Research & reports

In-Kyoung Hong, Young Chae, Sang-Mi Lee, Young-Bin Jung · Journal of people, plants, and environment · South Korea

This study aimed to improve the diversity of urban gardens by identifying suitable crops from "Gwanhyuji," an agricultural book from the Joseon Dynasty. Fifty-three crops were selected based on traditionality, historicity, health functionality, and popularity, and their properties were evenly distributed. The study suggests that applying traditional knowledge to urban agriculture can transform urban gardens into resources offering educational and traditional values, thereby enhancing their diversity and utility.

Putri Lynna A. Luthan, Yogi Nikman, Hasanatun Nisa Hasibuan, Jaka Prima Albertus Malau · JURNAL PENGABDIAN KEPADA MASYARAKAT · Indonesia (Medan)

In Medan, Indonesia, a verticulture urban farming training program was implemented in Lorong Sidodadi, a densely populated area with limited green space (5.6% of the city). The program targeted non-productive housewives and involved five stages: preparation, socialization, training, mentoring, and evaluation. Participants reported positive responses, aesthetic, thermal, psychological, health, and economic benefits, and reduced vegetable purchases. However, the activity faced issues with rat pests and children's activities.

Riska Rahma Arriani, Mardwi Rahdriawan · Teknik PWK (Perencanaan Wilayah Kota) · Indonesia (Jakarta)

A qualitative study using purposive sampling investigated the reasons for decreasing community participation in the government-initiated Urban Farming Program at Rusun Marunda, Jakarta, Indonesia. The program, which started with 50 farmers in 2014, saw participation drop to only 5 farmers by 2019. The study found that obstacles in farming demotivated farmers, leading to a decline in participation, particularly among those with economic-egoism motivations.

Riesma Andiani, Harsoyo Harsoyo, Subejo Subejo · Agritech Jurnal Fakultas Pertanian Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This study aimed to analyze the motivation of Marunda village residents in Cilincing District, North Jakarta, Indonesia, regarding the implementation of a demplot urban farming program and to identify affecting factors. A simple random sampling method was used with 60 residents as respondents. Research results showed that residents' motivation reached 73.33% and was significantly affected by attitude, the role of the supervisor, and the availability of infrastructures.

Setyo Parsudi · Berkala Ilmiah AGRIDEVINA · Indonesia (Surabaya)

This study in Surabaya, Indonesia, aimed to identify urban farming models, community motivations, and obstacles faced in implementing urban agriculture. The study found that the most common urban farming models were hydroponics, followed by verticulture, fisheries, and rooftop gardens. Community motivations primarily included increasing income, utilizing empty land, pursuing farming hobbies, and using green open spaces. The main obstacles faced by the community were plant pests, lack of capital for development, extreme weather, and insufficient experience and knowledge in urban agriculture.

M.Si. Indra, Fitriani Fitriani, Handayani Sri · · Indonesia (Bandar Lampung)

This study outlines the plan for PT ABC, a hydroponic urban farm in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, to develop an "education farming" initiative. The objectives were to describe the business process, identify necessary resources, and design the activities for this educational program, which aims to teach the community about utilizing limited urban land for agriculture. The proposed plan includes defining activity stages, identifying resources such as inventory, promotion, and infrastructure, and structuring activity packages and production processes.

김종안, 최문식, 이준우, 위태석 · 식품유통연구 · South Korea

This study examined the role of agricultural extension agencies in promoting regional food plans in South Korea, where 46 plans have rapidly spread and 100 are projected by 2022. Analyzing 8 local governments' food policies using monitoring indicators derived from Milan policy agreements, the study found that agricultural technology centers' functions were less emphasized in rural and urban food plans compared to agricultural administration and foundations. Key tasks for agricultural technology centers include farmer education, community kitchens, urban-rural linked farming, and strengthening planned production systems, with a recommendation to shift focus from specialized farmers to a sustainable food system for the entire nation.

Idealita Ismanto · spectā Journal of Photography Arts and Media · Indonesia (Surabaya)

This qualitative study in Pegirian, Surabaya, investigated the use of photography as a learning medium for children to monitor urban farming and document their living environment. Using observation and interviews, the research found that photography can document environmental changes, facilitate child and community participation in child-friendly environmental activities, and improve family behavior in plant care and environmental maintenance, strengthening family and community relationships.

