Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
9077 results(284 / 364)
A Case Study of the Symbolic Value of Community Supported Agriculture Membership
2014Lydia Zepeda, Anna Reznickova, Willow Saranna Russell, David Hettenbach, Zepeda, Lydia, Reznickova, Anna "Alice", Russell, Willow Saranna, Hettenbach, David · Journal of food distribution research · Global
This paper uses a focus group study to examine the symbolic value of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as a vegetable delivery system. It finds that for both current and former members, CSA confers symbolic and private meaning and status to vegetables, but has little influence on the perceived status of agriculture itself. Only continuing CSA members demonstrate learned cues, perceptions of appraisal, improved role performance, and confer status to the CSA farmer.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsAlternative Food Projects, Localization and Neoliberal Urban Development
2014Pascale Joassart‐Marcelli, Fernando J. Bosco · Métropoles · United States (California)
This article explores the growth of local food practices in urban southern California, focusing on farmers' markets. While alternative food initiatives like farmers' markets are often seen as resistance to capitalist pressures, this research provides evidence that they have become increasingly popular among affluent and white urban residents. This finding challenges the claim that local food fosters democracy and justice, indicating that these initiatives can reproduce neoliberal urban agendas and reshape cities along lines of race and class.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Agriculture Best Practices in Kampala's Suburbs: A Transfer Study on Food Security and Community Cohesion Initiatives
2014Mr Frank Lewis · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Uganda (Kampala)
This study investigated urban agriculture best practices in Kampala's suburbs, Uganda, employing semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with local farmers, government officials, and community leaders. It found that urban agriculture is critical for food security and community cohesion, with women constituting over 70% of participants in surveyed households and making vital contributions.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsWelfareGrowing Roots: Gardening as a means to mitigate urban poverty and its symptoms
2014Maeve Bassett · Fordham Research Commons (Fordham University) · Global
Urban gardens are advertised as a solution to limited food access in impoverished areas, but they are not productive enough to globally affect food production and the environment. However, for surrounding communities, urban gardens are cheap and effective solutions for many problems associated with poverty and food deserts, such as obesity, education, social interactions, income supplementation, health issues, dangerous neighborhoods, and refugee assimilation.
Limited or null effectWelfareHealthCommunityEconomicsRefugees Connecting with a New Country through Community Food Gardening
2014Neil Harris, Fiona Nicole Rowe Minniss, Shawn Somerset · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global
A cross-sectional study conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve African humanitarian migrants participating in a campus-based community food garden. The study explored how involvement in the garden supported their connectedness with their new country. Thematic analysis revealed three important benefits: land tenure, reconnecting with agriculture, and community belonging.
CommunityWelfareHealthFood sovereignty & justiceAgrileisure
2014James Farmer, Charles Chancellor, Jennifer Meta Robinson, Stephanie T. West, Melissa S. Weddell · Journal of Leisure Research · Global
This study collected data from 712 individuals regarding participation in local food systems, including farmers' markets and CSA programs. Findings revealed a significant association between participants and privilege variables, suggesting that despite promotion, barriers exclude many from engaging in these agrileisure opportunities.
Equity & displacementCSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityWelfareAn Approach to Assessing Multicity Implementation of Healthful Food Access Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes
2014Laura Oliven Silberfarb, Sonja Savre, Gayle Geber · Preventing Chronic Disease · United States (Hennepin County)
Hennepin County assessed the extent to which 41 cities were engaged in making policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes to increase residents' access to healthful food. Results revealed that some cities, particularly those with higher resident demand for healthful food, are making nationally recommended PSE changes, such as sponsoring farmers markets. However, cities moved more slowly to make changes in areas with perceived negative cost consequences or lesser public demand, such as parks and recreation vending.
Economic viabilityPolicyHealthCommunityEconomicsDoes Urban Agriculture help improve women`s resilience to poverty? Evidence from low- income generating women in Bulawayo
2014Nobuhle Sebata, Clifford Mabhena, Mkhokheli Sithole · IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science · Zimbabwe
A qualitative study in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, using data from 30 women, 5 key informant interviews, and 2 focus groups, examined urban agriculture's role in women's poverty resilience. While urban agriculture significantly improved food availability and access, its nutritional contribution was low due to a focus on maize, and income generation remained very low due to subsistence production.
Limited or null effectWelfareEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate-smart urban agriculture in eThekwini
2014J.F.Y.A. Knegtel, Sershen Naidoo · · South Africa
This article describes the findings of a recent study conducted in the low-income area of Cato Manor, eThekwini, South Africa. The study investigated whether climate-smart urban agriculture could improve the livelihoods of people in urban environments affected by climate change and globalization.
