Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
974 results(32 / 39)
Radiomonitoring of the Opole industrial district
2015Piotr Godyń, Maria Zielińska, Agnieszka Dołhańczuk-Śródka, Zbigniew Ziembik · Geology Geophysics & Environment · Poland
Soil samples were collected from 19 sites around the Opole industrial zone in Poland to determine the influence of the local metallurgical industry on soil contamination with metals, using Pb-210 as a contamination tracer. Results indicated that the metallurgical industry is not a source of environmental pollution in the immediate vicinity. Excessive lead concentrations ranged from 1 Bq/kg d.m. to 100 Bq/kg d.m. but were not strongly correlated with distances from the presumed source of contamination.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPolicyUrban Gardening Realities: The Example Case Study of Portsmouth, England
2015Alan Hallsworth, Alfred Wong · International journal on food system dynamics · United Kingdom (Portsmouth)
This empirical case study examined the potential for urban gardening to contribute to individual food security. Focusing on Portsmouth, England, the study found that prevailing economic and social structures hamper the likelihood that urban gardening can offer much greater food security. Realistically, contemporary urban gardening most closely resembles a middle-class pursuit for personal enjoyment, rather than a significant contributor to food security.
Limited or null effectEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityVegas and Deltas in the Vicinity of Medium-Sized Cities in Andalucia, Spain: Landscapes under Pressure but Scarcely Considered in Planning
2015Rocío Pérez-Campaña · European Planning Studies · Spain
This research analyzed land-use transformations of peri-urban agricultural deltas and vegas in Andalucía, Spain, focusing on medium-sized cities between 1956 and 2007. It also assessed their consideration in regional spatial planning. The findings indicate that these landscapes are changing land use and sometimes disappearing, receiving meagre attention and vague consideration in spatial planning.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyUrban–rural linkageLa construcció discursiva de la competència ecociutadana a l'escola primària: la realització d'un disseny tecnològic col·laboratiu a l'hort escolar agroecològic
2015Miren Rekondo Iparraguirre · TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) · Europe
This doctoral thesis explores the development of eco-citizenship competence in school gardens, specifically through collaborative technological design activities. Elementary school students designed and assembled an irrigation system for their school garden over ten activities. Analysis showed students integrated elements from various design proposals without exclusive opposition, and that design conflicts led to a more dynamic and complex garden model. The study also found differences in argumentative discourse structure and dynamics between scientific argumentation and technological design activities.
Food educationCommunityDIYOrganic cycleThe Role of Urban Gardening for European’s Ageing Societies
2015Runrid Fox-Kämper · REAL CORP Repository (University of Southampton) · Europe
This paper explores the functions of urban gardening for European cities, with an emphasis on ageing societies. It presents research on living preferences of aged persons in four German cities, indicating the importance of green space access and social functions of urban gardens. The paper also includes a literature review on urban gardening's functions in European cities and initial results from the COST Action on urban allotment gardens.
ElderlyCommunityHealthClimate changeProductive Synergies in the City
2015Greg Keeffe · Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) · United Kingdom
This chapter focuses on developing sustainable growing infrastructure at two scales: a large-scale city-wide fuel-productive landscape using algae arrays in Liverpool and a hyper-localized neighborhood food production system in Salford, UK, utilizing a closed-cycle aquaponic system. The author proposes a three-part model for urban agriculture implementation—hardware, software, and interface—concluding that urban agriculture should be viewed as a process rather than a static design, with benefits extending beyond physical outputs like energy and food.
Organic cycleCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePutting Food Banks Out of Business: Final Report
2015Beth Perry, ⁄ Walsh, Diana Silver · White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) · United Kingdom
This project, conducted from October 2014 to May 2015, focused on the Biospheric Foundation in Blackfriars, East Salford, UK. The Biospheric Foundation was an urban socio-ecological experiment aiming to implement a whole-system approach to urban farming in a deprived area. Its goals included designing interconnected systems, retrofitting a building for ecological research, and raising public awareness of healthy food and ecological systems in urban settings.
CommunityFood educationHealthWelfarehttp://www.agdevjournal.com/volume-5-issue-2/510-products-urban-collective-gardens.html
2015Jeanne Pourias, Éric Duchemin, Christine Aubry · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Canada (Montreal); France (Paris)
This paper investigates the food function of collective gardens (CGs) in Paris, France, and Montreal, Canada, where their numbers have rapidly increased. Researchers conducted interviews, quantified production, and monitored plots to understand the quantities and types of fruits and vegetables produced, their destination, and space use. The results indicate a wide diversity of practices concerning CGs' food function, which should be considered alongside their multifunctionality.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsThe Agricultural District of Milan (Dam) and the peri-urban agriculture at ‘Parco delle Risaie'
2015Gioia Gibelli · TERRITORIO · Italy (Milan)
Agriculture has long been an important resource for Milan and its surroundings, with its significance increasing in recent years. Agricultural areas near the city can enhance urban metabolism and citizens' quality of life through ecosystem and landscape services, providing cultural and environmental services, and improving urban resilience. In this context, two important initiatives, the Agricultural District of Milan (DAM) and 'Parco delle Risaie', have been underway in Milan since 2008.
Peri-urban agricultureCommunityPolicyBiodiversityClimate changeDoes the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children? Results from two randomised controlled trials
2014Christian M., Evans C., Cade J. · Public Health Research, Vol. 2, No. 4 (NIHR Journals Library) · United Kingdom
Two randomised controlled trials in London primary schools evaluating the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. They found gardening alone had very little impact on children's fruit and vegetable intake, suggesting it must be combined with nutrition education to change diet.
Food educationHealthPolicyThe Influence of Hannes Meyer and the Bauhaus Brigade on 1930s Soviet Architecture
2014Tomita H., Ishii M. · Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering · Germany
Analyzes the influence of Bauhaus's second director Hannes Meyer and his Bauhaus Brigade on Soviet urban and architectural planning, examining Meyer's socially-oriented functionalism and planning features including mass demonstration spaces and broad greenery, using unpublished sources.
PolicyCommunityReview: Susan R. Henderson, Building Culture: Ernst May and the New Frankfurt Initiative, 1926–1931
2014Bishop P. · Journal of European Studies (SAGE) · Germany
A scholarly review of Henderson's study of Ernst May and the New Frankfurt initiative, critically assessing Weimar modernist social housing, garden and green-space programs, and Existenzminimum dwelling within their historical significance and limitations.
PolicyCommunityWelfareUp, Up and Away! The Economics of Vertical Farming
2014Banerjee C., Adenaeuer L. · Journal of Agricultural Studies 2(1):40-60 · Europe
Engineering and economic simulation of a 37-floor commercial vertical farm in Berlin, quantifying capital investment, operating costs, and profitability challenges of for-profit indoor food production.
EconomicsIntercultural Gardens: The Use of Space by Migrants and the Practice of Respect
2014Moulin-Doos C. · Journal of Urban Affairs · Germany
Examines how intercultural gardens in Germany respond to migrants' need for spaces of interaction outside home and work, offering a setting to build social capital and practise the mutual respect essential for integration.
CommunityWelfareVegetation composition of old extensive green roofs (from 1980s Germany)
2014· Ecological Processes · Germany
Surveys the vegetation composition of extensive green roofs built in 1980s Germany, examining how plant communities develop on green roofs over multiple decades.
BiodiversityA Novel Low-Cost Open-Hardware Platform for Monitoring Soil Water Content and Multiple Soil-Air-Vegetation Parameters
2014Bitella G. · Sensors · Italy
Presents a low-cost open-hardware platform based on an open-source Arduino microcontroller board and inexpensive high-frequency dielectric probes to monitor soil water content at multiple depths plus air and soil temperatures.
DIYEconomicsEvaluation of the impact of a school gardening intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a randomised controlled trial
2014Christian M.S., Evans C.E.L., Nykjaer C., Hancock N., Cade J.E. · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity · UK
A randomized controlled trial across 23 schools comparing an RHS-led gardening intervention with a teacher-led one; 641 children completed it, finding little evidence that school gardening alone improves children's fruit and vegetable intake.
Food educationHealthUrban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship
2014Rina Ghose, Margaret Pettygrove · Antipode · USA (Milwaukee)
Case study of Milwaukee community gardens challenging the assumption that participation is empowering: under neoliberal restructuring, volunteer-dependent garden governance shifts state responsibility onto residents and produces uneven, tension-ridden citizenship outcomes.
PolicyCommunityWelfareEvaluating the functionality of agricultural systems: social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. The “Huerta de Valencia” as case study
2014Inmaculada Marques-Pérez, Baldomero Segura García del Río, Concepción Maroto · Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research · Spain (Valencia)
This paper presented a descriptive approach to the multifunctionality of agricultural systems and described a methodological approach to evaluate social preferences for multifunctional peri-urban agriculture. This approach is based on a review of scientific literature focused on multifunctionality and the goods and services of agricultural systems. The proposed methodology was applied to the "Huerta de Valencia," a rich peri-urban agricultural system with diverse resources, yielding results useful for enriching the political-institutional debate on defining its protection scheme.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsCommunityEffets de l’apport de produits résiduaires organiques sur le stockage de carbone, les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et la lixiviation du nitrate dans les sols agricoles périurbains
2014Emmanuelle Vaudour, Christine Aubry, Liliane Bel, Laëtitia Bréchet, Philippe Cambier, Yves Coquet, Karim Dhaouadi, Veronique V. Etievant, Benoît Gabrielle, Jean-Marc J.-M. Gilliot, Jean Christophe Gueudet, Dalila Hadjar, Jonas Hamiache, Sabine Houot, Christophe Labat, Patricia Laville, Raia Silvia Massad, Joël Michelin, Paul Emile Noirot Cosson, Jean-Noël Rampon · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · France
The PROSTOCK project aimed to spatially assess the potential of recycling organic waste (exogenous organic matter, EOM) to improve soil organic carbon stocks (SCS) in peri-urban agricultural areas. It also evaluated the impacts of EOM use on greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate leaching. The Versailles Plain and Alluets Plateau (221 km²) were chosen as the study region, with field and lab measurements collected from over 250 point locations. The project advanced the use of imaging data for estimating topsoil organic carbon content (SOC) from soil reflectance spectra, but found that medium spatial resolution multispectral satellite images do not discriminate changes in SOC resulting from EOM applications.
Organic cycleCompostClimate changePeri-urban agricultureAyer, hoy y mañana de los huertos urbanos en Andalucía
2014Raúl Puente Asuero · · Spain
This record is a summary of a conference on urban gardens in Andalusia, Spain, delivered by D. Raul Puente Asuero at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Malaga on April 7, 2014. No specific findings or details about urban gardens are provided in the abstract.
CommunityPolicyUrban Environmental Quality and Sustainable Food Sourcing: A Spatial Approach Using Italian Provincial Data
2014Massimiliano Agovino, Antonio Garofalo, Angela Mariani · RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA · Italy
This paper assessed and compared the urban environmental quality performance of Italian provinces using the Legambiente Index and the Local Moran Transition Probability Matrix. The results revealed a persistent dualism between Northern and Southern Italy and a lack of positive environmental spillover among neighboring provinces. The study suggests that Southern Italy should prioritize improving sustainable food sourcing for urban development.
HealthPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeShop & live in to [sic!] green : un progetto di trasformazione per l’area HT6 Bordina
2014Roberta Pucci · · Italy (Settimo Torinese)
A project for urban transformation in the HT6 Bordina area of Settimo Torinese, Italy, was proposed. This project critiques a previous plan for 15-story buildings as invasive for the surrounding low-rise residential area and presents a more sustainable alternative, including social and production spaces like an urban garden, playground, and commercial square. The proposal aims to connect existing green areas, residential areas, and a historic farmhouse.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageA desalambrar. Agricultura urbana, huertos comunitarios y regulación urbanística
2014Nerea Morán Alonso, José Luis Fernández de Casadevante · Hábitat y Sociedad · Spain
In Spain, urban agriculture is gaining importance, but faces difficulties in municipal regulation, particularly for community gardens. This regulatory challenge perpetuates the insecurity and precariousness of urban agriculture projects.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban cultivation in allotments maintains soil qualities adversely affected by conventional agriculture
2014Jill L. Edmondson, Zoe G. Davies, Kevin J. Gaston, Jonathan R. Leake · Journal of Applied Ecology · United Kingdom
This study compared soil quality indicators (soil organic carbon storage, total nitrogen, C:N ratio, and bulk density) in urban allotments, surrounding agricultural land, and other urban greenspaces in a typical UK city. Allotment soils showed 32% higher soil organic carbon concentrations and 36% higher C:N ratios than pastures and arable fields, and 25% higher total nitrogen and 10% lower bulk density than arable soils. The study reported no significant difference in soil organic carbon concentration between allotments and urban non-domestic greenspaces, but it was higher in domestic gardens beneath woody vegetation.
CommunityOrganic cycle