Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
9385 results(283 / 376)
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) in the United States: locations and motivations of volunteer tourism host farms
2014· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States
Analyzes the locations and motivations of WWOOF volunteer-tourism host farms in the US, finding host distributions are spatially skewed toward the west coast and Appalachia.
EconomicsOrganic cycleCommunityThe conversion of agricultural land in the peri-urban areas of Hanoi (Vietnam): patterns in space and time
2014· Journal of Land Use Science · Vietnam (Hanoi)
Analyzes the spatial and temporal patterns of agricultural land conversion in the peri-urban areas of Hanoi, Vietnam.
PolicyWhat are the impacts of urban agriculture programs on food security in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review
2014Korth M., Stewart R., Langer L. · Environmental Evidence · Global
After screening 8,142 records and 198 full texts, not a single study met the inclusion criteria for rigorous impact evaluation; the review found no evidence either supporting or refuting that urban agriculture positively affects food security in low- and middle-income countries.
WelfarePolicyUrban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand
2014Martellozzo F., Landry J., Plouffe D., Seufert V., Rowhani P., Ramankutty N. · Environmental Research Letters · Global
A global analysis estimating that meeting urban dwellers' vegetable demand from within cities would require roughly one-third of total global urban area, demonstrating that space constraints make full urban self-provisioning unrealistic in many countries.
PolicyEconomicsStrawberry fields forever? Urban agriculture in developed countries: a review
2014Mok H., Williamson V., Grove J., Burry K., Barker S., Hamilton A. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
This review of urban agriculture across the developed world acknowledges its role in food security and social well-being but stresses that it carries significant costs, input requirements, and constraints, underlining major hindrances to cities feeding themselves this way.
EconomicsPolicyGive peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review
2014Hamilton A., Burry K., Mok H., Barker S., Grove J., Williamson V. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
This global review of urban agriculture in developing countries catalogs its benefits alongside the costs and hindrances of the practice, underscoring the resource constraints and operational obstacles that temper its promise as a food-security solution.
EconomicsPolicyGreening the urban frontier: Race, property, and resettlement in Detroit
2014Safransky S. · Geoforum · Detroit, USA
Analyzing plans to repurpose Detroit's vacant lots as urban farms and green infrastructure, the article argues that framing this land as 'empty' and 'wasted' legitimizes the racialized dispossession of nonwhite residents, distributing the costs and benefits of 'green' redevelopment unevenly.
PolicyCommunityRadical, reformist, and garden-variety neoliberal: coming to terms with urban agriculture's contradictions
2014McClintock N. · Local Environment · USA
Argues that urban agriculture, by filling the void left by the 'rolling back' of the social safety net, underwrites neoliberalization; its discourse of entrepreneurialism and self-help shifts responsibility onto individuals, exposing the movement's contradictions.
WelfarePolicyEconomicsUrban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities 'just green enough'
2014Jennifer R. Wolch, Jason Byrne, Joshua P. Newell · Landscape and Urban Planning · USA / China (comparative)
Reviews greening efforts in US and Chinese cities and documents the 'urban green space paradox': public greening policy meant to improve health disproportionately benefits affluent white communities and can displace the intended beneficiaries via rising property values.
PolicyHealthWelfareUrban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship
2014Rina Ghose, Margaret Pettygrove · Antipode · USA (Milwaukee)
Case study of Milwaukee community gardens challenging the assumption that participation is empowering: under neoliberal restructuring, volunteer-dependent garden governance shifts state responsibility onto residents and produces uneven, tension-ridden citizenship outcomes.
PolicyCommunityWelfareCost-effectiveness of community vegetable gardens for people living with HIV in Zimbabwe
2014Chloe Puett, Cécile Salpéteur, Elisabeth Lacroix, Simbarashe Dennis Zimunya, Anne-Dominique Israël, Myriam Aït-Aïssa · Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation · Zimbabwe (Chipinge)
A 2014 societal-perspective cost-effectiveness analysis of a low-input community vegetable garden (LIG) programme for households affected by HIV in five wards of Chipinge District, eastern Zimbabwe. Activity-based costing drew on accounting data, 15 focus groups with participants and 5 with comparators, and 33 key-informant interviews; effects were measured with the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Food Consumption Score (FCS) for 1,330 participant and 1,330 comparator households. Total societal cost was €1,525 per beneficiary household (€1,415 incremental), giving €12,456 per household reaching the top HDDS tertile and €8,299 per household reaching an acceptable FCS (>35) — 20–30 times Zimbabwe's GDP per capita. The authors conclude the gardens are neither cost-effective nor affordable relative to other interventions. Stated limitations include no baseline data, self-selection among participants, recall bias (data collected more than a year after the programme) and an inability to measure full garden yields. Note that the setting is a rural district, not a city, so the figures cannot be transferred directly to urban gardens.
