Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
201 results(3 / 9)
URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AGRICULTURE IN BRAZILIAN CAPITALS: WHAT DOES RECENT ACADEMIC PRODUCTION REVEAL?
2024M. Kühn, Geisa Zanini Rorato, Bruno César Euphrasio de Mello, Carolina Cristófoli Falcão, Rodrigo Vitória Alves · MIX Sustentável · Brazil
This article presents the results of a systematic literature review on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA) in Brazil. The study indicated a quantitative increase in academic articles on UPA and a concentration of cited cases in cities in southern and southeastern Brazil. Qualitatively, the analysis revealed that UPA initiatives are primarily located intra-urban, often in common/public places, and operate within a community system, focusing on vegetable production for self-consumption.
Urban–rural linkageClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityAssessment of aquaponics as a sustainable food production system for urban agriculture
2024Arnaldo Monteiro, Neusa Barbosa, Rosimeire Pereira, Josimar Cardoso · International Journal of Research in Agronomy · Brazil (São Paulo)
This 12-month study (March 2022-February 2023) at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, evaluated the productivity, water efficiency, and economic viability of a media-bed aquaponics system compared to conventional hydroponics and soil-based cultivation. Lettuce and basil were grown alongside Nile tilapia. Aquaponics used 78.2% less water than soil-based production and 22.1% less than hydroponics per kilogram of produce. Lettuce yields in aquaponics reached 4.83 kg/m², slightly below hydroponics (5.12 kg/m²) but well above soil cultivation (3.27 kg/m²), and the aquaponics unit achieved economic break-even at month 9 and returned a 14.3% annual profit margin.
EconomicsClimate changeUrban–rural linkageMarginalised agrarian traditions as a tool for climate justice
2024Finn Bell · Critical and Radical Social Work · United States (Ypsilanti)
This qualitative study explored how marginalized agrarian traditions can aid communities in surviving climate change, conducting in-depth interviews with 23 marginalized food growers and community leaders in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The study found that while growing food builds resilience to food insecurity and climate change, it is difficult due to land injustice. Policy implications include the need for housing justice, proactive planning for climate refuges, and reparations for land rematriation.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeGreen resilience: Securing life through vegetal being
2024Delf Rothe · Political Geography · United States (New York City)
This paper critically examines the concept of "green resilience" through a case study of various green resilience projects in New York City, including survivor trees, memorial groves, and community gardens. The study argues that these spaces function as key forms of state rule and biopolitical power, identifying three tensions or contradictions of green resilience as a form of biopolitical government: visibility and invisibility, knowledge and ignorance, and control and emergence.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCultivating a Sustainable Tomorrow: Community Gardens and Food Security in the City of Santa Clara
2024Brandon, Chrislyn · Scholar Commons (Santa Clara University) · United States (Santa Clara)
The City of Santa Clara faces significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to food for its residents amidst rising living costs and economic disparities. Enhancing support for residents' food security needs through increased knowledge sharing and resource provision in community areas is an efficient strategy to reduce hunger rates and create welcoming community spaces that support sustainability. This initiative addresses two key focus areas in Santa Clara's Climate Action Plan.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeHealthHortas urbanas: desafios e potencialidades para o desenvolvimento sustentável de Cachoeiro de Itapemirim - ES
2024Adriana Rezende Bighi, Regiane Carla Bolzan Carvalho, Camille Rezende Sartorio, Maurício Novaes Souza · Mérida Publishers eBooks · Brazil
This study examines the role of urban gardens in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espírito Santo, Brazil, exploring their economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Urban gardens mitigate environmental degradation, promote biodiversity, and have the potential to generate employment and income opportunities for local residents, while reducing food costs. Through the efficient use of local resources like idle land and organic waste, these gardens yield significant environmental benefits, including reduced pollution and improved air quality, and foster sustainable agricultural practices.
CommunityEconomicsBiodiversityClimate changeFAZENDA VERTICAL COMO MODELO SUSTENTÁVEL DE AGRICULTURA URBANA
2023Renata Priore Lima, Lady Laura Soares Gundim · Revista Gestão & Sustentabilidade Ambiental · Brazil (São Paulo)
This study investigates the benefits of vertical farms as a sustainable food production model in cities. Through a literature review and a case study of Pink Farms in São Paulo, Brazil, the results indicate benefits such as energy and land use optimization, but also highlight the ecological, social, and landscape limitations of vertical farms.
