Research & reports

Nicola C. Thomas, Anders Blok · Nature and Culture · Denmark (Copenhagen)

This study analyzes the social and political conditions of urban allotment gardens in Copenhagen, which are specially protected as valuable urban nature. It finds that asymmetric civic-public compromises, while enabling protection, result in new material conflicts between civic and municipal actors. These conflicts are linked to unresolved competing visions of civic, green, and market sustainability in urban development.

Geir Wæhler Gustavsen, Helge Berglann, Elisabeth Jenssen, Signe Kårstad, Divina Gracia P. Rodriguez · International journal on food system dynamics · Norway (Oslo)

This study conducted a contingent valuation survey in Oslo, Norway, to assess citizens' attitudes and willingness to pay for non-commercial (community gardens, educational gardens) and commercial (aquaponics, vertical farming) urban agriculture. The results indicate that Oslo citizens are willing to increase their tax payments to support the further development of urban farming in the city.

Vito D'Onghia · IGI Global eBooks · Global

This paper analyzes the cultural debate and policies in urban and rural fields, comparing various actions to outline new opportunities for developing more sustainable cities with inclusive projects. It considers how urban agriculture in policy contexts raises questions about integrating sustainable practices and spatial planning tools to guide local communities. Innovative experiments at national and international levels demonstrate how research and practical experiences can support urban agriculture.

Chiara Marradi, Ingrid Mulder · Sustainability · Global

This work addresses the challenge of scaling bottom-up initiatives, such as urban farming, into new local ecosystems, noting that these initiatives often struggle due to socio-cultural challenges. It introduces a three-phased approach to enable knowledge exchange and collaboration across cultures and ecosystems. The approach defines common scalability criteria and frames scaling as a multi-step learning process to bridge cognitive and context gaps, contributing to transferable impact-driven scaling strategies.

Olga Orlić, Anita Čeh Časni, Kosjenka Dumančić · Ubiquity Press eBooks · Croatia

This chapter provides an overview of the development of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Croatia, within the broader context of food citizenship and solidarity economy concepts. CSA has gained attention over the past 20-30 years due to increasing awareness of the need to change food politics regarding food security and sovereignty. In Croatia, initiators and actors of CSA groups have been pioneers in achieving food citizenship.

Amine Mseddi, Mariann Simon · European Journal of Architecture and Urban Planning · Hungary (Budapest)

This paper analyzes four community gardens on vacant inner-city plots in Budapest, Hungary, to understand their challenges and opportunities. It found that these gardens face significant obstacles including temporary status, changing political circumstances, and varying local population attitudes. Despite these challenges, NGOs and local communities play a crucial role in sustaining these projects and raising awareness.

Denis Martouzet · Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales · Global

A book-review notice for Glen Albrecht's "Les émotions de la terre" (French translation by Corinne Smith of the English original, published by Les liens qui libèrent, Paris, 2020 [2019], 370 pages). It appeared in the journal Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales, in an issue themed "Urban agriculture: toward a reconfiguration of social and territorial ties," distributed via the Érudit platform. The abstract does not describe the book's arguments.

Sara Rawal, Sandesh Thapa · Scientifica · Global

A survey of 116 randomly selected respondents conducted from February 3 to April 6, 2021 in Morang and Sunsari districts, Nepal, assessed rooftop garden (RTG) status, plant diversity and adoption determinants, finding that 30.5% of roofs in Morang and 33.2% in Sunsari were under rooftop farming and that adopters' roof size was significantly larger than non-adopters'. A binary logit model showed age, gender, schooling year, training and farming experience significantly affected RTG adoption; 50 nutritionally important species were reported, ornamental plants showed greater diversity than vegetables, and adopters reported that a lack of proper policy and ineffective management makes it difficult to sustain their rooftop gardens.

Kelly Donati, Nick Rose · · Australia

A 2022 report presents findings from a survey of urban agriculture practitioners in greater Melbourne (including green wedge areas), Bendigo, Ballarat, and Geelong, Australia. It provides baseline data on the composition, activities, market channels, challenges, needs, and aspirations of the urban agriculture sector, and, informed by the survey findings and the academic literature, sets out a roadmap for addressing the sector's key challenges and building on its existing social and environmental commitments.

Shahin Keynoush, Ehsan Daneshyar · Sustainability · Global

This research defines a pedagogical framework for an architecture Graduate Design Studio, pursuing three objectives: connecting buildings and landscapes to facilitate walkability, incorporating green elements into buildings and landscapes to increase available green space in cities, and envisioning built environments where fresh local food can be cultivated, processed, and distributed by incorporating urban agriculture into buildings and landscapes. These objectives align with the core concept of social sustainability, including improving residents' well-being and quality of life. The framework was implemented in the Graduate Studio, with four design project samples presented as outcomes.

Dushyant Singh, Rajeev Sobti, Anuj Kumar Jain, Praveen Kumar Malik, Dac‐Nhuong Le · IET Communications · Global

Against a backdrop of urbanization expected to account for about 50% of the world population by 2050 and projected freshwater shortages in India by the same year, this article examines the potential of IoT (Internet of Things) and machine learning (ML) to support urban and precision agriculture in smart cities, including irrigation, rainfall, and drought condition monitoring to assist farmer decision-making. It presents the design of an intelligent irrigation system based on soil and weather conditions, with parameters selected from prior Agriculture 4.0 and ML research, and compares the developed weather station against existing patented technologies, stating that the resulting system provides a cost-effective solution for local weather monitoring.

Nur Shuhamin Nazuri, Nobaya Ahmad, Mohd Roslan Rosnon, Mohd Harifadilah Rosidi, Siti Nur Shuhada Nazuri, Sara Shakilla Mohd Salim, Razif Sazali, Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad, Siti Shazwani Ahmad Suhaimi · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

Among participants in a Malaysian urban agriculture (UA) program, the study examined how dimensions of participation (planning, implementation, evaluation) relate to economic and social empowerment, moderated by social capital (bonding, bridging, linking). Most respondents were male, aged 41-60, married, with secondary/vocational education, and 5 to 12 family members. The relationship between participation, social capital, and empowerment was found to be insignificant, and social capital (bonding, bridging, linking) did not function as a moderator between participation and empowerment.

Pastory Salvatory Thomas, Wilbard Kombe, Aldo Lupala · International Journal of Social Science Research and Review · Tanzania

In-depth interviews with 60 purposefully selected respondents in the Daraja Mbili and Lemala wards of Arusha City, Tanzania, examined how diverse stakeholder perceptions of urban agriculture affect its governance. Farmers and agricultural officers viewed urban agriculture positively because their livelihoods and professional interests were tied to it, while urban planners and environmental officers were skeptical, citing a lack of evidence for its value, and implementation and enforcement of related policies and bylaws had not succeeded. Farming in environmentally sensitive areas violated bylaws, yet encroachment by farmers with no alternative land continued. The study concludes that urban agriculture cannot be effectively governed, even where policy and bylaws exist, as long as the actors involved perceive it negatively.

Fjollë Caka · International Journal of Environmental Impacts · Global

This paper reviews the policy environment for urban agriculture in Kosovo, examining agricultural and spatial-planning legal frameworks, strategies, and official reports and data. It notes that urban land in Kosovo continues to be lost to construction, degraded and contaminated, that the actual extent of urban agriculture there is unknown, and identifies barriers to its expansion before proposing policy interventions aimed at fresh food supply, urban poverty alleviation and improved environmental performance.

Ana Spataru, Robert Faggian, Victor A Sposito · International Journal of Agricultural Resources Governance and Ecology · Global

A paper proposing a comprehensive conceptual framework for assessing metropolitan peri-urban agriculture. It argues that peri-urban agriculture provides non-commodity benefits — food security, farm viability, environmental stewardship, and landscape and socio-cultural preservation — that free markets under-recognize, and that the double vulnerability created by urban pressure and systemic agricultural change has led to myopic policy interventions. The proposed framework integrates the concepts of multifunctional agriculture, resilience, climate-smart agriculture and alternative food networks into 21 enabling features across five dimensions.

Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris, Nur Amanina Yunus, Jasmin Arif Shah · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

A structured questionnaire (via Google Form) using simple random sampling surveyed 353 participants across Peninsular Malaysia, applying the Community Readiness Model (CRM) framework and analyzing the data in IBM SPSS (version 26) to assess levels of the independent variables knowledge, attitude, and leadership alongside community readiness for urban farming practices. Levels of all three independent variables and of community readiness were high, and knowledge, attitude, and leadership each contributed significantly to community readiness.

Son Truong, Tonia Gray, Kumara Ward · Urban forestry & urban greening · Australia

A study examining the Community Greening program run by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australia, for the past two decades, at six new community gardens built in social housing communities in New South Wales. It used focus group interviews with residents and questionnaires with program staff. Participant narratives showed the gardens function as sites for knowledge generation and connection to nature, for building a sense of community, and for improving residents' sense of pride and public perceptions of public housing. The findings suggest community gardens enhance green infrastructure and support place-making in social housing estates and their surrounding areas, and the study concludes with recommendations for policies and practices addressing social and environmental sustainability priorities in social housing.

Tama Bawack Ako, Clarkson Mvo Wanie · Current Urban Studies · Cameroon

This study examined challenges in rural-urban road transportation and coping mechanisms for food security in Maroua municipality, Far North Region, Cameroon. Primary data came from field observation, interviews and 261 administered questionnaires, supplemented by published and unpublished secondary sources, with descriptive analysis conducted in SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Results showed that rural-urban roads in Maroua are dilapidated and inadequate, making movement difficult especially during the rainy season, which negatively affects multiple dimensions of food security. Adaptation mechanisms identified included urban agriculture and rehabilitation of rural-urban road infrastructure, and the study concluded there is an urgent need for stakeholders to improve this infrastructure.

