Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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加强“三农”工作 建设都市农业大区：发展都市农业实现进位争先
2005付明星 · 学习与实践 · China
A Chinese policy paper on urban agriculture development in Xinzhou District, Wuhan. Following the central government's emphasis on the "three rural issues" (agriculture, rural areas, farmers), Xinzhou pursued structural adjustment and specialty-agriculture promotion, reporting its best performance in agricultural output growth and farmer income increase in 2004 in eight years. It then sets out plans to address remaining problems—large population relative to land, low productivity, unoptimized structure, product quality-and-safety issues, and weak agricultural technology extension—through scientific planning, structural adjustment, institutional innovation, specialty agriculture, circular economy, agricultural standardization, industrialization, and rural labor transfer.
PolicyCommunityPlanificacion holistica de saneamiento ecologico en ciudades pequenas: El programa piloto TepozEco
2005Ron Sawyer, Anne Delmaire, Andrés A. Buenfil · · Mexico
A study shares initial experiences from TepozEco, a pilot program for holistic ecological sanitation planning in Tepoztlan, Mexico, which includes promoting ecological toilets, water demand and greywater management, rainwater harvesting, organic waste recycling, urban agriculture, and environmental education. The project's initial phase is described as encouraging, attributed mainly to an iterative, flexible, and responsive design process—adaptive planning—and a close network of partners and collaborators; while the local context is in some respects unique, particularly regarding institutional resources, local environmental awareness, and local government commitment, the municipality's socioeconomic conditions reflect those of much of Latin America, suggesting TepozEco could serve as an ecological sanitation model for a significant part of Mexico, Central America, and South America.
CompostOrganic cycleFood educationCommunitySt Paul Community Gardens: A Study of Public Land Use Policies and Relationships with District Councils
2005Brian Noy · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · United States
A research project examined community gardens in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA, against a backdrop of rising development pressure and disappearing vacant space, looking at public land use policies and how cooperation between public agencies and community organizations affects garden creation and protection. Creating an inventory of public land use policies in St Paul and Ramsey County, including the city's water utility policy for community gardens, the project found that gardening is possible on most types of public land and that gardens have had generally successful relationships with most landowning agencies—but also found that a lack of this policy information has been a crucial barrier to garden implementation and has in some cases prevented development. District councils were found to both collaborate with city planners and act as community organizers, giving them, as nonprofits with a direct relationship to city government, access to funding and public lands not available to other organizations.
CommunityPolicyAssessment of New Approaches to Food Security in West Oakland
2005Nicholaus K Harris · · United States (California)
An assessment in West Oakland, California, evaluated new community food programs — community gardens, mobile markets and local farmers markets — that went beyond typical food banks to address food insecurity. In spring 2005, the researcher interviewed program leaders and 45 West Oakland residents. Results showed residents were generally aware of how to eat healthily but unable to do so because of limited proximity to vendors stocking healthy foods; many used the farmers market, but few relied on the other community food programs, and residents living close to the farmers market and community gardens benefited more than those elsewhere. The study concludes that educational campaigns and the placement of additional food programs are needed to improve access.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsOpportunities and constraints to urban aquaculture, with a focus on South and Southeast Asia.
2005D.C. Little, Stuart W. Bunting · CABI Publishing eBooks · Global
A review chapter surveys the concept, opportunities and constraints of urban aquaculture in South and Southeast Asia (SSEA), using the "extended metropolitan region" (EMR) and "waste economy" models to outline three development trajectories: opportunistic development within a changing aquatic landscape as urbanization proceeds, continuation of existing aquaculture in modified form as urbanization occurs around it, and strategic siting of new enterprises to exploit resources such as nutrients, markets or information. Urban aquaculture is described as providing benefits at household, local and municipal levels including waste disposal, food production, flood control, employment, environmental quality and recreation, while constraints include loss of suitable physical locations, changes in waste disposal practices, shifting attitudes and demand as urban areas grow more affluent, and vulnerability to contamination and theft due to the openness of aquatic systems.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyEvaluating the Value of Urban Agricultural Leisure Landscape by Contingent Valuation Method——Sampled by the Urban Agriculture Construction of Yang Ling National Hi-tech Industrial Park
2005Niu Jun-rang, Liu Cang, Hou Jun-qi · Zhongguo nongye ke-ji daobao · China
Based on survey data from randomly selected tourists visiting Yang Ling, China, collected using the contingent valuation method (CVM), this paper gathers information on willingness to pay for the visit and its influencing factors, and quantitatively analyzes the development of urban agriculture. On this basis, the leisure function of the Yang Ling Agricultural Landscape Park is valued at RMB 52.42 million. The paper also offers recommendations for future use of the CVM.