Environmental trade-offsDigital agricultureClimate changeEconomicsRunoff Water Quality from Different Urban Agricultural Systems Using Common Nutrient Management Practices
2023Leigh Whittinghill, Major Ballard, Anju Chaudhary, Smriti Kandel, Caitlin Mullins, Pradip Poudel · HortScience · United States
This study analyzed runoff water quality from four different nutrient management treatments (conventional fertilizer, organic fertilizer, low-compost + organic fertilizer, and high compost) in raised beds and small plastic pool container plots in the United States. Water samples, collected monthly, were analyzed for pH, conductivity, color, turbidity, nitrate-nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, total phosphorus, and potassium. While significant differences existed between raised beds and container plots, these did not translate to meaningful water quality differences for most variables, except for nitrate-nitrogen. The conventional fertilizer treatment showed greater or more variable nutrient leaching than other treatments.
Environmental trade-offsOrganic cycleClimate changeDIYGrowing interiors – cultivating urban biophilic environments
2023Kendra Locklear Ordia · Interiors Design Architecture and Culture · United States (Lincoln)
This essay presents a case study of an indoor vertical farm in the historic urban core of Lincoln, Nebraska, as a form of urban agriculture. It functions as an adaptive reuse model for existing buildings, creating a spatial ecosystem for localized plant-based food production. This approach aims to enhance urban food resiliency and reconnect communities with their food.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changeDigital agricultureRisk Mitigation Practices in Urban Gardening: A Case of Small Minority Producers in Maryland
2023Lila B. Karki, Prem Bhandari · Global Journal of Agricultural Research · United States (Maryland)
This 2022 project collected data from 22 small, socially disadvantaged minority urban gardeners in Maryland to enhance their efficiency. Findings showed farmers operated rationally, cultivating an average of 20 diversified specialty, ethnic, and medicinal crops on 1.2 acres. They employed integrated alley and mixed cropping systems, rainwater harvesting, expanded compost-making, maintained high cropping diversity, and introduced a tier system to mitigate production, marketing, and financial risks.
EconomicsHealthClimate changeCompostAGROFLORESTA URBANA COMUNITÁRIA
2023Marina Carboni, Vitoria Maria Domingues Moço · Revista Fatecnológica da Fatec-Jahu · Brazil
This paper presents a project proposal for an urban agroforestry system combined with a community garden in Brazil. The project aims to revitalize a 2,500m² urban green area currently lacking leisure attractions and adequate tree cover. The plan includes planting 35 trees of 8 fruit species and 9 vegetable species, and fencing the area to prevent theft and vandalism. The project is expected to offer vegetables and fruits to the local population, promote environmental education, and enhance ecosystem services such as temperature reduction and increased rainwater infiltration.
CommunityFood educationBiodiversityClimate changeThe food-water-energy nexus and green roofs in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa
2023Fanxin Meng, Qiuling Yuan, Rodrigo A. Bellezoni, José A. Puppim de Oliveira, Yuanchao Hu, Rui Jing, Gengyuan Liu, Zhifeng Yang, Karen C. Seto · npj Urban Sustainability · Brazil (São Paulo)
A framework was developed to analyze the food-water-energy nexus of green roofs in data-sparse cities, integrating environmental costs and benefits. Testing this framework in São José dos Campos, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa, revealed that green roofs are carbon neutral but net energy consumers from a life cycle perspective. São José dos Campos is a net water beneficiary, while Johannesburg is a net water consumer, and rainwater utilization, though saving irrigated water, requires 1.2 times more energy.
Environmental trade-offsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban Agriculture Overview of Sustainability Using GRA Methodology
2023· Building Materials and Engineering Structures · United States
This study examines the significance of seeds in defining sustainability within urban agriculture, which is viewed as an agricultural operation in a non-rural setting emphasizing communication, education, and farm goods. Using Gray-associated analysis, the study evaluated various crops, finding that spring beans received the highest rank and autumn beans the lowest.