Climate changeCommunityWelfare用标准化引领农民致富——DB14/T866-2014《鲜食糯玉米栽培技术规程》解读
2014陈永欣 · 大众标准化 · China
With the development of the national economy and scientific progress, people's dietary structures have significantly changed, shifting towards nutritious and healthy food. Waxy corn is highly nutritious, sweet, sticky, and possesses a unique flavor, making it widely popular. In recent years, the cultivation of waxy corn, sales of fresh ears, preservation processing, off-season sales, and year-round market supply have garnered significant attention. Consequently, its planting area has expanded annually, and processing factories have increased, establishing it as an emerging urban agriculture.
EconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceUrban agriculture in Vila Nova de Gaia: the nurturing symbiosis
2014Isabel Martinho da Silva · Journal of Landscape Architecture · Portugal (Vila Nova de Gaia)
In Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, an urban agriculture policy was introduced in 2012 with the launch of the Municipal Network of Urban Allotment Gardens. This program views urban agriculture as an opportunity to meet the demand for such spaces within the urban area, solve maintenance problems for municipal lands, and improve the environmental, aesthetic, and social quality of the landscape. This paper presents and discusses the network's capacity to promote urban agriculture despite the economic crisis and to change landscape 'ownership'.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsBringing Food Back Home: Revitalizing the Postindustrial American City Through State and Local Policies Promoting Urban Agriculture
2014Elizabeth Berg · Scholars' Bank (University of Oregon) · United States
State and local policies promoting urban agriculture contribute to revitalizing postindustrial American cities. Urban food systems encompass aspects of producing, processing, marketing, distributing, and consuming food, providing a multiplicity of benefits and services for local residents. These benefits include improved access to outdoor recreation, economic vitality, health and wellbeing, landscape beautification, and environmental restoration.
PolicyEconomicsHealthCommunityBeyond Gardening: A New Approach to HCI and Urban Agriculture
2014Tad Hirsch · The MIT Press eBooks · Global
This chapter explores a new approach to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and urban agriculture. It includes sections on understanding urban agriculture, moving from urban form to urban experience, from cultivation to food provisioning, an expanded definition, a framework, and a case study of Sunroot Gardens.
Digital agricultureCommunityPolicyDiverse perceptions of the future of agriculture on the Hanoi periphery
2014Tô Thi Thu Ha, Paule Moustier, Nguyễn Thị Tân Lộc · Agritrop (Cirad) · Vietnam (Hanoi)
A 2009 survey in Hanoi, Vietnam, involving 47 agricultural households, 14 cooperative heads, 83 non-agricultural households, and 13 public officials, appraised perceptions of peri-urban agriculture. Farmers and agricultural officials were more optimistic about urban agriculture's future than non-farm residents. While most respondents believed agriculture should be maintained for food and employment, residents showed little desire to be involved in urban planning decisions, suggesting that the potential extinction of peri-urban agriculture might not elicit a strong reaction until it is too late.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityPolicyEconomics“It’s a Little Piece of My Country”
2014Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · · United States (Los Angeles)
This chapter focuses on life in urban community gardens in Los Angeles, United States. Here, the poorest and most marginalized newcomer immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, gather to grow homeland vegetables, share community ties, and build new places of belonging. They transform discarded urban patches into oases of freedom, belonging, and homeland connection, producing bountiful vegetables and vibrant community connections.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareA Probe on Urban Agriculture-Oriented Ecological City
2014Tong Zhou, Tao Zhao · Applied Mechanics and Materials · Global
This article introduced the connotation and function of urban agriculture, analyzing the relationship between its development and ecological city construction. It concluded that the development of urban agriculture is conducive to eco-city construction and an inevitable choice for it.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyClimate changeMarketing of Urban Agriculture Produce in Three Municipalities in Tanzania: Opportunities and Challenges
2014Kizito K. Mwajombe · · Tanzania
This study investigated urban agriculture (UA) produce marketing in three Tanzanian municipalities. Findings showed UA farmers lacked pre-arranged contracts with buyers, limiting their marketing, and faced problems including poor packaging, bylaws, taxes, and difficulty meeting consumer preferences. Farmers also lacked direct links to retail and consumer units like supermarkets.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEarth under the Nails: : The Extraordinary Return to the Land
2014· Hart Publishing eBooks · United Kingdom (England and Wales)
This paper explores the phenomenon of people in England and Wales returning to the land for various food-growing projects, including over 1,000 community gardens and 82 school farms. It examines the legal frameworks regulating these diverse projects and finds that the legal framework is fragmented, poorly signposted, and often absent, with projects sometimes depending entirely on landowner goodwill. The study concludes that there is little coherency in the law regarding these initiatives.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceGrowing an Urban Oasis: A Qualitative Study of the Perceived Benefits of Community Gardening inBaltimore,Maryland
2014Melissa N. Poulsen, Kristyna R. S. Hulland, Carolyn A. Gulas, Hieu M. Pham, Sarah L Dalglish, Rebecca K. Wilkinson, Peter J. Winch · Culture Agriculture Food and Environment · United States (Baltimore)
This qualitative study explored the perceived benefits of community gardening in Baltimore, Maryland, through in-depth and focus group interviews with community gardeners. Gardeners reported benefits at multiple levels, including psychological benefits and a connection with nature individually, trusting relationships and shared learning at the neighborhood level, and reclaiming city space and improving the food environment at the community level.
