Research & reports

Tarmo Pikner, Hannes Palang · · Estonia

A study of dacha-style allotment gardens in the border city of Narva, Estonia, on the eastern edge of the European Union, used ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews to examine how plural mobility and emotional human-nature interactions shape periurban landscapes. Results indicated a persistent rural dimension and multiple engagements with nature within Narva's wider urbanization dynamics. Plural mobility and emotional care motivated and sustained by allotment gardening constituted dispersed landscapes as connective tissue across periurban features. Landscape histories of the periurban area showed particular ruptures and reassemblies tied to shifts in the state-border regime.

Tatiana Cotta Gonçalves Pereira · Revista Rural & Urbano · Brazil

Drawing on two concrete cases handled by NAJUP Marli Coragem, a legal aid clinic linked to the law program at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), this action-research article examines urban planning issues in the municipalities of Nova Iguacu and Japeri in the Baixada Fluminense region of Brazil, seeking to understand the legal problems facing two farming communities the clinic assisted. It reviews how specialized literature defines rural and urban, the legislation relevant to farmers and their spaces, and how Brazil's statistics agency IBGE has treated the issue. The city of Rio de Janeiro and its Master Plan were added to the analysis through graduate research on urban agriculture, giving three quite different municipalities with similar consequences: family farmers' ability to exercise their rights when municipal zoning makes no provision for a rural area. The article concludes that while the specialized literature has moved past the rural-urban dichotomy, institutions have not kept pace, and this non-institutionalized reality generates numerous debates and concrete legal problems.

Sasha Pesci, Catherine Brinkley · Food Culture & Society · United States (California)

A case study of Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California restaurant founded by Alice Waters in 1971, examining the extent to which a farm-to-table restaurant prompted social and ecological change in the food system. Using archival document review, interviews, surveys, and social network mapping, the study traces how direct market connections between farmers and Chez Panisse grew over time and influenced farmers' growing practices. Chez Panisse was found to have inspired farmers toward more sustainable agriculture practices, but the restaurant was not the only influential actor in the network — local food hub managers and the restaurant's "foragers" served as key intermediaries. The study concludes that social embeddedness within Alternative Food Networks is pertinent to fostering sustainable agriculture, the long-term survival of network actors, and network growth.

Paola Branduini, Elena Colli · Landscape Research · Italy

A qualitative sociological analysis examined a policy tool used by public landowners in peri-urban Milan, Italy, who introduced new lease agreements transferring the maintenance costs of built rural heritage to tenants, aiming to avoid degradation and add value to unused buildings. Analyzing the tool through the lens of social justice and its impact on quality of life, the study found that the same policy tool produces very different outcomes for landscape preservation and quality of life depending on the implementation strategy used, and on the elements of social justice considered along with contextual and individual characteristics.

David M. Lapola, Belen Paez, Sandra Costa, Roberto Donato da Silva Júnior, Daniela M. Peluso, Paulo Moutinho, Maíra C. G. Padgurschi, Denilson Baniwa, Sônia Bridi, Nadino Calapucha, Zienhe Castro, Fander Falconí, James Junior, Mapulu Kamayurá, Eduardo Kohn, Anderson Mattos, Pedro Meloni Nassar, Laurent Troost, Manari Ushigua, Robert B. Wallace, Marko Zangas · UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) eBooks · Global

This book chapter offers a brief, non-authoritative overview of the physical and cultural relations between rural (forest) and urban areas across the Amazon region. It identifies improvement points including economic incentives to draw healthcare professionals to rural areas, peri-urban agricultural belts to strengthen urban food security, expanded access to urban green space, and investment in a "smart cities, smart forests" concept, and states that mobilising human, financial and institutional resources to restore cultural, spiritual and affective bonds between urban and forest inhabitants is perhaps most important.

Doralice Sátyro Maia, Miriam Hermi Zaar · · Brazil

Drawing on field observation, photographic records, questionnaires and informal conversations, alongside prior research and government data, this study analyzes the persistence of rural practices — small-scale cattle dairying (vacarias) in João Pessoa and agricultural practices in Natal, both coastal cities in Brazil's Northeast — within areas classified as urban, describing these as "islands of rurality" that resist real-estate speculation and urbanization pressures, and calling for methodologies better able to distinguish urban from rural attributes in such hybrid spaces.

Ines Peper · University of Vienna · Europe

A paper on Eisenheim, a company housing settlement founded in 1844 near Oberhausen in Germany's Ruhr region by the mining company Gutehoffnungshütte, historically situates today's discourse on urban agriculture. It examines urban gardening and agricultural facilities at Eisenheim, then places the case within the broader development of urban agriculture from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, comparing it to four other "model villages" — including those of Krupp, BASF, and Farbwerke Höchst — with differing ideological and socio-economic backgrounds. The analysis centers on how access to land was organized and what property regimes affected long-term preservation of agricultural land use, how subsistence agriculture affected residents' food resilience, diet quality, and household income formation, and how subsistence gardening and settlements' green-space layout contributed to residents' community life.

Ferne Edwards, R Gerritsen, G Wesser · · Global

This chapter examines how food practices enter, move through, settle into, disrupt, and redesign cities—as community gardens and foraging sites, health food stores and farmers' markets, freegan and vegan forms of protest and dietary reform, shared tables, and food trucks and new forms of food delivery—arguing that people's engagement with food shapes the form and feel of the city through tactile, affective, and embodied relationships between people, place, and products. It reviews the "sensory turn" in the social sciences and research methodologies that go beyond the written word, and closes with a summary of the edited volume's sections addressing migration, memory, home, inclusion, politics, and care.

Shrabana Mazumder, Joydeep Saha, Gouranga Nandi, Mrinmoyee Naskar, Jibananda Gayen, Debajit Datta · SN Applied Sciences · India

A study of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India, used free and open-source geospatial software and multi-temporal databases to assess land use/land cover change from 1990 to 2020, focusing on the transformation of urban and peri-urban agricultural land, and projected cropland change to 2030 using an artificial neural network module (MOLUSCE). Built-up areas persistently expanded into croplands, wetlands, vegetation, and water bodies throughout the period, with an estimated loss of 181.11 sq km of cropland between 1990 and 2020, concentrated in the northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of the study area. The 2030 projection indicates a further loss of 15.46 sq km, bringing the cumulative cropland loss to 37.39% of its 1990 extent under current socio-economic and administrative conditions.

CGTN · CGTN (China Global Television Network) · China

Beijing implemented compulsory four-category household waste sorting for 21 million residents starting May 1, 2020. One year in, daily waste collection fell from 27,700 tonnes (2019) to 20,600 tonnes (early 2021), the recycling rate reached 37.5%, and separated food-waste volume rose to nearly 11.6 times the pre-regulation level.

Alicja Kolasa-Więcek, Dariusz Suszanowicz · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · Europe

This study conducted field tests on model roofs and GIS-based building potential analysis in two districts of Opole, Poland, proposing a methodology to forecast reduction in rainwater drainage load from green roof deployment. Rainfall up to 5 mm/day is completely retained by both intensive and extensive roofs, and about 44% of torrential rainfall is retained. The runoff reduction coefficient is 0.63 for extensive roofs and 0.74 for intensive roofs; installing green roofs on 25% of suitable buildings is estimated to reduce drainage load enough to prevent localized flooding.

· Quito Informa (Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito) · Ecuador

An official municipal news article reporting that Quito's Metropolitan Council, in an extraordinary session (No. 173, September 13, 2021), approved the Land Use and Management Plan (PUGS) in its second and final debate with 15 votes in favor. The plan is valid for 12 years, replaces the former Land Use and Occupation Plan (PUOS), and shifts the city's urban model from expansive to polycentric.

Panagiota Kotsila, Isabelle Anguelovski, Francesc Baró, Johannes Langemeyer, Filka Sekulova, James J. Connolly · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · Spain (Barcelona)

This paper analyzes nature-based solutions (NBS) as discursive tools that create an inviting space for nature's neoliberalization processes, examining two city-initiated projects in Barcelona, Spain: the Passeig de Sant Joan green corridor and the Espai Germanetes community garden. The study found that urban nature can serve elite economic players at the expense of widespread socio-ecological benefits. It also noted that outcomes regarding neoliberalism and its contestation were very distinct between the two projects due to different forms of governance.

Laura Wynne, Laure‐Elise Ruoso, Dana Cordell, Brent Jacobs · Australian Geographer · Australia (Sydney)

This paper investigates metropolitan-level strategic planning documents in Sydney, Australia, using a Foucauldian governmentality approach, to understand how they relate to peri-urban agriculture. The analysis reveals that prevailing rationalities, including the global city, compact city, and sustainability agenda, frame the urbanization of peri-urban agricultural lands as necessary and inevitable. Consequently, peri-urban areas are not considered to have unique planning needs but are instead imagined as latent spaces for future housing and job development, integrating agriculture only when it aligns with the 'global city' narrative.

Elizelle Juaneé Cilliers, Louis Lategan, Sarel S. Cilliers, Karla Stander · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · South Africa

This paper investigates urban agriculture (UA) in South Africa as a citizen-led urban greening strategy, reviewing case studies and the national policy framework. Key limitations include many UA initiatives not being self-sustaining or fully citizen-driven, a cultural stigma, limited national support due to the absence of a dedicated UA policy, and South African spatial planners' limited knowledge of UA. These issues hinder the broader implementation of UA.