CommunityEconomicsClimate changeOrganic cycleDuring COVID-19, Californians sought food security, connection and solace in their gardens
2023Lucy Diekmann, Summer Cortez, Pauline Marsh, Jonathan Kingsley, Monika Egerer, Brenda B. Lin, Alessandro Ossola · California Agriculture · United States (California)
A survey of 603 home and community gardeners across California was conducted between June and August 2020 to assess trends in gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gardens were valued as therapeutic spaces to escape pandemic stress and as safe outdoor places for socializing. Concerns about food supply led to increased interest in growing food for security and self-sufficiency, though 62% of home gardeners struggled to access gardening supplies.
CommunityHealthFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeVertical Farms: A Sustainable Solution to Urban Agriculture Challenges
2023Wenhao Zhu · Highlights in Science Engineering and Technology · United States (Chicago)
This paper focuses on the characteristics of vertical farms, using The Plant vertical farm in Chicago as an example to describe its design and performance, and analyze its advantages and design principles. The success of The Plant is attributed to saving raw materials and waste disposal costs through waste utilization, staggered electricity consumption, and insulated structures to maximize energy cost savings. However, while small-scale pilot projects of vertical farms have achieved some success, many constraints remain for scaling them up due to high construction and operation costs and high technical levels.
Economic viabilityDigital agricultureEconomicsClimate changePlant growth and microbial responses from urban agriculture soils amended with excavated local sediments and municipal composts
2023Jordi Guimera Garcia, Natalie Bray, Yowhan Son, Aleah L. Butler-Jones, Sara Perl Egendorf, Jenny Kao‐Kniffin · Journal of Urban Ecology · United States (New York City)
In New York City, a study investigated plant growth (tomato, pepper, kale) in soils constructed from four municipal composts mixed with sediments from the NYC Clean Soil Bank, to assess the potential for safe urban agricultural soils. While Clean Soil Bank sediments enhanced plant growth when mixed with BRL compost, they also negatively impacted tomato aboveground biomass production by 29% in LES compost and tomato plant height by 18% in QBG compost, indicating variable effects depending on compost properties.
Contamination & food safetyCompostOrganic cycleHealthClimate changeGuerrilla Gardening: At the Intersection of Birnam Wood and Minneapolis
2023Sarah Dimick · Critique Studies in Contemporary Fiction · United States (Minneapolis)
This study reflects on guerrilla gardening and its narratives by intersecting Eleanor Catton’s novel Birnam Wood with descriptions of gardens at police killing sites in the greater Minneapolis metro area. It argues that guerrilla garden infrastructures sprout in the soil of highly unequal power, often in the wake of the fatal exercise of state power, and in the shadow of a foreshortened environmental future. These are DIY infrastructures constructed by people weathering entwined environmental, political, and economic crises in the 21st century.
Equity & displacementDIYCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeJardim de Sequeiro: a rainfed garden technique, innovative in aesthetics and environmental quality, inspired by the Cerrado
2023Júlio Barêa Pastore, Paulo Henrique Honorato · Ornamental Horticulture · Brazil (Brasília)
The "Jardim de Sequeiro" is a naturalistic, seasonal rainfed gardening technique developed at the University of Brasilia, Brazil. The first experimental garden, over 5,000 square meters of rooftop gardens, was planted at the Instituto Central de Ciências. It relies entirely on rainfall and withers during winter drought, functioning as a temporary installation redesigned annually. Its first cycle ran from December 2020 to May 2021, yielding promising results despite pandemic difficulties.
DIYClimate changeBiodiversityPaying for nature‐based solutions: A review of funding and financing mechanisms for ecosystem services and their impacts on social equity
2023Austin Thompson‐Spain, Kyle S. Bunds, Lincoln R. Larson, Bethany B. Cutts, J. Aaron Hipp · Sustainable Development · United States
This scoping review examines funding and financing mechanisms for nature-based solutions and their impact on social equity in the United States. It finds that market-driven nature-based solutions can contribute to an inequitable distribution of urban ecosystem services. The distribution of benefits is influenced by local contexts, decision-making inclusion, and payment mechanisms, suggesting disparities in access for diverse and marginalized populations.
