Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
9074 results(311 / 363)
Violence prevention, health promotion coming together: Projects creating healthier neighborhoods
2012Teddi Dineley Johnson · The Nation's health · United States (Denver)
This abstract describes various projects aimed at creating healthier neighborhoods in the United States. Examples include liquor retailers in Louisville, Kentucky, removing alcohol ads, utility boxes in Chula Vista, California, being transformed into art, and youths at risk for gang violence in a Denver neighborhood participating in a community garden. These initiatives focus on violence prevention and health promotion.
CommunityWelfareHealthFood educationAgricultura urbana e conservação de agrobiodiversidade: um estudo de caso em Mato Grosso, Brasil
2012Mirella Cultrera, Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo, Fábio Cop Ferreira · SITIENTIBUS série Ciências Biológicas · Brazil (Mato Grosso)
An ethnobotanical study in five peripheral neighborhoods of Santo Antônio do Leverger, Mato Grosso, Brazil, surveyed 135 households and detailed 30 to characterize food plant cultivation. Ninety-seven species from 38 families were identified across homegardens, fields, and empty lots. While some species were common, the similarity between species/varieties across households was generally below 50%, and many had low frequency, revealing a vulnerability to species loss despite social network circulation.
Limited or null effectBiodiversityCommunityHeirloom & landraceUrban–rural linkageThe purpose of urban food production in developed countries
2012Silvio Caputo · Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) · United Kingdom
This paper argues for a new role for urban agriculture in developed countries, focusing on environmental, social, and economic benefits. While urban agriculture can contribute to a low-carbon society and food access, it is not currently part of UK government strategies for food security. For urban agriculture to achieve its potential, it needs to become economically viable, requiring research into highly productive methods and business models utilizing local urban resources.
Economic viabilityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeSatisfaction in the context of customer co‐production: A behavioral involvement perspective
2012David M. Hunt, Stephanie Geiger‐Oneto, Philip E. Varca · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · Global
This exploratory field study, drawing on community theory, examined whether engagement in co-production activities in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) leads to greater product satisfaction for consumers. Results indicated that two types of value co-creation—commitment to co-production and behavioral involvement in product-related activities—were positively correlated with product satisfaction. These findings support the notion that value co-creation provides value for consumers.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsCultivating Respect for Difference: Exploring the Enactment of Community at HOPE Garden in Parkdale, Toronto
2012Monica J Kelly · Scholarship@Western (Western University) · Canada (Toronto)
An ethnographic study conducted in summer 2010 at HOPE community garden in Parkdale, Toronto, explored how collective belonging is built. The research found that differences and interpersonal conflicts within the garden were embraced as opportunities to strengthen community cohesion. Contrary to romanticized views of harmonious community gardens, the study revealed that conflicts, negotiation of differences, and institutional practices of inclusion and anti-discrimination significantly contribute to a successful and inclusive community project.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyCommunity Food Security via Urban Agriculture: Understanding People, Place, Economy, and Accessibility from a Food Justice Perspective
2012Mahbubur Meenar, Brandon Hoover · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Philadelphia)
This paper examines urban agriculture (UA) projects' role in addressing food insecurity in lower-income neighborhoods of post-industrial U.S. cities, using Philadelphia as a case study. While UA projects are vital, findings indicate concerns regarding their geographic, economic, and informational accessibility, social exclusion, and spatial mismatch between participants and neighborhood demographics. Challenges also exist in distributing fresh produce to impoverished populations and UA's economic contributions in underprivileged areas.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsHealthSostenibile per necessitŕ. Breve storia dell'agricoltura urbana a Cuba
2012Alberto Graglia, Giulia Mazzanti · TERRITORIO · Cuba
This paper reflects on the conditions that enabled the rapid and large-scale spread of urban agriculture practices in Cuba, making it an emblematic example of reducing economic dependency on oil. The success of urban agriculture in Cuba is attributed to the country's unique history and its economic and political circumstances.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceForms of Lead in Profiles of Differently Use Soil
2012Iwona Makuch · Soil Science Annual · Global
This study investigated the influence of intensive horticulture on lead content and its fractions in soil profiles from house gardens, allotment gardens, and arable fields. It was not determined that the manner of usage had any influence on total lead content or its distribution in soil profiles. However, the usage manner did influence the content and distribution of lead fraction III, which is connected with organic matter, with humus horizons of garden soils showing the highest content.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityUrban–rural linkagePost‐Industrial Imaginaries: Nature, Representation and Ruin in Detroit, Michigan
2012Nate Millington · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States
This article analyzes representations of urban nature in Detroit, Michigan, focusing on journalistic and photographic work over the past 5 years. These representations, part of a discourse on Detroit's decline, ultimately reflect dominant conceptual divisions between the city and nature. Journalists and commentators perceive nature in the city as a reflection of the city's absence rather than its materiality, suggesting an ambivalence about emergent urban ecologies.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyBiodiversityUrban–rural linkageLow Carbon and Environmental Protection:A New Conception of Contemporary Western Cultural Movement of Agricultural Food
2012Zhu Qing-hai · Ecological Economy · Global
This paper describes a new cultural movement in agricultural food emerging in Western developed countries, driven by concerns over food safety, environmental pollution, global climate change, and inequality. This movement encompasses community-supported agriculture, food miles, and fair trade. These initiatives are presented as ensuring food safety, promoting regional economic development, safeguarding global fairness and justice, and influencing global environmental improvement.