EconomicsCommunityQualidade de água usada na agricultura urbana na cidade do Recife
2005Vicente de Paula, Mário T. Kato, Lourdinha Florêncio · Revista Brasileira de Engenharia Agrícola e Ambiental · Brazil
A study evaluated the physicochemical and bacteriological quality of water used to irrigate vegetables in an urban agriculture area along the BR-101 southern ring road in Recife, Brazil. Water samples were collected from six existing wells in the agricultural area during the dry season, October to December 2003, and analyzed for physicochemical parameters (electrical conductivity, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, HCO3-, nitrate-N, ammonium-N, pH, and sodium adsorption ratio) and fecal coliform. The physicochemical quality of the irrigation water showed no risk of soil salinization or alkalinization, nor of specific toxicity to plants.
CommunityOrganic cycleParticipación laboral y autonomía femenina en un contexto de agricultura urbana
2005Fernando Neira Orjuela · · Mexico
This study focuses on San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, a town of 12,553 people in the Xochimilco delegation in southern Mexico City. Because the town practices urban agriculture, a survey of 185 households provided an opportunity to examine whether greenhouses are a viable option for generating household income, and the forms of family economic participation and sexual division of labor that shape this. The study also sought to clarify whether access to economic resources, age, and schooling grant wives the final say in household decision-making and freedom of movement, comparing them with wives engaged in salaried and non-salaried non-agricultural activities.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe (Re) Production of Gendered Positionality in Botswana's Commercial Urban Agriculture Sector
2005Alice J. Hovorka · Annals of the Association of American Geographers · Africa
This study empirically examines the effects of gender on commercial urban agriculture in Greater Gaborone, Botswana, using a conceptual framework bridging sociospatial and human-environment geography. It found that gender clearly shapes both the quantity and type of foodstuffs produced for the urban market, with men and women farmers entering production and participating in this economic sector on unequal terms defined by socioeconomic status, location, and environmental interaction. The study argues that gender relations of power, as produced through sociospatial and human-environment relations, remain an unequal structuring force in the sector that must be accounted for if urban agriculture is to support food security and economic growth.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsUrban agriculture and local sustainable development in Rosario, Argentina: integration of economic, social, technical and environmental variables.
2005Eduardo Spiaggi · · Global
Research conducted in the Empalme Graneros neighbourhood of Rosario, Argentina, a city of 1.1 million people located in the Pampa Húmeda region where the country's main agricultural production is concentrated. The abstract provided states only the study location and does not report methods, measurements, or findings.
CommunityEconomicsAGRICULTURA URBANA COMO UM COMPONENTE DO DESENVOLVIMENTO HUMANO SUSTENTÁVEL: BRASIL, FRANÇA E RÚSSIA
2005Louiza M. Boukharaeva, Gustavo Kauark Chianca, Marcel Marloie, Altair Toledo Machado, Cynthia Torres de Toledo Machado · Cadernos de Ciência & Tecnologia · Global
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) treats the development of urban agriculture as part of sustainable human development policy, as it proposed at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in June 1996. This article analyzes urban agriculture in three cases: Russia, where it developed after World War II; France, representing Western European countries where the activity has been marginalized; and Brazil, where its development is a consequence of agricultural modernization that pushed people into cities. Surveys and a literature review show that urban agriculture has historically reduced the intensity of food crises and has contributed to feeding part of the population in normal periods, while also serving functions of pleasure and relaxation, therapy, and identity. It helps transmit cultural heritage and can be used educationally. Developing these functions requires both legislative action ensuring long-term access to land plots for all social groups and joint activity among multiple public and private participants.
