Research & reports

Brenda B. Lin, Shalene Jha, Heidi Liere, Stacy M. Philpott · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Global

Drawing on a long-term, multidisciplinary research program conducted since 2013 on urban community gardens in the California Central Coast, this paper uses that program as a lens to explore how community gardens may function as a form of green infrastructure within increasingly compact urban development, while grounded in a specific regional context.

Phạm Trung Kiên, Liliane Jean-Soro, Huong Le Thi Thu, Bernard De-Gouvello, Béatrice Bechet · Earth Environmental Sustainability · Global

Arguing that existing "Water-Energy-Food" nexus thinking fails to capture the complexity of urban nature-based solutions such as urban gardens, this perspective paper proposes a "Food-Water-Soil (FWS) nexus" framework analyzed through the dual lens of ecosystem services (ES) and ecosystem disservices (EDS), which arise together with ES rather than as mere byproducts. It positions ES and EDS as the core mediating functions that define a system's potential and limits, and conceptualizes soil as a "living infrastructure" whose management-driven dynamic properties govern the trade-offs and synergies between food production and water dynamics.

Hedwig Ajeng Grahani · GeoEco · Indonesia

A 2024 systematic survey of 217 urban farming households in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, used Stata 19 for hypothesis testing and SPSS 27 for descriptive statistics, running a multiple linear regression of net urban farming income against 22 variables covering sociodemographics, farm structure, input management, biotic stress and institutional support (R2 = 0.7448). Eleven variables had a significant effect, with farm size the most favorable factor, followed by financial support, seed subsidies and technical aid; gender and family size also showed positive effects. Crop type correlated negatively with income, and biotic stress — particularly pest type and severity — substantially reduced income, while training and market access were not statistically significant.

Mugabo Kalisa G. · Idosr Journal of Computer and Applied Sciences. · Sub-Saharan Africa

A review article addresses how, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where malaria transmission is increasing in urban and peri-urban areas due to rapid urbanization and inadequate infrastructure, urban agriculture — a vital livelihood strategy in peri-urban SSA — often intersects with poor water management practices, creating favorable breeding grounds for malaria vectors, particularly Anopheles mosquitoes. It examines the complex relationship between urban agriculture, water management and mosquito breeding in peri-urban areas, including how irrigation systems, water storage and waste management contribute to malaria transmission, and discusses the implications for malaria control. It also reviews emerging technologies such as remote sensing, GIS and mobile health platforms that can enhance mosquito surveillance and community involvement, and calls for a multi-sectoral approach spanning urban planning, vector control and community-based interventions, along with sustainable urban agricultural practices to mitigate malaria risks in SSA.

Adnan Sirage Ali · Discover Public Health · Ethiopia

A comparative cross-sectional study of 315 urban vegetable-farming households along the Akaki Rivers in Ethiopia used structured questionnaires, multivariable logistic regression, multilevel mixed-effects models and bootstrapped mediation analysis. Two-week diarrhea prevalence was 11.4% (36/315) among children and 8.7% among adults; in this cross-sectional design, which cannot establish causality, wastewater irrigation was associated with more than double the odds of diarrhea (AOR=2.10, 95% CI 1.30-3.40), frequent contact with irrigation water with 80% higher odds (AOR=1.80), and regular raw-vegetable consumption with 60% higher odds (AOR=1.60). Handwashing with soap (57% risk reduction), bathing after farm work (41% reduction) and household water treatment (45% reduction, AOR=0.55) were protective, clustering by irrigation site was modest (ICC about 6%), and hygiene practices mediated 28% of the exposure-outcome relationship.

Herlyna Novasari Siahaan, Dilma’aarij Agustia, Chairia · Jurnal Abadimas Adi Buana · Indonesia

A community-service report on post-disaster recovery in Suka Damai village, Serdang Bedagai Regency, Indonesia, following repeated flooding that reduced agricultural production, household income and community health. Using a participatory approach combining a Climate Field School (SLI), bucket-based fish farming (budikdamber), urban farming and ecoprint training, the program evaluated 30 farmers from the Gapoktan Mekar farmer group with pre- and post-tests. Average scores rose from 58.6 to 78.9, a 34.6% increase, indicating improved knowledge and skills in climate-adaptive farm management. Budikdamber and urban farming were reported to improve household food security, while ecoprint training opened new environmentally friendly business opportunities for the local PKK (family welfare) group.

Daniel Etim Jacob, Imaobong Daniel Jacob, Koko Sunday Daniel, Pius Agaji Oko · Sustainable Food Connect · Global

A paper arguing that recreational planning in the Global South is constrained by Western models prioritizing ornamental aesthetics over local socio-ecological crises, producing metabolically inefficient and exclusionary landscapes, and proposing an "Agro-Blue Commons" (ABC) framework integrating food production, sustainable water management and communal leisure. The framework was tested through a qualitative meta-synthesis of four prototype cases in Lagos, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Nairobi, purposively sampled to represent diverse biomes and climate-vulnerable informal settlement types, evaluated with a Multi-Criteria Assessment focused on metabolic circularity, governance polycentricity and socio-spatial accessibility. Results show that integrating food, water and leisure together with polycentric stewardship increases urban resilience and reduces resource dependency, while the paper states that systemic change requires addressing institutional inertia and insecure land tenure to prevent speculative displacement of marginalized communities.

Candice M. Duncan, Fatemeh Ghezelsofla, Hlengilizwe Nyoni, Jazmin Escobar, Odette Mina · Toxics · United States

A study measuring per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in irrigation water at two organic farms in Maryland, USA, with no known direct PFAS input, and assessing health risk via a Hazard Index (HI). At agricultural site 1 (AG1), the most abundant compounds were PFBS (37 ng/L), PFBA (24 ng/L) and PFHxA (22 ng/L); the HI showed compliance for branched PFHxS (0.39) but non-compliance for linear PFHxS (1.51). At agricultural site 2 (AG2), despite no known industrial or PFAS-related facilities nearby, HFPO-DA (GenX) was detected at 28 ng/L, and the HI exceeded the compliance threshold (HI = 2.83), with GenX accounting for most of the calculated risk. The findings show HI exceedances occurring at small farm sites with no identifiable contamination source.

Abhijeet Das, Satchidananda Mishra · Green Technology Resilience and Sustainability · Global

This study develops a conceptual and analytical framework for embedding circular-economy and zero-waste principles into hydroponic agriculture systems worldwide, using system mapping, resource-flow analysis, and indicator structuring to compare linear, partial-recirculation, and near-zero-discharge configurations. The analysis found that continuous nutrient recirculation and controlled dosing improve resource retention, and that system stability increases when buffering capacities across water, nutrient, and energy subsystems are aligned; capacity balance and feedback control were identified as key determinants, though the work is conceptual, without empirical field validation.

Chaturangi Wickramaratne, Avinandan Taron, Mark Mulligan, Sophia Burke, Matthew McCartney · · Global

A valuation study of the Kalu Oya and Mudun Ela basins, peri-urban sub-catchments of the Kelani River Basin in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka (78 km², population 548,232, with 10.50 km² of wetlands providing services including flood mitigation, water purification, biodiversity support, carbon storage, and urban agriculture), used market-price and benefit-transfer methods to value 13 wetland services at a total economic value (TEV) of USD 25.1-27.6 million for 2025 (USD 12.98-14.45 million/year when excluding static carbon stock). A separate Co$tingNature model assessed 11 ecosystem services across the basin at 30 m resolution, estimating a 25-year TEV of USD 1.67 billion (USD 66.8 million/year); wetlands accounted for only 2.7% of basin-wide TEV but showed the highest per-hectare value (USD 6,807/ha/year). Conservation investment returns were estimated at 23-341% depending on which costs were included, and the study notes that different valuation methods produced varying results depending on their conceptual foundations and data sources.

Paul Emile Tchinda, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham · Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes 70(3) · Cameroon (one large and one medium-sized city)

Urban agriculture appears in many sustainability agendas yet has been ignored in the public policies of many African countries. Combining multi-scale mapping (city and neighbourhood) with semi-structured interviews in one large and one medium-sized Cameroonian city, this study tests how well those techniques characterise urban agriculture for local decision-making. Mapping from 5-metre SPOT satellite imagery gives a general grasp of the spatial distribution of practices, but crop types, emerging entrepreneurial practices and the temporality of crops are invisible to it and surface only through field mapping and interviews. Echoing critical remote-sensing scholarship, the authors propose a methodological framework for profiling urban agriculture and argue that the choice of research method shapes our understanding of it, so it should be made with each city's specific characteristics in mind.

東京都都市整備局 · 東京都都市整備局 · Japan

This official page from the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Urban Development (last updated May 26, 2026) explains Tokyo's productive green zone (seisan ryokuchi) system: designation requires a plot of at least 500 sqm (reducible to 300 sqm by municipal ordinance, with contiguous plots eligible if each is at least 100 sqm), imposes a 30-year farming obligation, and grants tax benefits (agricultural-rate property tax and inheritance tax deferral). It also explains that because zones designated in 1992 under the revised law reached the 30-year mark in 2022, the "specified productive green zone" system (created by a 2017 law amendment) allows landowners to extend the tax benefits and buyback-request window by another 10 years.

Montgomery Planning (Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) · Montgomery Planning · United States

Montgomery Planning's overview of the Agricultural Reserve, created in 1980 by Montgomery County Council action and covering 93,000 acres — nearly a third of the county's land. The Reserve combines dedicated agricultural zoning (limiting residential density to one unit per 25 acres in the AR zone), a transfer of development rights (TDR) program, and a Building Lot Termination (BLT) easement program to prevent farmland fragmentation, sustaining more than 500 farms.

Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) · State of Oregon, Department of Land Conservation and Development · United States

Oregon's state land-use agency page explaining the state's farmland protection framework. Statewide Planning Goal 3, established under Senate Bill 100, defines agricultural land based on soil capability, and all 36 counties apply Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zoning, with minimum lot sizes typically 80 acres for cropland and 160 acres for rangeland. As of 2015, Oregon's farmland totaled 16.3 million acres (over 26% of the state), with the farm economy valued at $5.7 billion, about 11% of the state economy, supporting more than 326,000 jobs.

· Wikipedia (español) · Spain

A Wikipedia article on the Huerta de Valencia, the historic agricultural belt surrounding the city of Valencia. Origins trace to Roman settlement, but the irrigation infrastructure that shaped the current landscape was developed during the Al-Andalus (Islamic) period. Nine major irrigation canals (acequias), including Quart and Mestalla, are governed by the Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia, inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

· Wikipedia (English) · Spain

An English-language Wikipedia article on the Horta of Valencia, the historic agricultural area surrounding metropolitan Valencia, covering 631.9 km2 with a 2019 population of 1,567,118. Its traditional Arab-era irrigation system was designated a FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) in 2019 as the 'Historical Waterscape of l'Horta de Valencia.'

· Wikipedia (italiano) · Italy

An Italian Wikipedia article on Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, established on 23 April 1990 under Lombardy regional law (LR 24), covering 46,300 hectares across roughly 60 municipalities. More than 1,400 farms operate within the park, with cereals accounting for 43% of cultivation, rice 22%, and forage 16%. Forty-one traditional irrigated meadows (marcite) are protected within the park, alongside native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, plus reported invasive species such as nutria.

· Wikipedia (italiano) · Italy

An Italian Wikipedia article on the cascine (traditional farmsteads) of Milan, of which about a hundred survive today, 59 of them municipally owned. Eighteen are derelict, while the rest are used as libraries, recreation centres, facilities for the elderly and disabled, or housing; thirteen remain active farms engaged in rice cultivation, dairy farming, or horse breeding. The oldest, Cascina Chiesa Rossa, dates to the 10th century, with other major cascine built between the 11th and 15th centuries.

· Viquipèdia (Catalan Wikipedia) · Spain

The Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat is a protected agricultural area (about 3,473 ha, with 2,938 ha designated as farmland) in the Llobregat river delta within the Barcelona metropolitan region, managed by a consortium established in 1998. Vegetables account for 63% of crops, with fruit trees making up most of the rest. Spanning 14 municipalities, it functions as an institutional framework preserving agricultural landscape and wetland ecosystems amid urban expansion.

· Wikipedia · Singapore

This Wikipedia article on Lim Chu Kang, a 17.3 km2 area in Singapore's North Region, describes it as the nation's main agricultural zone, housing a diverse range of farms engaged in food production, aquaculture, and agri-technology. Approximately 62 farms operated in the western part before being cleared progressively from April 2020 to December 2022 for military development. As of 2025 the area had a population of only 30, one of Singapore's least populated planning areas.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO · Global

An overview of FAO's 'City Region Food Systems' (CRFS) approach under its Food for the Cities Programme, which frames all actors, processes and relationships involved in producing, processing, distributing and consuming food as linking urban centres with their surrounding rural and peri-urban areas, aiming to improve economic, social and environmental sustainability with an emphasis on supporting local government policy shifts.

Karasungur S., Yavaş M. · Land Use Policy · Türkiye (Erzurum)

A paper that frames urban agriculture as a land-use policy instrument for protecting peri-urban agricultural land from urbanisation, analysed on a grid basis for Erzurum, Türkiye. Its angle is to treat urban agriculture not only as growing food in the city but as an institutional means of restraining farmland conversion. Note: this entry is written from the paper's bibliographic record and title; see the article itself for its figures and conclusions.

Chifunda Emmanuel Felix, Kifunda Christina Felix · Cogent Food & Agriculture · タンザニア

A paper on urban and peri-urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam examined through the gender dynamics of the people working in it. The bibliographic record (authors, journal, DOI) was verified at the source, but the abstract could not be retrieved, so only the scope of the topic is described here.

Kissoly L. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · タンザニア・ダルエスサラーム

An exploratory qualitative case study and policy analysis of urban agriculture's current landscape and possible futures in rapidly urbanizing Dar es Salaam, drawing on targeted literature and document review, a policy and regulatory scan, and 52 key informant interviews with municipal actors, urban farmers and food-system practitioners conducted between April and September 2025. Urban agriculture is valued for household food supplementation, small-scale income and fresh-food provisioning through short-cycle vegetable production close to consumers, but remains shaped by tolerated informality, insecure land access, fragmented regulation, contamination risks, weak institutional coordination and pressure on peri-urban land. Five evidence-informed trajectories are proposed — managed river-corridor cultivation; sacks, buckets and roofs for dense-ward micro-production; institutional land clusters; peri-urban foodshed belts with circular-resource hubs; and small-scale aquaculture with insect-based feed — presented explicitly not as tested feasibility models but as differentiated options requiring further technical, environmental, spatial and economic assessment. The paper argues the future depends not on a single large-scale model but on risk-sensitive, institutionally grounded forms of support.

Coyne D., Nyambura E.I., Atandi J.G., Obebo F., Alam M.J., Kumar S., Arro E.A., Adimassu Z., Bihon W., Schreinemachers P. · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · エチオピア・アディスアベバ／ケニア・ナイロビ／バングラデシュ・ダッカ／フィリピン・メトロマニラ

A comparative multi-city case study of urban and peri-urban vegetable seedling systems — a neglected component of urban agriculture — in four rapidly growing cities: Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dhaka and Metro Manila. Data came from 154 stakeholders including urban farmers, nursery operators, seedling suppliers, agro-input dealers and government officers, complemented by secondary literature. Across all four cities urban vegetable production was dominated by small-scale intensive systems growing predominantly leafy vegetables, while seedling systems remained underdeveloped: informal nursery operations, weak quality assurance, open-field propagation, limited technical capacity and fragmented market linkages, driving widespread reliance on direct seeding and low-quality planting material despite strong demand for quality seedlings. Identified opportunities include improved propagation technologies, certification systems, digital marketing, commercialization of indigenous vegetable seedlings and stronger public-private partnerships. As one of the first cross-continental assessments of urban vegetable seedling systems in low- and middle-income countries, it positions seedling systems as a critical but overlooked part of resilient, nutrition-sensitive urban food systems.