Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
161 results(3 / 7)
Beyond food: Framing ecosystem services value in peri-urban farming in the post-Covid era with a multidimensional perspective. The case of Cascina Biblioteca in Milan (Italy)
2023Stefano Corsi, Marta Dell’Ovo, Catherine Dezio, Antonio Longo, Alessandra Oppio · Cities · Italy (Milan)
This contribution proposes the case study of a multifunctional farmhouse, Cascina Biblioteca, in the Milan suburban area of Italy, to test an integrated preliminary evaluation model. The model aims to support urban planning and design decisions by maximizing the performance of ecosystem services provided by multifunctional agriculture (MFA), which includes food production, environmental preservation, and social inclusion.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyCommunityBiodiversityChanges over the last ten years in the fauna structure of aphids inhabiting the vegetation of allotment gardens in Poznań
2023B. Wilkaniec, Agnieszka Wilkaniec, Beata Borowiak-Sobkowiak · Journal of Plant Protection Research · Poland
Winged morphs of aphids were monitored using Moericke traps in two large allotment gardens in Poznań, Poland, during four growing seasons in 2000-2001 and 2014-2015. A total of 113 aphid species or groups were captured, and major changes in the fauna structure were reported. These changes are thought to be primarily due to shifts in garden vegetation composition as the gardens' function changed from production to recreation.
BiodiversityCommunityINVESTIGATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL INTEREST OF STUDENTS WHO SPEND THEIR LEISURE IN THE SCHOOL GARDENS
2023Dilek SELÇUK, Mustafa Can KOÇ, Nurullah Emir Ekinci, Ersan Tolukan · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Turkey (Istanbul)
This study investigated the environmental interest of students who spend their leisure time in school gardens at Şehit Onbaşı Murat Şengöz Imam Hatip Secondary School in Arnavutköy district, Istanbul, Turkey. Data was collected online from 51 male and 229 female students. Findings showed no significant difference in environmental interest based on age or grade level, but a significant difference was observed in the biodiversity sub-dimension based on gender, with girls demonstrating more interest.
Food educationBiodiversity(Re)creating a Living Memorial: Urban Gardening as a Multispecies Co-creating Practice
2023JC Niala · Ecozon European Journal of Literature Culture and Environment · United Kingdom (Oxford)
This essay explores a case study where an allotment in the style of 1918 was recreated at a charity allotment site in Oxford, United Kingdom, during the 2020-2021 growing season. The researcher planted open-pollinated non-hybrid heritage seeds from that era, reflecting on the soil as a repository of memory through academic and creative responses. The plot became a living memorial visited by diverse members of the public, engaging with themes such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, and the First World War.
CommunityHeirloom & landraceBiodiversityFood educationEdible Garden Cities: Rethinking Boundaries and Integrating Hedges into Scalable Urban Food Systems
2023David Adams, Peter J. Larkham, Michael Hardman · Land · United Kingdom
This paper explores how porous boundary treatments and plot layouts can encourage ecological exchanges in new urban and peri-urban developments, focusing on a large-scale residential development in the English midlands. It outlines the socio-economic, cultural, and ecological significance of embedding diverse hedgerow designs into early planning, revealing a need to move beyond current models. The study suggests these designs could encourage sustainable land use and scalable urban agricultural systems.
BiodiversityUrban–rural linkageClimate changeCommunitySchool Gardens in Poland – Rediscovered Places
2023Joanna Ziemkowska · Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae · Poland
A historical outline of school gardens in Poland and their past and current possibilities of use were presented. In recent decades, school gardens had lost their educational appreciation, remaining in few schools primarily for aesthetic functions. This article discusses how school gardens may contribute to preventing "nature deficit" and provide a sense of closeness to nature even in urban realities, noting their re-emerging therapeutic potential (hortitherapy).
Food educationCommunityBiodiversityInfluence of the Type and Use of Soil on the Distribution of Organic Carbon and Other Soil Properties in a Sustainable and Resilient Agropolitan System
2023Purificación Marín Sanleandro, Ana María Gómez-García, M. Arantzazu Blanco Bernardeau, Juana María Gil-Vázquez, María Asunción Alías-Linares · Forests · Spain
This study in the mid-plain of the Segura River (SE Spain) assessed soil properties and agricultural potential by collecting 68 arable soil samples. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in organic carbon distribution between calcaric Fluvisols and calcaric Regosols, and among industrial, cultivated, and abandoned soil uses. Cultivated Fluvisols showed a higher average organic carbon content (11.35 g kg−1) compared to abandoned (9.33 g kg−1) and industrial (5.13 g kg−1) uses.
