Research & reports

Vanessa Daufenback, L. A. Z. Machado, Cláudia Maria Bógus · Revista Ingesta · Global

A systematic review using the Scielo database to examine the relationship between urban agriculture (UA) and food and nutrition security (SAN) in Latin America. A search for "agricultura urbana" returned 156 articles; screening by title and keywords narrowed this to 32, and excluding non-Latin-American studies left 26 articles connecting UA and SAN to some degree. Only 5 of these made a direct link between SAN and UA; the rest addressed only some dimension of the concept, and the review found no concrete, agreed definition of UA across the literature. Few studies treated the urban farmer or production scale as central to promoting SAN, despite UA's role in food-sovereignty practices such as seed exchange and preserving planting traditions. Most of the reviewed studies pointed to significant problems, including contamination of crops by heavy metals, difficulty achieving environmental, social and economic sustainability — particularly for farmers who end up working in other sectors — and a lack of technical assistance.

Florian C. Guenther · Current Urban Studies · Global

Anticipating that 68% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, this discussion paper argues for integrating agriculture into urban planning through ecological agricultural practices. It contends that ecological practices such as Conservation Agriculture improve soil health and crop yield, making them key to producing vegetables and fruit for urban demand while reducing transport emissions, and that extending green space through ecologically cultivated land can reduce the urban heat island effect, store more carbon in healthy soils, and improve water run-off to reduce flood risk; the paper presents no empirical data.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) · IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IGES) · Global

This IPCC guideline chapter sets out the First Order Decay (FOD) methodology for estimating methane emissions from solid waste disposal sites. The default fraction of degradable organic carbon that decomposes (DOCf) is 0.5 for bulk waste and 0.7 for food waste. For high-moisture, rapidly degradable waste such as food waste, k=0.2 (half-life of about 3 years) is indicated, versus k=0.02 (half-life of about 35 years) for dry, slowly degradable waste.

Hardman M., Chipungu L., Magidimisha H., Larkham P.J., Scott A.J., Armitage R.P. · Landscape and Urban Planning, 170:6-14 · Global

Reviews informal urban-growing (guerrilla gardening) practices across Europe, North America and Africa, showing how in Salford, UK, local authorities have begun tolerating and even encouraging informal growing. It rethinks how a movement of residents greening and growing food on gap spaces and vacant land without permission can be integrated into urban planning and green-space policy.

Manganelli A., Moulaert F. · Local Environment · Belgium (Brussels)

Applies a Hybrid Governance Approach to the Brussels GASAP solidarity purchasing network, identifying three phases in its development and demonstrating how organizational, resource, and institutional tensions drive self-reflexivity and scaling dynamics in Alternative Food Networks.

Haniotou H., Dalipi E. · In: Glatron S., Granchamp L. (eds) The Urban Garden City: Shaping the City with Gardens Through History. Springer, Cham, pp. 245–268 · Greece

The chapter surveys the proliferation of urban community gardens across Greek metropolitan areas, situating their emergence in the context of economic crisis and examining their effects on urban residents' livelihoods and relationship to green space.

Contesse M., van Vliet B.J.M., Lenhart J. · Land Use Policy · Chile (Santiago)

This study used the policy arrangement approach to compare urban green space planning and urban agriculture policies in Santiago, finding that urban agriculture can complement (but not replace) parks as green space, provided that policy mechanisms clarify stakeholder roles and benefits.

Poore J., Nemecek T. · Science · Global

A meta-analysis of about 38,000 farms shows food's environmental impacts are dominated by production while transport contributes only a small share, weakening the food-miles rationale and casting doubt on transport-reduction as urban agriculture's climate justification.

Madeleine Bonow, Maria Normark · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Sweden

Research on Stockholm community gardens. Analyzes participation mechanisms, driving forces, and municipal support role. Examines implementation mechanisms for sustainability improvement.

Michelle Tendai. Chihambakwe, Paramu Mafongoya, Obert Jiri · Challenges · Zimbabwe

This review maps the use of food sovereignty principles in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Zimbabwe, addressing its potential for food security. Despite UPA being ingrained in urban households' livelihoods, institutional arrangements governing the practice remain ambivalent. The review underscores that the failure to involve all stakeholders undermines UPA, leading to heightened food insecurity and unsustainable practices.

Rachel Carey, Sarah James · · Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)

This chapter examines peri-urban agriculture in Australia, focusing on case studies in Sydney and Melbourne. It explores the pressures on peri-urban fringes, noting that while food needs are increasing due to population growth, the capacity of these areas to meet them is decreasing due to urban sprawl. The research highlights policy and planning options to protect these regions, emphasizing their potential contribution to urban sustainability and resilience amidst climate change and water scarcity.

Suranga Wadduwage · Journal of Land Use Science · Australia (Adelaide)

A multi-criteria spatially-explicit study in the Adelaide metropolitan area, Australia, investigated agricultural land vulnerability to urban sprawl under opposing policy directions. The study showed higher agricultural land vulnerabilities in “Business-As-Usual” and “Accelerated Economic Development” scenarios, extending into rural areas with a leap-frog effect. This confirms the need to sacrifice farmland uses to maintain land supply for urban development under these conditions.

Ángela Castillo, Sandra Leonela López Álvarez · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Venezuela (Falcón)

A study characterized the urban agriculture project in Falcón state, Venezuela, finding it was organized by the CIARA Foundation under the Simón Bolívar National Project. The program is prevalent in 100% of implementing municipalities, with activity ranging from 0.71% to 100%, and 44.44% of the total municipalities showing potential for resuscitation. The Miranda municipality, the state capital, has the most Agricultural Production Units but only 15% activity.

Sue Booth, John Coveney, Dominique Paturel · Policy Press eBooks · Global

This chapter examines the concept of food crime within the global industrialized food system and explores citizen resistance, termed 'counter crimes,' which use food for public statements. Counter crimes encompass both oppositional activities, focusing on the current food system, and constructivist activities, which foster new food systems like farmer's markets and community gardens. These democratically-driven actions form a participatory movement, known as food democracy, enabling citizens to exert control over their food system.

Dona Pickard · International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food · Bulgaria (Plovdiv)

This paper analyzes an urban agriculture case in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where the municipality cleared over 2 hectares of long-tolerated allotments without involving users, despite NGOs promoting urban agriculture as a social innovation. The case exemplifies barriers hindering social innovation, particularly regarding governance, as the eviction occurred without discussion about the future of urban agriculture. This suggests a lack of civic participation and access to resources for deprived groups.

Anna Petit‐Boix, Defne Apul · Sustainability · Global

This study addresses the lack of a framework for the emergence of social cohesion in urban agriculture (UA) by modifying the cascade ecosystem services model. It transforms this into a bottom-up causal framework for UA, where biophysical and social structures lead to human activities fostering attitudes and feelings like trust. These aggregated attitudes generate social cohesion, supporting the development of causality pathways in social life cycle assessment and understanding UA's social impacts.

Valentina Gulin Zrnić, Tihana Rubić · Narodna umjetnost : hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku · Croatia (Zagreb)

This paper examines four urban gardening communities in Zagreb, Croatia, focusing on their actors, structures, and garden aims. It discusses the practice of illegal "wild" gardens and the changing contexts of urban gardening, using ethnographic examples to illustrate diverse organizational methods, communality, and governance issues. The analysis highlights the heterogeneity and dynamics of these gardening communities and considers their potential in urban governance strategies.

Evaldas Klimas, Mantas Lideika · Journal of Property Planning and Environmental Law · Lithuania

This paper discusses measures implemented under Lithuania's spatial planning law and various initiatives to determine if the country is following the international trend of greening cities. The study aims to identify Lithuania's adherence to this trend.

Percy Toriro · · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This chapter explores the governance of urban food production in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 1890 to the present. Evidence indicates that while the practice has gained general acceptance through shifting positions over the years, the status of producers remains uncertain. This uncertainty stems from the lack of full incorporation of urban food production into city plans by planning officials, whose values are out of sync with Harare's lived reality.

Eleni Oureilidou · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · Greece (Thessaloniki)

This research examines the role of "social policy" and "social capital" in urban regenerations, and the forms of "bottom-up initiatives," as they express a democratic perception of urban cultural landscapes and can inspire collective, sustainable, and productive aspects of urban open spaces. A methodology for socially and culturally reactivating urban landscapes is described, along with two case studies from Thessaloniki, Greece: one concerning the application of the proposed methodology in the city's West Wall, and another referring to a realized community garden in the city center.

Pushpawani Ramaloo, Chamhuri Siwar, Choong-Yeun Liong, Anizan Isahak · PLANNING MALAYSIA · Malaysia (Penang)

This study investigated the prospects of urban agriculture (UA) development in Penang state, Malaysia, from experts' perspectives using a SWOT analysis. Fifty-seven stakeholders were interviewed to identify and prioritize strategies for UA development. Strategic plans were prioritized across aspects such as legal framework, financial, infrastructure, land, water, environment and health, social, marketing, and research and development.

Na Ra Jeong, Seung Won Han, Kwang Jin Kim, Jung Nam Suh, Ji Hye Yoon · Journal of people, plants, and environment · Global

This study surveyed 340 urban and non-metropolitan residents from October 7-10, 2016, to understand their perceptions and expectations of community gardens. The survey found that residents generally agree on the necessity of community gardens, particularly those with gardening experience, and expect them to provide comfort, aesthetic functions, and personal benefits like health promotion, as well as public benefits such as amenity and community vitalization. Residents also showed strong willingness to participate in planning, construction, and management.

Ari Jokinen, Eveliina Asikainen, Krista Willman · Tampere University Institutional Repository (Tampere University) · Global

This study explored three urban gardening cases related to brownfield regeneration, a city center strategy, and an established urban neighborhood to understand how spatial planning can foster self-organization in local food production. The findings indicate that urban gardening is multifunctional, relies on self-organization, and is valuable for creating local food systems. The study also discusses challenges and opportunities for integrating these findings into spatial planning.

John Diaz, Laura A. Warner, Sue Webb, Debra M. Barry · Applied Environmental Education & Communication · Global

This study used a consensus-driven process to identify central issues impeding the sustained success of school gardens. It outlined practical, logistical, and institutional barriers that need to be addressed to ensure their success in supplementing education.

Salvatore Engel‐Di Mauro · Gender Place & Culture · Global

This study discusses two concerns regarding urban community gardens' political potential, suggesting caution. It notes that the community in urban community gardens can be reactionary and capitalism-friendly, potentially impeding the collectivization of social reproduction if it remains largely women's work. Additionally, urban gardeners, primarily women, people of color, and the elderly, may face exposure to toxic substances and increased care work needs due to health effects.