Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
193 results(3 / 8)
一般社団法人KOBE FARMERS MARKET 活用事例
2023一般社団法人KOBE FARMERS MARKET, 農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例 · Japan
Kobe grant case report on youth-oriented farmers markets using urban agriculture function grants, documenting city-farmer-civic collaboration to secure urban farmers and activate citizen farms and direct sales.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsPolicy大阪府摂津市 防災協力農地看板設置事例
2023大阪府摂津市, 農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例 · Japan
Settsu City grant case installing signage for disaster-cooperation farmland, showing a municipal public-support model linking urban farmland's disaster and green functions with conservation of citizen farms.
PolicyCommunityBiodiversity市民農園市町村別開設状況（令和５年３月末調査）
2023神奈川県 · 神奈川県 調査報告書 · Japan
Kanagawa prefectural tabulation of citizen farms by municipality — including 285 in Yokohama and 64 in Kawasaki — enabling comparison of public, cooperative and farmer-led setups across the prefecture.
PolicyEconomicsCommunity川崎の農業の実態
2023川崎市 経済労働局 都市農業振興センター · 川崎市 調査報告書 · Japan
Kawasaki status report on farmland area, producers, productive greenbelts, tourism farms, citizen farms and regional exchange farms, quantifying small-scale urban production and publicly supported experience farms.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityHealthみんなのうえんPARK湊川にPARK BARが完成しました
2023独立行政法人都市再生機構（UR都市機構） · UR都市機構 西日本支社 ニュースリリース · Japan
A news release from UR (Urban Renaissance Agency) reporting the completion of the PARK BAR facility at 'Minna no Uen PARK Minatogawa' on UR land in Kobe, introducing the farm-plus-park social experiment for community exchange, childcare and welfare.
CommunityWelfareLongitudinal analysis of home food production and food sharing behavior in Japan: multiple benefits of local food systems and the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
2023Kamiyama C., Hori K., Matsui T., Pretty J., Saito O. · Sustainability Science (Springer) · Japan
Using national surveys from 2015 and 2021, shows that more agricultural areas have higher home food production and neighborly sharing, and that interest in home production rose in urban areas after COVID-19—longitudinally demonstrating the multiple benefits of local food systems.
CommunityHealthValuation of student-led agricultural activities at university: comparison of willingness to pay with inferred values
2023Ryo Sakurai, Takuro Uehara · Sustainability Science · Japan (Kyoto)
A contingent-valuation study at Ritsumeikan University, Japan, measuring the monetary value students place on student-led farming activities using double-bounded dichotomous-choice surveys of 375 students in 2016 and 356 in 2020, comparing each respondent's own willingness to pay (WTP) with the value they inferred other students would pay. In 2016 mean WTP was ¥1,613.6 (median ¥1,101.3) against a mean inferred value of ¥1,056.6 (median ¥742.4); in 2020 mean WTP was ¥2,376.8 (median ¥1,408.8) against ¥1,814.5 (median ¥1,150.6). Confidence intervals overlapped in both years, so the differences were not statistically significant, indicating less social-desirability bias than earlier research found. Estimated total utility was about ¥2.51 million, enough to fund the student-led agricultural project. Limitations: a single institution, no examination of the mechanisms behind inferred values, and hypothetical rather than actual donations.
EconomicsFood educationCommunityRevisiting the KIT Community Garden Project
2023Bean Casey · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan
This paper discusses the current status of the KIT Community Garden project, an honors project at Kanazawa Institute of Technology that began in 2016. The project aims to improve members' English language skills, gardening knowledge, environmental awareness, and establish a deeper connection to the community. The paper covers the garden's state, design principles, recent changes, feedback from current members, and outstanding challenges.
CommunityFood educationHealthCharacteristics and Roles of School Gardens in Urban Areas of Japan: Perspective of School Managers
2023Rushi Wang, Shigeto YANAI · Land · Japan
This study surveyed school garden managers at public elementary schools in an urban area of Japan to analyze school garden characteristics and influencing factors. Findings indicated that school gardens inside schools offer better safety but less community connection, while external school farms provide more agricultural experience space. Schools with both types showed stronger community ties but decreased safety, and a notable lack of budget, teachers, supportive policies, and manager motivation was observed in operating school gardens.
Governance failureFood educationCommunityPolicySuccesses and challenges of a university-based agroecological community garden and educational program in Japan
2023Benjamin Schrager, Hiroki Ikeda, Takahashi Yukitsugu · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Japan
This article explores Utsunomiya University’s Eco-programs, which combine a pesticide-free community garden with an educational series, using ethnographic data. Findings indicate tensions between the Eco-programs' agroecological goals and other institutional goals at the university. Despite these conflicts, the programs provide a space for agroecological gardening and serve as an example of an alternative agricultural initiative in Japan.
Governance failureCommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justicePolicyExploring the possibilities of creating shared value in Japan's urban agriculture: using a mixed methods approach
2022Kiminami L., Furuzawa S., Kiminami A. · Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science (Springer), 6(2):541-569 · Japan
Uses a mixed-methods approach to clarify how shared value is created in Japan's urban agriculture, focusing on the cognitive innovation of social entrepreneurs and urban residents' perceptions and behaviors. It argues that multifunctional urban farming can generate combined social, economic, and environmental co-benefits.
EconomicsCommunityPolicy「生産緑地2022年問題」に対応した都市農地制度についての農地所有者への意向調査
2022· 日本地理学会発表要旨集（J-STAGE） · Japan
Academic study surveying productive-greenland owners in Yawata City, Kyoto, on their intentions toward post-2022 urban-farmland policies such as the Special Productive Greenland system and the lease facilitation law.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityProvision of Allotment Gardens and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Tokyo, Japan
2022Zheng H., Akita N., Araki S., Fukuda M. · Land 11(3):333 · Japan
Using 313 allotment gardens drawn from governmental open data, the study classified them by cluster analysis based on number of plots, plot size, contract price and duration, and facilities. It found that allotment-garden provision in Tokyo is differentiated from city center to suburbs by the share of agricultural land and residents' socio-demographic characteristics including population, share of young people, and income levels.
CommunityPolicyEconomics公・民・学の連携によるまちづくり －柏の葉スマートシティ－（三牧浩也・UDCK副センター長）
2022三牧 浩也（柏の葉アーバンデザインセンター 副センター長） · 国土交通省 スマートシティ官民連携プラットフォーム 講演資料 · Japan
A presentation by the deputy director of Urban Design Center Kashiwanoha (UDCK) explaining the public-private-academia town-building of Kashiwanoha Smart City, in which Mitsui Fudosan participates. It outlines the collaboration framework among citizens, companies and universities and the resident-participatory approach centered on health and community.
CommunityPolicyHealth屋上農園の多面的機能に対する都市住民の意識と行動 ─東京都を中心として─
2022李 靖儀, 木南 莉莉, 古澤 慎一, 木南 章 · 地域学研究 52巻2号 pp.231-254 · Japan
A Tokyo-centered survey on involvement and evaluation of rooftop farms finds high satisfaction among participants but low uptake, using SEM to analyze institutional and design policy needs for spreading private-development rooftop farms such as Mori Building's Roppongi Hills.
CommunityHealthPolicyねりま都市農業プロジェクト検討会 報告書
2022練馬区 · 練馬区 調査報告書 · Japan
Final report of Nerima's review panel building on the World Urban Agriculture Summit, organising directions for publicly supported urban agriculture under four pillars — circulation, environment, fairness and collaboration — including farmland conservation, agriculture-welfare links, ward allotments and outreach.
PolicyCommunityFood educationBiodiversityコミュニティガーデンにおいて組織に縛られず参加者の自由な活動が確保される条件に関する研究 ―タマリバタケを事例として―
2022新保 奈穂美 · 世田谷区 都市農業関連研究報告 · Japan
Analyses Tamaribatake, a community garden piloted under Setagaya's proposal-based partnership programme, clarifying conditions that secure participants' freedom without rigid rules and offering operational insight for municipally supported community farms.