CommunityPolicyHealthWelfareFood educationThe role of Barangays in Kabuhayan sa Gulayan Urban Agriculture Programs in Metro Manila, Philippines
2005Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Makoto Yokohari, Akinibu MURAKAMI, Takashi Watanabe · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Asia
This study examined how the Kabuhayan sa Gulayan urban agriculture program in Metro Manila, Philippines -- started to improve the living conditions of the urban poor and reduce urban waste -- is implemented, focusing on the supportive roles of participants including the Department of Agriculture, the Municipal Agricultural Office, Barangays, and NGOs. It found that Barangays can support "selection of farmers" and "use of compost," attributing this to their small administrative scale, which allows them to adjust opinions with residents, and it concludes that Barangay participation in the program is important.
PolicyCommunityWelfareA STUDY ON URBAN AGRICULTURE TOURISM DEVELOPMRNT IN GUANGZHOU
2005Wenjun Chen · Tropical Geography · China
Urban agriculture tourism is described as a new trend combining urban agriculture and urban tourism and a focal point for research on sustainable urban development because of its social, economic and ecological functions. Urban agriculture tourism in Guangzhou is characterized by rapid growth, a high starting point, large scale and favorable returns, but also faces problems including lack of planning, similar/repetitive projects, weak cultural content, low levels of science and technology, absence of well-known brands, and disorderly development. The paper proposes developing four types of tourism — facility agriculture tourism, gardening agriculture tourism, recreational agriculture tourism and agricultural museum tourism — planned rationally across four zones (northern mountainous areas, mid-urban agricultural regions, mid-suburb gardens and southern coastal areas), and puts forward several measures.
CommunityEconomicsPortland Underground: Exploring Urban Soils in Maine
2005Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh, David E. Wilkinson, D. Rocque · Soil Survey Horizons · United States
This study characterized urban soils in a low-income neighborhood of Portland, Maine, that was heavily industrialized in the late 1800s, examining seven pedons for particle size, cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation, exchangeable bases, pH, and trace elements (Pb, Cr, Cu, Co, Cd, Ni, Zn, Hg, Ti, Zr). The soils contained numerous artifacts and showed a high degree of horizontal and vertical spatial variability; several trace elements were present at elevated levels, with lead (Pb) the dominant metal in surface horizons (600 mg/kg), and many metals correlated with each other and with iron and aluminum, and some with clay content and pH, though the study concludes that mapping soil units by specific trace element ranges would be difficult given the extreme variability observed.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthPolicy"Urban versus rural" no longer matches reality: An early public agro-residential development in periurban Santiago, Chile
2004Madaleno I.M., Gurovich A. · Cities · Chile (Santiago)
Using periurban Santiago's La Pintana district as a case study, this paper demonstrates that the urban–rural dichotomy is inadequate for capturing agro-residential realities, where cooperative smallholder farming coexists with urban uses in what the authors call a living ecocity laboratory.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsDiversity and connections in community gardens: a contribution to local sustainability
2004Leigh Holland · Local Environment · United Kingdom
This 2004 study in the United Kingdom analyzed the community garden movement through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. It found that community gardens, often in inner-city areas, serve diverse purposes including vegetation growing, permaculture, organic methods, health, education, and training. These gardens are strongly characterized by community participation and involvement, suggesting the movement could model local social, economic, and environmental policy implementation.
CommunityClimate changePolicySocial Capital in the Lived Experiences of Community Gardeners
2004Troy D. Glover · Leisure Sciences · Global
This 2004 global narrative inquiry explored a community garden as a social context for social capital among gardeners. The study found that social capital can be both a benefit and a cost, depending on an individual's position within the social network. This suggests a potential for inequitable or corrupt application of social capital within community garden groups.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsTending Cultural Landscapes and Food Citizenship in Toronto's Community Gardens
2004Lauren Baker · Geographical Review · Canada (Toronto)
Toronto's community gardens, numbering over 100, are sites of place-based politics linked to the community food-security movement. These gardens reflect the city's cultural landscape and serve as a strategy to regenerate the local food system and provide access to healthy, affordable food. Three case studies illustrate the complexities of "food citizenship" and the role gardeners play in transforming urban spaces.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyLeisure Spaces as Potential Sites for Interracial Interaction: Community Gardens in Urban Areas
2004Kimberly J. Shinew, Troy D. Glover, Diana C. Parry · Journal of Leisure Research · United States (St. Louis)
A study focusing on African American and White gardeners in St. Louis, United States, examined whether urban community gardens are perceived as spaces where people of different races can successfully integrate. The study also sought to examine race and its relationship to perceptions, motivations, and benefits of community gardening.