Chery Soraya Ammatillah · · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This study analyzed the role of urban agriculture on household income in five districts of DKI Jakarta, Indonesia, using data from 60 respondents in 2017. The average urban agricultural income was 24,431,176 IDR per year, and the average total household income was 38,948,226 IDR per year. Urban agriculture contributed 62.7% to total household income, indicating its role as a main source of income for these households.

Nizzatul Amaliyah, Sarwititi Sarwoprasodjo · Jurnal Komunikasi Pembangunan · Indonesia

This study of the Indonesian women's farming groups KWT Dahlia Indah and KWT Nusa Indah Lestari combined a quantitative questionnaire with qualitative in-depth interviews to analyze the relationship between individual characteristics, communication climate, and participation level in an urban farming program, and between participation level and program success. Individual characteristics were not related to participation level, but the communication climate within the groups was supportive and related to participation level, and participation level had a significant relationship with the program's success rate.

Yasinta Ratna Esti Wulandari, Anastasia Tatik Hartanti, Bernard Atviano · Jurnal Perkotaan · Indonesia

A hydroponic experiment in Indonesia tested the effect of plant growth regulators on water spinach (kangkung, Ipomoea aquatica) yield. Treatments included a control (AB-Mix), IAA (indole acetic acid) at 0.5 ppm, BAP (benzyl adenine purine) at 0.5 and 1.0 ppm, and combined IAA/BAP at 0.5/1.0 ppm, measuring leaf number, plant height, antioxidant content and water content. Morphological growth was most optimal under 0.5 ppm IAA, while 1.0 ppm BAP produced the shortest average plant height, fewest leaves and shortest root length. Chlorophyll testing showed 0.5 ppm IAA had the highest total chlorophyll content, averaging 9.55 μg/ml, and the authors conclude 0.5 ppm IAA had the most positive effect among the treatments tested.

최지원, 오충현 · 한국환경생태학회 학술발표논문집 · South Korea

A study of urban agriculture in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea, reviewing about ten years of activity from the district's 2010 enactment of Korea's first eco-friendly urban agriculture support ordinance through its 2019 comprehensive plan, assessed across economic, environmental-ecological and social dimensions using Lee Chang-woo's (2016) functional classification and a resident satisfaction survey, to derive directions for the next urban agriculture master plan. On the economic side, following the district's first urban garden plots opened in the Gangil-dong area in 2009, by January 2019 there were 39 sites totaling 145,806 square meters across 6,873 plots, and in 2018 the Gangdong Urban Agriculture Support Center ("Ssingssing Dream") recorded produce sales of 348,218,000 KRW and donated 3,204 kg of produce to low-income households. On the environmental side, urban beekeeping begun in 2013 had grown to roughly 40 hives by 2018, alongside 25,923 box gardens and 121 rooftop gardens (totaling 1,828 square meters) established by 2018; on the social side, rooftop gardens at eight welfare facilities hosted a total of 107 horticultural therapy sessions by 2018.

Budijanto Chandra, Titin Fatimah · Seminar Nasional Pembangunan Wilayah dan Kota Berkelanjutan · Indonesia

A 2019 study examines green open space (RTH) development under land constraints in Kampung Luar Batang, a historic settlement in Jakarta located within the Kota Tua heritage district and home to the Luar Batang Mosque and the tomb of Habib Husein. The densely settled, unplanned kampung is prone to tidal flooding; using a qualitative descriptive method with observation and interviews focused on RW 02, the study proposes hydroponic and aquaponic (combined with catfish farming) urban farming as forms of green space suited to the area's limited land and irrigation water.

Tanushree Chakrabarti · Economic Affairs · India

A 2019 study examined the development and problems of urban agriculture in wards 28, 29 and 30 of the Chandernagore Municipal Corporation (CMC), Hooghly district, West Bengal, India. These three wards were rural before 1995, when they were added to the CMC as part of the town's expansion. A significant portion of the population remains dependent on agriculture, with fruit and vegetable crops in particular helping ensure food security for urban consumers.

Amanda C. J. Vincent, Saravanan Raj, B Suchiradipta · · India

A study in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India, examining information sources used by urban farming practitioners and the impact of urban farming on the cityscape. Online content and virtual knowledge were found to be the most important sources of agricultural knowledge, with practitioners using ICT services such as Facebook groups, online agri stores, and WhatsApp groups; neighbors with similar interests were also a major source of crop production knowledge. The study further found that urban farming was capable of recycling waste, restoring the urban ecosystem, and stabilizing the health of both residents and the cityscape.