Organic cycleBiodiversityPeri-urban agricultureAn integrated genomic and biochemical approach to investigate the potentiality of heirloom tomatoes: Breeding resources for food quality and sustainable agriculture
2022Tripodi P., D'Alessandro A., Francese G. · Frontiers in Plant Science 13:1031776 · Italy
Integrated genomic and biochemical analysis of heirloom tomatoes linking fruit shape and size to sugars, organic acids, and aroma compounds. Demonstrates heirlooms as germplasm resources for high food quality and sustainable agriculture.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthOrganic cycleLand sharing between cultivated and wild plants: urban gardens as hotspots for plant diversity in cities
2022Seitz B., Buchholz S., Kowarik I., Herrmann J., Neuerburg L., Wendler J., Winker L., Egerer M. · Urban Ecosystems, 25(3):927-939 · Germany (Berlin)
A survey of cultivated and spontaneously occurring wild plants in 18 community gardens across metropolitan Berlin, classifying each species as native or non-native. It found that gardens host many plant species — especially wild ones, including some endangered natives — regardless of surrounding urbanization, and that more cultivated species co-occur with more wild species (land sharing). The authors argue urban gardens can be sites of 'reconciliation ecology' that combine food production with conservation of native and wild flora.
BiodiversityCommunityPolicySoil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, Germany
2022· Frontiers in Microbiology · Germany (Berlin)
Investigated how soil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, highlighting that microbial communities inhabiting urban soils govern nutrient cycling and support of plant communities.
Organic cycleBiodiversityBiodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems
2022Schittko C. · Journal of Ecology · Germany (Berlin)
Shows that biodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems studied in Berlin.
BiodiversityOrganic cycleNo statistical evidence that honey bees competitively reduced wild bee abundance in the Munich Botanic Garden—a comment on Renner et al. (2021)
2022Lawrence D. Harder, Ronald M. Miksha · Oecologia · Germany (Munich)
A re-analysis of the observations behind Renner et al. (2021), which had concluded that an increase in managed honey bee hives between 2019 and 2020 intensified competition with non-Apis bees in the Munich Botanic Garden, Germany. The comment shows that the change in hive numbers did not statistically alter honey bee visitation to 29 plant species either within or between years, so the shift in the proportion of non-Apis bees among visitors is better explained as a response to reduced overall floral resource availability in 2020. The claim that urban beekeeping suppresses native pollinators is therefore supported by some observational studies and contested by re-analyses that find the statistical basis insufficient.
PollinatorsBiodiversityExercise, Urban Food Production, Preparation and Consumption: Implications, Benefits and Risks to Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Gardeners
2022Jonathan Stubberfield, Mads Troldborg, E. Louise Ander, N.M.J. Crout, Scott D. Young, Rupert Hough · Agronomy · United Kingdom
This study investigated the influence of gardening routines on health benefits and risks among 120 urban gardeners in the UK. Participants showed a correlation between autumn/winter gardening activity and fruit/vegetable consumption, with higher physical activity levels and lower BMI than average. However, while gardening offers health benefits, the health risks from gardening on soils mildly contaminated with cadmium and lead may outweigh these benefits, requiring formal consideration within a risk management framework.
Contamination & food safetyHealthDIYBiodiversityEL ESPÍRITU DEL ZUMBIDO: ENTREVISTA CON ERIKA MAYR
2022Jorge Godoy Román · Materia Arquitectura · Germany (Berlin)
This interview with Erika Mayr, an entomologist, horticulturist, ecologist, beekeeper, gardener, writer, and caretaker, explores her over 25-year dedication to understanding the importance of bees for other species. It highlights her personal relationship with bees, particularly in Berlin's urban environment, which involved various urban spaces and communities. Now based in Rome, Mayr shares her experiences and current projects in the city.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityPre-Existing Interventions as NBS Candidates to Address Societal Challenges
2022Julia Wójcik-Madej, Barbara Sowińska-Świerkosz · Sustainability · Poland (Lublin)
A case study in Lublin city, Poland, applied objective criteria referring to seven societal challenges to 24 types of pre-existing interventions. All analyzed interventions met at least two challenges, with protecting wetlands, public parks, and allotment gardens showing the greatest challenge-orientation potential, while nesting boxes for bats and insect hotels showed the lowest. Interventions responded most to human health, climate change, and ecosystem degradation, and least to food security and socioeconomic development. The study concluded that the scale of intervention type is too general for challenge-orientation assessment.
CommunityBiodiversityClimate changeParasitisation of Yponomeuta malinellus feeding on Crataegus monogyna in the allotment gardens in the city of Poznań, Poland
2022H. Piekarska-Boniecka, Marta Rzańska-Wieczorek, Idzi Siatkowski, Tadeusz Barczak · Plant Protection Science · Poland (Poznań)
This study investigated the parasitisation of Yponomeuta malinellus feeding on Crataegus monogyna in the allotment gardens in the city of Poznań, Poland.
BiodiversityCommunityContributions of Green Infrastructure-Oriented Planning and Designing in Residential Gardens to the City’s Ecosystem: Case of Trabzon City, Turkey
2022Demet Ülkü Gülpınar Sekban, Duygu Akyol · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Turkey (Trabzon)
This study examined the contribution of residential gardens to ecosystem services in Trabzon City, Turkey. It was determined that both spatial needs and ecosystem benefits can be met with the same Green Infrastructure (GI) elements, and landscape value is supported by GI elements such as edible gardens, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, biological ponds, and green roofs. GI elements combining vegetation and water landscape elements have a higher potential for ecosystem services. The study concluded that green areas of residential gardens should be planned and designed through a holistic GI-oriented approach based on the total building parcel.
BiodiversityPollinatorsDIYClimate changePopulation densities of birds breeding in an urban environment dominated by allotment gardens and other ‘green’ areas in a Central European city
2022Grzegorz Kopij · Acta Musei Silesiae. Scientiae Naturales · Poland (Wrocław)
In 2017, a study in Wrocław, SW Poland, recorded 50 breeding bird species in an urban environment (589 ha) dominated by green habitats, including allotment gardens (41.2%). Population densities were estimated for 41 species, with high densities observed for Phoenicurus phoenicurus (9.2 pairs/100 ha) and Sylvia atricapilla (7.3). Allotment gardens showed higher densities for Pica pica (14.5) compared to Corvus cornix (6.5), and for Columba palumbus (2.8) compared to Streptopelia decaocto (1.2).
BiodiversityCommunityIntegrated Planning and Implementation of a Blue-Green Architecture Project by Applying a Design-Build Teaching Approach
2022Friederike Well, Ferdinand Ludwig · Land · Germany (Munich)
A design strategy for blue-green architecture (BGA) was applied and evaluated in a practical project at a school garden in Munich, Germany. Architecture and landscape architecture students designed and implemented a BGA, building a nature-based system where school garden greywater is treated in a constructed wetland and combined with rainwater to feed a redesigned pond. This increased biodiversity, contributed to the environmental education of pupils, and demonstrated high learning success for the students.
Food educationBiodiversityClimate changeCommunityNeglected and Underutilized Plant Species (NUS) from the Apulia Region Worthy of Being Rescued and Re-Included in Daily Diet
2021Scarano A., Semeraro T., Chieppa M., Santino A. · Horticulturae · Italy
Review of neglected and underutilized plant species from the Apulia region of southern Italy, highlighting their adaptive, nutritional, and economic potential and the case for re-including them in the daily diet.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthEconomicsVolatile and Sensory Characterization of La Mancha Trujillo Melons over Three Consecutive Harvests
2021Ferrer Valverde M.A., Sánchez-Palomo E., Osorio Alises M., Chaya Romero C., González-Viñas M.A. · Foods 10(8):1683 · Spain
Characterized the traditional Trujillo melon from La Mancha, Spain, over three harvests, identifying 55 volatile compounds. Sensory profile featured jam, cucumber, sweet, and honey aromas, documenting quality of a regional heirloom melon.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityVariation for Composition and Quality in a Collection of the Resilient Mediterranean 'de penjar' Long Shelf-Life Tomato Under High and Low N Fertilization Levels
2021Rosa-Martínez E., Adalid A.M., Alvarado L.E., Burguet R., García-Martínez M.D., Pereira-Dias L., Casanova C., Soler E., Figàs M.R., Plazas M., Prohens J., Soler S. · Frontiers in Plant Science 12:633957 · Spain
Evaluated 44 Mediterranean 'de penjar' long shelf-life tomato varieties under two nitrogen levels. Local varieties exceeded commercial ones in sweetness-to-acidity ratio and vitamin C, with lycopene varying over four-fold, supporting low-input breeding.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthBioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Capacity of Valencian Pepper Landraces
2021Martínez-Ispizua E., Martínez-Cuenca M.-R., Marsal J.I., Díez M.J., Soler S., Valcárcel J.V., Calatayud Á. · Molecules 26(4):1031 · Spain
Evaluated bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of Valencian pepper landraces relative to commercial types. Landraces displayed rich diversity in nutritional and functional compounds, reinforcing the value of regional Capsicum genetic resources.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthThe Greenery of Early Modernist Housing Estates: The 1919–1927 Wałbrzych Agglomeration
2021Ludwig B. · Sustainability (MDPI) · Germany
Analyzes the significance of green-space design in early modernist housing estates (1919–1927) in then-German Lower Silesia, addressing urban layout, public/private greenery systems including gardens, and protection of valued trees from natural, landscape, and social perspectives.
BiodiversityCommunityHealthHigh honeybee abundances reduce wild bee abundances on flowers in the city of Munich
2021Renner S., Graf M., Hentschel Z., Krause H., Fleischmann A. · Oecologia · Germany (Munich)
Observed flower visitation on 29 plant species in a large Munich urban garden, finding that higher honeybee densities correlated with a significant shift from wild-bee to honeybee visits.
PollinatorsBiodiversity