CommunityHealthFood educationCommunity Gardens as a Platform for Education for Sustainability
2004Linda Corkery · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · Australia (Sydney)
This paper discusses the role of community gardens in fostering community development and neighborhood improvement in Sydney's Waterloo Public Housing Estate, arguing they also serve as a valuable educational platform for sustainability. Based on interdisciplinary research, the findings affirm the importance of community gardens for public housing tenants and present the gardens and their associated activities as an effective platform for education for sustainability.
CommunityFood educationONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ALLOTMENT GARDENS IN POLAND1
2004Anne C. Bellows · Food and Foodways · Poland
Polish allotment gardeners collectively represent the largest land managers in Poland, with a formalized urban allotment food production system dating back to 1997. This system, combining local and national government policy with NGO management and private use, provides a model for food security and urban open space. However, this arrangement also creates ongoing tension among stakeholders and a contentious debate regarding the private and public uses of urban land.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageThe Planner in the Garden: A Historical View into the Relationship between Planning and Community Gardens
2004Laura Lawson · Journal of Planning History · United States
This historical review of US community garden programs since the 1890s reveals an ambivalent relationship between community gardens and the planning profession. While praised for serving environmental, social, and individual objectives, community gardens are largely ignored in long-range planning due to being perceived as opportunistic and temporary. This highlights unresolved tensions between professional planning and civic concerns, and between comprehensive planning and local interventions.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsOASIS: Organic Vegetable Production Teaching Endeavor and Community Supported Agriculture Venture
2004Constance L. Falk, Pauline Pao, Christopher S. Cramer · HortScience · United States (New Mexico)
In January 2002, the OASIS organic vegetable garden was initiated on the New Mexico State University campus as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture. The project aims to provide students with experiential education in organic production and business management, investigate the feasibility of small-scale organic drip irrigation in the Chihuahuan desert, and demonstrate the CSA model. In its first two years, the 2/3-acre project grew about 230 varieties and generated $32,000 in revenue, with 32 members in the first year and 69 in 2003.
Food educationCommunityCSA & TeikeiOrganic cycleLivelihoods in conflict: disputes over water for household-level productive uses in Tarata, Bolivia.
2004Rocío García Bustamante, John Butterworth, M. Flierman, Daniel Herbas, Melvin Hollander, S. van der Meer, P. Ravenstijn, Magaly Reynaga, Gustavo Zurita · · Bolivia (Tarata)
In 2002, Tarata, Cochabamba, Bolivia, experienced violent conflicts over the right to use water from the Laka Laka dam for urban agriculture. The dam was intended for large-scale irrigation and domestic use, but not urban productive uses, leading to disputes when the urban population sought water for homestead cultivation. Although 5% of the reservoir yield was allocated for urban supply, its poor quality prevented drinking use, prompting the community to organize for its use in irrigating small plots, despite opposition from irrigation farmers.
Governance failureCommunityUrban–rural linkagePolicyWhat are Necessary to Convert Environmental Resources to Environmental Assets-Using Corporate Accounting Principles to Assess the Greenery Activities Conducted with Collaboration between Citizens and Local Government and it's Achievements-
2004Fujio HIRATA · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan
This paper discusses the importance of not only conserving urban green spaces but also utilizing them to convert environmental resources into environmental assets. It emphasizes the need for role sharing and collaborative relationships between citizens and local governments to establish such utilization systems. Examples from Japan's 'Satoyama' conservation and Open Garden activities, along with U.S. community gardens, offer suggestions for developing these systems.
CommunityPolicyEconomics