CSA & TeikeiFood miles & supply chainClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsDemonstration practices and effects of new agro-technologies developed at Luancheng Agro-Ecosystem Experimental Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences over the last 30 years
2012Chunsheng Hu, Jiang-Hai Zeng, Shao-Ren WANG · Zhongguo shengtai nongye xuebao · China
This paper reviews the demonstration practices and achievements of the Luancheng Agro-Ecosystem Experimental Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences over 30 years in Luancheng County, Hebei Province. Since the early 1980s, the station has pioneered research and demonstration of new technologies such as facility agriculture, rural new energy, straw mechanized mulching, and standardized wheat cultivation. Since the early 2000s, it has focused on urban agriculture models centered on information technology.
Urban–rural linkageDigital agriculturePolicyPoultry Waste Management Techniques in Urban Agriculture and its Implications: A Case of Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria
2012Vide Adedayo · · Nigeria
A study of poultry waste management and utilization techniques in urban vegetable farms in metropolitan Lagos revealed that poultry waste is poorly collected, packaged, and transported. Proper knowledge on treatment is lacking due to insufficient skill, space, time, and capital. Furthermore, a significant difference was found between poultry waste utilization, crop yield, and revenue in the study area.
Governance failureOrganic cycleEconomicsCommunityortolocoZurich: Urban agriculture as an economy of solidarity
2012Marit Rosol, P. Schweizer · City · Switzerland (Zurich)
This paper investigated how urban agriculture projects based on Solidarity Economics principles can develop new economic forms as an alternative to neo-liberal capitalism, focusing on the Swiss gardening cooperative ortoloco. For two years, ortoloco, a peri-urban organic farm with explicit political aims beyond food supply, successfully applied and continuously developed these principles in its economic practice. The project demonstrates the potential for developing new economic forms based on solidarity.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agricultureUrban Agriculture: Feeding New York in New York
2012T.M. Anholts · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · United States (New York City)
This paper, written for the TIDO-course AR0532 Smart & Bioclimatic Design Theory, proposes utilizing the urban environment for agricultural activities in New York. It states the importance of offering a place to experiment and showcase opportunities for the design of a new environmental council to be added to the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
PolicyCommunityUrban Agriculture Production Mode 2:Research and Development of Ornamental Vegetable
2012Yang Dan-ni · Journal of Changjiang Vegetables · Global
This paper examines the changing functions of vegetable production in urban agriculture and highlights the significance of promoting ornamental vegetable production and marketing. It proposes that the research and development of ornamental vegetables represents a viable urban agriculture production mode, facilitating cultivation shifts from rural areas to cities, enterprises to families, and fields to balconies. Key development areas include cultivar selection, equipment innovation, cultivation technology, marketing, and service system construction.
DIYEconomicsUrban–rural linkageOne Health and EcoHealth in Ontario: a qualitative study exploring how holistic and integrative approaches are shaping public health practice in Ontario
2012Zee Leung, Dean Middleton, Karen Morrison · BMC Public Health · Canada (Ontario)
This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with ten participants from the public health sphere in Ontario, explored how One Health and EcoHealth approaches are shaping public health practice. Four major themes emerged: the importance of connecting human health with the environment, the role of governance in promoting these ideas, the value of partnerships, and the challenge of operationalizing holistic approaches.
HealthCommunityPolicyAgricultural learnerships : take off in leaps and bounds : people on the move
2012Douglas Chitepo · Agriprobe · South Africa
The Further Education and Training sub-programme in South Africa's Western Cape is mandated to deliver skills-based training programs and structured learnerships to a diverse target group. This group includes subsistence, smallholder, and commercial farmers, as well as rural and peri-urban agricultural communities and youth.
Food educationPeri-urban agricultureCommunityContenido de metales pesados en abonos orgánicos, sustratos y plantas cultivadas en organopónicos
2012Mirelys Rodríguez Alfaro, Olegário Muñiz Ugarte, Bernardo Calero Martín, A. Álvarez, Francisco Martínez Rodríguez, Teudys Limeres Jiménez, Mercedes Orphee Montoya, Adriana M. de Aguilar Accioly · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba
This study evaluated the heavy metal content of Cadmium, Lead, and Nickel in organic fertilizers (composts from urban solid waste) and substrates, and their effect on vegetables grown in organoponics in Havana and Guantánamo, Cuba. Composts obtained from unsorted urban solid waste and the substrates prepared from them were found to contain heavy metals, especially Cadmium and Lead, above maximum permissible limits. It was concluded that these products should not be used for food production, as these metals translocate to the edible parts of the cultivated vegetables.
Contamination & food safetyHealthOrganic cycleCompostAnálisis de las características técnicas y sociales asociadas a procesos de compostaje comunitario: Estudio de caso en el huerto urbano comunitario L'Hortet del Forat y sistematización de la experiencia
2012Javier Varona Espallargas · RECAM Metropolitan Knowledge Repository · Spain (Barcelona)
This study analyzes community self-composting at the L'Hortet del Forat urban community garden in Barcelona, Spain. It aims to assess the potential for waste prevention and management, and to identify the social characteristics of users engaging in this practice.
CompostCommunityOrganic cycleGrowing alone, growing together, growing apart?: Reflections on the social organisation of voluntary urban food production in Britain
2012Richard Wiltshire, Louise Geoghegan · Research Portal (King's College London) · United Kingdom
This chapter explores the social organization of voluntary urban food production in Britain, identifying two dominant modes: collective activities and individual allotment gardens. It notes that the organization of unpaid labor is an under-researched aspect and a key restraint on urban agriculture's expansion. The study found that relations between these two modes can be antagonistic, particularly when land is scarce.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomics“SITUS MEDIA SOSIAL DAN GERAKAN SOSIAL” (Studi Deskriptif Strategi Komunikasi Gerakan Indonesia Berkebun dalamMensosialisasikan Urban Farming)
2012Antonius Nindito Jati Dennyarso · · Indonesia
This study descriptively analyzed the communication strategies employed by the Gerakan Indonesia Berkebun (Indonesia Gardening Movement) to disseminate urban farming through social media sites. Using a qualitative descriptive research method, it investigated the socialization process on Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Mailing List, and YouTube. The findings identified communication strategies including the roles of administrators and moderators, participatory message strategies, and media integration strategies. Facebook and Twitter served as forums for urban farming socialization to the general public, while the Yahoo Mailing List was crucial for activists' socialization and movement formation.
CommunityDigital agricultureFood educationUtilising Agricultural Waste To Enhance Food Security And Conserve TheEnvironment
2012E.N. Sabiiti · · Uganda
This paper reviews how agricultural wastes can be utilized to enhance food security and conserve the environment, focusing on developing countries like Uganda. In Kampala, over 1000mt of waste accumulate daily, with only 30% collected. The study highlights that these organic wastes, rich in nutrients, can serve as a bio-resource for smallholder farmers to improve soil nutrient status and crop yields, such as vegetables and maize, and enhance milk production. This approach also reduces environmental pollution and poverty.
Food sovereignty & justiceOrganic cycleCompostOperational pattern and contribution of urban farming in an emerging megacity: evidence from Lagos, Nigeria
2012Mohamed Olaitan Lawal, Ibrahim Rotimi Aliu · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Nigeria (Lagos)
A study interviewed 202 urban vegetable farmers in four areas of Lagos, Nigeria, to understand urban farming operations and contributions. Farmers typically owned linear plots under 120m by 60m, primarily growing green vegetables (Celosia argientes) and using local tools, chemical fertilizers, and irrigation wells. They used produce for household consumption, sold to local marketers, and helped stabilize vegetable prices.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunity-Based Waste Management Strategies: Peri-Urban Interface, Kumasi, Ghana
2012Abdullah Adam-Bradford, Duncan McGregor, Dávid Simon · · Ghana (Kumasi)
Rapid urbanization in Kumasi, Ghana, and its peri-urban areas leads to significant pollution and waste disposal problems, exacerbated by rapid growth, poverty, and weak local governance. Waste management services are rarely provided in these peri-urban areas despite increasing settlement densities. Community-based strategies promoting nutrient recycling, such as converting organic waste into compost for urban and peri-urban agriculture, offer opportunities to address these issues.
CompostOrganic cycleCommunityPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justice[Temporal and spatial variation of non-point source nitrogen in surface water in urban agricultural region of Shanghai].
2012Nan Wang, Liang Mao, Huang Hai-bo, Jinzhong Zhang, Zhou Pei · PubMed · China (Shanghai)
A study in Orchard Village, Nanhui District, Shanghai, China, continuously monitored total nitrogen and inorganic nitrogen species in surface water to understand temporal and spatial variations. Findings showed that nitrogen spatial distribution is influenced by hydrological periods and land use, with nitrate nitrogen high in orchard-affected water during wet seasons and dissolved organic nitrogen being the main species in May.
Organic cycle