Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
11393 results(259 / 456)
Role of Urban Agriculture in a Secure, Healthy, and Sustainable Food System
2018· BioScience · Global
Comprehensive analysis of urban agriculture's role in achieving secure, healthy, and sustainable food systems. Examines how citizen-driven agriculture can transform food systems.
Food educationWelfareBiodiversityCommunityEffects of Horticultural Therapy on Asian Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
2018· International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Singapore
A waitlist-control randomized controlled trial recruiting 59 older adults (29 horticultural therapy, 30 waitlist control) to investigate improvements in mental well-being and modulation of biomarker levels.
ElderlyHealthReducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers
2018Poore J., Nemecek T. · Science · Global
A meta-analysis of about 38,000 farms shows food's environmental impacts are dominated by production while transport contributes only a small share, weakening the food-miles rationale and casting doubt on transport-reduction as urban agriculture's climate justification.
PolicyEconomicsOccurrence of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in garden produce at homes with a history of PFAS-contaminated drinking water
2018· Chemosphere · USA (Minnesota)
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were found in garden produce grown at homes with a history of PFAS-contaminated drinking water, showing home gardens can be a PFAS exposure pathway.
HealthEffects of Water Quality and Post-Harvest Handling on Microbiological Contamination of Lettuce at Urban and Peri-Urban Locations of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2018· Foods · Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
Lettuce from urban and peri-urban gardens in Ouagadougou was contaminated with E. coli, coliforms, and Salmonella, with 60% of irrigation water failing WHO safety standards, indicating a microbial food-safety risk.
HealthReconciling economic viability and socio-ecological aspirations in London urban microfarms
2018· Agronomy for Sustainable Development · London, UK
Modeling 10 London urban microfarms, the study finds economic viability is achievable only by focusing on high-value leaf crops sold at high prices to restaurants while relying on volunteer labor and cheap council land, forcing trade-offs against their social-ecological aims.
EconomicsCommunityCultivating (a) Sustainability Capital: Urban Agriculture, Ecogentrification, and the Uneven Valorization of Social Reproduction
2018McClintock N. · Annals of the American Association of Geographers · USA
Demonstrates how urban agriculture becomes entangled in eco-gentrification, arguing that eco-gentrification is not merely a side effect of an urban sustainability fix but is central to how racial capitalism operates through green urbanization.
EconomicsCommunityPolicyGated gardens: Effects of urbanization on community formation and commons management in community gardens
2018Egerer M., Fairbairn M. · Geoforum · California, USA
Under rapid urbanization on California's central coast, social tensions permeate garden boundaries and shape internal relations. Conflicts over membership rules, resource management, and theft of produce erode community cohesion within the gardens.
CommunityPolicyEvaluating Food Policy Councils Using Structural Equation Modeling
2018Calancie Larissa, Allen Nicole E., Ng Shu Wen, Weiner Bryan J., Ward Dianne S., Ware William B., Ammerman Alice S. · American Journal of Community Psychology · USA
Quantitatively evaluates US food policy councils, modelling links between council characteristics and policy activity. Reveals many councils have limited capacity and achieve modest policy engagement, identifying structural weaknesses that constrain their effectiveness as governance bodies.
Policy"We're not in the business of housing:" Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects
2018Jeremy Németh, Alessandro Rigolon · Cities · USA (Chicago, The 606)
Case study of Chicago's publicly-backed 606 greenway showing how reliance on park nonprofits to deliver large green-infrastructure projects accelerates environmental gentrification: the governance model disclaims responsibility for the displacement it causes.
PolicyEconomicsWelfareAssessing green gentrification in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods: a longitudinal and spatial analysis of Barcelona
2018Isabelle Anguelovski, James J. T. Connolly, Laia Masip, Hamil Pearsall · Urban Geography · Spain (Barcelona)
Longitudinal spatial analysis linking Barcelona's municipal greening interventions (parks/green corridors) to gentrification in disenfranchised neighborhoods, providing quantitative evidence that public greening policy is associated with exclusionary neighborhood change.
