Research & reports

Amandita 'Ainur Rohmah, Falik Wardana, A. Riyan Rahman Hakiki, Sidharta Adyatma · PAKIS (Publikasi Berkala Pendidikan Ilmu Sosial) · Indonesia (Yogyakarta)

A qualitative approach using a literature review was employed to identify the role and contribution of urban agriculture in Yogyakarta City and analyze innovations and social strategies for achieving food stability. The literature review indicates successful implementation of urban agriculture in Yogyakarta City through two flagship programs, Kampung Sayur and Lele Cendol, and that various community innovations allow for the development of an integrated urban farming system.

Moses Wanyakha, Nancy Grudens‐Schuck · International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development · United States

This qualitative study reviewed data from 32 counties in Iowa over five years to assess stakeholder participation in Master Gardener community garden donation programs. The analysis found that while these programs engage many stakeholders, the involvement of food pantry patrons in the planning process was low. This low patron involvement limits the programs' ability to effectively serve the community and achieve sustainability and efficacy in providing fresh produce.

S. GopalaSundara Raj, Halavath Tharunkumar, R. P. Srivastava, Mukesh Kumar Singh, Manindra Nath Upadhyay · Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology · Global

This study explores the economic and environmental benefits of green cultivation, encompassing organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and sustainable land use. Economically, it offers increased profitability, improved market opportunities, and enhanced food security, while environmentally, it supports biodiversity, improves soil health, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Case studies from Spain and Egypt demonstrate the effectiveness of these sustainable farming methods.

Jelena Salmi, Anna Krzywoszynska · Environmental Science & Policy · Finland

A discourse analysis of 103 governance and grey literature documents in Finland examined the politics of soil biodiversity indicators. The study found that eDNA is the preferred scientific basis for soil biodiversity governance in Finland due to alignment between scientific and policy groups. However, land workers' organizations criticize eDNA methods, arguing they risk obscuring local specificity and creating environmental and social injustice, potentially alienating land management groups.

Kurnia Dewi, Yusuf Hariyoko, Hasan Ismail · Presidensial · Indonesia (Surabaya)

A qualitative descriptive study investigated stakeholder synergy in urban farming programs in Surabaya, Indonesia. Data was collected through interviews, documentation, and observation involving the DKPP, agricultural extension officers, farmer groups, and the local community. Strong commitment, competence, awareness, and continuity were identified as driving factors for successful implementation, but challenges include declining active farmer groups and limited facilities.

M Itendrakumar · INTERANTIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT · Global

This review article discusses optimization of rainwater harvesting systems in high-rise buildings, addressing water-resource management challenges posed by dense populations and limited land in high-rise structures. It cites, as examples, a "Rain-Power Utilization System" that uses rainwater for both consumption and energy generation (Yu J et al.) and a decentralized rooftop-mosaic system combining rainwater harvesting with urban farming and renewable energy (Toboso-Chavero S et al., pp. 1284-1299).

Chen Li, Jin ZUO, Tao Lin, Xiao Wang · Landscape Architecture · China

This study, focused on the central urban area of Tianjin, China, presents a method for extracting potential green roofs and assessing ecological network reconstruction. It synthesizes four suitability characteristics — flat roof features, roof color, additional structures, and building height — into a deep learning model with attention mechanisms and multi-scale feature fusion to identify potential green roof areas, then proposes a framework based on a Least-Cost Path model for incorporating potential green roofs into urban ecological network reconstruction. The results identified 21,244 roofs with greening potential in central Tianjin, covering a total of 1,345.22 hectares (average 633 m², largest 24,927 m²), showing a "polycentric and dispersed" spatial distribution. Integrating potential green roofs with existing green space increased the number of source patches from 100 to 131 and total area by 302.35 hectares, with potential green roofs directly contributing 126.28 hectares.

Sara Rizzo, Giulia Lucertini, Alessandra Bònoli, Maria Elena Bini, Roberta Guzzinati, Luca Settanni, Francesca Cappellaro · Environmental Engineering and Management Journal · Europe

A study of six experimental case studies in the metropolitan city of Bologna, Italy, describing urban community gardens (UCGs) as examples of co-production in Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), focused on the design and development of circular strategies for water reuse. It situates Bologna as a context where urban horticulture has long served as local welfare and is now evolving to host solutions supporting environmental resilience, and reports the implementation of social innovation pathways, community building and citizen engagement enabled through co-design activities using open innovation approaches, particularly Urban Living Labs (ULLs), which facilitated the development and testing of locally adapted, do-it-yourself solutions. The analysis concludes that the implemented solutions had significant social and economic impact, demonstrating UCGs' effectiveness as NBS in strengthening communities, contributing to the 2030 Agenda SDGs, and validating the outcomes of the participatory co-production approach.

Rueda, Ximena · Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling · Africa

A 2025 comparative analysis examines agricultural, economic, and biodiversity policy across Cameroon, Kenya, and Colombia in the context of agricultural expansion, using discourse analysis of policy documents via the Nature Futures Framework and Life Frames Framework, an evaluation of budgets allocated to major agricultural and biodiversity policies, and stakeholder interviews. It finds a shared struggle across all three countries to harmonize agricultural development with biodiversity conservation despite differing institutional capacities, historical pathways, and sociocultural contexts, with agriculture continuing to dominate policy agendas and resource allocation even as recognition of biodiversity's importance grows. Nature is framed primarily in instrumental terms, most strongly so in Colombia's utilitarian "Nature for Society" orientation, with intrinsic and relational values rooted in Indigenous cosmologies weakly reflected in implementation; funding for biodiversity-related ministries remains minimal relative to agriculture in all three countries — Kenya's environmental budget rarely exceeds 0.3% of national expenditure, with Cameroon showing similar disparities and Colombia's allocations continuing to favor agricultural expansion — and institutional fragmentation further undermines this governance.

Katie Wagner, Kynda R. Curtis, Ruby Ward, Melanie Stock, Sheriden M. Hansen · Applied Economics Teaching Resources · United States

This article describes the Utah Urban and Small Farms Conference (USFC), an annual outreach event for new and existing small and urban agricultural producers in Utah and across the United States facing urbanization and environmental challenges. It reports that themed sessions led by producers, government personnel, and Extension faculty led to information adoption, community partnerships, and effects on participants' professional careers and involvement in urban agriculture governance. The article suggests the USFC model could be adapted by other organizations and communities facing similar challenges.

Mwangi Kamau, Wanjiku Otieno · International Journal of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry · Kenya

This study characterized the physicochemical quality of untreated wastewater from three small-scale slaughterhouses on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, and measured its effect on soil microbiology at 0, 50, and 200 meters from the discharge point during both wet and dry seasons. Wastewater biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) ranged from 1,840 to 2,620 mg/L and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 3,410 to 4,870 mg/L, exceeding Kenyan discharge standards by 6- to 10-fold. Total bacterial counts in soil at the discharge point were 2.7 times higher than at 200 m (p<0.001), and total coliform counts were 4.1 times higher (p<0.001). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index rose significantly with distance from the discharge point (1.42±0.14 at 0 m vs. 2.34±0.18 at 200 m; p<0.001), indicating that wastewater irrigation selects for a less diverse, coliform-dominated soil microbial community. Seasonal variation was significant for BOD5 and coliform loading but not for the diversity index.

Vebjørn Egner Stafseng, Anna Marie Nicolaysen, Geir Lieblein · · United Kingdom

This education-research chapter presents findings from participatory visioning workshops that agroecology students conducted with urban agriculture initiatives in Oslo, Norway, in 2018 and 2019, analyzing the students' resulting reports. Key vision characteristics were categorized into social, nature and governance themes; common challenges included difficulties in collaboration, lack of funds and time, and initiative-specific constraints, while strong political support and rising interest in urban agriculture emerged as supporting forces, with proposed actions grouped into ecology, food, education, organization, social and municipality categories.

Nicole Paganini · · Africa

Drawing on critical theorists including Fanon and Mbembe, the chapter examines how crises expose systemic inequalities and power imbalances rooted in colonial legacies, and how gardening becomes a means of agency, resistance, and the restoration of dignity in response to food injustice, through four African city case studies: Cape Town's land crisis, Maputo's post-war hunger crisis, Nairobi's COVID-19 crisis, and Ouagadougou's migration crisis. Noting that women are globally the primary actors in farming and food-related activities, it treats the question of women and land tenure as relevant, examining urban agriculture through a decolonial lens and framing crisis gardening as both a means of sustenance and a catalyst for community resilience and social cohesion in times of turmoil.

Shuang Gan, Wanglin Yan · Applied Geography · Japan

A multi-scale analytical framework examined changing relationships between urban expansion and farmland protection during the transition from population growth to decline, applied to the Odawara region of Japan. Since population decline began in 2010, conflicts between urban expansion and farmland protection have remained concentrated along the urban-agricultural fringe, with farmland loss and fragmentation continuing despite reduced development pressure, and population change was found to indirectly cause paddy field loss via built-up land expansion with a five-year lag. The main driver of farmland loss has shifted from urban development to agriculture-related loss driven by labor shortages and low farming efficiency, and agricultural promotion areas moderately retain paddy fields but offer only limited protection against fragmentation.

Ansar Amir, Mohammed Haruna · Interdisciplinary Social Studies · Indonesia (Makassar)

The Tanami Tanata Movement in Makassar City, Indonesia, was studied using a qualitative descriptive approach involving interviews, observations, and documentation to examine public administration innovation integrating organic waste management with urban farming. The movement was found to significantly reduce organic waste generation while strengthening family food security, achieved through multi-actor collaboration, participatory governance platforms, local circular economy implementation, and service digitization via the 'Sampah Tukar Sayur' (waste-for-vegetables) program; integrating waste management with urban farming created a sustainable cycle turning waste into productive resources with ecological, social, and economic benefits, and also spurred urban-agriculture-based micro businesses and greater public awareness of zero-waste principles.

Álvaro Luis José Reyes Córdova · Horizontes Amazónicos · Ecuador

A bibliographic review of research on water quality in the Puyo River and its tributaries in Pastaza, Ecuador, compiled studies from scientific databases and institutional repositories reporting physicochemical, microbiological, and heavy metal parameters. The main sources of contamination were found to be wastewater discharges, fecal coliforms, and accumulation of heavy metals such as lead and mercury linked to urban, agricultural, and mining activities, with community perception aligning with technical findings as most of the population rated the water poor quality and associated it with health problems. Over the past twenty years, a progressive deterioration in water quality parameters has been documented, with increases in turbidity and pathogenic microorganisms despite some isolated recovery efforts, and the review concludes that lack of attention from the municipality and prefecture, together with the absence of continuous monitoring, is worsening the water crisis and demands comprehensive, participatory governance.

Stokman, Antje, Khokhlova, Viktoria, Peters, Lasse, König, Bettina, Lange, Doris, Bürig, Lara, Esche, Finn, Feldmann, Falko, Quambusch, Mona · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Germany

A German report on an urban agriculture innovation district being developed in Hamburg as part of the Horner Geest landscape axis and the urban development of the new Gartenstadt Öjendorf. An interdisciplinary research team from HafenCity University (landscape planning), the Julius Kühn Institute (horticultural sciences), and the University of Kassel (agricultural economics and sustainability research) is developing scenarios for a productive horticultural park and testing them on a test and demonstration site. The project aims to establish innovative forms of urban agriculture that increase the presence and perception of farming in urban space and promote direct interaction between city residents and professional agricultural actors; this report covers the project on the occasion of its first scenario workshop.

Marco Focacci, Christina Schäffer, Isabella De Meo, Alessandro Paletto, Fabio Salbitano · Urban forestry & urban greening · Europe

A study of urban forest gardens—multilayered, mainly perennial edible intercropping systems—in Sweden, aimed at a national inventory, identifying the drivers behind their establishment, and understanding their contribution to urban sustainability policies. The researchers identified 30 forest gardens across 10 cities and conducted site visits and stakeholder interviews, finding three main origin types: grassroots movements, schools, and municipal officials, each informed and trained by "knowledge hubs" (associations, education centres and professionals). Social network analysis showed knowledge hubs were pivotal to establishment and information circulation, while few connections existed among other actors. Stakeholders rated cultural ecosystem services—education, community building, recreation and aesthetic value (8.7/10)—higher than regulating services such as biodiversity and climate regulation (7.9/10) and provisioning services (6.5/10). Interviews also identified legal burdens on land management and use, financial sustainability challenges for both bottom-up and top-down forest gardens, and a lack of skilled labor.

Adeyemi Israel Atanda · Open MIND · Nigeria

This study examines how socioeconomic characteristics influence residents practicing sack farming in Ibadan, Nigeria, using a cross-sectional survey and mixed methods with 1,288 respondents proportionally allocated across high- (182), medium- (708) and low-density (398) residential areas. It found benefits including efficient use of space, increased crop yields and reduced soil erosion; the 31-40 age bracket showed the highest engagement (31.3%, chi-square=41.791, p=0.003, a significant association), while participation was 34.5% male versus 65.5% female with no statistically significant gender difference (chi-square=8.035, p=0.090).

Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira · Geo Geography and Environment · South Africa

This study examines how community gardens in Cape Town's marginalised Cape Flats area enact spatial justice through everyday practices, drawing on Henri Lefebvre's social production of space and its spatial triad -- perceived, conceived and lived space. Based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of 34 community gardens and state actors, supplemented by documentary analysis of planning and policy frameworks, it finds that gardeners physically transform neglected land into perceived spaces of cultivation despite insecure tenure and limited infrastructure (water access, soil quality), negotiate and subvert top-down planning by repurposing school grounds and municipal reserves as conceived space, and sustain memory and identity as lived space through crops, seed exchanges and collective action -- while persistent challenges of tenure precarity, resource scarcity and competing land-use pressures threaten each garden's longevity.

Fernanda Tomiello, Sidney Gonçalves Vieira · Ciência Geográfica · Brazil

A Brazilian paper draws on Henri Lefebvre's ideas about the use and appropriation of space to examine the tension between domination, embodied in private property, and appropriation oriented toward collective, just use. Arguing for overcoming constraints that limit the appropriation of space and prioritizing human needs over market logic, the study analyzes the deterioration of green areas in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, finding that the city's Green Area Index (IAV) falls below the recommended level, and proposes practices such as urban agriculture as alternatives that challenge capitalist logic and promote the appropriation of space as a right for all.

Diana Rubí Oropeza Tosca, Roger Notario-Priego, Dalia Alejandra Candelario-Morales, Ezequiel Notario-Priego, José Eliseo · Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental · Mexico

A study in a rural community in Southeastern Mexico designed a management model for the administration and sustainability of a community garden, focusing on strengthening local capacities, ensuring equitable resource distribution, and promoting food security and environmental sustainability. Drawing on frameworks of social and solidarity economy, food security, sustainable development, and agroecology, and gathering data through focus groups, field visits, and semi-structured interviews with community members and stakeholders in a mixed-methods, participatory design, the study found the community committed to adopting sustainable practices, identified challenges such as resource limitations and climatic risks, and proposed agroecological practices and capacity-building as potential solutions. The resulting management model emphasizes collaborative governance and continuous monitoring.

Fetty Dwi Rahmayanti, Andi Gunawan, Anas Miftah Fauzi, Edi Santosa · Journal of Tropical Crop Science · Indonesia

A study of East Jakarta, Indonesia, one of the cities where urban farming practices have been implemented, analyzed environmental risk control for sustainable urban agriculture development in 2025. Environmental risks caused by biotic and abiotic factors were identified across 17 question categories and assessed on low, medium and high risk scales. Air dust was found to carry the highest risk among the biotic and abiotic factors examined. Respondents were found to have reasonably effective knowledge of environmental risks, but the study concluded that deeper understanding and increased knowledge are needed to achieve sustainable urban agriculture.

Sebastian Eiter, Wendy Fjellstad, Loes van Schaik · Landscape and Urban Planning · Europe

Drawing on case examples from five European cities, a 2025 study identified the challenges involved in monitoring the sustainability of urban agriculture, from selecting indicators and gathering data to using the results. Urban agriculture is often positioned as a tool to increase the economic, social and environmental sustainability of cities and city food systems, yet sustainability is difficult to measure, fueling debate about how sustainable urban agriculture truly is and leaving a lack of incentive to promote it or protect existing initiatives threatened by development pressure on urban land. Comparing the five cities revealed large differences in what topics were monitored, who was responsible, who gathered data and when, what data was recorded and how it was stored, and how findings were disseminated or published. Based on these findings, the study recommends stronger involvement of existing interest groups and educational institutions in monitoring, along with promotion of convenient tools for citizen-science data collection and long-term data storage.

Arum Sekar Kedhaton, Prince Clinton Immanuel Christian Damanik, Hizwatin Maulidya, Yuliana Devina Angela Jane, Juwari Juwari · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Pembangunan dan Pendidikan Vokasi Pertanian · Indonesia (Samarinda)

A 2025 study analyzed and compared the physical characteristics of soil in two areas of Samarinda City, Indonesia — Samarinda Ulu and Samarinda Utara sub-districts — as a basis for evaluating urban farming potential, using a descriptive-comparative approach to examine soil texture, structure, color and consistency. Results showed the soil in Samarinda Ulu had a fine sandy loam texture, small crumb structure and olive brown color (2.5Y 4/4), while soil in Samarinda Utara had a somewhat coarser texture, angular blocky structure and reddish brown color (5YR 4/4). These differences indicate variation in water retention and drainage capacity that affects crop suitability: Samarinda Ulu soil was found more suitable for horticultural crops, while Samarinda Utara soil suited drought-tolerant plants. The study is intended to inform the development of sustainable urban agriculture in humid tropical regions.