Research & reports

Luiza Vigne Bennedetti, Paulo Antônio de Almeida Sinisgalli, Maurí­cio Lamano Ferreira, Fabiano Lemes de Oliveira · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

Following the PRISMA protocol, a 2023 systematic review evaluated 26 studies on the interplay between urban agriculture (UA) and sustainability surveyed on Web of Science. While UA is increasingly recognized as an action to promote urban sustainability and inform public health policy for urban populations, the review confirms that its implementation still presents challenges in countries across both the Global North and Global South. The review identified numerous key challenges to UA adoption, including air and soil contamination, availability of green areas, layout of urban infrastructure, and food distribution, among others. Given the many socio-economic and environmental contextual factors involved — especially when comparing Global North and Global South realities — the review concludes there is a need to develop a model adaptable to these different contexts. It further concludes that the concept of sustainability lacks a universal understanding, and that one of the most important remaining gaps is addressing social issues in relation to environmental ones.

Sean Olivia Nicholas, Shiloh Groot, Niki Harré · Local Environment · Singapore

A study of a single urban agricultural initiative (UAI) in Singapore conducted in-depth interviews with 13 employees and volunteers, followed by a Q-sort of 36 statements drawn from those interviews with the same participants. Results identified environmental, social and psychological benefits including a genuine connection with nature and spillover into pro-environmental behavior, friendships and communication across diverse people, and increased self-awareness and gratitude. However, the UAI's economic impact in terms of employment and food production was impeded by its financial difficulties, and while both volunteers and employees perceived the psychosocial benefits, it was the employees who emphasized the financial difficulties.

The Urban More-than-Human Collective, Sonja Dümpelmann, Robert Gioielli, Stephan Pauleit, Anindya Sinha, Kate Wright, Amy Zhang · Global Environment · Global

Scholars from history, anthropology, animal studies, and landscape planning and management discuss various forms of urban and urbanizing infrastructure and their political entanglements. The volume addresses topics ranging from the black soldier fly — used as biotechnological infrastructure for waste management — to other nonhumans such as macaques developing and negotiating their own urbanisms, to plants and community gardens used as green infrastructure providing shade and food and as social infrastructure for endurance and resistance, to transportation infrastructure that both divides and unites people. Through case studies from across the world, it presents different conceptualizations of infrastructure as complex human-nonhuman co-productions that shape the modern city.

Meike Rombach, David Dean · Frontiers in Horticulture · Global

A study on urban food foraging examines key factors determining consumers' willingness to try foraged food, spend time and effort on it, accept risk, and commit to food foraging. A conceptual model — in which general perceptions of nature, food foraging, and COVID-19 shape three specific attitudes toward food foraging, which in turn drive four behavioral intentions — was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Results show the strongest drivers of willingness to try are approval of responsible foraging activities and individual benefits of foraging. For willingness to spend extra time and effort, all predictors had some impact. For willingness to accept risk, approval of responsible foraging activities and societal benefits were influential. For commitment to food foraging, individual and societal benefits were the most important drivers.

Lukas Egli, Judith Rüschhoff, Joerg A. Priess · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A systematic review of quantitative empirical research on the sustainability effects of community-supported agriculture (CSA) covered 39 studies. Fewer than 30% of the studies assessed ecological sustainability aspects, but where CSA farms were compared to reference systems, they mostly performed better on resource use efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. Most studies assessed social aspects; many showed that CSA still fails to reach low-income households, so members do not represent the average population, while CSA membership was associated with improved health and sustainability behavior. Economic variables were assessed in more than half of the studies, but knowledge of CSA's relative economic performance remains scarce, though early studies indicate high economic viability. The review calls for more research on ecological aspects specifically, comparisons across farming and marketing systems, and integration of knowledge from theses and practical sources in multiple languages.

Nasreen Khan, Teck Chai Lau, Booi Chen Tan · Food Research · Global

A qualitative content analysis examining social entrepreneurship and adoption factors behind smart urban farming among elderly people. Interviews were conducted via purposive sampling and analyzed using the framework method, drawing on diffusion of innovation theory and the theory of planned behavior. It found that positive attitudes and positive social influence increase adoption of smart urban farming, that using technology can help elderly farmers continue farming, and that effective social entrepreneurship involvement - providing information and technical advice - influenced adoption. Ease of use was the most important adoption factor, with attitude and subjective norms also shown to be influential.

Daniel Kelly · Agriculture and Human Values · New Zealand

This case study examines volunteer engagement at Farm X, an urban farm with a strong volunteer culture in Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, drawing on extended researcher participation and 11 in-depth interviews with volunteers and project coordinators. Engagement was helped by strong leadership, learning by doing, socializing around plants, and a sense of contributing to a movement. It was hindered by time scarcity, economic hurdles, and struggles over direction. Building on McClintock's (2014) account of the hybrid and contradictory nature of urban agriculture as a tool for social change, the paper identifies two trade-offs in both farm management and movement-building at Farm X: focused leadership versus volunteer agency, and asking more versus less of volunteers.

Jean Pascal · Biodiversity online journal. · Global

Noting that insects constitute most of the biodiversity on Earth and provide a wide range of services to society while being threatened by human activities such as habitat destruction and urbanization, this article assesses advances in understanding the impact of insects on sustainable food production in low-income countries. It focuses on two research topics that have emerged in recent years: entomophagy combined with the creation of small household farms rearing insects for sale (the Thai example), and the use of insects to improve soil fertility and nutrient availability (the Zai example). The article advocates considering the diversity of solutions and adaptations found in nature, arguing that the ways local communities and ethnic groups use natural resources are vast and should be seen as a source of inspiration for scientists developing sustainable food systems.

· Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology · Philippines

A survey of 204 ground leaf litter samples from ornamental woody shrubs and herbaceous flowering plants, collected from elevated gardens in eight low- to high-rise buildings in Metro Manila, Philippines, used the moist chamber technique to examine the occurrence of myxomycetes (slime molds). Fourteen species from nine genera were identified, with overall moist chamber productivity ranging from 43% to 45%. Arcyria cinerea and Perichaena depressa were the most frequently recorded species. The survey provided evidence that rooftop gardens serve as suitable habitats for myxomycetes.

Daniela S. Gómez-López · ECORFAN Journal Republic of El Salvador · Global

A paper providing a comprehensive analysis of the state of convergence between the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and sustainability, covering 2009 to 2023, using a combined heuristic and hermeneutic literature review methodology. SSE, built on principles of cooperation, equity and citizen participation, is presented as a key tool for addressing inequality and promoting decent employment, while sustainability is framed as improving living conditions without compromising the future. The paper argues that SSE promotes sustainable economic practices aligned with the 2030 Agenda, and illustrates SSE's application through regional case studies spanning urban agriculture, circular economy, recycling cooperatives, and socioeconomic development projects.

Arun Kafle, James Hopeward, Baden Myers · Horticulturae · Global

A study modeling the social, economic, and environmental potential of urban agriculture (UA), based on information from 40 distinct locations in each of two regions: Adelaide, South Australia and the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Modelling estimated equivalent employment, scale appropriateness, and earnings relative to labor use from commercial urban farming and gardening-style UA, together with carbon dioxide emissions for two vegetable types. The study examined the influence of distance and production scale under manual-to-modest mechanization for urban vegetable production, finding that the interplay between labor use and mechanization can favor scale-appropriate UA practices with better labor productivity and economic and social advantage. Distribution — assumed to be by car for UA — contributed the largest share of emissions, while the production component, even with mechanization, contributed a relatively small portion per unit of production. The study recommends that governments and planners facilitate scale-appropriate mechanization through better planning and policy instruments to support UA's sustainability.

Maulana Andinata Dalimunthe, Noviawan Rasyid Ohorella, Nabila Fahira Nasution · Journal of Peasants’ Rights · Global

This bibliometric literature review analyzed research using the keyword "urban farming" published between 2010 and 2023 to map the field's development. The reviewed literature characterizes urban farming as a way to improve food security and economic conditions in urban areas with potential positive impacts across economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and as commodity production it is concerned with distribution, marketing, and land area; the review itself does not report primary data from a specific location or population.

Katie Jane Tollan, Mike Ross, Ocean Mercier, Bianca Elkington, Rebecca Kiddle, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Amanda Thomas, Jennie Smeaton · MAI Journal A New Zealand Journal of Indigenous Scholarship · New Zealand

This study analyzed 40 public entries submitted to the 2017 Imagining Decolonised Cities (IDC) competition in Porirua, New Zealand, organized by Ngāti Toa Rangatira, to explore how participants understood decolonization enacted in an urban setting. It identified two overarching themes linked to Corntassel's theory of sustainable self-determination: food security, expressed through designs for community gardens, seafood harvesting stations, and larger food transportation systems, and "re-storytelling," centering Māori identities and stories.

H. J. Kim, Won-Suk Oh, Jin-Gun Kim, Won-Sop Shin · Healthcare · Global

Ninety participants were divided into experimental and control groups and took part in 16 biweekly urban gardening sessions from May to November 2022 to test effects on perceived restorativeness, resilience, sense of community, and stress reduction. Using the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Sense of Community Index, Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument, and salivary cortisol testing, the study found that urban gardening activities positively influenced participants' physiological and psychological responses.

Kamal Prasad Acharya, Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki, Birgitte Bjønness, Krishna Prasad Duwadi · Advances in educational marketing, administration, and leadership book series · Nepal

A participatory action research study (observe-plan-act-reflect) involving students, teachers and parents as co-researchers examined a school-garden project at a public school in Nepal. The garden functioned as a "living laboratory" for learning about flora, fauna and their interrelations, and transformed teaching into a mix of indoor and outdoor sessions. Students developed a sense of responsibility for environmental conservation and were positioned as "junior scientists" caring for the garden, with parents, teachers and students engaging in it as a co-curricular activity.

Winalyn Denzon, Meraflor C. Estose, Krysha Camille Villanueva, Joa H. Jao · Multidisciplinary Science Journal · Global

A descriptive study surveyed 50 randomly selected respondents from designated areas on their acceptability of a container gardening program designed for BTVTED (technical-vocational teacher education) students, to gauge whether it could serve as a food augmentation strategy. Analysis using means and standard deviations found most participants were female, and acceptability was highest on the economic dimension — producing one's own food, generating income and supplying household subsistence. The researchers recommended that local governments run education campaigns to expand participation in container gardening.

Arun Kafle, James Hopeward, Baden Myers · Sustainability · Global

An integrated modelling framework using proxy measures for economic benefit (net margin), social benefit (full-time farmer employment equivalent per consumer) and environmental benefit (CO2 emission reduction) was applied to two contrasting development settings, Adelaide, Australia, and the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, to examine the characteristics of urban agriculture (UA). Using two-stage optimisation across three mechanisation levels (non-mechanised, garden tiller, garden cultivator), two purposes (gardening or commercial), two crop-value categories and two market mechanisms, the model found that no single UA form maximises economic, environmental and social (employment) objectives simultaneously: commercial UA, in which both land and labour are costed, was favoured for maximising profit or reducing CO2 emissions, while gardening-form UA was favoured for maximising employment participation. In Adelaide the model favoured commercial UA for best-case profit and carbon emissions but gardening UA for employment maximisation, while in the Kathmandu Valley the model selected gardening UA under the given assumptions.

Mark A. Goddard, Helen Glanville, Carla Comadran‐Casas, M. Ehsan Jorat, David A.C. Manning, Miranda T. Prendergast‐Miller, Kevin Stott · · Global

A book chapter on the role of soil within urban blue-green infrastructure (BGI). It outlines the characteristics of urban soils and their contribution to ecosystem services such as food production, flood mitigation, carbon storage and recreation, and discusses challenges and opportunities in managing and creating soils within urban BGI. The chapter closes with land-use-specific management recommendations and a call for greater recognition of urban soils in planning policy. It is a review/discussion chapter and reports no original data, study site or measurements.

Mokoena Oratilwe Penwell, Ntuli Thembelihle Sam, Ramarumo Tshepo, Seeletse Solly Matshonisa · International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Studies · Global

A conceptual paper argues that crowdsourcing and synergy (CSS) platforms could optimize activities for small-scale dairy farmers (SSDFs) in low- and middle-income economies, where market withdrawal by small farmers is disrupting producer-consumer relationships. Built on logic-based reasoning rather than empirical data, the paper contends that crowd-collaborative farming (CCF) could improve local market performance depending on member composition, and calls for further research on revenue-distribution mechanisms and for training SSDFs in CCF, particularly those facing high failure rates and debt.

Luis Manuel Cárdenas Cárdenas, Rafael Fernando Oyaga Martínez, Martha Luz Ortiz Padilla, Adriana Morales Salazar, Emily Juliana Tumbaco Patiño · Ingeniería e innovación · Colombia

A master's-degree research project in environmental pedagogy for sustainable development, conducted in 2020-2021 at the La Honda Educational Center in the La Honda village of Timbío municipality (Cauca), Colombia, examined school gardens as a teaching tool to strengthen environmental education and meaningful learning among fourth and fifth graders. Using qualitative, socio-critical action research, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with parents — largely via technology platforms because of pandemic confinement — along with children's drawings and participant observation. The gardens were found viable for rescuing the community's cultural tradition; a curricular proposal was built with the school garden as its center of interest, and community members were involved in creating and sustaining the garden.

Maria Korkou, Ari K.M. Tarigan, Hans Martin Hanslin · Urban forestry & urban greening · Global

A systematic literature review examines the multifunctionality concept in urban green infrastructure planning, identifying a knowledge gap in the planning literature regarding multiple ecosystem functions and a lack of methods for quantifying and monitoring ecological services and biodiversity at different spatial scales. The reviewed literature clustered into five main themes — planning methods for urban green infrastructure, assessment approaches, ecosystem services and their benefits, sustainability and climate adaptation, and urban agriculture — which the review found were interconnected. It identifies a knowledge gap in incorporating multifunctional green infrastructure into planning principles and proposes five critical elements for ensuring multiple functions: spatial distribution, optimal distance, integrated network, accessibility, and public participation and engagement.

Marco Antonio Márquez-Vera, Brenda Eguiluz-Ruiz, Ricardo Calderón-Suárez · Advances in finance, accounting, and economics book series · Global

This book chapter examines the integration of smart technologies—IoT, AI, and data analytics—into urban agriculture. It argues that real-time monitoring, circular resource systems, intelligent irrigation, and controlled environments can improve resource efficiency, productivity, and sustainability in the face of challenges like limited arable land and conventional practices, while acknowledging costs and technology dependence as obstacles and emphasizing collaboration and education for successful implementation; no empirical data are presented.

Joe Nasr, Matthew Potteiger · Land · Global

Situating the proliferation of urban agriculture within a historical dialogue among foundational figures in urban and regional planning, architecture, and landscape architecture, this theoretical paper identifies fundamental strategies for designing and planning the "productive city" as a response to perceived failures in contemporary food systems. Drawing on a growing body of theory and practice for integrating urban agriculture into urban design and planning, it identifies three approaches: spatial design strategies that identify new territories for food production, systems design linking individual production spaces to broader food-system networks, and infrastructure design addressing flows of soils, water, and nutrients.

Laura Ospina, Paula Parra · Pensamiento udecino · Colombia

A documentary literature review examines the importance of urban agriculture, urbanization and community participation in the context of community gardens in Colombia. It draws on high-quality scientific texts from portals including Scielo, Publindex and Scopus, plus undergraduate, master's and doctoral theses, along with a review of statistical data for each variable studied. The results point to social, economic and environmental implications and the importance of participation in these spaces. The review concludes that urban gardens are a strategy that can offset negative externalities of the current capitalist urban model -- environmental degradation, pollution, poverty, inequality -- and can positively affect residents' quality of life, becoming consolidated as spaces linking social and environmental concerns and enabling new territorial configurations.

Eileen Bogweh Nchanji, Takemore Chagomoka, Imogen Bellwood-Howard, Axel Drescher, Nikolaus Schareika, Johannes Schlesinger · Land Use Policy · Ghana (Tamale)

A study of how land access and food access are linked in Tamale and its surroundings in Northern Region, Ghana, based on an ethnographic study and a food and nutrition insecurity survey conducted between October 2013 and November 2014. Shortage of land for agriculture was reported by 20% of households in urban areas, against 1.3% in peri-urban and 0% in rural areas, as infrastructural development and agriculture compete for the same ground. Food-insecure households were significantly more likely to name lack of land, rather than anything else, as the primary reason they could not grow crops (Fisher's exact probability = 0.040). Residents cope with the constraints of the communal tenure system through strategies such as urban–peri-urban–rural migrant farming and cultivation of buffer zones. Women, who carry the role of providing nutritious soups, use various mechanisms to circumvent their lack of access to land, so that the link between land and food is constituted by interacting political, economic and cultural elements.