PolicyWelfareCommunity gardening in Stockholm: participation, driving forces and the role of the municipality
2018Madeleine Bonow, Maria Normark · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Sweden
Research on Stockholm community gardens. Analyzes participation mechanisms, driving forces, and municipal support role. Examines implementation mechanisms for sustainability improvement.
CommunityPolicyFood educationImpact of Wastewater-Irrigated Urban Agriculture on Diarrhea Incidence in Ahmedabad, India
2018Timo Falkenberg, Deepak Saxena · Indian Journal of Community Medicine · India (Ahmedabad)
A 12-month case-cohort study of 187 households in four communities of Ahmedabad, India, purposively selected by irrigation water type (groundwater, surface water, wastewater), with bimonthly self-reported health diaries and most-probable-number measurement of Escherichia coli in water. Mean E. coli concentrations per 100 mL were 3.04×10^4 (groundwater), 9.28×10^5 (surface water) and 4.02×10^9 (wastewater) — all exceeding international irrigation water standards. Diarrhoea incidence was 7.92 episodes per 1000 person-weeks in the groundwater area versus 13.1 (wastewater) and 13.4 (surface water), with a positive correlation between irrigation water quality and diarrhoea. Wastewater reuse is often promoted as a water-scarcity fix for urban agriculture; this study shows it carries a health cost borne by the farming households themselves.
Contamination & food safetyHealthOrganic cycleThe Role of Urban Agriculture as a Nature-Based Solution: A Review for Developing a Systemic Assessment Framework
2018Martina Artmann, Katharina Sartison · Sustainability · Global
A systemic literature review of 166 academic articles focusing on the Global North examined urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a nature-based solution. The review found that UPA contributes to ten key societal challenges of urbanization, including climate change, food security, and public health, by providing social, economic, and environmental co-benefits. The study developed an integrative assessment framework for evaluating UPA implementation and impact efficiency, which should be tested using edible cities as an example.
CommunityBiodiversityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceSustainability of Urban Agriculture: Vegetable Production on Green Roofs
2018S. Alan Walters, Karen Stoelzle Midden · Agriculture · Global
Vegetable production on green roofs faces multiple challenges, resulting in minimal current activity despite its potential for urban agricultural sustainability. While intensive green roof systems are considered suitable for vegetable production, extensive systems with shallow-rooted crops like lettuce, kale, and radish show the greatest potential for sustained productivity due to building weight restrictions. Deeper-root crops like tomatoes require constant monitoring of fertility and moisture. Green roofs are not presented as a total solution for urban food provision.
Economic viabilityDIYCommunityClimate changeEconomicsA Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture
2018Nicholas Clinton, Michelle Stuhlmacher, Albie Miles, Nazli Uludere Aragon, Melissa Wagner, Matei Georgescu, Chris Herwig, Peng Gong · Earth s Future · Global
This study developed a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from urban agriculture (UA) using global datasets in Google Earth Engine. Existing urban vegetation provides an estimated $33 billion annually in ecosystem services. An intensive UA adoption scenario projects potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings of 14–15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration of 100,000–170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff of 45–57 billion cubic meters. Under this intensive scenario, the value of ecosystem services could reach $80–160 billion annually, with significant country-to-country variability.
EconomicsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban green infrastructure: The role of urban agriculture in city resilience
2018Τhomas Panagopoulos, Ilze Jankovska, Maria Boștenaru Dan · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This article examines the role of urban agriculture as green infrastructure in city resilience, noting its ecological, cultural, social, and socio-economic value. It highlights that municipal intervention is crucial for urban agriculture, providing communal infrastructure and defining rules. The article concludes that urban agriculture, supported by municipal intervention, is instrumental for city resilience by serving as a vital source of food and occupation during crises and aiding adaptation to climate change.