CommunityHealthFood educationBiodiversitySystem Variable Analysis on Development Stages of Urban Agriculture in Large Cities
2014Min Zhang, LU Feng-jun, MIAO, Runlian, Yan Jin, ZHANG, Min, LU, Fengjun, MIAO, Runlian, JIN, Yan · · China
This paper used a system variable analysis method to establish an urban agricultural development system with six functional variables in China. It summarized the characteristics of different development stages and analyzed the reasons for these characteristics, focusing on cost, efficiency, connection, and risk. The study provided recommendations for promoting China's urban agricultural development based on stage development rules.
EconomicsPolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageCritical Food Forest Scan & Ideas for a Food Forest in Peterborough: Includes Final Report
2014Melissa Johnston, Andre Knight-Lira, Zoë Mager, Nadine Mulrooney, Matthew Poppleton, Samantha Shaw, Matthew Wilkinson · · Canada (Peterborough)
This document compiles research reports written by students in the Environmental Resource Studies/Science (ERTS) 3160H class at Trent University in the winter of 2014. The students critically examined urban food forests around the world and made suggestions for designing a food forest in Peterborough. Urban food forests have the potential to provide the same services as current urban forests, but also produce food and perhaps increase biodiversity in the process.
CommunityFood educationBiodiversityUrban–rural linkageApplication of banana plants in the construction of urban agriculture in Dongguan
2014Fan Wang · · China (Dongguan)
This article analyzed the application of banana plants in urban agriculture in Dongguan, China, considering the challenges posed by banana wilt disease. It proposed developing diverse planting patterns with high-quality, disease-resistant edible banana cultivars and unique cooking bananas. Additionally, it suggested introducing ornamental banana cultivars and developing deep processing of bananas into products like wine, resistant starch, and snack food.
Urban–rural linkageSustaining Sustainability: a Management Plan for ACRES Student Farm
2014Sarah Legg · Figshare · United States (Wyoming)
ACRES Student Farm, a University of Wyoming organization, has grown significantly over six years, providing local produce, CSA shares, composting, and educational opportunities. However, the farm suffers from continuous losses in efficiency and acquired knowledge due to the transient nature of its student management and workforce, leading to unsustainable internal functioning. This project aims to develop a management plan and handbook to address these issues and improve the farm's operational efficiency.
Governance failureCSA & TeikeiCompostFood educationCommunityメトロマニラ郊外部を対象とした有機性廃棄物の地域内循環実現可能性
2014Yuki Sampei, Yuji Hara, Akinobu Murakami, Armando M. Palijon, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Makoto Yokohari · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Philippines
This study assessed the nitrogen supply-demand balance in compost and vegetable production on vacant lots in subdivisions and barangays in Quezon City, Metro Manila, using GIS. It found that nearly half of the subdivisions experienced nitrogen oversupply, while others faced shortages. Although cooperation among subdivisions within a barangay could improve nitrogen balance, the current centralized composting facilities were deemed insufficient to support a continuous compost recycling system due to their distribution patterns. The study concluded that current barangay-based policies on organic waste management and urban agriculture need greater flexibility and attention to inter-subdivision coordination across barangay boundaries.
Governance failureCompostOrganic cyclePolicyPeri-urban agricultureThe politics and technologies of urban waste
2014Jonathan Crush · · Global
Cities in the global South face a deepening crisis of food inaccessibility, characterized by food poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. This urban crisis is largely invisible to policy and research communities, with less attention given to urban food security than in the 1990s. Urban agriculture is the only aspect of urban food security receiving significant attention, though it is improbably seen as the key to achieving food security in these cities.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsWelfare