Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
59 results(3 / 3)
Orti urbani come dispositivi di innovazione sociale
2016Chiara Zonda · · Italy (Milan)
This abstract is a personal reflection on the author's childhood experiences with a family garden in Milan's hinterland, Italy. It describes the author's fascination with gardens and the sense of peace and community they provided. The author then notes realizing that urban gardens could serve as a strong tool for social aggregation within a neighborhood or community, leading to further research on existing successful urban garden initiatives worldwide.
CommunityPeri-urban agricultureDIYRecycling urban waste as possible use for rooftop vegetable garden
2015Baptiste Grard, N. Bel, Marchal, Nicolas, Frédéric Madre, Jean‐François Castell, Philippe Cambier, Sabine Houot, Nastaran Manouchehri, Stéphane Besançon, Jean‐Charles Michel, Claire Chenu, Nathalie Frascaria‐Lacoste, Christine Aubry · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · France (Paris)
A 2012 pilot experiment in Paris, France, tested simple rooftop gardening systems using local urban organic waste as crop substrates. Measurements of production levels and heavy metal content in crops and substrates showed high crop production with limited inputs, low heavy metal pollutants in edible parts, and positive yield influence from layered substrates and earthworm inoculation. These results suggest rooftop gardening is feasible and has potential for urban resiliency, though further assessment of roof types, pollution levels, and sustainability is needed.
DIYCompostOrganic cycleHealthLa construcció discursiva de la competència ecociutadana a l'escola primària: la realització d'un disseny tecnològic col·laboratiu a l'hort escolar agroecològic
2015Miren Rekondo Iparraguirre · TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) · Europe
This doctoral thesis explores the development of eco-citizenship competence in school gardens, specifically through collaborative technological design activities. Elementary school students designed and assembled an irrigation system for their school garden over ten activities. Analysis showed students integrated elements from various design proposals without exclusive opposition, and that design conflicts led to a more dynamic and complex garden model. The study also found differences in argumentative discourse structure and dynamics between scientific argumentation and technological design activities.
Food educationCommunityDIYOrganic cycleA Novel Low-Cost Open-Hardware Platform for Monitoring Soil Water Content and Multiple Soil-Air-Vegetation Parameters
2014Bitella G. · Sensors · Italy
Presents a low-cost open-hardware platform based on an open-source Arduino microcontroller board and inexpensive high-frequency dielectric probes to monitor soil water content at multiple depths plus air and soil temperatures.
DIYEconomics‘Plants Are Fashioned by Cultivation, Man by Education’
2014Robert Mattock · · United Kingdom
This article discusses the decline in horticultural skills and work ethic in the United Kingdom over the last century, attributing it to the welfare state's de-incentivization of the workforce. The diverse plant vocabulary and cultivation skills once common among Victorian gardeners and landscape designers are now largely lost, impacting the conservation of designed landscapes. While efforts are being made to revive school gardens and promote apprenticeships and craft skills, the article concludes that more work is needed to re-establish a traditional work ethic in apprenticeships.
Limited or null effectFood educationDIY厨师、农民、他的妻子和他们的邻居
2013马杰提卡·波特尔克, 怀尔德·维特森 · 公共艺术 · Netherlands (Amsterdam)
This project was implemented in 2009 in Nieuw-West, Amsterdam, Netherlands, by artists Majetika Poterke and Wilder Vitsen. It utilized a community garden and community kitchen as its medium, incorporating building materials, energy infrastructure, and a plant garden.
CommunityFood educationDIYGuerrilla Gardening - zwischen Street Art und der Rückkehr zur Natur
2012Barbara Uhlig · edoc Publication server (Humboldt University of Berlin) · Germany
This study analyzes guerrilla gardening as a protest movement where activists plant flowers, trees, and vegetables on derelict urban spaces without owner permission. The motivations for guerrilla gardening are pragmatic, ecological, political, and aesthetic, though its artistic status is often denied. The study demonstrates that guerrilla gardening aligns with George Dickie's institutional theory of art and can be classified as art.
CommunityPolicyBiodiversityDIYChapter 27 Urban agriculture and seasonal food footprints: an LCA study of tomato production and consumption in the UK
2012Gillean M. Denny · · United Kingdom
This study investigated the ability of urban agriculture (UA) to decrease food-related greenhouse gas emissions, using a life cycle analysis of tomatoes, produce surveys in East Anglia, and household surveys of 183 UA-practicing households. It found that UA participation can reduce an individual's tomato consumption emissions from 52.4 kg CO2e/yr to 11.2 kg CO2e/yr. This reduction amounts to 44% from a non-UA, low-emission diet and 78% from a supermarket diet.
Climate changeFood miles & supply chainDIYEconomicsSynaxis Baltica : Potsdam - Berlin, Germany 2009
2009Hubert Więckowski · Jagiellonian University Repository (Jagiellonian University) · Germany (Berlin)
This article describes the 8th edition of the Synaxis Baltica Summer Academy, organized in Potsdam and Berlin, Germany. It presents the significant aims of the Synaxis Baltica Summer Academy, established in 2002, and briefly describes the main topics of the 8th academy, which included community gardens and guerilla gardening. Information about lectures, experts, and participants' tasks and obligations is also provided.
CommunityDIY