Equity & displacementPolicyEconomicsClimate changeCommunityRendimientos y eficiencia en el uso del agua de lechuga y tomate cherry en jardines urbanos
2023Posgrado en Ingeniería Agrícola y Uso Integral del Agua, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo, Estado de México, México, Hugo Antonio Fernández, R. Salazar, Posgrado en Ingeniería Agrícola y Uso Integral del Agua, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo, Estado de México, México, E. Fitz-Rodríguez, Posgrado en Ingeniería Agrícola y Uso Integral del Agua, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo, Estado de México, México, I.L. López-Cruz, Posgrado en Ingeniería Agrícola y Uso Integral del Agua, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo, Estado de México, México, Uwe Schmidt, Dennis Dannehl · Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua · Mexico (Mexico City)
Yields and water productivity of romaine lettuce and cherry tomatoes were investigated in 13 urban gardens in Mexico City. Lettuce yields ranged from 0.10 to 1.20 kg m-2 with water use efficiency from 0.21 to 2.93 kg m-3, while cherry tomato yields ranged from 0.25 to 3.40 kg m-2 with water use efficiency from 0.32 to 5.52 kg m-3. Irrigation in these gardens is empirically done using potable water, showing an excess water supply of 0.27 to 0.4 m3 m-2 for a complete cycle of lettuce and cherry tomatoes.
Environmental trade-offsDIYEconomicsClimate changeThe Skarù·ręʔ (Tuscarora) Food Forest Project—Reconciliation in Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education through Cross-Cultural Agroforestry Demonstration
2023Samantha Bosco, Bradley G. Thomas · Ethnobiology Letters · United States
The Skarù·ręʔ (Tuscarora) Food Forest Project is a community-based initiative in ancestral Haudenosaunee territories (New York State) demonstrating the contemporary contributions of temperate nut trees to Indigenous food systems. This project aims to address social justice concerns in agricultural science by providing a methodological testing ground for reconciliation-based and decolonial participatory action research. It expands ongoing food sovereignty, community health, and education initiatives, highlighting nuts as important, yet lesser-known, woodland foods.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityClimate changeProgramas de políticas públicas de la Municipalidad de Ate para el impulso de la agricultura urbana
2023Zaydeé Jahel González García · Revista Alfa · Peru (Ate)
This descriptive cross-sectional documentary study identified existing environmental policies within the Ate District Municipality in Peru, focusing on guidelines for the 2022 Work Plan of the EDUCCA Municipal Program. The study found that the municipality promotes a pilot project for sustainable urban agriculture, identifying the urban agriculture initiative as a pioneering plan among discussed programs.
PolicyClimate changeCo-producing urban and peri-urban agriculture in Andean countries
2023Jaime Hernández-Garc'a, Tannya Pico Parra · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · South America
This chapter explores Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA) in Bogotá, Quito, and Lima, three Andean cities, through a transdisciplinary lens. It discusses UPA as a multifunctional nature-based solution for climate change, food scarcity, and inequalities. The chapter examines the potentials and challenges of transdisciplinary projects in these cities, focusing on collaborative culture, conflicting rationalities, socio-ecological transformations, and critical translocalism, and highlights the contribution of diverse knowledge systems, including indigenous local knowledge.
Peri-urban agricultureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEcosystem services of urban agriculture and prospects for scaling up production: A study of Detroit
2022Joshua Newell, Alec Foster, Mariel Borgman, Sara Meerow · Cities · United States (Detroit)
A study in Detroit's Lower Eastside (~15 sq. miles) examined the spatial extent, characteristics, and residents' perceptions of urban gardens using spatial analysis and interviews. Gardens covered less than 1% of vacant land and were often ephemeral. Primary obstacles to scaling up urban agriculture in Detroit include uncertainty over land tenure, environmental pollutants, potential ecosystem disservices, and a lack of government support and capital investment.
Governance failureCommunityBiodiversityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeHealthOptimizing the co-benefits of food desert and urban heat mitigation through community garden planning
2022Yujia Zhang, Jordan P. Smith, Daoqin Tong, B. L. Turner · Landscape and Urban Planning · United States (Phoenix)
A model was developed to optimize the co-benefits of food desert and urban heat mitigation through community garden planning, applied to over 5,000 vacant parcels in the Phoenix metro-area, USA. The study found that the optimal number and locations of community gardens needed for different mitigation goals can vary significantly. The existing 76 community gardens were mostly clustered around urban cores, leaving two-thirds of the metro-area underserved, but spatially optimized siting could double the co-benefits gained and cover more high-need neighborhoods.
CommunityHealthClimate changePolicy