EconomicsHealthWelfareGlobal assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands
2014Anne Thebo, Pay Drechsel, Éric F. Lambin · Environmental Research Letters · Global
This study used spatial overlay analysis of global cropland and urban extent data to estimate the global area of urban and peri-urban irrigated and rainfed croplands. Urban irrigated croplands were estimated at approximately 24 Mha (11.0% of all irrigated croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.48. Urban rainfed croplands were estimated at about 44 Mha (4.7% of all rainfed croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.03. Additionally, 60% of all irrigated croplands and 35% of all rainfed croplands were found within 20 km of urban extents.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeSustainable Food Systems for Future Cities: The Potential of Urban Agriculture*
2014Kubi Ackerman, Michael Conard, Patricia J. Culligan · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Global
This multi-year study by the Urban Design Laboratory at the Earth Institute assessed urban agriculture in New York City (NYC). It presented metrics on potential growing capacity, surveyed NYC urban farmers on production challenges, and monitored a commercial rooftop farm in Brooklyn. The study aimed to provide insight into urban agriculture's role in creating sustainable food systems for NYC and other cities.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunityFood educationCritical geography of urban agriculture
2014Chiara Tornaghi · Progress in Human Geography · Global
This paper defines the scope and an initial agenda for a critical geography of urban agriculture, noting that despite growing interest across disciplines, it remains a marginal field in human geography. Beyond rhetoric, urban agriculture raises questions for critical geographers, particularly regarding its role in reshaping urban landscapes and experimenting with alternatives to capitalist urban organization. The paper highlights that urban agriculture is sometimes establishing embryonic forms of recreating the Commons.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceInnovation in urban agricultural practices: Responding to diverse production environments
2014Anne Pfeiffer, Erin Silva, Jed B. Colquhoun · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States
A project centered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison gathered data through site visits and interviews with urban agricultural organizations in seven US cities. It examined how structural and strategic food system factors shape urban agricultural efforts, considering diverse business and production models. The study discusses unique innovations in space-intensive agricultural production and assesses significant challenges facing urban agriculture.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAllotment Gardens Contribute to Urban Ecosystem Service: Case Study Salzburg, Austria
2014Jürgen H. Breuste, Martina Artmann · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Austria (Salzburg)
This study investigated how urban allotment gardens contribute to ecosystem services in Salzburg, Austria. A survey was conducted with 156 allotment gardeners across four allotment associations, focusing on the role of allotment gardens in recreation, food production, nature experience, ecological gardening, and environmental behavior. The results indicated the importance of allotment gardens for recreation and nature experience, alongside a declining importance of traditional food production. An increasing interest in ecological gardening and general environmental awareness among allotment gardeners was also observed.
CommunityBiodiversityPolicyFood educationFarming Cuba: Urban Agriculture From the Ground Up
2014Carey Clouse · · Cuba (Havana)
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Cuba developed a significant urban agriculture initiative. By 1998, Havana alone had over 8,000 urban farms, producing nearly half of the country's vegetables. This grassroots effort evolved into the largest sustainable agriculture program, establishing Cuba as a world leader in urban farming.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCommunity Gardens to Fight Urban Youth Crime and Stabilize Neighborhoods
2014Art McCabe · International journal of child health and human development · Global
This paper discusses how reclaiming abandoned properties and vacant lots in inner-city areas and converting them into community gardens or pocket parks can address urban health challenges and youth crime. It suggests that these conversions can reduce health disparities, eliminate blight, stabilize neighborhoods, and foster community engagement. The paper highlights that community gardens can serve as a cost-effective, multi-purpose urban asset, meeting the demand for such spaces, especially among immigrant populations.
CommunityHealthWelfareFood educationConceptualizing Community Buy-in and Its Application to Urban Farming
2014Melissa N. Poulsen, Marie L. Spiker, Peter J. Winch · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Baltimore)
This study explored the perceived importance of community buy-in for urban farming, along with its barriers, facilitators, and strategies, through participant observation at urban farms and interviews with urban farmers, neighborhood leaders, residents, and key stakeholders in Baltimore, Maryland. Findings revealed that residents' unfamiliarity with urban farming, concerns about negative neighborhood impacts, and perceptions of urban farms as "outsider projects" were barriers to buy-in. Strategies for gaining buy-in were shown to follow three main phases: gaining entry into a neighborhood, introducing the urban farm idea, and engaging the neighborhood.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsPolicyExploring guerrilla gardening: gauging public views on the grassroots activity
2014David Adams, Michael Hardman, Peter J. Larkham · Local Environment · Global
This paper explores those affected by guerrilla gardening, noting that it often colonizes land without permission and transforms areas without consulting local communities. Grounding its argument in evidence from three guerrilla groups, the study investigates the public's views on several informal gardening projects. Responses were very mixed, ranging from positive comments about improving aesthetics to negative remarks surrounding the practices of some groups. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that although often promoted as constructive, guerrilla gardening can result in adverse impacts on those who surround colonized sites.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFarmers perception on excreta reuse for peri-urban agriculture in southern Ghana
2014Nimoh Fred, Ohene-Yankyera Kwasi, Poku Kofi, Konradsen Flemming, Claude-François Robert · Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics · Ghana
A study in Ghana's Shai-Osudoku district investigated farmers' attitudes toward excreta reuse for peri-urban agriculture, surveying 400 randomly selected respondents. A majority of respondents disagreed that excreta are waste and were willing to use them as fertilizer. However, a majority also agreed that excreta can pose health risks, and perceptions on reuse differed among households.
Contamination & food safetyPeri-urban agricultureOrganic cycleHealthEvaluating the functionality of agricultural systems: social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. The “Huerta de Valencia” as case study
2014Inmaculada Marques-Pérez, Baldomero Segura García del Río, Concepción Maroto · Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research · Spain (Valencia)
This paper presented a descriptive approach to the multifunctionality of agricultural systems and described a methodological approach to evaluate social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. This approach is based on a review of scientific literature focused on multifunctionality and the goods and services of agricultural systems. The proposed methodology was applied to the "Huerta de Valencia," a rich peri-urban agricultural system with diverse resources, yielding results useful for enriching the political-institutional debate on defining its protection scheme.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityUrban Community Gardeners' Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Contaminant Risks
2014Brent F. Kim, Melissa N. Poulsen, Jared D. Margulies, Katie L. Dix, Anne Palmer, Keeve E. Nachman · PLoS ONE · United States (Baltimore, Maryland)
This study characterized urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of soil contaminant risks in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, through surveys with 70 gardeners from 15 gardens and interviews with 18 key informants. It found low levels of concern and inconsistent knowledge regarding heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants among gardeners. Furthermore, barriers to investigating garden site history and conducting soil tests, along with limited knowledge of best practices for reducing exposure, were identified.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthPolicyUnpermitted Urban Agriculture: Transgressive Actions, Changing Norms and the Local Food Movement
2014Sarah Schindler · Faculty publications · Global
This article explores unauthorized actions in urban and suburban communities that further local food goals, despite violating existing laws and norms. Examples include keeping chickens, planting gardens on foreclosed lots, and operating underground restaurants. The study examines the overlap between food policy and land use law concerning these transgressive activities.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceStudy protocol: effects of school gardens on children’s physical activity
2014Nancy M. Wells, Beth M. Myers, Charles Henderson · Archives of Public Health · United States (New York State)
This study is a protocol for a randomized controlled trial involving 12 schools in New York State. It aims to examine the effect of school gardens on children's overall physical activity, sedentary behavior, and physical activity during the school day. Data will be collected at baseline and at three post-intervention follow-up waves at 6, 12, and 18 months using surveys and accelerometry.
Food educationHealthCommunity