Research & reports

S. H. Ahmed, M. Emam, M. Abul-Soud · Zagazig Journal of Agricultural Research · Egypt (Cairo)

This study investigated the effect of different vermicompost rates (10%, 20%, 30%) and pot volumes (4, 6, 8 L) on celery and red cabbage grown under green roof conditions in Cairo, Egypt, during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. Increasing pot volume from 4 to 8 L increased vegetative growth and yield but decreased economic efficiency. A 20% vermicompost rate increased vegetative and yield characteristics, while 30% had a negative impact. Increasing vermicompost from 10% to 30% increased N, P, and K contents, but increasing pot volume from 4 to 8 L/plant decreased N, P, and K contents.

John Rennie Short · · Global

This chapter focuses on the developing imaginary of the green and resilient city and the emergence of new urban ecologies. It examines the changing city-nature dialectic, discusses cities and climate change, explores city metrics of urban sustainability, and presents urban environmental issues. In 1976, the US Department of Agriculture established an Urban Gardening Program, and Singaporean city authorities are working to green the city-state.

David Anaafo, G. A. Akolgo · · Ghana

A study on urban agriculture in Ghanaian cities found that it faces challenges including difficult access to land and water resources, and a lack of extension services and credit support. Despite these issues, urban agriculture may help reduce flooding impacts, improve water infiltration, and enhance environmental sanitation. The study recommends policy measures to address these challenges.

Rob Roggema · NA · Global

This study tested the role and outcomes of three case studies (INCREASE-Groningen, Minamisoma-Japan, and AESOP-NL) that applied a Research by Design methodology in a design charrette. These case studies focused on sustainability and planning at different spatial scales, utilizing a design charrette as part of the planning process. The outcomes were spatial representations of future visions, evaluated by criteria such as design quality, the importance of food growth, the quality of the planning process, and the overall sustainability of the final result.

Ilenia Pierantoni, Massimo Sargolini · Challenges in Sustainability · Global

This contribution examines the evolving relationship between urban and rural areas, emphasizing their increasing complexity and interdependence. It discusses how managing these interdependencies can solve problems, enhance economic performance, and improve quality of life in and around urban areas. Within this context, green infrastructures and urban agriculture practices are discussed, with strategies for their implementation at regional and local scales suggested.

Rattan Lal · · Global

This chapter describes the nature, properties, restoration, and sustainable management of urban soils to enhance food security and environmental quality. It notes that urban ecosystems are rapidly expanding and changing, with urban soils often classified as Anthropic soils. Drastic human-induced disturbances to urban soils hinder ecosystem functions, but restoration strategies aim to create novel soil types that improve vegetative production, denature pollutants, reduce salinization, and strengthen biogeochemical and biogeophysical cycling.

Chysanthi Chimona, Sophia Rhizopoulou · World Journal of Research and Review · Global

This global study observed the water deficit resistance of six plant species grown in long tubes and rhizotrons over one month. Mediterranean plants (Ceratonia siliqua, Myrtus communis, Nerium oleander) demonstrated resistance to water deficit, unlike Ligustrum japonicum and Pittosporum tobira, which are common in parks. Rosmarinus officinalis exhibited an intermediate level of drought endurance.

Roy L. Montgomery, Andreas Wesener, Fran Davies · Lincoln University Research Archive (Lincoln University) · New Zealand

This study examined a temporary community-initiated open space (CIOS) established in central Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. CIOS are bottom-up initiatives relying on financial sponsorship, temporary land-use agreements with landowners, and volunteers. The paper discusses bottom-up governance approaches in a single post-earthquake community garden project, using concepts of community resilience and social capital, and analyzes the facilitating organization's actions, its impact, and key actors' motivations, values, perceived benefits, and challenges.

Jason Byrne · · Global

Research on urban greenspace, including parks, gardens, and green infrastructure, consistently demonstrates that marginalized and vulnerable communities have less access to these areas. This chapter overviews environmental injustice research on urban greenspace, examining debates and challenges for researchers and policymakers, and highlighting issues like climate injustice and food insecurity related to environmental inequality.

Dra. C. Andreína Inés González Ordóñez, MSc. David Zaldumbide, MSc. Javier Solano · · Ecuador (Machala)

This research analyzes the potential of urban agriculture for small entrepreneurs in Canton Machala, El Oro Province, Ecuador, using a documentary review of related literature. Urban agriculture is identified as having economic, social, and environmental benefits, including improved food and nutrition, reduced ecological footprint, and strengthened social fabric. Its implementation can enhance living conditions by providing healthy food, additional income, and improved environmental quality.

Mohd. Ramzi Mohd. Hussain, Norul Hafizah Yusoff, Izawati Tukiman · · Global

This paper aims to discuss the literature framework of the growing demand for urban farming activities within the city environment and how they benefit the concept of environmental sustainability. It describes the advantages of urban farming activities from environmental, economic, and social perspectives that contribute to urban sustainability, evaluating the benefits and potential of implementing urban farming within limited urban spaces.

Eileen Bogweh Nchanji, Imogen Bellwood‐Howard, Nikolaus Schareika, Takemore Chagomoka, Johannes Schlesinger, D. Rodríguez Torres Axel, Glaser Rüdiger · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Ghana (Tamale)

An ethnographic study in Tamale, Northern Ghana, assessed the sustainability of urban vegetable production between 2008 and 2014. While urbanization increased cultivation of profitable vegetables like cabbage, the practice involved irrigation with grey and wastewater and high pesticide use, posing health and environmental hazards. Industrial growth reduced open space urban agriculture by 8.7%, leading farmers to use interstitial spaces and peri-urban fringes, indicating a dynamic but not yet sustainable production system.

Norul Hafizah Yusoff, Mohd. Ramzi Mohd. Hussain, Izawati Tukiman · PLANNING MALAYSIA · Malaysia

This paper reviews and analyzes the importance of a framework for urban farming activities within cities, describing the community's role in achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability. It evaluates the benefits and potential of urban farming in limited urban spaces, noting its contribution to improving quality of life and addressing food shortage crises. The paper concludes that the community's role is crucial for implementing urban farming activities in urbanized areas.

Antoinette WinklerPrins · CABI eBooks · Global

This chapter provides definitions and theoretical framing for urban agriculture (UA). Research on UA has evolved beyond describing food production systems to its role in creating spaces of community, resistance, and empowerment. UA serves as a means for those not central to the city's function to claim a right to the city, and it is a rich field for interdisciplinary inquiry into urban sustainability.

James Ward, John Symons · Horticulturae · Global

A two-stage linear programming model examined the net value of urban agriculture across different climates and water prices, treating crop type and yield as decision variables constrained by dietary food-group bounds, protein and energy requirements, and area per person. The model found optimal crop regimes to be similar across climates and water prices because high-profit-margin crops were consistently selected, and that smaller per-capita garden size was optimal for water-use efficiency and net value, with a modest, well-chosen food garden shown to be cost-effective even under conservative yield and water-use assumptions.

Selena Ahmed, Sarabeth Buckley, Anne Elise Stratton, Feven Asefaha, C. Butler, Matthew J. Reynolds, Colin M. Orians · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A study on green-roof urban agriculture, which faces the ecological challenge of limited soil moisture, compared two soil moisture management practices — sedum (Sedum album) groundcover versus watering — for their effects on the performance and quality of three perennial culinary herbs: thyme, mint and oregano. Individually and interactively, sedum groundcover and watering significantly affected performance measures (biomass, vitality, module coverage) and quality (total phenolic concentration) during early establishment, but had variable effects at later developmental stages. The results suggest sedum groundcover can substitute for watering of hardy culinary herbs on green roofs in terms of plant performance and quality.

Fatemeh Kalantari, Osman Mohd Tahir, Raheleh Akbari Joni, Ezaz Fatemi · Journal of Landscape Ecology · Global

This paper critically reviews 60 published documents on vertical farming — cultivating plants and livestock on vertically inclined surfaces such as skyscrapers in land-scarce urban areas — assessing it against environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, and notes that published critical reviews on the topic remain scarce. Economic viability is named as one of the challenges considered alongside environmental and social factors, but the abstract does not present specific cost, revenue, or failure data to support this; it concludes, without citing supporting figures, that vertical farming can be "potentially beneficial" for food production, quality, safety, and food security.

Yann Dusza, Sébastien Barot, Yvan Kraepiel, Jean-Christophe Lata, Luc Abbadie, Xavier Raynaud · Ecology and Evolution · Global

This study examined how combinations of 20 plant species from 5 families, two substrate types (natural soil vs. artificial), and two depths (10 cm vs. 30 cm) affect green roof ecosystem functions including water retention, biomass production, nutrient cycling, and transpiration. Artificial substrates increased aboveground biomass 1.4-3.5 times relative to natural soil, and deep substrates produced 2-3 times more biomass than shallow ones on natural soil (1.4-1.9 times on artificial substrate), but no single combination of factors enhanced all studied ecosystem functions simultaneously.

Steve G. Hallett, Lori Hoagland, Emily Toner · Horticultural reviews · Global

This chapter discusses urban agriculture from economic, environmental, and social perspectives, acknowledging differences between urban agriculture in small and large cities, as well as the Global North and South. Urban farms and community gardens can have both positive and negative environmental impacts, such as reducing or increasing energy consumption, improving water infiltration, and beautifying neighborhoods, or producing odors and contaminating water. The chapter also attempts to frame policy recommendations that might help guide urban agriculture's development.

Christine Hvitsand · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Norway

This article explores why Norwegian producers and consumers engage in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), identifying distinct values and motivations related to environmental protection, justice, health, participation, and communication. While CSA demonstrates transformational power in the agri-food system through sustainable practices and power reallocation, the challenge remains to upscale these actions and prevent the dilution of core values and agroecological practices.

Sophie Lufkin, Emmanuel Rey, Suren Erkman · Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) · Switzerland

A case study in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, explored three scenarios (technological, behavioral, and symbiotic) for the future development of an urban sector by 2035. These scenarios tested design strategies related to industrial symbioses, production, storage, transportation, and urban agriculture, with energy flow analysis assessing each scenario's energy performance. The research highlights the necessity of complementary approaches that simultaneously combine technology, user behavior, and urban symbiosis to achieve high-energy performance at the neighborhood scale.

Andrew Syah Wicaksana · Jurnal Sains dan Seni ITS · Global

This study proposes apartment designs using an edible landscape approach to address continuous population growth, urbanization, climate change, and pressure on natural resources. This design aims to bring positive psychological and practical influences towards a productive and conducive lifestyle in urban environments. The design approach is extrinsic (nature) and environmentally-oriented (ecological design), utilizing Donna P. Duerck's "Architecture Programming" method and Rob Krier's theory of architectural composition.

Anbuchchelvi Kalaiarasan · Indian Journal of Science and Technology · Global

This study aimed to strengthen urban landscapes with green infrastructure using passive sustainable practices to improve urban health and safety. It identified 30 micro-level passive techniques, such as xeriscaping and green roofs, which utilize natural processes and limit active energy use. The research compared the environmental effects of these techniques for existing and proposed urban landscapes, concluding that conserving soil, water, air, energy, and species is key to connecting fragmented landscapes into a unified urban green mass.

P. Kanmani, Karthikeyan Parthasarathy · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This paper reviews contemporary thinking on urbanization, food insecurity, and agriculture, identifying urbanization and population increase as key drivers of growing food insecurity. It presents ideas and practices for agricultural sustainability, addressing agro-environmental sources, input systems, socio-economic systems, and farming systems. The paper also explores urban sustainability, including urban social sustainability and urban ecology, highlighting urban farming's role in enhancing urban food security.

J. Scott MacIvor, Laurence Packer · PLoS ONE · Global

This study modeled the occupancy probability of six solitary bee species using nest boxes set along an urbanization gradient over three consecutive years. Native M. pugnata showed decreased occupancy with increasing building footprint, and a similar but not significant pattern was found for native O. pumila. Conversely, introduced M. rotundata and M. centuncularis, along with native M. campanulae, exhibited increased occupancy with rising urbanization.