Research & reports

Nazila Keshavarz, Simon Bell, Andis Zīlāns, Andrew Hursthouse, Annette Voigt, Ans Hobbelink, Antoine Zammit, Ari Jokinen, Bent Egberg Mikkelsen, Bruno Notteboom, Byron Ioannou, Chiara Certomà, Eva Schwab, Ivana Sentić, Johan Barstad, Krista Willman, Laura Calvet‐Mir, Ligita Baležentienė, Malou Weirich, Maria Partalidou, Martin Sondermann, M. Latkowska, Nerea Morán, Ole Pihl, Sara Uršić, Simone Tappert, Sophia Meeres, Susan Noori, Theodosia Anthopoulou, Tim Delshammar, Werner Heidemann, Zuzana Gogová · · Europe

This article outlined the diverse history of urban gardens, including allotments and community gardens, in Europe. History shows many similarities and differences in the reasons for their formation, with urban gardens gaining renewed recognition during the two world wars as a reliable way of producing food. Changes in urban demography, environmental and social movements, and people's attitudes in recent decades have also shaped the history of urban gardens.

Ladina Knapp, E.J. Veen, H. Renting, J.S.C. Wiskerke, J.C.J. Groot · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Europe

This study assessed criteria for the successful establishment and continuity of 29 small-scale, bottom-up urban agriculture (UA) initiatives in the Netherlands and Switzerland, using a vulnerability analysis framework. Biophysical and socio-institutional criteria were analyzed through interviews with project leaders. Findings revealed that the vulnerability of UA systems strongly depends on local circumstances, with the main perturbations and causes of vulnerability originating from social-institutional and human conditions, such as the institutional sphere, local authority assistance, and project leaders' determination.

Enrico Marcore, Nicola Spurling · Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) · Italy, United Kingdom

This essay explores the relationship between space, planning, and everyday practices, focusing on the futures of domestic food growing spaces and practices in Italy and the UK. It examines the recent inclusion of community gardens in an eco-urban housing model in L'Aquila, Italy, and the historical trajectory of allotments in the UK. Through these examples, the essay considers how various "experiments" in policy, planning, and practice should be conceptualized.

Petites ruches · · France (Auxerre)

The shared garden of the Maison de Quartier des Piedalloues in Auxerre, France, features lawns intentionally left high to attract butterflies such as the 'demi-deuil', which pollinate knautia flowers. Residents have also participated in creating palisades or 'branch walls' using split acacia stakes within the garden.

Madeleine A. Guerlain, Catherine Campbell · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · United Kingdom (East London)

This qualitative research explored the impact of community gardens on the psycho-social well-being of marginalized groups in East London, UK, and their role in prefigurative social change. Through interviews, Photovoice, and participant observation with 28 gardeners from four groups, findings suggest that participation is driven by the shared practice of gardening, leading to unintended benefits addressing personal adversities. Community gardens create "health-enabling social spaces" and offer an alternative understanding of prefiguration based on participants' lived experiences.

Rafael Mata Olmo, Carolina Yacamán Ochoa · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain (Madrid)

This study, based on a case study in the Community of Madrid, addresses the treatment of agricultural landscapes in metropolitan contexts from a heritage perspective, emphasizing the role of this approach in territorial development and the revitalization of peri-urban agriculture. It synthesizes the concept of heritage and the agrarian park figure, then proposes a methodology for activating patrimonialization processes of peri-urban agricultural areas, supported by public participation and the activation of their identity elements.

Redazione · ECONOMIA E SOCIETÀ REGIONALE · Europe

This paper analyzed the characteristics of organizations that can best convey the cultural benefits of urban agriculture to the city. Through case studies in the cities of Seville and Milan, it examined the relationship between the presence of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and the ways communities are organized to transmit the value of that heritage.

Jesús Viçens · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · Spain (Barcelona)

This chapter investigated which social actions in modern urban neighborhoods aid the transition to a post-carbon society and mitigate global warming effects, examining a neighborhood in Barcelona. Data was collected through eight semi-structured interviews (averaging 70 minutes), and Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) knowledge creation model was used for analysis. The study is based on the capacity of communities to support innovative social actions through experiential knowledge creation.

Giordano Ruggeri, Chiara Mazzocchi, Stefano Corsi · Sustainability · Italy (Milan)

This study investigated the motivations of urban gardeners in Milan, Italy, using multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis. While urban gardening's multifunctionality is well-documented, individual motivations are less explored. The analysis revealed the significant importance of the social component in urban gardening and identified several distinct gardener profiles.

Davide Fassi, Laura Galluzzo, Annalinda De Rosa · Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) · Italy (Milan)

This paper discusses social innovation-based experiments developed within the "campUS" research project at Politecnico di Milano. Focusing on urban agriculture, it examined the design strategy, methodologies, and social innovation impact of two experiments conducted in a nursery school and a middle school in Milan. These experiments are positioned as a step towards infrastructuring, a more open-ended long-term process where diverse stakeholders can innovate together.

Matthias Drilling, Renata Giedych, Lidia Poniży, Mary Benson, Mária Bihuňová, Duarte d’Araújo Mata, Sophia Meeres, Patrick Oehler, Roberta Štěpánková, Nicola Thomas, Malou Weirich · · Europe

This chapter explores how urban allotment gardens are or could be integrated into spatial development visions and concepts in Europe. Following 1989, allotment gardens gained attention as a land-use category in spatial and urban planning. The planning of allotment gardens in the contemporary European landscape faces a contradictory situation, with urban development planning largely responsible for future scenarios.

Chiara Certomà · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography · Italy (Rome)

This article investigates the relationship between urban gardening and planning, based on field research on gardening initiatives in Rome, Italy. It suggests that urban gardening exhibits characteristics of "informal planning," intentionally advanced by local dwellers to plan urban space and organize public life in the absence of legal definition, guidance, and funds. Cases in Rome exemplify the emergence of informal planning and show how a new mode of interaction between citizens' agency and formal planning initiatives can lead to creative solutions for issues like decreased public space and its deterioration.

Laura Calvet‐Mir, Hug March, Helena Nordh, Jeanne Pourias, Barbora Čakovská · · Europe

This chapter analyzes individual motivations of gardeners in various types of allotment gardens, noting growing waiting lists for plots. In Barcelona, urban gardens declined due to urban expansion but new economic situations in southern European countries have created new motivations. Societal changes, such as the transition to a market economy in Nitra in the 1990s, have linked access to private property through allotment plots as a major motivation for gardeners.

Darya Hirsch, Christian H. Meyer, Johannes Klement, Martin Hamer, Wiltrud Terlau · International journal on food system dynamics · Germany (Bonn)

This study uses a broad approach to Urban AgriCulture (UAC), encompassing crop production in urban and peri-urban areas, and presents an empirical case study on UAC Initiatives in Germany's Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region. The work aims to fill a gap due to the current lack of comprehensive and comparative studies on urban agriculture, which makes it difficult for researchers to identify its benefits.

Katharina Nowak · Freiburger Geschlechterstudien/Freiburger Zeitschrift für Geschlechterstudien · United Kingdom (London)

This paper explores participation in London's local organic food network, Organiclea, examining how whiteness and coloniality influence engagement in food activism. Using inductive interviews and intersectionality, the study found disproportionate participation of diaspora subjects in the design and operation of local organic food practices. This highlights racialized ecological identity formation within such networks.

Ana Cristina Torres, Anne Caroline Prévot, Sophie Nadot · Letras Verdes Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Socioambientales · France (Paris)

A study of 9 Parisian community gardens revealed the limitations of the dominant approach in conservation sciences and urban planning, which seeks to halt environmental deterioration by establishing an ethical basis of attitudes deemed appropriate for conserving a particular nature, by limiting human-nature interaction. Considering citizen subjectivities, the study offers perspectives to nourish conservation sciences and rethink cities.

Rosie Cox, Moya Kneafsey, Lewis Holloway, Elizabeth Dowler, Laura Venn · · United Kingdom

This chapter introduces the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and positions it within the literature on local food, moral economies, and ethics of care. Using the case of EarthShare, the longest-running CSA in Britain, founded in Forres, Scotland in 1994, it argues that by exposing differences in members' priorities, local food systems can be seen as sites of political potential despite not being perfect or free from conflict. CSAs are presented as offering opportunities to strengthen place-based community relationships between growers and eaters, characterized as a form of caring practice in food production and consumption.

Catharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall, Jenny Roe, Lynette Robertson · · United Kingdom

This cross-sectional survey investigated the relationship between access to green space and health outcomes (stress, general health) among 406 adults in four highly deprived urban communities in Scotland, United Kingdom. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three communities and of poor general health in the fourth. The amount of green space in the neighborhood, particularly access to a garden or allotment, was a significant predictor of stress, while physical activity, frequency of winter green space visits, and views from home predicted general health.

Wanda Kononowicz, Katarzyna Gryniewicz-Balińska · Digital library of Zielona Gora (University of Zielona Góra) · Poland

This paper describes the historical development of allotment gardens in Wrocław, Poland, from the mid-nineteenth century. It notes the emergence of various types, including rented gardens, gardens for the poor or factory workers, school gardens, Schreber gardens, and "war" vegetable gardens cultivated between 1914-1918.

Andrew E. G. Jonas · · United Kingdom

This chapter explores the notion of "the alternative" as relatively unexamined. Empirical work over three years involved six food businesses and initiatives facilitating direct contact between producers and consumers. Earth Share Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Nairn, North East Scotland, provides vegetables to approximately 200 households weekly. The chapter suggests that diversity within the "alternative" food sector is not necessarily problematic, and consumers' contingent, accidental, and partial commitment has not undermined the success of these schemes.

Andrew Sleight · · United Kingdom

The Midlothian Community Hospital Garden achieved significant success, thanks to funding provided by the Tyne Esk LEADER.

Chiara Zonda · · Italy (Milan)

This abstract is a personal reflection on the author's childhood experiences with a family garden in Milan's hinterland, Italy. It describes the author's fascination with gardens and the sense of peace and community they provided. The author then notes realizing that urban gardens could serve as a strong tool for social aggregation within a neighborhood or community, leading to further research on existing successful urban garden initiatives worldwide.

Jens A. Geißler, Tim Schümann · · Germany

The Bad Oldesloe City Library in Germany organized an event series on urban gardening, integrating makerspaces and community learning. This initiative aimed to position the library as a modern learning hub and foster new urban initiatives.

Giulio Senes, Natalia Fumagalli, P. Ferrario, Daniele Gariboldi, Roberto Rovelli · Journal of Agricultural Engineering · Italy (Milano)

A study was conducted in 133 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Milano (excluding Milano city) to evaluate the presence of Municipal Community Gardens (MCGs) and define criteria for new MCG settlements. The study found that 59 municipalities had MCGs, with an average area per capita of 0.68 sq.m (excluding an outlier), and most MCGs were located in urban or suburban areas. Criteria proposed for identifying suitable areas for new MCGs included proximity to road networks within residential areas, suitable land use, and not high land capability, leading to the identification of the number and area of MCGs to be realized and their potentially suitable sites in each municipality.

Nicolás Cuvi · Americanae (AECID Library) · France (Paris)

The journal "Letras Verdes" called for reflections on biodiversity and urban agriculture, but many proposals were not published due to their technical report nature and lack of reflection on the meaning of these spaces. However, the article by Ana Cristina Torres et al., "Exploring the human-nature relationship: urban agriculture, conservation sciences, and the city," analyzes community gardens in Paris. In these spaces, dedicated to urban agriculture, the meaning of "nature" is redefined while new meanings about the city are constructed.