Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
106 results(3 / 5)
New policies for the management of periurban agricultural spaces. The case of L’Horta de Valéncia (Spain)
2018J. L. Miralles i Garcia · International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics · Spain (Valencia)
The Law of L'Horta de València, approved on March 12, 2018, establishes new policies for managing the 23,000-hectare peri-urban agricultural area in Valencia, Spain. This law, developed over 20 years, aims to actively protect and revitalize the area's agricultural activity, which holds significant historical, environmental, economic, and social value. It introduces instruments such as a land bank, zoning, and a management council, moving beyond previous passive land-use controls to ensure the maintenance of agricultural activity compatible with its landscape and heritage.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityProposal of conservation-based planning approach for agricultural areas designated as Special Project Area (ÖPA) in Turkey; example of Mugla Plain
2018Neriman Yörür · Journal of Planning · Turkey
This article presents analyses and proposals for the Mugla Plain in Turkey, an agricultural area designated as a Special Project and Planning Area. The aim was to develop a project to preserve the plain's agricultural character and prevent urban sprawl by integrating it with urban residents. Proposed strategies include protecting agricultural land, establishing an agricultural development cooperative, reducing urbanization impact, and integrating the city with the area's natural landscape through urban agriculture approaches.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageChanges in the sizes of agricultural areas and their agricultural and environmental functions within the territories of Cracow’s Mogiła and Wyciąże neighbourhoods
2018Piotr Krzyk, Bogusława Kwoczyńska · Problemy Drobnych Gospodarstw Rolnych / Problems of Small Agricultural Holdings · Poland (Cracow)
This study quantitatively assessed the conversion of agricultural land to investment purposes in Cracow's Mogiła and Wyciąże neighborhoods from 2010-2013, based on local plans. It also addressed soil quality, heavy metal content, and pH. Analysis of spatial management plans for these areas indicated a systematic decline in the share of biologically active areas.
Contamination & food safetyPeri-urban agriculturePolicyClimate changeEconomicsHealthA study on air quality and heavy metals content of urban food produced in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona)
2018Mireia Ercilla‐Montserrat, Pere Muñoz, J.I. Montero, Xavier Gabarrell, Joan Rieradevall · Journal of Cleaner Production · Spain (Barcelona)
This study measured heavy metal content in air and hydroponic lettuce leaves at four sites in Barcelona, including high-traffic areas, to assess potential contamination from atmospheric pollution. The results showed that heavy metal concentrations in lettuce leaves were below EU-legislated limits in all cases, and air concentrations were less than 50% of legislative limits. The study concluded that Barcelona's air heavy metal content is low and not a source of contamination for urban crops, even near high-traffic areas.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agriculturePeri-urban agriculture in Barcelona: outlining landscape dynamics vis à vis socio-environmental functions
2017Pere Serra, David Saurı́, Luca Salvati · Landscape Research · Spain (Barcelona)
A quantitative approach was proposed to analyze peri-urban agriculture (PUA) dynamics in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, profiling farm types and related landscape structures. Results indicated that PUA is based on five typologies with varying territorial values, reflecting diverse economic relevance, socio-environmental weight, and landscape prominence. A conservation strategy is proposed to preserve the residual PUA landscape by promoting a polycentric functional network of farming with natural vegetation.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePolicyEconomicsPeri-urban agriculture: an analysis of farm typologies in Italy
2017HENKE Roberto, VANNI Francesco · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Italy
This 2017 article analyzed the role of peri-urban agriculture in Italy through a comparative study of seven metropolitan areas, using micro-data from the sixth Italian agriculture census. It identified six typologies of market-oriented farms. The study found that a significant share of farms in Italian urban poles are passively absorbed by urban expansion, indicating a challenge to their economic viability. However, the most reactive farms are diversifying and supplying social and economic services.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsUrban–rural linkageGoverning the peri-urban agricultural territory. Opportunities and obstacles of integration between spatial planning and the Common Agricultural Policy
2017Annalisa Lodigiani · · Europe
This research addresses the ineffective governance of peri-urban agricultural territory in Europe, noting that spatial planning lacks the tools to guide agricultural sector forces influencing landscape transformation. Public action, through agricultural and rural development policies, significantly transforms the environment and territory but does not directly target space. The study finds that the separation between spatial planning and rural development policy creates ineffectiveness and stalemates in governing peri-urban agricultural land, concluding that integration of these two fields is required.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceFiguring the features of the Roman Campagna: recent landscape structural transformations of Rome’s countryside
2017Luca Salvati, Lorenza Gasparella, Michele Munafò, Raoul Romano, Anna Barbati · Annals of Silvicultural Research · Italy (Rome)
This paper quantified the impact of urban expansion on the Roman Campagna's landscape characteristics between 1974 and 2008. Using spatial pattern analysis and multi-factor analysis to assess changes in landscape composition and structure, the study found that the distinctive features of the Roman Campagna landscape are now blurred. A generalized landscape mixité was generated by the juxtaposition of different fragmented land uses.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePolicyPeri-urban farming, Grugliasco
2017Zohreh Hamrang · · Italy
This study indicates that peri-urban territory provides a wide range of functions and services for surrounding urban areas, contributing to the quality of life in urban regions. These include food production, recreational services, and other services related to cultural landscape management, which in turn contribute to the ecological capacity of the landscape. Peri-urban agriculture (PUA) is characterized by two elements: intensified production with high productive value, and an extensive lifestyle with environmentally guided land use.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageChallenges for the revitalisation of peri-urban agriculture in Spain: Territorial analysis of the Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas
2017Nerea Morán Alonso, Ícaro Obeso Muñiz, Agustín Hernández Aja, Felipe Fernández García · Moravian Geographical Reports · Spain
This paper analyzed the evolution of peri-urban agriculture in Spain's Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas to identify revitalization opportunities. Using aerial images and cartographic bases, the study found that peri-urban agriculture has suffered from urban occupation and internal changes in crops and agricultural uses, experiencing a process of decline. Innovative initiatives are explored as potential revitalization opportunities.
