Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
562 results(3 / 23)
RELACIONES DE PODER Y GÉNERO EN PROYECTOS DE AGRICULTURA URBANA EN LIMA SUR: UN ANÁLISIS CRÍTICO DE LA PARTICIPACIÓN COMUNITARIA
2025Luis Enrique Serrano Ayasta, Josiane Stoessel-Ritz · Anales Científicos · Peru (Lima)
A doctoral research study in three low-income neighborhoods in South Lima, Peru, analyzed power relations within urban agriculture projects. The findings indicate that these projects, despite aiming for empowerment, often mask asymmetric power relations and reinforce preexisting inequalities, particularly for women gardeners. This perpetuates gender hierarchies and limits their participation and agency, reflecting paternalism from promoting organizations and community leaders.
Equity & displacementCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justicePolicyUrban Agriculture Technical Advisory
2025Ivanjack, Katherine Rose, Preciado, Kylie J · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · United States (California)
This senior capstone project aims to explore the potential of urban agriculture to address critical challenges in sustainability, food security, and community development within California cities. The project highlights practical and innovative approaches to urban farming that can be adopted or adapted to suit the unique needs of urban areas across the state.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changeThe islands and the city: peri-urban agriculture, food production, and sustainability in the chinampas of Xochimilco (Mexico City)
2025F. Xavier Medina, José Antonio Vázquez–Medina, Marco Covarrubias · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · Mexico (Mexico City)
This chapter discusses the factors linking food production, social and environmental problems, and future challenges in the chinampas of Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage wetland area in Mexico City's peri-urban zone. It examines strategies implemented by stakeholders and their effects to envision future scenarios for sustainable food systems. The insularity of the chinampas imposes a particular character on agri-food production and the life of inhabitants, highlighting existing social and environmental problems.
Environmental trade-offsPeri-urban agricultureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityA produção de alimentos na agricultura urbana em tempos de insegurança alimentar: uma experiência com hortas no município de Palmas, Tocantins- Brasil
2025Francisco Pereira de Sousa, Clareana Maria Guimarães Franco, Cássio Bruno Sá de Souza, Débora de Paula Brito Fogaça, Marcos Paulo Parente Araújo, Maíra Santiago Pires Parente, Henrique D. Silva, Dirlley Douglas Alves de Oliveira · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil
A qualitative and quantitative study in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, aimed to understand the interfaces of the Palmas City Hall's community garden project. Based on ethnographic research, action research, and field study, the results showed that this local practice enhances community participation in urban garden planting in northern Palmas. It aligns with Sustainable Development Goals and is a viable tool for minimizing food insecurity and hunger reduction. However, the project requires structural adjustments, promotion of public and private partnerships, and support from universities and civil society for healthy sustainability.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyIdentificação e georreferenciamento de espaços adequados à agricultura urbana e periurbana em Mossoró-RN
2025Johnny Jean, Nildo da Silva Dias, Nildo da Silva Dias, Alison Rocha de Aragão, A. JEAN, Patrícia Lígia Dantas de Morais, Rogério Taygra Vasconcelos Fernandes, Leonardo Angelo Mendonça, Vânia Christina Nascimento Porto, Khadidja Dantas Rocha de Lima · OBSERVATÓRIO DE LA ECONOMÍA LATINOAMERICANA · Brazil (Mossoró)
This study aimed to identify and georeference suitable spaces for urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in three neighborhoods of Mossoró, Brazil: Nova Betânia, Sussuarana, and Vingt Rosado. The research found that out of 1,300 hectares in these neighborhoods, 944.1 hectares are suitable for UPA. However, the study identified a lack of public policies to incentivize UPA in these areas.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageClimate changeQuilombo da Gamboa: a luta por moradia na cidade do Rio de Janeiro
2025Bernardo Riley, Mariana Trotta Dallalana Quintans · InSURgência revista de direitos e movimentos sociais · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
The Quilombo da Gamboa Popular Housing Project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, originated from social movements' struggle for popular housing. The project secured six Union properties for over 100 families under the My Home My Life Entities Program. Currently, 17 families live in temporary houses while the main project advances. The Quilombo da Gamboa also operates a solidarity kitchen and a community garden, and conducts political and cultural activities supporting surrounding occupations.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareThe Need of Land for Peri-Urban Agricultural Production and Its Inclusion onto the National Public Agendas
2025Andrés Barsky · · Latin America
This chapter assesses the current state of threats to and measures to protect periurban agriculture around cities in Latin America. It highlights the social and spatial vulnerability of peri-urban agriculture and its increasing appearance on Latin American food and urbanistic agendas. Examples of strategies for the concrete management of peri-urban agriculture in Latin American cities include the institutionalization of relevant organizations, the enactment of specific laws, the implementation of programs for small-scale production, and the generation of territorial intervention instruments. The conclusion argues for the need to generate new public intervention instruments to preserve and design spaces of high productive and environmental value in periurban areas.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBusca por interlocuções entre Educação Ambiental e Agricultura Urbana
