Research & reports

Emma Sutphen · Clark Digital Commons (Clark University) · United States

This practitioner report examines the Giving Garden, a community garden at Coogan Farm established in 2013 by the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in New London County, Connecticut, and its effects on community health and regional food security. Based on participatory research drawing on the author's experience as a 2017 summer intern and subsequent Assistant Garden Manager, the garden contributes to reducing local food insecurity by supplying seasonal fruits and vegetables grown through biointensive, regenerative practices. Findings suggest Giving Garden members experience a heightened sense of community, recipients of garden produce achieve greater overall health, and educational programs teaching sustainable farming practices promote more ecologically friendly household farming and gardening.

Thandiwe Blauw · · South Africa

Against the backdrop of South Africa, where the majority of the population still lives below the poverty line twenty-three years after democratization and women and children are the most affected, this study investigated the impact of women's participation in an urban agriculture project — a vegetable garden — on poverty alleviation at the Kwasa Project in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth. Using a qualitative approach with individual interviews conducted via an interview schedule and supplemented by secondary scholarly sources, the study investigated the challenges facing the Kwasa Project and, in its final analysis, provided recommendations aimed at resolving some of the problems identified through the interviews.

Robin Sakina Mama · · United States

A book chapter examining a community garden developed at Monmouth University, a small private liberal-arts university in suburban New Jersey, United States, as a form of university-community collaboration. It discusses the garden's growth, successes and lessons learned, noting that community gardens are commonly started to address food insecurity but often expand into other functions such as neighborhood revitalization, community pride and a sense of ownership, with the building of social community described as central to the endeavor. The chapter is descriptive and reports no quantitative data.

Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, Ijatuyi Enioluwa Jonathan, Olorunfemi Oluwasogo David, Agboola Peter Temitope · Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica · South Africa

A structured-questionnaire survey of urban agricultural households in Limpopo Province, South Africa, analyzed food security using descriptive and inferential statistics. Respondents were predominantly male with an average age of 46, mainly relying on public tap water, and households had an average monthly income of R2,668.75 against average monthly food spending of R1,284.75 — food costs consuming nearly half of household income. The study suggested interest-free credit for small-scale farmers to improve access to risk-management technologies.

Hae Sun Paik, Young Hwan Lee · Journal of the Korean housing association · South Korea

A South Korean study, set against the November 2011 enactment of the Act on Development and Support of Urban Agriculture, examined whether urban agriculture could help offset the negative image of public rental housing complexes and ease residents' relative sense of loss. Because criteria and systems for establishing community gardens within housing complexes were judged insufficient, the study sought ways to improve the relevant system and regulations. It conducted field studies and manager interviews at 18 domestic housing complexes with community gardens, identifying construction type, garden type and location, and operating systems. The case studies found that community gardens have a positive effect on activating resident community life, and the study concludes that regulatory improvement is needed to formally include community gardens as a type of communal facility.

Charles C. Branas, Eugenia South, Michelle C. Kondo, Bernadette C. Hohl, Philippe Bourgois, Douglas J. Wiebe, John M. MacDonald · PNAS 115(12): 2946-2951 · United States (Philadelphia)

A citywide cluster-randomized trial assigning 541 Philadelphia vacant lots to treatment or control. Residents near treated lots (445 surveyed) reported significantly reduced perceptions of crime (-36.8%), vandalism (-39.3%) and fear of going outside (-57.8%), and significantly increased use of outdoor space for relaxing and socializing (+75.7%). In neighborhoods below the poverty line, police-recorded crime also fell significantly: overall crime -13.3%, gun violence -29.1%, burglary -21.9%, nuisance crime -30.3%. Concludes that vacant-land restoration is an effective, scalable infrastructure intervention against gun violence, crime and fear.

Michael J. Roy, Neil McHugh, Stephen Sinclair · Stanford Social Innovation Review · United Kingdom

Published 1 May 2018. The authors argue that Social Impact Bonds look like an ideology-neutral financing fix but carry significant technical problems and a troubling ideological shift. At the time of writing the UK had 32 SIBs; government had put in $28 million in 2012 and a further $113.4 million through the Life Chances Fund in 2016, with the UK market predicted to reach $1.4 billion by 2020, while the US had at least 10 SIBs and 19 more existed across 14 other countries. The Peterborough prison SIB's initial result was an 8.4 per cent reduction in reoffending. They find little evidence that SIBs encourage innovation, note the heavy administrative burden, and contend that prioritising investor returns over service users turns citizens into commodities.

Heidy Yohana Tamayo Ortiz · El Tiempo · Colombia

An article on Medellín's 'Huertas con Vos' program, featuring a roughly 270-square-meter garden shared by 5 households in the Doce de Octubre neighborhood, saving each household about 50,000 pesos a month. The city has about 100,000 food-insecure vulnerable households, of which 10,000 are prioritized; in 2018 the program built 700 new gardens (450 urban, 250 rural), aiming for 1,707 gardens total over three years.

Soga M., Cox D.T.C., Yamaura Y., Gaston K.J., Kurisu K., Hanaki K. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(1):71 · Japan

A questionnaire survey of 332 allotment gardeners and non-gardeners in Tokyo compared five self-reported outcomes: perceived general health, physical complaints, BMI, mental health and social cohesion. Allotment gardeners reported better general health, fewer complaints, better mental health and greater social cohesion, indicating that urban allotment gardening can improve residents' physical and mental health and community ties.

Soga M., Gaston K. J., Yamaura Y. · Preventive Medicine Reports · Global

Meta-analysis demonstrating that gardening yields wide-ranging health benefits, reductions in depression and anxiety and gains in life satisfaction and physical activity, underpinning the health rationale for workplace and community garden programs.

Omondi S. O., Oluoch-Kosura W., Jirström M. · Geographical Research 55(2):231-241 · Kenya

Through Kenyan case studies, this paper examines how urban-based agriculture strengthens the livelihood strategies and food security of urban households, particularly the poor, highlighting its role within the urban food system.

Olivier D. W., Heinecken L. · Agriculture and Human Values 34(3):743-755 · South Africa

Examining NGO-run urban agriculture in Cape Town, this study finds projects aid food security while helping low-income women build supportive networks that unlock personal, social, and economic benefits beyond food provision.

Tornaghi C. · Antipode 49(3):781-801 · Global

Critically theorizes the neoliberal 'food-disabling city' that deprives citizens of food agency, redefining urban food justice and arguing for an urban agriculture politics grounded in empowerment and food sovereignty.

Horst M., McClintock N., Hoey L. · Journal of the American Planning Association 83(3):277-295 · Global

Multidisciplinary literature review questioning who benefits and who does not from urban agriculture, suggesting ways urban planners can structure urban agriculture in support of food justice.

Martin P., Consalès J.-N., Scheromm P., Marchand P., Ghestem F., Darmon N. · Appetite · France (Marseille)

Study in a deprived Marseille neighborhood found that socioeconomically disadvantaged women with access to a community garden were more likely to adopt a healthy diet than matched controls without such access.

Partalidou M., Anthopoulou T. · Sociologia Ruralis, 57(2), 211–228 · Greece (Thermi, Northern Greece)

Using Maslow's hierarchy of needs and fieldwork in a municipal allotment garden in northern Greece, the study constructs a typology of gardeners and finds that participation evolves from satisfying basic subsistence needs during economic crisis toward self-actualization and placemaking.

Anthopoulou T., Nikolaidou S., Partalidou M., Petrou M. · In: Soulard CT., Perrin C., Valette E. (eds) Toward Sustainable Relations Between Agriculture and the City. Springer, Cham, pp. 181–199 · Greece

Drawing on fieldwork at three municipal allotment gardens in Greece, the chapter examines the institutional and political context of their rapid proliferation during the economic crisis and identifies governance challenges facing local authorities and urban gardening communities.

Nevin Cohen, Janet Poppendieck, Nicholas Freudenberg · Journal of Food Law & Policy · United States

This essay outlines priorities for food advocates following the election of President Donald Trump: preserving SNAP, preventing industry deregulation, and sustaining regional food systems. It analyzes the potential conservative-backed counter-proposals to each of these priorities.

Rotheram S., McGarrol S., Watkins F. · Health & Place · United Kingdom

Qualitative interviews with 18 clients with a learning disability who attend UK care farms examined how these spaces contribute to their health and wellbeing, identifying care farms as a positive 'space of wellbeing'.

· Regional Studies, Regional Science · United Kingdom (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Investigates the motivations and lived experiences of community garden participants in Edinburgh, Scotland.

· BMC Geriatrics · Netherlands

A cross-sectional study in the southern Netherlands comparing quality of care and quality of life for 115 residents with dementia across green care farms, regular small-scale living facilities, and traditional nursing homes.

Sioen G., Sekiyama M., Terada T., Yokohari M. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Tokyo, Japan

Quantifying vegetable output from urban farmland in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, the study finds a weight-based self-sufficiency rate of just 6.18% and an aggregate nutritional self-sufficiency of about 2.86%, showing urban agriculture covers only a tiny fraction of local food and nutrition needs.

Elizabeth W. Cotter, Carla Teixeira, Annessa Bontrager, Kasharena Horton, Deyanira Soriano · Public Health Nutrition · United States (Washington, DC)

This study conducted focus groups with 28 adults in three affordable housing communities in Washington, D.C., USA, to understand low-income adults' attitudes towards participating in farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and nutrition education programming. The results revealed that adults living in urban, affordable housing communities desire access to healthy foods but are limited by cost. Programs could have a higher likelihood of success if they accept benefits like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), are heavily marketed, and incorporate culturally relevant nutrition education components.

Courtney M. Gallaher · CABI eBooks · Kenya

This chapter considers the effects of landscape greening, including small urban farms and sack gardening, on residents' perceptions of the environment in Kenya's Kibera slum over the last 10 years. It examines what environmental issues residents perceive as most serious, who they believe is responsible for addressing these problems, and to what extent they believe sack gardening is changing Kibera's physical and social environment.

Geneva Rawlins · · United States (Gary, Indianapolis)

This study aimed to examine how three urban agriculture programs in Gary and Indianapolis, United States, impact high school students' academic performance and future goals. Questionnaires were used to collect qualitative data from program leaders, organizational partners, and upper-class students. Due to low participant levels, there was insufficient data to draw definitive conclusions regarding academic performance. However, the study captured a snapshot of positive attitudes among student participants and identified commonalities among the programs.