Economic viabilityPeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityNodes of a peri-urban agricultural landscape at local level: an interpretation of their contribution to the eco-structure
2017Rocío Pérez-Campaña, Luis Miguel Valenzuela Montes · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · Spain
This paper presents a method for assessing and visualizing existing nodes in the field pattern of a peri-urban agricultural landscape. The method was applied in the Vega del Guadalfeo in southern Spain, and the results showed an innovative map of the Vega, which can be interpreted as its eco-structure, a node-based model representing the ecological value of the peri-urban agricultural landscape.
Peri-urban agricultureBiodiversityUrban–rural linkagePeri-Urban Food Production and Its Relation to Urban Resilience
2016Eva Olsson, Eva Kerselaers, Lone Søderkvist Kristensen, Jørgen Primdahl, Elke Rogge, Anders Wästfelt · Sustainability · Europe
A study focusing on peri-urban land in Gothenburg (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Gent (Belgium) analyzed the relationship between peri-urban food production and urban resilience. It found that arable farming has declined in all three areas since 2000 due to urban expansion and recreational land use changes. While policies for farmland preservation exist, strategies for local food production are not expressed in current planning documents, and competing land uses and high dependence on global food systems reduce peri-urban food production and improvements in urban food security.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceMetropolitan foodscapes with multifunctional land use
2016Malin Gustafsson, Matilda Olsson · · Netherlands (Schiedam)
This thesis focuses on a design proposal for a multifunctional foodscape in a peri-urban area on the city edge of Schiedam, in the Metropolitan Region of Rotterdam-The Hague, Netherlands. The proposal includes food production, education, and recreation, aiming to transform peri-urban areas into multifunctional zones and exemplify their role as transition zones between urban and rural landscapes. An empirical pre-study was conducted, focusing on urban farming in Rotterdam, dairy farming in Midden-Delfland, and greenhouse horticulture in Westland.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageFood miles & supply chainPolicyEconomicsFood educationPatrimonialización local del paisaje agrario periurbano. La experiencia del parque agrario de Fuenlabrada (Comunidad de Madrid)
2016Rafael Mata Olmo, Carolina Yacamán Ochoa · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Madrid)
This study, based on a case study in the Community of Madrid, addresses the treatment of agricultural landscapes in metropolitan contexts from a heritage perspective, emphasizing the role of this approach in territorial development and the revitalization of peri-urban agriculture. It synthesizes the concept of heritage and the agrarian park figure, then proposes a methodology for activating patrimonialization processes of peri-urban agricultural areas, supported by public participation and the activation of their identity elements.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyCommunityIl patrimonio rurale nutre la città
2016Redazione · ECONOMIA E SOCIETÀ REGIONALE · Europe
This paper analyzed the characteristics of organizations that can best convey the cultural benefits of urban agriculture to the city. Through case studies in the cities of Seville and Milan, it examined the relationship between the presence of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and the ways communities are organized to transmit the value of that heritage.
CommunityPeri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkagePeri-urban agriculture, Agricultural Natural Parks and local markets for farm produce and livestock: a productive territorial response to the subordination of the countryside to the city
2016José Antônio Segrelles Serrano · Revistes Científiques de la University of Barcelona (University of Barcelona) · Spain
This study discusses peri-urban agriculture, Agricultural Natural Parks, and local markets in Spain as a response to the subordination of rural areas to urban expansion. Peri-urban areas suffer negative impacts from urban functions, marginalizing family farming, yet peri-urban agriculture generates valuable environmental and cultural heritage. Agricultural Natural Parks are presented as a means to ensure sustainable agricultural activity and promote efficient, profitable farming with high added value in these areas, supporting local and seasonal food consumption and increased food security.
Peri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPeri-urban agriculture as key driver to sustainability. A planning project in an Alpine city
2016Corrado Diamantini · City Territory and Architecture · Italy
This article discusses the role of peri-urban agriculture in maintaining the identity and sustainability of Alpine cities, which face challenges such as urban sprawl. It emphasizes that peri-urban territories in the Alps can be crucial for sustainable urban development. As evidence, a planning project for the Rotaliana Königsberg territory north of Trento, Italy, is presented, which aims to restore its agro-food vocation through the creation of a vast agricultural park encompassing much of the urbanized area.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyClimate changeUrban–rural linkageUrban AgriCulture and Food Systems Dynamics in the German Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Region
2016Darya Hirsch, Christian H. Meyer, Johannes Klement, Martin Hamer, Wiltrud Terlau · International journal on food system dynamics · Germany (Bonn)
This study uses a broad approach to Urban AgriCulture (UAC), encompassing crop production in urban and peri-urban areas, and presents an empirical case study on UAC Initiatives in Germany's Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region. The work aims to fill a gap due to the current lack of comprehensive and comparative studies on urban agriculture, which makes it difficult for researchers to identify its benefits.
CommunityPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsParadoxical territorial management: the case of peri-urban agricultural areas
2016Solange Hernandez · International Review of Administrative Sciences · France
This case study in the urban community of Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Etoile, France, over 25 years, aimed to understand paradoxical territorial management practices in peri-urban agriculture. Based on quantitative analyses of qualitative data, the study demonstrated the relevance of these management practices in action, but identified paradoxes as a recurring source of tension and deadlock in territorial public administration. The research proposes managerial tools applicable in the framework of public action in peri-urban agriculture.
Governance failurePolicyPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsEnvisioning Opportunities for Agriculture in Peri-Urban Areas
2016Elke Rogge, Eva Kerselaers, Charlotte Prové · · Europe
This study explores opportunities and challenges for peri-urban agriculture, examining envisioning processes in Ghent and Kortrijk, Belgium, initiated by local authorities. Results indicate that pressure on farmland is a key issue in both contexts. Multifunctionality is complex in practice and governance, and successful envisioning processes require clear objectives, defined study areas, policy support, strong leadership, and reliable data.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsAgricultura urbana y sistema agroalimentario . Análisis comparado en las áreas metropolitanas de Barcelona y Sevilla
2016Xavier Recasens Gracia, María José Prados Velasco, Óscar Alfranca · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain
This study comparatively analyzed the relationships between the economic activity of urban farms and agricultural protection systems in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Seville. It investigated the business management and commercial aspects of urban agriculture, and how it is conditioned by urban planning and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) decisions. Based on the CANVAS Business Model and quantification of benefits, the results demonstrated that urban agriculture is multifunctional and can contribute to business profits.
EconomicsPolicyPeri-urban agricultureComplexity in Action? Fringe Agro-forest Systems, Demography and Societal Transformations in Mediterranean Peri-urban Areas
2016Luca Salvati, Pere Serra, Serena Rugiero, Alberto Sabbi · Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia · Europe
This article discusses the relationship between landscape and peri-urban agriculture and the implications of sustainable land management for fringe land quality. It proposes a framework to evaluate the latent nexus between agro-forest systems and human settlements in southern Europe. Eco-sustainable planning integrated with multifaceted research and policy dimensions is a relevant approach to urban fringe sustainability. Permanent assessment of these factors allows for the implementation of different development scenarios.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageOrti 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 agricultureDIYMunicipal community gardens in the metropolitan area of Milano. Assessment and planning criteria
2016Giulio Senes, Natalia Fumagalli, P. Ferrario, Daniele Gariboldi, Roberto Rovelli · Journal of Agricultural Engineering · Italy (Milano)
A study was conducted in 133 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Milano (excluding Milano city) to evaluate the presence of Municipal Community Gardens (MCGs) and define criteria for new MCG settlements. The study found that 59 municipalities had MCGs, with an average area per capita of 0.68 sq.m (excluding an outlier), and most MCGs were located in urban or suburban areas. Criteria proposed for identifying suitable areas for new MCGs included proximity to road networks within residential areas, suitable land use, and not high land capability, leading to the identification of the number and area of MCGs to be realized and their potentially suitable sites in each municipality.
CommunityPolicyElderlyPeri-urban agricultureReading Ecosystem Services at the Local Scale through a Territorial Approach: the Case of Peri-Urban Agriculture in the Thau Lagoon, Southern France
2015Laure‐Elise Ruoso, R. Plant, Pierre Maurel, C. Dupaquier, Philip Roche, Muriel Bonin · Ecology and Society · France (Thau Lagoon)
This record is a citation for a study on reading ecosystem services at the local scale through a territorial approach, focusing on peri-urban agriculture in the Thau Lagoon, Southern France. The abstract provides only the citation information and no further details about the study's methods or findings.
Peri-urban agricultureBiodiversity