Research & reports

Kirsten Schwarz, Bethany B. Cutts, Jonathan London, Mary L. Cadenasso · Sustainability · Global

This paper proposes reframing the issue of soil lead contamination and urban gardening in shrinking cities from a potential conflict to a potential solution. Many shrinking cities face high soil lead burdens from their industrial past and the historic use of lead-based paint and leaded gasoline, which is often seen as a barrier to urban agriculture. The paper argues that urban gardening can be a solution to the soil lead problem through soil management, including soil testing and the addition of amendments, and through social network and community building.

Beth R. Crisp · · Global

This chapter explores the potential for creativity across a wide range of life domains, including the arts, social work, and cooking. It notes that poverty and lack of funds are not necessarily an impediment to people expressing their creativity in their places of living. Community gardens can bring together parts of a community who might not otherwise have anything to do with each other, in addition to providing gardeners with physical and mental health benefits.

George Martin, Roland Clift, Ian Christie · Sustainability · Global

This exploratory study examined three urban cultivation sites in New York, London, and San Francisco to assess their nutritional, ecological, and social sustainability contributions. Field analysis revealed very low food outputs relative to the populations of their catchment areas, indicating that most urban food will continue to come from outside urban peripheries. The study concluded that urban food growing's sustainability benefits are more social than agronomic or ecological.

Diego Vinueza, Lydia Lera, Judith Salinas, Carmen Gloria González, Lorena Barrios, Fernando Vío · Food and Nutrition Sciences · Chile (Santiago de Chile)

This study conducted a six-month quasi-experimental intervention in two public schools in Santiago de Chile (intervention and control schools) to evaluate the improvement of healthy dietary consumption, habits, and practices among third to fifth-grade children using a school-based food garden. The intervention school showed significant improvements in dietary habits, such as peeling and slicing fruit, and increased use of the school garden, but no significant changes were observed in food consumption or nutritional status.

Séverine Erismann, Akina Shrestha, Serge Diagbouga, Astrid M. Knoblauch, Jana Gerold, Ramona Herz, Subodh Sharma, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Axel Drescher, Ray-Yu Yang, Jürg Utzinger, Guéladio Cissé · BMC Public Health · Burkina Faso; Nepal

This study protocol aims to describe the health status of schoolchildren in Burkina Faso and Nepal and provide an evidence-base for program decisions on the relevance of complementary school garden, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions. The studies will be conducted in 24 schools among 1144 children aged 8-14 years in the Centre Ouest and Plateau Central regions of Burkina Faso and the Dolakha and Ramechhap districts of Nepal. Data will be collected at baseline and a 1-year follow-up, including parasitological examinations, anthropometric and hemoglobin measurements, and questionnaire surveys to assess nutritional status, intestinal parasitic infections, and WASH conditions.

Monroy Quevedo, Katherin Mayerli · · Colombia (Bogotá)

A mixed-methods study in UPZ Marruecos, Rafael Uribe Uribe Locality, Bogotá, Colombia, investigated the impact of urban agriculture on the food and nutritional security of participating families. Based on interviews and surveys with 10 participants, urban agriculture was found to contribute to families' food and nutritional security by increasing the availability of safe food and improving physical access. Participants perceived higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, tubers, cereals, and legumes, leading to greater dietary diversity.

Ranjan Datta · Cogent Education · Global

Community garden activities play a significant role in bridging formal and informal learning, especially in urban children's science and environmental education, by promoting relational methods that integrate food security, social interactions, community development, environmental activism, and cultural integration. An auto-ethnographic study revealed that community garden-based practices adhere to forms of agency such as embracing diversity, sharing power, and trust building as part of everyday learning.

Prince Antwi-Agyei, Adam Biran, Anne Peasey, Jane Bruce, Jeroen H. J. Ensink · BMC Public Health · Ghana (Accra)

This cross-sectional study in Accra, Ghana, assessed faecal exposure among 80 farm workers during dry and wet seasons, analyzing water and soil samples for E. coli. The results showed that while irrigation water was highly contaminated (5.6 Log E. coli/100 ml), exposure to farm soil (2.3 Log E. coli/g) was the key risk pathway due to soil-to-mouth events, with 53% of farmers experiencing such events daily. The estimated norovirus infection risk to farmers was found to be higher than guidelines set by the WHO, indicating that exposure to soil is a critical pathway of pathogen risk in wastewater farmers, exceeding recommended health targets.

Sheri L. Johnson, Dalila Cardona, J. H. C. Davis, Benjamin Gramling, Chelsea Hamilton, Ray G. Hoffmann, Sabrina J. Ruis, Douglas J. Soldat, Steve Ventura, Yan Ke · Progress in community health partnerships · Global

This study used community-based participatory research to explore backyard gardening practices and soil lead concentrations in urban neighborhoods. Interviews with 20 adult gardeners revealed perceived benefits but few initial concerns about lead exposure, despite children's active involvement. Soil lead concentrations from 17 residential properties ranged from 7 to 3,234 mg kg-1, significantly higher than commercial soils (6 to 13 mg kg-1), indicating a contamination risk.

Paredes Guzmán, Germán Ricardo · · Colombia (Bogotá)

This project aims to describe different methods of establishing and producing urban agriculture, focusing on sustainability and food security for the vulnerable population of Altos de Cazucá, Soacha municipality, Colombia. This population is affected by forced displacement due to armed conflict, resulting in increased poverty and malnutrition, with a chronic malnutrition rate of 30% in children compared to the national average of 8%. The project proposes to apply participatory action research methodologies and techniques to develop an urban production model that addresses these issues.

Hollis J. Laird · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · Global

This paper reviews the effects and evaluation methods of garden-based nutrition education programs, noting their positive impacts on children, including increased knowledge, preference, and consumption of fruits and vegetables, and increased self-efficacy. It identifies a lack of standardized evaluation methods for these programs as a limitation. The paper also describes the evaluation of the Enright Community Garden's nutrition education component for children.

Carolin Retzlaff‐Fürst · Universal Journal of Educational Research · Global

At the University of Rostock's educational garden in Germany, second-semester pre-service teacher students were interviewed and tested about their subjective well-being in connection with garden activities, as part of an argument that school gardens can support health education not only in lower grades but also in 11th and 12th grade. The study found that garden activities had highly positive effects on the students' self-esteem.

Sin-Ae Park, A-Young Lee, Geung‐Joo Lee, Daesik Kim, Wan Soon Kim, Candice A. Shoemaker, Ki-Cheol Son · 원예과학기술지 · Global

A literature review aiming to identify research trends and characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. Searching databases including Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Academic Search Premier, the Research Information Sharing Service, and the Korean National Assembly Digital Library, the authors identified 14,414 journal articles published before April 2014 and selected 509 for review. Participants aged 8 to 64 were the most commonly studied, and interventions usually combined activities such as outdoor gardening, indoor planting, and crafts with live, artificial, or pressed flowers. Short-to-medium programs of 11-20 sessions were most frequent, typically lasting 60-120 minutes per session. Most studies focused on psychological or emotional effects such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression, and the authors call for further research analyzing methodology, specific outcomes, and the strengths or weaknesses of existing studies.

Sin-Ae Park, A-Young Lee, Geung‐Joo Lee, Daesik Kim, Wan Soon Kim, Candice A. Shoemaker, Ki-Cheol Son · Horticultural Science and Technology · Global

A literature review on the outcomes of horticultural activity interventions — gardening activity, gardening programs, allotment gardens, urban agriculture, horticultural therapy — searched databases including Web of Science and ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, initially identifying 14,414 journal articles published before April 2014 and selecting 509 for review. Studies most often targeted people aged 8 to 64, short-to-medium term programs of 11-20 sessions were most frequent, medium-duration interventions of over 60 to 120 minutes were common, and most studies focused on psychological or emotional effects such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression.

Stefanie Schneider, Jennifer R. Pharr, Timothy J. Bungum · Health Behavior and Policy Review · Global

This systematic review searched Web of Knowledge and SCOPUS in April 2015 and examined 14 studies on the impact of garden-based interventions on nutritional knowledge, fruit and vegetable consumption, taste preferences, physical activity, and math/science achievement; 11 studies covered dietary outcomes, 2 examined physical activity, and 2 assessed math and science achievement. Findings indicate that school gardening programs that include a nutritional component are more likely to increase participants' nutritional knowledge, fruit and vegetable consumption, and range of taste preferences. The review concludes that combining an educational curriculum with gardening activities is an effective strategy for improving attitudes toward healthy food and healthy dietary behaviors.

Saverio Miccoli, Fabrizio Finucci, Rocco Murro · Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia · Global

Against a backdrop of rising food demand driven by global urban population growth, this paper (2016, no specific region) argues for fostering urban agriculture to integrate with traditional agricultural production, which it characterizes as no longer sustainable on its own. After proposing implementation of integrated urban agriculture systems, it introduces the "Community Esteem Value," a measure of community social appreciation obtained through a deliberative appraisal procedure.

Poulsen M. N., McNab P. R., Clayton M. L., Neff R. A. · Food Policy 55:131-146 · Global

Synthesizing 35 peer-reviewed studies from 1980-2013, this review finds urban agriculture in low-income countries can improve food availability and dietary diversity, especially benefiting women, though income gains are not always sufficient to ensure household food security.

Corcoran M.P., Kettle P.C. · Local Environment · Ireland (Dublin)

This comparative study of plot holders in Dublin and Belfast shows that allotment gardens can act as 'spaces of potential' where shared gardening dissolves social differences and fosters intergenerational knowledge exchange. The authors argue that urban agriculture sites function as civic interfaces bridging community divides.

Schreinemachers P., Patalagsa M.A., Islam M.R., Uddin M.N., Ahmad S., Biswas S.C., Ahmed M.T., Yang R.Y., Hanson P., Begum S., Takagi C. · Food Security · Bangladesh

A study of 582 poor rural Bangladeshi women found home garden training increased per-capita vegetable production by 86% and significantly improved dietary diversity and nutrient supply including iron (+284%) and vitamin A (+189%).

· Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global

Vegetables grown in urban gardens, especially near roads, accumulate heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, posing health risks through consumption and highlighting an environmental and safety downside of growing food in cities.

Garcia B., Dimasupil M., Vital P., Widmer K., Rivera W. · Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B · Philippines (Metro Manila)

Many irrigation water, soil, and vegetable samples from urban farms in Metro Manila tested positive for E. coli, documenting fecal contamination and associated food-safety risks in urban agriculture.

Warren E., Hawkesworth S., Knai C. · Food Policy · Global

A systematic review of studies quantifying urban agriculture's link to food security, dietary diversity, and nutrition finds the evidence base weak and inconsistent, showing that empirical support for its effectiveness in easing food-security challenges remains limited.

Sheryn D. Pitman, Christopher B. Daniels, Martin Edward Ely · Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia · Australia

A literature review conducted between 2012 and 2014 for the South Australian Green Infrastructure Project established the diverse benefits of Green Infrastructure. These benefits include temperature modification, improved human health, enhanced community liveability, effective water management, increased economic prosperity, biodiversity conservation, and extensive urban food production. The paper primarily focuses on Green Infrastructure's contribution to climate adaptation and protection.

Jaimie N. Davis, Mackenzie R Spaniol, Shawn Somerset · Public Health Nutrition · Global

A review of thirteen school garden programs for children (kindergarten to 8th grade) found methodological limitations: three studies lacked control groups, and none were randomized. While six of eleven programs showed increased vegetable intake and seven of eight showed increased preference for vegetables, four programs had no effect on intake. More research is needed to understand long-term dietary improvements.

Jacqueline Lanier, Julie Schumacher, Kerri Calvert · Journal of Community Practice · Global

This study used a mixed-method approach, including site visits and a web-based post-survey, to identify the perceived benefits of community gardens for organizations, volunteers, and served populations. It explored how a local coalition supports organizations in using community gardens to build social capital and foster community health and collaborations. The results indicate that community gardens are a strategy for creating sustainable positive change by building social capital and fostering community health through collaboration.