Research & reports

Rita Mayrhofer · Local Environment · Austria

A case study of the Roda-Roda pilot project in Vienna, Austria, demonstrated that community gardening can develop and persist even without favorable conditions for grassroots community gardens. Using an action research approach, an interdisciplinary project team implemented a spatial and socio-economic framework with a top-down approach, providing a stable basis for participatory community-building. This enabled gardeners to gain knowledge, skills, and self-confidence to run a garden and create a well-functioning local community.

Tal Alon‐Mozes, Efrat Eizenberg · · Global

This chapter examines Mediterranean urban agriculture (MUA) through case studies, challenging the traditional division between developed northern and developing southern countries. It argues that MUA is a distinct phenomenon characterized by the transfer of modern agricultural knowledge and policies from developed to developing countries, alongside a northward movement of people, crops, and traditional lifestyles from the south.

Paloma Gonzalez de Linares · International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics · Hungary (Budapest)

This paper aimed to assess factors contributing to more successful integration of urban agriculture in some cities and to introduce agro-ecology practices in public green spaces and community gardens through landscape assessment and map-based comparison. A key problem identified was the lack of motivation among planners to integrate urban agriculture into urban plans, preventing these green structures from becoming part of the city's landscape and dynamics. The sustainability of food systems was concluded to depend on the city's planning strategy and governance policies.

Sécou Omar Diédhiou, Oumar Sy, Christine Margétic · Espace populations sociétés · Senegal (Ziguinchor)

A study in Ziguinchor, Senegal, surveyed 248 farmers and 130 vegetable vendors in 2016 and 2017 to examine the role of urban agriculture. Urban expansion has led to shrinking agricultural land and land-use conflicts, while increasing food demand. Women play a central role from production to commercialization, farming in multiple locations for self-consumption and income, but the sustainability of these practices requires integration into proactive urban development policies.

Susan Parham, Jacques Abelman · · Global

This chapter explores urban design in developed countries, viewing food as a critical social, economic, and cultural factor influencing and being influenced by urban space design. It broadly defines food spaces to include diverse settings like streetscapes, markets, restaurants, urban gardens, and peri-urban farming. The authors suggest that food-conscious urban design is central to sustainable urban space.

Claire Nettle, David Crouch · · Global

This chapter focuses on the growth and development of allotments in Britain and the community gardens in Australia, North America, and Britain that evolved from them. It provides a brief overview of the history of allotments in Britain and community gardens in North America, Britain, and Australia, then explores their particular landscapes and the roles that landscape professionals can play in their development.

Michael Tuffour · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Ghana

This study in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana, investigated how urban vegetable farmers adapt to rapid urban change, using a mixed-methods approach including a survey of 251 farmers. Institutional actors promote urban agriculture through training, logistics, and land provision, but the changing urban environment hinders their support. Institutions providing land often lack official agreements with farmers and sometimes abuse them, despite being a significant support source.

Torange Khonsari · · Global

This paper discusses community gardens as highly regarded assets by citizens and local authorities, negotiating a space between the informal arena of everyday life and the formal regulated realm of the state, constructing a liminal space where civic action takes place, using Abbey Gardens as a case study. It outlines power relations, relations between the formal state and informal everyday life of a garden, and its subsequent agency towards its role in the formation of liminal civic places in neighborhoods.

Luca Salvati, Silvia Pili · Journal of Sociological Research · Greece (Athens)

This study proposes an approach to understand new food production strategies in fragmented peri-urban landscapes, focusing on local primary sector actors. A preliminary survey in the Athens metropolitan region, Greece, aims to identify trends in peri-urban farming and their implications for farmers and citizens, considering urban sprawl and land-use conflicts.

J Dostalík, Radoslava Krylová, Vojtěch Pelikán, Lucie Sovová, Zbyněk Ulčák · · Global

This paper presents a methodological tool designed to standardize the assessment of gardening sites and offer a user-friendly approach for evaluating diverse urban gardening areas. This multidisciplinary methodology assesses territory from three perspectives: urban gardening in urban planning, the social benefits of gardening communities and economic aspects including food security contributions, and the environmental aspects of gardening sites, such as their support for biodiversity.

Joshua Zeunert · · Global

This chapter examines urban agriculture (UA) through six dimensions: spatial, economic, social, environmental, practical, and intellectual. It highlights UA's financial returns, production volumes, sustainability benefits, and social value. The chapter concludes that a clearer understanding of UA's value within governance, academia, and communities is imperative to overcome regulatory barriers.

Heidrun Moschitz, Jan Landert, Christian Schader, Rebekka Frick · Nature and Culture · Switzerland (Basel)

A study in Basel, Switzerland, comprehensively analyzed the city's food system to understand the full potential of urban agriculture within it. The analysis involved diverse actors from civil society, policy, and the market, encompassing policy and actor analysis, perceptions on urban agriculture, food flow analysis, and a sustainability assessment. The research project contributed to developing new ideas and activities and created a space for future debates within the city's food system.