CommunityEconomicsWelfareClimate changeSalutogenic Affordances and Sustainability: Multiple Benefits With Edible Forest Gardens in Urban Green Spaces
2018Jonathan Stoltz, Christina Schäffer · Frontiers in Psychology · Global
This paper explores the salutogenic potential of urban green spaces, proposing edible forest gardens as a concept for urban green space use and management. It argues that including edible forest gardens in urban green spaces (today globally dominated by lawns) could reinforce several affordances of salutogenic importance, such as social cohesion and restoration from psycho-physiological stress and attention fatigue. Increased opportunities for contact with nature and food production processes may also reinforce pro-environmental behaviors in the population.
BiodiversityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as A Pathway to Food Security: A Review Mapping the Use of Food Sovereignty
2018Michelle Tendai. Chihambakwe, Paramu Mafongoya, Obert Jiri · Challenges · Zimbabwe
This review maps the use of food sovereignty principles in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Zimbabwe, addressing its potential for food security. Despite UPA being ingrained in urban households' livelihoods, institutional arrangements governing the practice remain ambivalent. The review underscores that the failure to involve all stakeholders undermines UPA, leading to heightened food insecurity and unsustainable practices.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsSustainability as business strategy in community supported agriculture
2018Daniele Eckert Matzembacher, Fábio Bittencourt Meira · British Food Journal · Brazil
This exploratory case study investigated two Brazilian Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives over two years and six months using participant observation, ethnography, interviews, and secondary data. It found that the analyzed CSA activities integrate social, environmental, and economic sustainability dimensions, providing guaranteed sales and higher incomes for producers, and emphasizing sustainability education for consumers. The findings cannot be extrapolated to broader populations due to the exploratory nature of the study.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityFood educationThe politics of urban agriculture
2018Nathan McClintock, Christiana Miewald, Eugene McCann · · North America
This chapter explores urban agriculture (UA) as fundamentally political practices, examining its role in neoliberal governance and sustainability policy-making, and as an object of contestation. It relates UA motivations and practices to processes of urbanization and political economic restructuring. The chapter highlights that UA is a site of political contestation, arising from broader political economic shifts.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsBrownfields to Greenfields: Environmental Justice Versus Environmental Gentrification
2018Juliana Maantay, Andrew Maroko · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · United States (New York City)
This study examined whether proximity to community gardens in less affluent neighborhoods is associated with an increased likelihood of gentrification, using Brooklyn, New York as a case study. Employing GIS and spatial analysis, the results suggest that proximity to community gardens is associated with significant increases in per capita income over a five-year period. This indicates that environmental improvements, such as community gardens, may paradoxically spur gentrification and the displacement of existing lower-income residents, raising concerns for environmental justice.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyWelfareCommunity‐supported agriculture in the United States: Social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming
2018Mark Paul · Journal of Agrarian Change · United States (Massachusetts)
This paper evaluates the livelihoods of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts from their perspective. Results indicate that while CSA farmers earn more farm income than other U.S. farms on average, they still earn far below the median national income and generally fail to earn a living wage. Despite these economic findings, farmers stressed the importance of broader social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming. The study concludes that CSA has largely failed to provide adequate livelihoods for farmers to date.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityPeri-urban agriculture in Australia
2018Rachel Carey, Sarah James · · Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)
This chapter examines peri-urban agriculture in Australia, focusing on case studies in Sydney and Melbourne. It explores the pressures on peri-urban fringes, noting that while food needs are increasing due to population growth, the capacity of these areas to meet them is decreasing due to urban sprawl. The research highlights policy and planning options to protect these regions, emphasizing their potential contribution to urban sustainability and resilience amidst climate change and water scarcity.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Agriculture as a Sustainability Transition Strategy for Shrinking Cities? Land Use Change Trajectory as an Obstacle in Kyoto City, Japan
2018Kimisato Oda, Christoph Rupprecht, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Steven R. McGreevy · Sustainability · Japan (Kyoto)
A study in Kyoto City, Japan, examined agricultural land use from 2007–2017 to assess urban agriculture as a sustainability strategy for shrinking cities. Analysis revealed a 10% decline (209 ha) in agricultural land use over ten years, with main post-agricultural uses being residential (40%) and vacant land (28%). The findings indicate that Kyoto City is not currently positioned to benefit from population decline through localized food production.
Limited or null effectUrban–rural linkagePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate change