Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
11393 results(258 / 456)
Call for projects "Parisculteurs": catalyst for urban agriculture development on rooftops in Paris
2018Collé M., Daniel A.C., Aubry C. · Acta Horticulturae (International Symposium on Greener Cities for More Efficient Ecosystem Services in a Climate Changing World) · France (Paris)
Analysis of Paris's 'Parisculteurs' call-for-projects program based on 11-month participatory research, showing how the initiative catalyzed rooftop urban agriculture with over 48 projects on public and private buildings by 2018.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsHybrid governance tensions fuelling self-reflexivity in Alternative Food Networks: the case of the Brussels GASAP (solidarity purchasing groups for peasant agriculture)
2018Manganelli A., Moulaert F. · Local Environment · Belgium (Brussels)
Applies a Hybrid Governance Approach to the Brussels GASAP solidarity purchasing network, identifying three phases in its development and demonstrating how organizational, resource, and institutional tensions drive self-reflexivity and scaling dynamics in Alternative Food Networks.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban Gardens in Greece: A New Way of Living in the City
2018Haniotou H., Dalipi E. · In: Glatron S., Granchamp L. (eds) The Urban Garden City: Shaping the City with Gardens Through History. Springer, Cham, pp. 245–268 · Greece
The chapter surveys the proliferation of urban community gardens across Greek metropolitan areas, situating their emergence in the context of economic crisis and examining their effects on urban residents' livelihoods and relationship to green space.
CommunityPolicyWelfareEconomicsMapping the Agrodiversity in Bogotá – the Platform Mapeo AgroEcoBogotá
2018Pinilla K., Hoinle B., Mahecha-Groot A., Cepeda J. · International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics · Colombia (Bogotá)
This paper presents AgroEcoBogotá, an open counter-mapping platform that cartographically documented 47 urban agroecological initiatives in Bogotá to promote visibility of the local agroecology movement and foster solidarity networks between urban and peri-urban food producers.
CommunityBiodiversityFood educationPhysical and Mental Health Impacts of Household Gardens in an Urban Slum in Lima, Peru
2018Korn A., Bolton S.M., Spencer B., Alarcon J.A., Andrews L., Voss J.G. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 15, No. 8 · Peru (Lima)
A longitudinal pilot study examining the feasibility and health outcomes of household garden implementation in a Lima urban slum, collecting anthropometric and mental health data at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, finding positive associations with nutritional status and wellbeing.
HealthWelfareCommunityIs urban agriculture urban green space? A comparison of policy arrangements for urban green space and urban agriculture in Santiago de Chile
2018Contesse M., van Vliet B.J.M., Lenhart J. · Land Use Policy · Chile (Santiago)
This study used the policy arrangement approach to compare urban green space planning and urban agriculture policies in Santiago, finding that urban agriculture can complement (but not replace) parks as green space, provided that policy mechanisms clarify stakeholder roles and benefits.
PolicyCommunityBiodiversityIs community management of resources by urban households, feasible? Lessons from community gardens in Gweru, Zimbabwe
2018Mwakiwa E., Maparara T., Tatsvarei S., Muzamhindo N. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening · Zimbabwe (Gweru)
This study used econometric methods to analyze participation factors in NGO-introduced community gardens in Gweru, Zimbabwe, finding that food-insecure households with strong social capital were most likely to engage in community resource management, while tenure insecurity and water access were key barriers to sustained participation.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsWelfareA Review on the Economic Feasibility of Composting for Organic Waste Management in Asian Countries
2018Sabki M.H., Lee C.T., Bong C.P.C., Klemeš J.J. · Chemical Engineering Transactions, 70:49-54 · Asia (Indonesia, China)
Cost-benefit analysis of composting operations across Indonesia, China and Asian countries, evaluating economic viability of circular economy approaches in urban farming.
CompostEconomicsOrganic cycleUrban agriculture, racial capitalism, and resistance in the settler‐colonial city
2018Nathan McClintock · Geography Compass · United States
This review proposes that the lens of "racial capitalism" can illuminate the contradictory motivations and outcomes of urban agriculture (UA). It examines how UA can contribute to racial Othering, the racialization of space, and dispossession on the one hand, while enabling struggles of resistance and self-determination on the other. The author uses this framework to address how settler-colonial logics persist in the contemporary North American city.
PolicyCommunityGrowing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security
2018Lucy O. Diekmann, Leslie C. Gray, Gregory A. Baker · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Santa Clara County)
This research evaluates how three types of urban gardens in Santa Clara County, California—home gardens, community gardens, and community food security (CFS) program gardens for low-income families—contribute to food security using a multidimensional framework. In summer 2015, median production ranged from 26 kg (CFS participants) to 56 kg (home gardeners), enough for at least one adult to meet federal vegetable guidelines; interviews further showed gardeners valued knowledge, control, freshness, flavor, organic methods, and cultural acceptability, not just quantity.
HealthCommunityWelfareRaised Beds for Vegetable Production in Urban Agriculture
2018Elizabeth A. Miernicki, Sarah Taylor Lovell, Sam E. Wortman · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Illinois)
A 2-year field experiment in Illinois compared urban production systems (direct soil, compost-only raised beds, and mixed compost-and-soil raised beds) and fertilizer sources for their effects on growing media, weeds, and vegetable yields. Compost raised beds had higher pH, organic matter, and nutrients and sharply reduced weeds, and the authors recommend raised beds with a mix of compost and soil for urban vegetable production.
CompostDIYNovel Soil Barrier Systems Potentially Protect Urban Growing Beds from Legacy Soil Contamination and Improve Soil Health
2018Blake T. Moskal, Sean T. Berthrong · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Indianapolis)
The study tested a barrier strategy used by urban farmers in Indianapolis—layering wood chips between contaminated or low-quality background soil and healthy growing media—for protecting urban growing beds. Despite a limited sample, barriers appeared effective at separating contaminated soils from growing beds, and farming with barriers or in non-contaminated soil improved soil nutrients and physical characteristics, though phosphorus was very high in many beds, posing a potential risk to waterways.
CompostOrganic cycleHealthExploring a Big Data Approach to Building a List Frame for Urban Agriculture: A Pilot Study in the City of Baltimore
2018Linda J. Young, Michael Hyman, Barbara R. Rater · Journal of Official Statistics · United States (Baltimore)
This pilot study explored a big-data approach to building a list frame for enumerating urban agriculture, which is challenging because urban agricultural holdings tend to be small, diverse, dispersed and transient. Conducted by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service in the City of Baltimore, it identified areas of potential agricultural activity by gathering web-based information (permits, Facebook and Twitter feeds, interest groups) and then verified a sample via in-person survey. The paper presents the pilot results and discusses lessons learned and next steps.
PolicyEconomicsGarden Pollinators and the Potential for Ecosystem Service Flow to Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture
2018Gail Ann Langellotto, Andony Melathopoulos, Isabella Messer, Aaron Anderson, Nathan McClintock, Lucas Costner · Sustainability · United States (Portland, Oregon)
This study sampled bees from gardens in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area and estimated typical foraging distances to assess whether urban gardens might supply pollination services to surrounding agricultural land. It estimates that when pollination-dependent crops are nearby, 30–50% of the garden bee community could potentially provide pollination services to adjacent crops, suggesting urban gardens could provision neighboring farms or serve as a refuge for pollinators.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCultivating healthy trajectories: An experimental study of community gardening and health
2018Dietlinde Heilmayr, Howard S Friedman · Journal of Health Psychology · United States
Framing community gardening as a promising but under-evidenced multifaceted health intervention, this paper presents one of the first experimental studies on the topic. The results showed promise for aspects of community gardening while underscoring the need for more rigorous methodologies, and the article offers a framework for studying the health effects of community gardening and similar multifaceted health-promotion efforts.
CommunityHealthCategorizing urban commons: Community gardens in the Rhine-Ruhr agglomeration, Germany
2018· International Journal of the Commons · Germany (Rhine-Ruhr)
A quantitative study of community gardens in the Rhine-Ruhr agglomeration, one of Germany's most urbanized areas, showing high diversity of collective use and the importance of shared immaterial and social values in sustaining the gardens.
CommunitySocial Sustainability through Social Interaction—A National Survey on Community Gardens in Germany
2018· Sustainability · Germany
An online survey of 123 community gardens across Germany assessing social sustainability, finding that social benefits—collective activities, socializing and belonging—rather than harvests are the main motivation to participate.
CommunityWelfareDiversification in peri-urban agriculture: a case study in the Ruhr metropolitan region
2018· Journal of Land Use Science · Germany (Ruhr)
A case study of diversification strategies among peri-urban farms in Germany's Ruhr metropolitan region, documenting how urban proximity shapes multifunctional adaptation.
EconomicsPolicyA Differentiated Spatial Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Services Based on Land Use Data in Halle, Germany
2018· Land · Germany (Halle)
A spatially explicit assessment of urban ecosystem services in Halle (Saale), Germany, combining biotope and land-use data with hemeroby and accessibility to map local provisioning capacity.
BiodiversityPolicyBulk density and content, density and stock of carbon, nitrogen and heavy metals in vegetable patches and lawns of allotments gardens in the northwestern Ruhr area, Germany
2018Burghardt W., Schneider T. · Journal of Soils and Sediments · Germany (Ruhr)
Analysed pH, bulk density, and contents/stocks of organic carbon, nitrogen and heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni) in vegetable patches, lawns and compost heaps across fourteen gardens in four allotments of the northwestern Ruhr area.
Organic cycleCompostHealthSoil Fertility Characteristics and Organic Carbon Stock in Soils of Vegetable Gardens Compared with Surrounding Arable Land at the Center of the Urban and Industrial Area of Ruhr, Germany
2018Burghardt W., Heintz D., Hocke N. · Eurasian Soil Science · Germany (Ruhr)
Compared vegetable-garden soils with surrounding arable land in the central Ruhr area, analysing horizons, texture, pH, bulk density, C/N ratio, and stocks of organic carbon, nitrogen and available nutrients.
Organic cycleCompostVermicomposting of different organic materials using the epigeic earthworm Eisenia foetida
2018· International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture · Global
Evaluates the efficiency of the epigeic earthworm Eisenia foetida in vermicomposting different organic substrates, including kitchen waste.
DIYCompostOrganic cycleA Semi-Systematic Review of Capillary Irrigation: The Benefits, Limitations, and Opportunities
2018· Horticulturae · Global
Reviews capillary irrigation systems such as capillary wicks, noting higher yields and lower water use than conventional irrigation, no runoff, and economical installation and operation.
DIYEmpowerment and Tech Adoption: Introducing the Treadle Pump Triggers Farmers' Innovation in Eastern Ethiopia
2018· Sustainability · Ethiopia
Introduces treadle pumps as a low-cost small-scale irrigation technology in eastern Ethiopia and examines their effect on farmer empowerment and innovation.
DIYEconomicsSchool gardening increases knowledge of primary school children on edible plants and preference for vegetables
2018Leuven J.R.F.W., Rutenfrans A.H.M., Dolfing A.G., Leuven R.S.E.W. · Food Science & Nutrition · Netherlands (Nijmegen)
A 7-month (17-lesson) school gardening program for 150 primary students aged 10-12 in Nijmegen, Netherlands; pre/post surveys showed significant increases in knowledge of edible plants and preference for vegetables.
Food education