E.J. Veen, Sebastian Eiter · Nature and Culture · Norway

Results from questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews in two Norwegian and one Dutch garden show that growing vegetables and consuming the harvest is a fundamental part of gardening. The social element of meeting other gardeners and feeling part of a community is also true. While gardeners with different socioeconomic backgrounds experience gardening similarly, access to an allotment appears more important for gardeners with disadvantaged personal backgrounds.

Daniel Velandia Díaz · Jangwa Pana · Colombia (Bogotá)

In Bogotá, Colombia, institutional policies were introduced in the early 21st century to strengthen social aspects such as urban agriculture, healthy eating, and community integration. These policies, driven by city administrations, were associated with social inclusion concerns. Government plans from 2004 to 2015 implemented interventions to form urban agriculture networks in several city localities, promoting recognition of prior community experiences and supporting new initiatives.

Kwaku Obosu-Mensah · · Ghana (Accra)

This research was planned to study urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana, due to a lack of published work and personal interest. The study is interested in social inequality influencing farm location choice, how new migrants adjust to urban cultivation, and factors compelling government officials to change their attitude towards urban agriculture.

Pauline Marsh, Sebrina Brennan, Miriam Vandenberg · Australian Journal of Primary Health · Australia

Researchers at the Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, used a participatory research framework to explore the potential of Community Gardens to function as comprehensive primary healthcare (CPHC) environments. Therapeutic features of Community Gardens and their correlations with CPHC were identified, concluding strong synergies between the aims and activities of Community Gardens and CPHC. Augmenting the therapeutic capacity of these sites requires adequate resourcing, skill development, suitable design, funding, policy support, and innovative partnerships with health professionals.

Martha G. Bell · Espacio y Desarrollo · Global

This abstract introduces urban agriculture (AU) as an ancient practice that has gained significant attention recently from the general public, academics, and municipal authorities. It notes that various sources contribute to this increased focus. The abstract is incomplete, ending abruptly.

Sugandhi del Canto, Rachel Engler‐Stringer · Policy Press eBooks · Global

Restrictive covenants, a corporate real estate practice, are identified as a significant barrier to establishing new food stores in older neighborhoods globally. These covenants place conditions on land use, such as prohibiting food sales or grocery store development, making it harder to address existing nutrition deserts. Government support is needed to limit these covenants and develop alternative food channels, including urban agriculture.

Ada Górna · · Global

This volume presents various issues related to sustainable development within the context of globalization. It collects selected texts discussing theories of development, sustainability, and spatial, industrial, and social policies.

Ana Cristina Manjabosco · · Global

This work explores urban agriculture, its concepts, and importance in achieving urban sustainability and responding to environmental imbalances. It provides examples of current urban agriculture uses, including the Dragonfly project in New York, Paris's incentives, and a vertical farm design contest in Sao Paulo. The study also offers guidelines for successful urban agriculture project implementation, covering location choice, cultivation systems, consumption incentives, and secondary benefits, framed as political and social guidelines.

Luísa Melgaço, Marina R. Ribeiro, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Global

This essay reflects on the complex reality of urban agriculture, discussing the different paradigms of the Green Revolution and Agroecology within the urbanization process. It aims to evidence the permanent and conflicting dispute between the industrial capitalist model and the non-hegemonic rationality of Agroecology. The essay is intended to advance the construction of bridges between the agroecological field and urbanization processes.

Erwin van Tuijl, Gert-Jan Hospers, Leo van den Berg · European Spatial Research and Policy · Global

This paper explores the concept of Urban Agriculture (UA) and discusses its locational and strategic dimensions. Using case examples from cities worldwide, it shows that UA can contribute to the social, environmental, and economic pillars of sustainable city development; however, there are limitations that cities investing in urban agriculture should consider.

Cuthbert Majoni, Deliwe Tembachako, Anyway Katanha · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Zimbabwe

This study was conducted in Bindura urban area, Zimbabwe, to evaluate the viability of urban quail farming, interviewing 40 urban quail farmers selected via snowball sampling and 10 key informants using semi-structured guides. Key challenges highlighted included inadequate housing facilities, insufficient space, theft, predation, inadequate knowledge, market price fluctuations, inability to access credit, and misconceptions in urban agriculture policies. Despite these challenges, urban quail farming showed potential to boost family income and reduce poverty to some extent.

Marit Rosol · · Global

This chapter discusses the politics of urban community gardening, positioning it ambiguously between neoliberal/austerity urbanism and progressive urban politics. It argues that urban community gardening can reinforce neoliberal urbanism through land use struggles and gentrification, the role of volunteering in neoliberal urban governance, and governing through community and technologies of the self. The continuous emphasis on self-help in urban green spaces is problematic when civic engagement focuses exclusively on certain groups and values.

Ida Åberg · · Sweden (Stockholm)

This study explores the social and political logics at work in establishing inner-city urban agriculture in Stockholm, focusing on the public park Bellevue. It notes that access to public space embodies highly valued normative democratic values, where anyone can participate and communicate politically.