CommunityFood educationDIY令和4年度第14回ヨコハマｅアンケート 市民農園に関するアンケート
2022横浜市 環境創造局農政推進課 · 横浜市 市民調査報告 · Japan
Results of Yokohama's e-survey on citizen farms, capturing user motivations, satisfaction and challenges as baseline data for municipal policy improvements including the citizen-farm map and stronger outreach.
CommunityHealthFood educationPolicy名古屋農業振興地域整備計画書
2022名古屋市 · 名古屋市 農業振興地域整備計画 · Japan
Nagoya's agricultural revitalisation area development plan, setting the institutional framework for municipally supported urban agriculture through conserving quality farmland, modernising facilities, promoting farmer-led citizen farms and collaborative local land use.
PolicyCommunityBiodiversityEconomics福岡市農林業総合計画（令和４年度～令和８年度）第２部 農業
2022福岡市 · 福岡市 農林業総合計画 · Japan
Agriculture chapter of Fukuoka's five-year comprehensive plan, covering subsidies for citizen farms, experience farms and refresh farms plus Agrichallenge and other municipally supported urban agriculture measures.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsFood education農を通じた都市公園と地域コミュニティの再生——兵庫県神戸市の平野コープ農園の事例から
2022新保奈穂美 · 都市計画報告集（日本都市計画学会）20(1), 154 · Japan (Kobe)
Demonstrates the community-revitalization effect of urban agriculture in a shrinking city through the case of Hirano Co-op Farm in Kobe, suggesting that an open-to-all farm and learning opportunities are essential to community formation.
CommunityWelfareUrban Resilience: A Study of Leftover Spaces and Play in Dense City Fabric
2022Alice Covatta, Vedrana Ikalović · Sustainability · Japan (Tokyo)
This paper examines design strategies for transforming leftover urban spaces by integrating creative and playful programs, using Tokyo, Japan, as a case study. Through ethnographic observations and spatial analysis, the study demonstrates how play positively affects everyday life in public spaces and enables extraordinary uses of these spaces. The findings offer guidance for urban planners and designers on how people use playfulness to appropriate and utilize leftover spaces.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageFor the love of insects: gardening grows positive emotions (biophilia) towards invertebrates
2022Amelie M. Vanderstock, Cecilia Grandi-Nagashiro, Gaku Kudo, Tanya Latty, Shoko Nakamura, Thomas E. White, Masashi Soga · Journal of Insect Conservation · Japan
An online survey was conducted with 443 adults in Japan to investigate the association between nature and gardening experiences, demographics, species identification knowledge, and biophilia (liking) and biophobia (dislike, fear, and disgust) towards invertebrates. Frequent gardeners were found to be more likely to express biophilia and perceive invertebrates as beneficial, and generally less likely to express biophobia. The results suggest that gardening can serve as a pathway to foster appreciation for invertebrate biodiversity in urban settings.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityWhat the welfare‐agriculture cooperation can inherit from the farmer‐consumer partnership movement for exchanges of organic produce: on‐site implementation and international sharing of its outcome
2022Hiroyuki Tsunashima · Impact · Japan
Dr. Hiroyuki Tsunashima of Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan, leads a project linking agriculture and social welfare to provide job opportunities for socially disadvantaged individuals. The project involves clients working on farms under the supervision of social welfare staff, emphasizing autonomous skill acquisition and holistic practices. This initiative draws from the Teikei movement, a community-supported agriculture system in Japan, to facilitate the process through food and farmer-consumer partnership experiences.
WelfareCommunityFood educationLease and Usage Conditions of Productive Green Land by Urban Farms
2022Shingo Yoshida, Hironori Yagi · 農村計画学会誌 · Japan (Tokyo)
This study clarified the purposes and actual use of leased productive green lands by urban farmers in Tokyo, Japan. Case studies revealed that farmers leased land for scale expansion, new crops/methods, agricultural corporation establishment, and new entries, particularly for successors and new entrants. A questionnaire survey in six cities found that potential tenant farmers prioritized farming conditions, while landowners focused on community harmony, with preferences differing between existing and non-participating farmers.
PolicyEconomicsCommunity