2025Paolo Martins, Rafael Nogueira Costa, Stephanie Di Chiara Salgado, Daniel Vieira Nunes, Celso Sánchez · Revista Sergipana de Educação Ambiental · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
This article presents a photographic narrative from research conducted with a network of farmers in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, Brazil. It highlights photography as a methodological pillar for understanding and communicating educational processes linked to social and environmental struggles. The study suggests a need to rethink environmental education's foundations and expand dialogue with marginalized communities to address socio-environmental complexity.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura urbana e os objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável em municípios da região metropolitana de Belém
2025Maria de Nazareth Oliveira Maciel, Herdjânia Veras de Lima, Daniel Pereira Pinheiro, Luann Yago Oliveira Maciel · Contribuciones a las Ciencias Sociales · Brazil (Belém)
This field research analyzed urban agriculture's contributions to 12 of 17 SDGs in Ananindeua, Belém, and Marituba, Pará, Brazil. A Likert scale questionnaire and participant observation were used with 120 agricultural producers. Multivariate Factor Analysis and Tukey's test (5%) showed Ananindeua had a higher factorial score, statistically differing from Belém but not Marituba. Producers in Ananindeua demonstrated a greater perception of sustainable cities, indicating urban agriculture's contributions to SDGs in all three municipalities, with Ananindeua showing greater effectiveness.
CommunityClimate changePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Planning for Regional Food Equity
2025Sullivan, Miriam Caroline · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · United States
This project explores how urban planners can create regional food equity, defined by six dimensions: nutritional adequacy, affordability, cultural relevance, social and spatial equity, and popular agency in the food system. It includes a research paper on historic context, current trends, and case studies, followed by guidance for policy and plan creation. The project also analyzes three food systems plans—San Diego (2024), Chicago (2010), and Austin-Travis County (2024)—evaluating them against the outlined criteria, and delves into urban agriculture and community gardens as methods for improving regional food equity.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceHealthEconomicsCultivating a care-full urbanism: learning from land-based organizing in New Orleans
2025Maggie Hansen · Landscape Research · United States
This paper examines urban cultivation as a tool for sustained political engagement in New Orleans, focusing on four community-based initiatives active over the last ten years. Drawing on literature, mission statements, interviews, and site visits, it demonstrates the importance of engaging with local history, culture, and ecology in reshaping economic, social, and ecological systems through urban agriculture and stewardship.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsThe New Orleans Food System and COVID-19: A Case Study in Strengthening Food System Resiliency to Facilitate Healthy Eating
2025Brandi Stein, Megan Knapp, Elisa Muñoz, Donald Rose · Nutrients · United States (New Orleans)
This case study examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the New Orleans food system and the community's and local government's responses to strengthen its resiliency. Using a participant-observer approach, including a 2020 online survey of 56 local food organizations, the study identified key themes and efforts. These efforts included the "Greaux the Good" campaign for increased food assistance, policy changes for food vendor permitting, and the establishment of City Food Specialist and Urban Agriculture Liaison positions within local government. Additionally, innovative grassroots citizens' programs positively impacted food access.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceHealthAssessing the Gap Between Intention and Implementation in Seed Lending Libraries
2025Hilary Jasmin · Evidence Based Library and Information Practice · United States and Canada
This study surveyed 58 academic and public libraries in the United States and Canada regarding their seed lending programs' goals and marketing, using an online survey. While some libraries stated intentions related to food justice and activism, their marketing and programming primarily focused on neutral gardening and how-to classes. The findings reveal a gap between the initial, less neutral intentions and the more neutral, less activist programming language used for seed libraries.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationNúcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Regionais e Agrários: Investigações e Proposições Geográficas
2025Édipo Alves Lacerda · Espiral revista de geografías y ciencias sociales · Brazil
This book, organized by Gustavo Henrique Cepolini Ferreira et al., compiles texts from Unimontes researchers focused on critical geography and popular struggles for land and traditional territories in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. It discusses conflicts from agribusiness expansion, disputes over resources, climate change effects on peasant farming, and challenges faced by quilombolas, indigenous, and traditional communities. The book addresses structural racism and other aspects of rural development, highlighting negative impacts on these communities.
Equity & displacementUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeCommunityThe New American Farmer – Extension Engagement with Urban Agriculture and Food Systems
2025Margaux Robinson, Karen Cunningham, Jeffery Young, Nicole Breazeale, Kenneth R. Jones · Journal of Extension · United States
This paper discusses the evolving role of Extension in urban food production, noting progress made by educators in engaging with both social and horticultural aspects of urban agriculture. It suggests that appropriately designed urban food systems can offer healthy food access, community and environmental resilience, and economic prosperity. The authors provide recommendations for Extension staff, urging them to prioritize mediating the rural/urban dichotomy, tackling structural power dynamics, and intensifying community resilience strategies.
CommunityUrban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceHealthFrom Lots to Lush: Repurposing San Antonio's Underutilized Spaces to Combat Water Scarcity, Food Deserts, and Urban Heat
2025Douglas Donaghy · University of Chicago · United States (San Antonio)
This thesis explores the potential of transforming vacant lots and green spaces into multifunctional sites to address interconnected challenges of food insecurity, water scarcity, and urban heat in San Antonio, Texas. The study analyzes historical trends in aquifer water levels and infiltration metrics, spatial data on food deserts, and heat vulnerability indices across San Antonio to identify priority intervention areas. By integrating urban agriculture, bioretention basins, and vegetative cooling, these spaces can provide sustainable solutions to enhance food security, bolster the local water supply, and mitigate urban heat island effects.
Food sovereignty & justiceClimate changeCommunityUrban–rural linkageCidade-Campo no Brasil: dinâmicas e contradições
2025Paulo Ricardo Santos Miranda · Revista Mutirõ Folhetim de Geografias Agrárias do Sul · Brazil
A collection of 13 chapters explores the interactions between city and countryside in Brazil, critically examining how capital traverses urban and rural territories, promoting expropriation and spatial reconfigurations. Studies on Uberlândia, Montes Claros, São Paulo, and the North and Northeast regions highlight land conflicts, peripheral industrialization, urban agriculture, and peasant resistance. The work emphasizes the ambiguous role of the State.
Equity & displacementUrban–rural linkageCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyGermination and propagation of sweetgrass ( Anthoxanthum nitens (Weber) Y. Schouten & Veldkamp [Poaceae]) for growing in Mi’kmaq community gardens
2025Rachel A. Kendall, John A Francis, Mathew R. Vankoughnett · Native Plants Journal · Canada
This study assessed sweetgrass germination and propagation for Mi’kmaq community gardens, testing seed storage, additives, dormancy methods, and seedling outplanting. Removing seed coverings and soaking seeds increased germination success up to 46%, while cold storage, biological additives, and growth enhancers showed no improvement. Organic fertilizer (7-5-0) enhanced rhizome development, synthetic fertilizer (20-20-20) led to taller leaves, and both increased leaf count.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceBiodiversityOptimizing Investments in Alternative Water Infrastructure for Urban Food Production in Water Stressed Cities
2025Qing Zhong, Daoqin Tong, Courtney Crosson, Yinan Zhang, Rashi Bhushan · Water Resources Research · United States
This study developed a spatial optimization model to identify investment strategies for deploying rainwater harvesting (RWH) and reclaimed water systems to expand urban food production in water-stressed cities. Applied to Tucson, Arizona, the model showed that 72%–96% of investment was allocated to rainwater tanks, though RWH contributed only 18%–27% of total food production. The results indicated that expanding the reclaimed water network was more effective and cost-efficient for urban food production compared to implementing rainwater tanks.