Julia Davies, Corrie Hannah, Zack Guido, Andrew Zimmer, Laura E. McCann, Jane Battersby, Tom Evans · Food Policy · Sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigated the association between urban agriculture (UA) and household food security in smaller African cities and towns, using survey data from 2,687 low- and low-middle income households in 18 urban areas with populations of less than 200,000 across Zambia and Kenya. The analysis found that 33% of households in the sample engaged in UA, but there was limited statistical significance in the relationship between UA and household food security. Key barriers identified were settlement formality, property rights, and distance from food retailers.

Karto Wijaya, Asep Yudi Permana, Syarip Hidayat, Heru Wibowo · Jurnal Arsitektur ARCADE · Indonesia (Bandung)

Bojongsoang Village in Bandung Regency, Indonesia, faces a loss of green space due to urbanization, rendering productive land unproductive. This study aims to determine an Eco Village model in the Paralon village area, utilizing urban farming and eco-architecture concepts, to support the development of sustainable cities by optimizing available land and space, including vertical planes. The abstract does not present specific findings or results from the implementation of such a model.

Rahmi Achmad, Muh Jamil, R M Rukka, Sitti Bulkis, Rahmadanih Rahmadanih, A Amrullah · Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian · Indonesia (Makassar)

This study in Makassar City, Indonesia, aimed to understand the existence of rice farming land, identify strength and weakness factors for farmers, and determine priority strategies for maintaining rice farming land. Informants included farmer group heads and government representatives. Using qualitative descriptive analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the study found that rice farming land physically covers 2,636 hectares. Key strength factors included agricultural products for family food and income, while weakness factors included land ownership, unproductive land, and limited government support. The priority strategy identified was enhancing agricultural production facilities and infrastructure.

Samantha Bowman, Ankur Choudhary, Alexandria Connell, Megan G. Davey, Katina Decoulos, Richard Duhamel, Brooklyn Feng, Ian Finn, Doreen Guan, Sophia Liquori, Connor Moloney, Claudia Namaroff, Emily J. Noonan, Hunter Proulx, Stephen Rezendes, Maura Robitaille, Vincent Shu, Jaques Skriletz · Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · United States (Springfield)

The Senior Urban Design Studio 2019 developed six proposals for a transformative urban district in Springfield, MA, focusing on enhancing aesthetic quality and resident well-being. The study analyzed district assets and engaged residents through site visits, interviews, and workshops. It aimed to create a framework for a strong identity and coherence in the Six Corners and Old Hill neighborhoods, which feature active urban agriculture.

Arione Porto da Silva · · Brazil (Maceió)

This research aims to analyze how the municipality of Maceió, Brazil, implements public policies to promote urban and peri-urban agricultural production, as stipulated in the city's Master Plan. It involves analyzing documents from the Municipal Secretariat for Sustainable Development (SEMDS) to identify programs and policies supporting urban farmers. The study is justified by agriculture's key role in compensating for job losses in Brazil before and after the pandemic.

Azizan Marzuki, Ahmad Sahir Jais · PLANNING MALAYSIA · Malaysia

This qualitative exploratory review, based on a Systematic Literature Review of secondary data, investigated the connection between urban sprawl and its impact on agricultural productivity and food security in Malaysia. The study found that urbanization did affect Malaysia's food security self-sufficiency level, particularly for land-intensive food products like vegetables and livestock, due to the conversion of agricultural lands.

Meredith T. Niles, Molly E. Brown · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

This chapter defines the expanding concept of food security, which now includes social and cultural issues beyond simply providing enough food, and introduces its four pillars: availability, access, utilization, and stability. It also explores urban agriculture and the use of satellite information and Internet-connected devices for farm management.

Colleen Hammelman, Alexis Saenz-Montoya · Journal of Latin American geography · Colombia (Medellín)

In Medellín, Colombia, large infrastructure projects by the local government, intended to transform the city, have contributed to a neoliberal sustainability agenda. Data from community meetings (2015-2017) with displaced people engaged in subsistence urban agriculture revealed that these projects exclude marginalized residents from newly valued "natural" commons. This territorialization strategy controls peripheral spaces by including approved actors while dispossessing less powerful residents of their right to the city.

Ilona Liliána Birtalan, Bernadett Kis, György Bárdos · Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle · Hungary

This literature review explored the subjective aspects of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) participation. The methodology involved selecting papers with specific word combinations and further studying references and recommended articles. The review found that CSA participation can be interpreted not only through factual advantages but also through aspects like Similar Thinking, Locality (urban-rural axis), Personal Care, Lifestyle Change, and Rewriting of Schemes, which are considered equally important.

Ronny Bowo Leksono, Benedictus Kombaitan, Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, Ridwan Sutriadi · The International Journal of Design Management and Professional Practice · Indonesia

This scholarly article, published in The International Journal of Design Management and Professional Practice, presents a case study from Pekanbaru City, Indonesia. It focuses on initiating consensus building to utilize urban open space for urban agriculture.