Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1180 results(32 / 48)
Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana
2017Eileen 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.
Contamination & food safetyHealthEconomicsClimate changePolicyOrganic cycleDefining and theorizing global urban agriculture.
2017Antoinette 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.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeGlobal conservation priorities for crop wild relatives
2016Castaneda-Alvarez N.P., Khoury C.K., Achicanoy H.A., Jarvis D.I., Maxted N., Toll J. · Nature Plants · Global
Models the distribution of 1,076 taxa related to 81 crops, finding over 70% are high priority for further collection because they are poorly represented in genebanks relative to their native ranges.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicyIncreasing food sovereignty with urban agriculture in Cuba
2016Leitgeb F., Schneider S., Vogl C.R. · Agriculture and Human Values · Cuba (Havana)
Using semi-structured interviews with 15 urban farmers in Havana, this study examines how Cuba's 2008 land reform and 2011 Lineamientos policy created conditions for food sovereignty while generating new marketing opportunities, though reducing subsidies raised consumer prices.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsFood educationImpacts sur la santé des pratiques des agriculteurs urbains à Dakar (Sénégal)
2016Ba A., Cantoreggi N., Simos J., Duchemin E. · VertigO – la revue électronique en sciences de l'environnement · Senegal (Dakar)
This study found that urban farmers in Dakar's Niayes zone face serious occupational health risks from unregulated pesticide use and contaminated irrigation water, with groundwater pollutant levels reaching up to 75 times WHO standards, while farmers themselves underestimated their own exposure risks.
HealthPolicyCommunity gardens in Israel: Characteristics and perceived functions
2016Filkobski I., Rofè Y., Tal A. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening · Israel
A survey of 44 community garden coordinators across Israel found that community gardens serve as community anchors and sites of encounter for diverse urban populations. The study documented their characteristics and functions within the Israeli urban context.
CommunityPolicyHealthSmallholder Drip Irrigation in Burkina Faso: The Role of Development Brokers
2016· The Journal of Development Studies · Burkina Faso
Analyses the diffusion of smallholder drip irrigation in Burkina Faso, focusing on the role of development brokers.
DIYPolicyThe loss of land devoted to allotment gardening: The context of the contrasting pressures of urban planning, public and private interests in Prague, Czechia
2016Spilková J., Vágner J. · Land Use Policy · Prague, Czechia
Since 1989 Prague's allotment gardens have been diminishing rapidly, converted to residential, transport, and commercial development or recreation. The paper documents how allotments are among the most vulnerable urban green spaces under the pressures of urban planning and private interests.
PolicyCommunityPlanning for Peri-urban Agriculture: a geographically-specific, evidence-based approach from Sydney
2016Sarah James, Philip O’Neill · Australian Geographer · Australia (Sydney)
This study collated and analyzed existing Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and non-ABS data on Sydney agriculture between 1992 and 2011. It found that accounting for the Sydney Basin's farmlands remains opaque due to difficulties in acquiring reliable data, and existing data are often contested. The findings reveal trends in Sydney Basin agriculture that invite debate on assumptions about peri-urban agriculture, emphasizing the need for more reliable and consistent longitudinal data for future planning.
Peri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageEmergent approaches to urban gardening
2016Silvio Caputo, Eva Schwab, Kostas Tsiambaos, Mary Benson, Hervé Bonnavaud, Neslihan Demircan, Tim Delshammar, Frederico Meireles, Nerea Morán, Jeanne Pourias · · Global
This chapter provides an overview of emergent approaches to urban gardening, identifying urban dynamics and spatial implications. It notes that a lack of suitable urban land and difficulties in establishing constructive dialogue with local authorities regarding land provision can lead to the use of interstitial urban spaces for gardening practices. An example includes a community-based organization constructing a permaculture garden on a supermarket rooftop, highlighting challenges in land access and governance.
Governance failureCommunityDIYPolicyUrban Agriculture: Environmental, Economic, and Social Perspectives
2016Steve 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.
Contamination & food safetyEconomicsClimate changePolicyCommunityUrban Gardening and Green Space Governance: Towards New Collaborative Planning Practices
2016Sofia Nikolaidou, Tanja Klöti, Simone Tappert, Matthias Drilling · Urban Planning · Switzerland (Geneva)
This article examines new forms of small-scale urban gardening practices in Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on how multiple actors negotiate over open space and the resulting hybrid forms of public green space. Main findings indicate emerging forms of collaboration, partnerships, and governance patterns involving public and private sectors and increased civil society participation. This cooperation enhances accessibility and diversified uses of urban green spaces.
PolicyCommunityAction Research: An Essential Approach for Constructing the Development of Sustainable Urban Agricultural Systems
2016Antonia Bousbaine, Christopher Bryant · Challenges in Sustainability · Global
This article proposes Action Research as a key approach for research to contribute to sustainable solutions in urban agriculture. It describes the researcher's roles, such as providing information, counseling, and organizing meetings, which are adopted based on requests from actors like citizens and farmers. The article synthesizes relevant research on sustainable agricultural systems in periurban areas and the co-authors' own research over eight years, identifying patience, process emphasis, and multi-actor participation as necessary characteristics of Action Research.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceGoverning Social Innovation: Exploring the Role of ‘Discretionary Practice’ in the Negotiation of Shared Spaces of Community Food Growing
2016Alex Franklin, Imre Kovách, Bernadett Csurgó · Sociologia Ruralis · Global
This article qualitatively examined a public sector-led initiative to instigate co-production of community food growing, focusing on the discretionary practice of front-line public sector workers. The study found that public sector-led initiatives lack sufficient intention or scope to transform existing social orders. However, they do contribute to propagating individual and smaller-scale occurrences of social innovation in community food security.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceStrategies for Symbiotic Urban Neighborhoods. Case study in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland)
2016Sophie 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.
Urban–rural linkageClimate changePolicyImplementing the Urban Farming Master Plan in Horsley Park, Western Sydney: From Planning to Reality
2016Yolanda Gil, David Kirkland, Rocco Sergi · Water science and technology library · Australia (Sydney)
This chapter outlines the process of developing and implementing a master plan for urban farming in Horsley Park, Western Sydney. The case study highlighted that the implementation of the master plan has a number of challenges, including legislative and regulatory processes, and environmental and social matters. This suggests difficulties in transitioning from planning to the reality of farming in the Sydney region.
Governance failurePolicyPeri-urban agricultureBetween Green Image Production, Participatory Politics and Growth: Urban Agriculture and Gardens in the Context of Neoliberal Urban Development in Vienna
2016Sarah Kumnig · WU Research · Austria (Vienna)
This paper analyzes the implications of neoliberal urban development for agricultural spaces and practices in Vienna, Austria, where agricultural areas face pressure from population growth and a construction boom. Using the Donaufeld district as a case study, the analysis reveals selective preservation and activation of specific urban agriculture types and the use of participatory politics in urban development projects. The study highlights the challenges faced by urban agriculture amidst competing interests in a rapidly developing city.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsConcluding remarks
2016Runrid Fox-Kämper · · Global
This book provides insights and examples of how urban space is negotiated, describing urban gardens as "lived places" where social relations, meanings, and a sense of place are developed. To trigger social benefits, it is essential that these sites fulfill more functions than just food growing and leisure. Horticultural practices, such as using pesticides or fertilizers, have a strong influence on the ecological impact of urban gardening; although awareness among gardeners has increased due to training programs in recent decades, this impact persists.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityOrganic cyclePolicyThe Potential of Urban Vacant Land For Producing Fresh Vegetables in the City of Maribyrnong, Victoria, Australia.
2016Sri Tuntung Pandangwati, Ole Fryd · · Australia (Melbourne)
A study in Maribyrnong, Australia, used secondary data and GIS to assess the potential of urban vacant land for vegetable production in three suburbs: Maribyrnong, Footscray, and Seddon. Maribyrnong and Footscray could meet annual local vegetable demand using less than half their vacant spaces. Seddon could potentially produce 93% of local demand by utilizing all existing vacant spaces.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyWelfareWastewater use in urban agriculture: an exposure and risk assessment in Accra, Ghana
2016P. Antwi Agyei, Jeroen H. J. Ensink · Journal of Science and Technology (Ghana) · Ghana (Accra)
A study in Accra, Ghana, from September 2012 to August 2013, analyzed 323 soil and irrigation water samples and 501 produce samples for E. coli, and interviewed 693 participants. It found irrigation water was significantly more contaminated than farm soil, and over 80% of produce samples were contaminated with E. coli, with street food salad being the most contaminated. Key risk factors included farm soil, wastewater use, and poor hygiene, while consumers did not prioritize health indicators despite high risk awareness.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPolicyUrban–rural linkageDesain Apartemen Dengan Pendekatan Edible Landscape
2016Andrew 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.
DIYClimate changeCommunityPolicyThe right to the garden : Allotments and the politics of urban green space in Sweden
2016Jennifer Mack, Justin Scherma Parscher · · Sweden
In Sweden, continuous access to green space was a fundamental aspect of public life since the late nineteenth century. As apartment living became prevalent in Swedish cities during the early and mid-twentieth century, allotment gardens emerged as a key social reform to provide contact with nature amidst overcrowding and rapid urbanization. Green space increasingly became a right for Swedes across all socio-economic classes.
CommunityPolicyGrowing urban food as an emerging social practice
2016Karin Dobernig, E.J. Veen, Peter Oosterveer · · Global
This chapter examines urban food growing as a social practice, addressing how it relates to practice theory and social change. It explores what "urban food growing" means as a social practice and how it interacts with other existing social practices in urban contexts. The text notes that while urban food growing is often framed as an emerging movement, it has historical precedents like victory gardens and allotment gardens.
CommunityPolicyL’agriculture métropolitaine à Santiago du chili : une agriculture urbaine qui prend la clé des champs
2016Cécile Faliès · Problèmes d Amérique latine · Chile (Santiago)
This article provides an overview of agriculture around Santiago, Chile, based on fieldwork conducted since 2005. Despite the presence of agriculture linked to Santiago and Valparaiso, and the emergence of some forms like organic farming, it is difficult to classify this as urban agriculture due to the peripheral location and limited number of plots. The study indicates that urban agriculture, as commonly defined, has a limited presence in the Santiago metropolitan area.
Limited or null effectPeri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageEconomicsPolicyCampus Albano, Stockholm - Creating a social-ecological ‘best practices’ campus area in the Baltic region for supporting learning, innovation, and sense of community : In Live Baltic Campus: Inventory Reports
2016Stephan Barthel, Johan Colding, Erik Andersson, Maria Schewenius · Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) · Sweden (Stockholm)
Campus Albano, the newest addition to Stockholm University, began production on November 30, 2015, following a five-year planning and design process. This project is notable for its participatory planning and strong focus on integrating ecosystem services, such as wetlands and allotment gardens, into the final campus design. Student and researcher accommodations are expected by 2018, and university buildings by 2019.
CommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkage