Research & reports

J. Ochoa, Esther Sanyé‐Mengual, Kathrin Specht, J.A. Fernández, S. Bañón, Francesco Orsini, F. Magrefi, Giovanni Giorgio Bazzocchi, Severin Halder, Doerte Martens, Noémi Kappel, Giorgio Gianquinto · Sustainability · Europe

A user needs analysis conducted in Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, and Cartagena, Europe, evaluated training requirements for participants in community gardens. The results revealed a need to reinforce training during the formation and community building phases of community gardens, particularly for top-down activities. Users expressed a need for training in crop management skills, such as maintenance and organic practices, and communication skills to disseminate their activities.

gökçe öcal · Journal of Planning · Turkey (Istanbul)

This study focuses on the Roma Garden, one of Istanbul's last remaining urban gardens, within the context of "DIY urbanism." In Istanbul, historical gardens are threatened by municipal policies favoring urban development, leading to the formation of "DIY" urban gardens on public land since 2013. These gardens operate without legal ties to the local state, and the destruction of urban public space over the last decade is noted as having paved the way for DIY public gardens as spaces of solidarity and shared knowledge.

Anna Boneta, Martí Rufí-Salís, Mireia Ercilla‐Montserrat, Xavier Gabarrell, Joan Rieradevall · Frontiers in Plant Science · Spain (Barcelona)

This study analyzed an 18 m2 polyculture rooftop soilless urban home garden in Barcelona city center from 2015 to 2017 to estimate its degree of self-sufficiency and sustainability. A total productivity of 10.6 kg/m2/year was achieved, estimating that 5.3 m2 would be needed to fulfill the yearly vegetable requirements of an average citizen. While a high degree of self-sufficiency was achieved, fertilizers and their associated leachates accounted for the highest environmental impacts in all studied categories.

Yvon Le, Paula Nahmías, Giulia Giacchè · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · France (Rennes)

This paper is a contribution to the inaugural issue of the journal "Palimpseste," which aims to highlight research conducted within the twenty-two research units of Rennes 2 University.

Global Generation · Global Generation · United Kingdom

Global Generation's Skip Garden was a portable urban garden that operated for 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, within a 67-acre King's Cross construction site, relocating within the site as land was sold and developed. Food was grown in skips by young people and local business volunteers, using largely self-sustaining organic practices including composting, rainwater harvesting and beekeeping, with produce served at the on-site Skip Garden Kitchen.

Jens A. Geißler, Tim Schümann · · Germany (Bad Oldesloe)

The "Ernte deine Stadt" project series in Bad Oldesloe, Germany, combines civic engagement platforms with makerspace and community building ideas, focusing on local sustainability, particularly urban gardening and green libraries. Due to the project's success, the Bad Oldesloe City Library won the IFLA Green Library Award in 2017.

Anja Seifert, Stefan Rogge · · Germany (Berlin)

The Bibliothek Tiergarten Sud, a library in central Berlin, has been transforming since 2013 with neighborhood volunteers focusing on a DIY philosophy, including urban gardening, after overcoming financial struggles. With EU funding, the library is establishing itself as a community center, offering diverse activities like a Repair Cafe and gardening information sessions. It also features Germany's first "Leih-Samerei" in a public library, allowing patrons to borrow home-grown seeds from local gardens.

Davide Fassi, Alessandro Sachero, Giulia Simeone · IDEA JOURNAL · Italy

This paper reviews Coltivando, a convivial garden at Politecnico di Milano, which serves as a design research project and a social and educational experiment. It brings together neighbors and design students to meet, cultivate, and share skills. The review analyzes the project's context, outputs, innovation, process, obstacles, impact, user needs, transferability, and dissemination.

Aneta Popova, Dasha Mihaylova · Bulgarian Portal for Open Science · Europe

This article discusses the role of grains in a balanced diet, noting that non-traditional grains are increasingly available commercially and reflect a broad interest in diverse food genres. These grains are frequently cultivated in home, allotment, and community gardens, often connected to the ethnic ancestry of the growers.

Elisabeth Kosnik · Economic Anthropology · Europe

This article investigates self-provisioning practices and diverse economies, drawing on ethnographic research of lifestyle subsistence farmers in central Europe and New Zealand. It uses Alvin Toffler's "prosumer" concept to explore the meaning of production for consumption in relation to discourses on ethical consumption, social distinction, and the "citizen-consumer" within a postgrowth society.

Susan C. Haedicke · Public Art Dialogue · France

The Aroma-Home project, originating from aromatics, flavors, conversations, and guerrilla gardening, began in Villetaneuse, France, in early spring 2013. Inhabitants discovered a small, brightly painted caravan, marking the start of this community garden initiative.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO Agroecology Knowledge Hub · United Kingdom

A FAO Agroecology Knowledge Hub profile of Farm Hack, a community-led approach to developing, modifying and sharing designs for farm tools, machinery and other innovations, emphasizing farmer-to-farmer learning and platforms for collective 'hacking'. The first Farm Hack was started by The Greenhorns in the U.S.A. and has since been taken up in the U.K. It typically involves two complementary components: web-based and events.

· Agriculture · Rome, Italy

Models rooftop rainwater harvesting to irrigate 2,631 fruit and vegetable gardens in Rome, estimating 19-33% of gardens could be water self-sufficient depending on irrigation efficiency.

Leonardo Zaffi · Florence Research (University of Florence) · Italy

This chapter reconstructs the main themes and implementation methodologies characterizing spontaneous practices and micro-interventions for the transformation of residual urban spaces. It outlines the characteristics of experiences such as public art, placemaking, active design, and urban farming, considering their compatibility and potential effectiveness for systemic "urban acupuncture" actions in the oldest parts of cities. The final part focuses on action methodologies like DIY and user involvement to investigate the potential of "urban acupuncture" in the oldest parts of cities.

Elizabeth Carruthers, Carole Keane, Jo Ingleby · · United Kingdom

This project in the United Kingdom aimed to provide children with first-hand knowledge of food growth and its environmental connection. It sourced seasonal and local ingredients from gardens, grocers, an allotment at Windmill Hill City Farm, and Farmers’ Markets for children to explore.

Susan C. Haedicke · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · France (Paris)

Aroma-Home, an artist-initiated community garden in Villetaneuse, France, transformed a bleak construction site into an urban agricultural commons starting in 2013. Local inhabitants and an artist reclaimed public spaces, creating a community garden that wove together food-growing, storytelling, and place-making through cultural practices around growing, preparing, and sharing food among multi-ethnic participants.

David Arredondo Garrido · ZARCH · Spain

This study analyses initiatives developed over the past decade in the centres of four Spanish cities with significant historical heritage -- Seville, Barcelona, Madrid and Zaragoza -- as responses to the growing homogenisation of the urban landscape that leaves little room for uniqueness, unregulated activity or public participation. These projects use urban agriculture and gardening to escape prevailing banality and create spaces for culture, social relations and imagination, but the study notes that their management faces difficulties and their impact remains minor.

Jens A. Geißler, Tim Schumann · Bibliotheksdienst · Germany

The public library in Bad Oldesloe, Germany, launched the "Ernte deine Stadt" ("Harvest Your City") project series in 2015, linking sharing and urban gardening trends with makerspace concepts to position the library as a modern, innovative learning venue. The library space was offered as a meeting and creativity venue on the theme of sustainability and was able to spark new initiatives in the city.

Birte Mehrkens, Jan Ole Oßenbrink, Cord Petermann, Andreas Ulbrich · 52. DGG & BHGL Jahrestagung · Germany

This paper describes the "Urbaner Gartenbau" (urban horticulture) project (2017-2019) carried out in the Hamburg metropolitan region, Germany. It argues that fast-growing metropolitan regions such as Hamburg could benefit in future from horticultural production areas in an urban context, provided these areas are preserved under land-use pressure. The project combines two research approaches: a production-oriented approach aimed at developing innovative concepts through model projects to strengthen horticultural businesses, and a participatory approach centred on mediating between urban gardening actors in Hamburg and professional horticulture. At the project's outset, three categories of planned practice projects were identified: existing innovation projects from other metropolitan regions, promoters/multipliers, and innovation businesses.

RESET · RESET · France

Article from the German web media outlet RESET describing La Caverne, an underground farming project by startup Cycloponics in a disused 3,500 m² Paris car park. It grows mushrooms, endives, and microgreens, with yields ranging from 2 kg for herbs up to 300 kg for endives depending on the crop. The project uses energy-efficient LED-lit hydroponics, won the City of Paris's 'Parisculteurs' competition, and plans deliveries by electric bike and fully electric vehicles.

Pierpaolo Mudu, Alessia Marini · Antipode · Italy

In Italy, the occupation of abandoned urban spaces for "orti urbani" (urban gardens) has increased within the squatting movement over the last 10 years. The city of Rome shows widespread activity in organizing self-managed spaces for growing fruits and vegetables. These initiatives support food autonomous configurations and represent a strategy to re-appropriate and commune urban space.

John Crossan, Andrew Cumbers, Robert McMaster, Deirdre Shaw · Antipode · United Kingdom (Glasgow)

This paper examines community gardens in Glasgow, acknowledging their vulnerability to neoliberal cooptation where citizen work may alleviate state service provision. However, it argues that even with neoliberal practices, these gardens cultivate collective practices that suggest a progressively transformative polity. This form of citizen participation, termed "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY) Citizenship, encourages reconsideration of relationships and effective political practice.

Daniela Gasperi, Giuseppina Pennisi, Niccolò Rizzati, F. Magrefi, Giovanni Giorgio Bazzocchi, Umberto Mezzacapo, Monique Centrone Stefani, Esther Sanyé‐Mengual, Francesco Orsini, Giorgio Gianquinto · Sustainability · Italy (Bologna)

This paper analyzed current practices in the requalification of vacant areas as urban gardens in Bologna, Italy, using six case studies across four types of vacant areas. For most cases, urban horticulture improved the image and quality of the areas and provided social benefits like improved life quality, food access, and social interaction. Strong differences were found between top-down and bottom-up initiatives, with bottom-up approaches being preferable for citizen engagement.

Ulrich Best · · Germany (Berlin)

Berlin Tempelhof Airport, closed on October 30, 2008, temporarily became a park. Debates about the use and accessibility of this space have continued, including opposition to a fence, successful guerrilla gardening, and discussions about future construction. This chapter investigates the politics and discourses surrounding the airport's closure in the media and neighborhood, linking them to the theme of memory and affect in urban studies.

Enrico Marcore, Nicola Spurling · Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) · Italy, United Kingdom

This essay explores the relationship between space, planning, and everyday practices, focusing on the futures of domestic food growing spaces and practices in Italy and the UK. It examines the recent inclusion of community gardens in an eco-urban housing model in L'Aquila, Italy, and the historical trajectory of allotments in the UK. Through these examples, the essay considers how various "experiments" in policy, planning, and practice should be conceptualized.