Climate changeEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceImpulsores e inhibidores de la agricultura urbana a partir de una aproximación diacrónica desde 1821 hasta 2023: el caso de Xalapa (Veracruz, México)
2025Juan Camilo Fontalvo-Buelvas, María Teresa Pulido Silva, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar, Raúl Romero Ramírez · Memorias · Mexico (Xalapa)
This diachronic study analyzed the drivers and inhibitors of urban agriculture in Xalapa, Mexico, through a historical tracing from 1821 to 2023. Drivers included rural immigration, academia, and government programs, while inhibitors were identified as diversification of trades, ejido laws, remittances, health policies, and food markets.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban Gardening in Latin America and Panama: A New Strategy for Conservation
2025Belma Soto-Fernández, Lurys Bourdett-Stanziola · Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research · Latin America
A documentary review on the importance of urban gardening in Latin America revealed that urban gardening, when approached through the lens of agrobiodiversity, has become a key strategy for safe food production and environmental sustainability. However, it was found that several Latin American countries lack clear and established laws to regulate this activity. Preliminary evidence of rotavirus was detected in fresh vegetables from an urban garden in Panama, indicating that urban gardens can become infection foci capable of causing diseases of public health and veterinary importance.
Governance failureCommunityBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceHealthEconomicsPolicyPara além do rural: Hortas Urbanas e Periurbanas como políticas públicas de garantia de segurança alimentar no meio urbano
2025Garcia, Pedro Henrique Lundquist de Souza, Carvalho, Joelson Gonçalves de · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Brazil (São Paulo)
This research, presented at the 10th Conference on Studies of Rural Settlements in July 2025, analyzes the socioeconomic impacts and challenges of urban and peri-urban gardens in Brazil, focusing on a 35-year municipal program in Penápolis, São Paulo. Based on field research and secondary data, preliminary results suggest that production for self-consumption and collective labor strengthen community bonds and reduce food insecurity. The study aims to propose improvements for local public policies.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsDesafios urbanísticos e fundiários na Amazônia: relato sobre soluções jurídicas para a titulação de agricultores urbanos e periurbanos em municípios no Estado do Pará
2024Ana Luisa Santos Rocha, Luly Rodrigues da Cunha Fischer · Revista de Direito Urbanístico Cidade e Alteridade · Brazil (Pará)
This action-research article, based on documentary sources, reports on legal solutions for land and urban issues in the Amazon, specifically for institutionalizing urban and peri-urban agriculture initiatives in Pará municipalities. It describes challenges for implementing the 2023 National Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Program in the Amazon and discusses municipal competence for territorial planning and land titling. The study concludes that agroforestry hubs and backyards can serve as land instruments for municipalities in Pará.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceExploring Community Garden Coordinators’ Perceptions of Climate-Smart Adaptations to Support Local Food Systems
2024Olivia M. Erskine, Alexa J. Lamm, Catherine E. Sanders, Kevan W. Lamm · Horticulturae · United States
This study investigated community garden coordinators' perceptions of the need for climate change adaptation, its attributes, and their position in the innovation-decision process in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, United States. Participants valued relative advantage and low complexity when adopting and implementing climate-smart practices. Community gardens were found to be implementing some form of climate-smart adaptations, even if not for climate-related reasons, but the largest barrier to adopting new practices was a lack of extra money.
CommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceA agricultura familiar na Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza (RMF), Ceará
2024Iara Rafaela Gomes · Sociedade & natureza · Brazil (Fortaleza)
This article aims to deepen the discussion about agricultural activity in metropolitan cities, focusing on the Fortaleza Metropolitan Area (FMA), Ceará, Brazil. Researchers reviewed primary and secondary data on producer profiles and agricultural and food processing establishments to understand family farming in the FMA. The study identified production strategies, challenges, and opportunities for family farmers, contributing to policy-making for the sustainability and resilience of metropolitan family farming.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justice