitari, Roxana Bobulescu · International Journal of Agricultural Resources Governance and Ecology · Global
This paper focuses on the transitional features of community supported agriculture (CSA) and its transformational potential for agricultural system change. The research developed a framework that highlights the 'transitional' CSA model and compares it with conventional and 'ideal' CSA models. This framework helps understand how CSAs adapt to their context and demonstrates their transformational potential for agricultural system change, drawing on numerous narratives from the broad literature on CSAs.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsOrganic cycleFood sovereignty & justiceO USO DE GEOTECNOLOGIAS ABERTAS NA DISCIPLINA GEOGRAFIA AGRÁRIA – ESPACIALIZAÇÃO E DIAGNÓSTICO DA OCORRÊNCIA DA AGRICULTURA URBANA NO BAIRRO SANTA LÚCIA - MACEIÓ/AL
2018Cirlene Jeane Santos e Santos · · Brazil (Maceió)
This article describes didactic foundations and field activities in the Agrarian Geography discipline at the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil, aimed at enhancing student learning. Students engaged with urban agriculture and animal husbandry in Maceió/AL, finding that direct interaction with reality facilitated meaningful learning beyond classroom content. The results indicated that students integrated various course contents to understand the relationships in these spaces.
Food educationCommunityRaising the standard: Developing a benchmark for green infrastructure
2018Danielle Sinnett, Gemma Jerome, Nick Smith, Sarah Burgess, Roger Mortlock · International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning · Global
This paper presents an emerging benchmark for green infrastructure (GI) developed through literature review and stakeholder engagement, addressing uncertainty in GI design, delivery, and maintenance. The benchmark offers flexible standards for assessing GI policy, planning, design, delivery, and long-term management across various spatial scales. Preliminary testing on two mixed-use developments found the benchmark performed well, rewarding high-quality GI without demanding exemplary levels.
PolicyCommunityBiodiversityClimate changeYield
2018Matthew T. Moore, Brent Clothier, Alexandra Toland · · United States
A dialogue chapter built from an October 2013 interview with Matthew Moore conducted by Alexandra R. Toland, with additional reflections from soil scientist Brent Clothier. Since the interview, the digital farm collective Moore describes has evolved into a farm-to-table hospitality business partnering with city parks, creating one- to two-acre urban farming education centers in and around Phoenix, Arizona, funded by restaurants that also deliver affordably priced meals to local communities. Across both Moore's and Clothier's contributions, the central question is one of scale: how to "scale up" food production under the pressures of climate change and urbanization while building systems of value that honor the soil's services rather than its speculative yield.
CommunityEconomicsFood educationFacilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city
2018Haley Stanko, Lindsay Naylor · Local Environment · United States
A paper examining Philadelphia's 2008 prioritisation of healthy food access as part of sustainable development, in a city where almost 25% of the population is considered food insecure, prompting government agencies, NGOs, and community leaders to try to increase food access through expanded food production and land access. The paper argues that urban agriculture, gradually incorporated into sustainability narratives over the preceding decade, both provides advocates a platform to inform policymaking and risks stripping away the political and activist origins of the struggle for access to food, land, and green space, contending that this depoliticisation through incorporation into sustainability planning may serve to increase existing inequities in the city. Examining measures enacted under the Philadelphia Greenworks Sustainability Plan at the policymaking level, the paper's preliminary findings suggest a disconnect between urban agriculture advocacy and policymaking, and it states that further work is needed to understand the impacts of formalising urban agriculture in Philadelphia.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyA study on the CSA union of farmer cooperative development in Shan-Gou village, Yi-Lan County, Taiwan
2018Chih Hsuan LI, Kazuo ASAHIRO · Landscape Research Japan Online · Global
A study of the community-supported agriculture (CSA) cooperative in Shan-Gou village, Yi-Lan County, Taiwan, which by 2016 accounted for 26% of Taiwan's 91 CSA farms. The study analyses the cooperative's comprehensive operations through interviews with CSA farm owners on cooperative management features and a financial report analysis of cooperative salary, funding sources, and the proportion of production expenditure. Results show the Shan-Gou CSA cooperative's annual salary was 1,057,000 NT$/ha, compared with an average of 690,000 NT$/ha for conventional modern agriculture in Yi-Lan County; Shan-Gou village has 24 CSA farmers with total farmland of 75.2 ha, and Shan-Gou CSA farmers' average farmland (3.5 ha) is larger than the average for Yi-Lan County's organic rice farmers (2.5 ha). Based on a 5 ha farmland premise, estimated annual income was 3,450,000 NT$ for a modern farmer versus 5,285,000 NT$ for a Shan-Gou CSA farmer, indicating higher income for Shan-Gou CSA farmers than for conventional modern farming. By December 2016, 35 farmers had relocated to Shan-Gou village, Yi-Lan County.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsPolicyOfficial Attitudes Toward Urban Agriculture
2018Kwaku Obosu-Mensah · · Africa
This chapter examines the economic and socio-political factors behind changes in official attitudes toward urban agriculture in Africa, focusing on Ghana. Some officials are described as negative toward the practice and as acting irresponsibly to discourage it, while officials are more willing to condone urban farming when farmers hold higher social class or status. In Ghana, an official of the Agricultural Extension Services expressed concern about contamination from the wrongful use of chemicals. Public opinion is described as having shaped official acceptance, and in 1992 personal intervention by the President of Ghana helped encourage more positive official attitudes. Some Ghanaian officials held the view that the country would eventually industrialize and require more workers in the industrial sector.
PolicyCommunityChanging Patterns of Allotment Gardening in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
2018Attila Tóth, Barbora Duží, Jan Vávra, Ján Supuka, Mária Bihuňová, Denisa Halajová, Stanislav Martinát, Eva Nováková · Nature and Culture · Europe
A historical review article on allotment gardening in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Tracing back to the eighteenth century, it identifies the periods and events that shaped Czech and Slovak society and urban gardening in particular, and analyzes the development of allotments before and after 1989 using case studies and examples. The article offers this historical narrative as a basis for discussing contemporary trends, challenges and visions for allotment gardening in both countries.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageJoëlle Zask, La Démocratie aux Champs
2018Céline Henne · European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy · Europe
A review of French philosopher Joëlle Zask's book "La Démocratie aux Champs," which argues against the prejudice that democratic ideals essentially grow out of and thrive in big cities and are antithetical to agricultural life. It notes that both in nineteenth-century Europe and in the contemporary United States, peasants have widely been seen as conservative, bigoted and apolitical, while urban residents are typically seen as more progressive and politically minded. Against this view, and against an alternative romanticized picture of an idyllic rural world, Zask argues that the values and practices associated with democratic freedom "primarily come... from the farm" (p. 7), with "farm" understood broadly to encompass different kinds of agriculture, including urban community gardens, rather than being restricted to the peasant lifeworld.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceParticipatory Research for Scientific, Educational, and Community Benefits: A Case Study from Brooklyn Community Gardens
2018Megan M. Gregory, Scott Peters · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
A case study within the Food Dignity community-university research partnership examined a participatory action research (PAR) project on cover crops with community gardeners in Brooklyn, New York. Engaging gardeners in cover crop monitoring strengthened their knowledge of ecological processes such as nitrogen fixation, field days supported leadership development, and sustained in-person support enabled implementation of cover cropping practices; challenges included reconciling community-defined priorities with the constraints of a dissertation project and providing sufficient one-on-one support given limited funding for community-based partners.
CommunityFood educationDIYNachhaltige Entwicklung bedeutet (mehr) Demokratie und Dialog
2018Patrick Oehler, Nicola Thomas, Timo Huber · Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster · Europe
This German-language sociological article uses the example of allotment garden communities (Familiengartengemeinschaften) to argue that sustainability research and local policy should attend not only to self-identified pioneer groups such as new community gardens, but also to traditional allotment garden groups that are less familiar with sustainability discourse yet still act as practitioners of sustainable resource use; the article argues that sustainable development requires a democratic dialogue between such different actors.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justice