Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
9074 results(24 / 363)
Growing third places: A qualitative study of experiences and perceived benefits of a campus community garden as a nature-based health intervention
2025Brooks O., Thanganathan R., Gittings L. · PLOS One · London, Ontario, Canada
A qualitative study of a Canadian campus community garden found four themes among staff, students, and faculty: the garden as a 'third place', connection to nature, empowerment through growing food, and community building.
CommunityHealthQualitative Evaluation of a Garden-Based Healing and Learning Program for Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
2025Kim D., Park E., Yun H., Baek Y., Jin H., Cho H. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · South Korea
A qualitative evaluation of a garden-based healing and learning program for young adults with intellectual disabilities found changes including emotional, social, physical, and independence-related healing.
WelfareHealthGreen Social Prescribing: A Before and After Evaluation of a Novel Community-Based Intervention for Adults Experiencing Mental Health Problems
2025Darcy · Health & Social Care in the Community · England, United Kingdom
A before-and-after cohort evaluation of nature-based interventions delivered via green social prescribing referral across English 'test and learn' sites, comparing participants' mental health and wellbeing outcomes.
HealthWelfareCommunityUnderstanding community garden volunteers' well-being transformation: an exploratory study from a liminality perspective
2025· Leisure Studies · Global
Conceptualizes community gardens as liminal spaces, showing that volunteering suspends everyday roles and opens avenues for psychological and emotional reorientation and well-being transformation.
WelfareHealthCommunityGrowing roots: the role of collective community gardening in cultural food insecurity and social integration of African immigrants in Alberta, Canada
2025· BMC Public Health · Canada (Alberta)
Examines how collective community gardening addresses cultural food insecurity and supports the social integration of African immigrants in Alberta, Canada.
CommunityWelfareHealthNutrition and Aging Across the Plains: A Qualitative Study
2025Emily Frankel, Lindsay Wilkinson, Christopher Kelly · Innovation in Aging · North America
Qualitative study comparing nutrition and food security experiences of elderly in rural vs. urban Nebraska communities. Rural seniors face greater barriers to healthy food access and transportation.
ElderlyHealthCommunityUrban and Peri-Urban Agriculture for Improving Human Nutrition and Protecting Planetary Processes
2025Acevedo-De-los-Ríos, Dyson, Claeys, Cardenas-Mamani · Environmental Impact Assessment Review · Global South
Comprehensive literature review of urban and peri-urban agriculture impact on nutrition and environmental processes using LCA approach.
HealthOrganic cycleUrban Agriculture in Neo-Austerity Times: Reflections on a Contested Policy Domain
2025Ferreira, Mélice Dias, Lopes · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · Global
International analysis of urban agriculture policy in contexts of austerity. Examines tensions between citizen movements and governance, food sovereignty and self-determination.
CommunityPolicyPollinator communities in urban agriculture: Local-scale garden features structure pollinator communities
2025· Landscape Ecology · Global
Ecological study examining how local garden features structure pollinator communities in urban agriculture. Links biodiversity conservation to food production success.
BiodiversityPollinatorsOrganic cycleSprawling cities, shrinking farmland: urban expansion and smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa
2025· Routledge Online · Sub-Saharan Africa
Analyzes impact of rapid urban sprawl on smallholder farmers and agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa. Documents threats from agricultural-to-residential/commercial conversion, need for urban planning integration, and food security crisis.
PolicyFuture scenarios for urban agriculture and food security in sub-Saharan Africa: Modelling the urban land-food system in an agent-based approach
2025· ScienceDirect · Sub-Saharan Africa
Uses agent-based modeling to analyze future scenarios of urban land-food systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Examines potential for urban agriculture growth and effectiveness of policy interventions.
PolicySecuring the future of urban agriculture: Legislative reform and planning for sustainability in sub-Saharan African cities
2025· ScienceDirect · Sub-Saharan Africa
Examines legislative reform and urban planning integration needed to secure sustainable urban agriculture in sub-Saharan African cities. Notes only 3.62% of countries have implemented national urban policies with focus on urban farming integration.
PolicyRethinking Urban Spaces to Improve Nutrition Security Through Urban Agriculture
2025Tolazzi et al. · Earth's Future (Wiley), 2025 · Global
Demonstrates that strategic reallocation of urban spaces to agriculture improves nutrition security for residents; evaluates household nutrition gains and community economic development.
HealthCommunityEconomicsSustainability in urban agriculture: The role of biochar in enhancing the productive capacity of compost-based growing media for rooftop farming
2025· Science Direct · Global (technology focus)
Composting the organic fraction of municipal solid waste enables recycling nutrient-rich by-products as agricultural substrates. For rooftop farming, integrating biochar with compost-based media enhances productive capacity. Supports nutrient recycling between urban residents and agriculture, contributing to sustainable urban ecosystems.
CompostThe potential for urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town, South Africa: a suitability analysis
2025· International Journal of Urban Studies · South Africa
Analyzes potential sites for urban agriculture in Cape Town using multi-criteria decision analysis. Employs GIS analysis and composite evaluation criteria to identify suitable vacant land, rooftops, and community spaces. Proposes integration of food security with urban land use planning.
FAO and Brazil launch new regional project to transform urban agrifood systems in Latin America
2025FAO & Government of Brazil · FAO Official News · Latin America
FAO and Government of Brazil launched a regional project in May 2025 to strengthen urban agrifood systems across Latin America and the Caribbean. Seven countries participate (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru). Aims to build integrated food systems connecting urban and rural areas, strengthening small-farmer capacity.
PolicyCrop-Livestock Integration in Urban Agriculture: Implication for Urban Food Security in Ghana
2025· Food and Energy Security · Ghana
Examines how integrating crop and livestock production within urban agriculture affects urban food security in Ghana.
Organic cycleEconomicsWelfareFood diversity and environmental aspects of home and community gardens in highly urbanized areas of Sao Paulo megacity
2025· Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Brazil (Sao Paulo)
Analyzes food diversity and environmental aspects of home and community gardens in highly urbanized areas of the Sao Paulo megacity.
BiodiversityCommunityHealthThe Pollinating Network of Pollinators and the Service Value of Pollination in Hanzhong City, China
2025Chang X., Yan X., Lv F., Zhang Y., Breeze T. D., Li X. · Insects · Hanzhong, China
Documents pollinator resources and pollination networks in Hanzhong City, China, recording 80 pollinator species and 59 pollinated crop and wild nectar plant species, and evaluates the economic value of pollination services.
PollinatorsEconomicsDecentralized composting for biodegradable waste in Indian cities: assessment of socioeconomic impacts, compost quality, and sustainability in urban waste management
2025Donthi R. B. R., Ramannagari B. · Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management · Anantapur, India
Based on a door-to-door survey of 110 households in Anantapur, India, biodegradable waste exceeded 70% of total waste and 88% favoured source segregation, supporting decentralized composting as a low-cost complement to centralized systems.
CompostCommunityUrban Harvesting: Building Resilience Through Circular Agriculture
2025· Sustainability · Barcelona, Spain
A systematic review integrating circular economy principles with urban agriculture to build resilient, low-emission urban food systems, using metropolitan Barcelona as a case, discussing zero-waste strategies including redistribution of surplus food.
Food lossOrganic cycleCommunityUrban food waste generation and sustainable management strategies: a case study of Nonthaburi Municipality, Thailand
2025· Scientific Reports · Nonthaburi, Thailand
Uses stratified random sampling of markets, restaurants, institutions, and residential areas to analyse urban food waste generation and sustainable management strategies in Nonthaburi Municipality, Thailand.
Food lossPolicyClosing the nutrient loop between urban and rural areas: a case study analyzing the technical potential of recycling fertilizers from urban biorefineries
2025Trenkner M., Kiesel A., Bauerle A., Lewandowski I. · Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining · Stuttgart, Germany
Analyses the technical potential of urban biorefinery concepts for recycling plant nutrients from waste streams and wastewater in a German metropolitan region to close the urban-rural nutrient loop.
Organic cycleFood lossPolicyLeaching the good stuff: nitrogen and phosphorus in real and experimental urban agricultural settings
2025Metson G., Sieczko A., Small G. · npj Urban Sustainability · United States and Sweden
Field measurements in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Linkoping, Sweden showed that fertilized urban agriculture plots leached nitrogen and phosphorus, with legacy soil-management effects amplifying phosphorus losses, indicating urban growing can contribute to water-body eutrophication.
Organic cyclePolicyA carbon-centric evaluation framework for building-integrated agriculture: a comparison of three farm types and building standards
2025Imam M., Glaros A. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global
A carbon assessment of building-integrated agriculture (vertical farms, rooftop greenhouses, soil-based urban farms) concluded that BIA does not consistently deliver climate benefits over conventional agriculture and can be less resource-efficient, with soil-based urban farms carrying the highest embodied carbon per kilogram.
PolicyEconomics