Benjamin Hennchen, Martina Schäfer · Frontiers in Sustainability · Global

A comparative study of three food system innovations — citizen shareholder companies, community-supported agriculture, and food co-ops — examining their inclusiveness, degree of member involvement, and quality of experienced connectedness. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey, two focus group discussions, and a broad literature search. All three food innovations were found to show a rather low level of inclusiveness, although efforts are being made to overcome barriers to access. The innovations were found to generate social cohesion between different actors along the value-added chain, constituted differently in a more service-oriented versus a community-oriented model. The study concludes these innovations provide momentum toward the dominant food regime by rewarding producers for sustainable practices, establishing stronger producer-consumer relationships, and motivating consumers to assume shared responsibility, and considers the three innovations complementary for food system transitions.

Pedro Neto · Sophia · Global

This editorial essay introduces the third thematic cycle, "Landscapes of Care," opening volume 7 of the journal Sophia, on contemporary photography and visual practices addressing how architecture, broadly conceived, can help heal a damaged planet. It draws on Elke Krasny's reframing of architecture as a form of caring labor and Wilfried Wang's argument that changes such as the renewal of urban farming, decentralized renewable energy harvesting, and smaller production facilities should reshape conventional zoning, and situates the "landscapes of care" concept — drawn from health geography, the arts, and architecture — as a lens for understanding architecture, city, and territory. The piece is an introductory editorial for the issue's theme and presents no empirical data or case findings.

Sukanya Sereenonchai, Noppol Arunrat · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

A mixed-methods study (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022) surveyed 325 villagers across 13 communities in seven Thai provinces, combining the Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Health Belief Model with techniques including crosstab analysis, stepwise multiple linear regression, one-way ANOVA, multinomial logistic regression, decision tree analysis, and descriptive content analysis. Attitude, perceived benefits, and perceived readiness significantly and positively influenced adoption of urban agriculture. Among villagers who owned agricultural land, behavioral control and social norms drove continued practice; for other groups, perceived readiness and communication were the key drivers. The study proposes communication guidelines based on the EAST framework (easy, attractive, social, timely) delivered through a Critical Participatory Action Research process.

M.C.G. Haitsma Mulier, F.H.M. Van de Ven, Paul Kirshen · Energy Nexus · Global

Drawing on case-study water-energy-food (WEF) nexus research at urban farms, which found that two distinct types of "food" are relevant to urban agriculture, this study (2022, no specific region) splits the "food" component of the WEF framework to build a water-energy-nutrients-food (WENF) nexus framework for urban farming. The systematic WENF monitoring, analysis, and evaluation framework aims to support quality data acquisition during case-study research at farm sites, addressing a quantitative data gap on urban agriculture and closed circularity loops; it differentiates stocks of water, energy, nutrients, and food, describes flows within each, and identifies multi-sectoral flows and interdependencies among the four resource stocks to formulate options for circularity in urban farming. The analysis indicates urban systems offer many opportunities for realizing sustainable agriculture in cities because waste management and farming can mutually reinforce each other: local reuse of resources found in urban "waste" could reduce stormwater problems and energy needs for water, nutrient, and food transport, irrigation, and wastewater pumping, while eliminating the need for synthetic soil amendments and unsustainable mineral mining, and reusing resources from urban (waste)water in urban farming could reduce food production's overall negative environmental impact.

Rosmiza Mz, Noorziah Mohd Salleh, Nurin Sahira Che Helmi, Milah Zainal, Jabil Mapjabil, Mohd Nor Mohd Rosmi, Mazdi Marzuki · Journal of Asian Scientific Research · Malaysia

Against the rise of community gardens driven by increasing living costs, growing interest in healthy lifestyles, and limited agricultural land, a quantitative study of 50 residents in Kampung Gali Hilir, Pahang, Malaysia, examined the role of institutions in increasing community involvement in cultivation using fertigation methods. Most respondents, described as agripreneurs, agreed that agricultural institutions play a crucial role in providing information and assistance on fertigation cultivation through courses and training and in supplying agricultural inputs and related programs, and the study identified a need to strengthen institutional approaches to further increase participation in newly introduced methods.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) · IPCC Working Group III, Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) · Global

This annex to the IPCC AR6 Working Group III report defines GWP100 (100-year global warming potential) values, units, and conventions. Methane's GWP100 differs by source: 27 for biogenic methane and fossil methane from combustion, and a higher 29.8 for fossil methane from fugitive and process sources.

Singapore Food Agency · Singapore Food Agency (SFA) · Singapore

Published by the Singapore Food Agency on 11 Nov 2022, this article explains that Singapore is vulnerable to supply shocks because it imports more than 90 per cent of its food, while less than 1 per cent of its land is set aside for farming, and sets out the country's '30 by 30' goal to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.