Defira Suci Gusfarina, Irham Irham · Jurnal Kawistara · Indonesia

A descriptive, qualitative study in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, surveyed 113 households using a Likert-scale questionnaire to measure motivation for using home yards to grow vegetables and fruit. Motivation for yard-based farming ranked, from highest to lowest, health motivation, environmental motivation, social/community motivation and economic motivation.

Rahmat Rejoni, Andrianto Kusumoarto, Agus Gunawan, Devi Libriati · Lakar Jurnal Arsitektur · Indonesia

A neighborhood park in the Villa Bogor Indah housing complex in Bogor City, Indonesia, was designed and built through resident participation, using descriptive qualitative methods and a community-based design approach. The park covers 1,680.749 square meters. Residents wanted the space to function as urban farming (55%), a plant collection/arboretum (40%), and passive recreation (5%).

Julfi Restu Amelia, Ira Mulyawati, Lisa Ratnasari · Agrokreatif Jurnal Ilmiah Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat · Indonesia

This community-outreach report describes an activity in Kelurahan Tengah, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, Indonesia, combining training in verticulture (vertical cultivation suited to narrow land) with development of processed food products from the harvested vegetables — spinach/carrot/pineapple drink ("Batelnas"), okra/honey/ginger drink ("The Kraduu"), ginger/sesame dodol ("Dojawi"), and ginger/carrot dodol ("Dojawo") — plus training in online marketing. The technology transfer and mentoring increased participants' interest and participation in greening activities and produced new processed-food products with added economic value, which the report states could raise household income if continued.

Qijiao Xie, Yang Yue, Daohua Hu · Forests · China

Questionnaire surveys in eight sample communities in Wuhan, China, examined residents' attention to and awareness of urban edible landscapes. Nearly one-third of respondents were unaware of edible landscapes before the interview; 57.26% thought they could promote efficient land use and 54.64% valued their ornamental effect, but 37.10% did not believe edible landscapes could increase food output and 40.12% did not believe they could improve food quality. Among growers, 45.65% cultivated in private space and 32.73% in semiprivate space, and lack of public areas for agriculture was cited as the main barrier by 55.86% of growers and 59.51% of non-growers, alongside concerns about property manager opposition and conflicts or complex relationships with neighbors.

Masito Masito, Irawan Setyabudi, Rizki Alfian · Fakultas Pertanian · Indonesia

A qualitative study sampling 20 houses in the Lowokwaru sub-district of Malang, Indonesia, examining vertical-garden facade designs that apply verticulture and urban farming concepts to narrow housing plots. It produced design applications using wall-mounted, hanging, fence-mounted and shelf verticulture along with hydroponics and aquaponics for home front yards, intended to address the loss of garden space to other uses.

Haryati Haryati, Ameilia Zuliyanti Siregar, Suzanna Fitriany Sitepu, Jamilah Jamilah, Alida Lubis · ABDIMAS TALENTA Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat · Indonesia

A five-month training program (July–November 2019) at two elementary schools in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia—SD Model Al Azhar and SD Namira—taught students to convert used bottles, wood, cans, plastics, shoes, trousers, and oil packaging into vegetable-planting containers, run by the University of Sumatera Utara. The program covered problem identification, site preparation, training, hands-on practice, field guidance, and media dissemination. Reported outcomes were increased student knowledge and understanding of repurposing used materials into planting containers, which were then placed in a corner of the school garden.

R. Deiny Mardian, Suhartati Agoes, Erby Virta Joseph Paays, Abi Falaki, Nur Hudantomo · · Indonesia

For urban residents growing plants as a hobby, an automated irrigation system was developed that activates a water pump based on soil moisture readings and refills a water tank automatically when its level drops to a minimum threshold, monitored and controlled remotely via a dedicated Android smartphone application. The application's performance was evaluated by measuring its response time over a 4G cellular network, which ranged from approximately 4 to 9 seconds.

H N Vidya · Iconic Research and Engineering Journals · Asia

This is a discursive paper arguing for the need to raise awareness of women's empowerment through home gardening as a means of household food security. It presents home gardening as a form of urban agriculture offering self-sufficiency from home-grown produce, increased self-confidence, and household food security, while noting that expanding home gardens in metro cities is constrained by water supply shortfalls, insufficient garden space, deficient sunlight, and competing land use as apartments and shared housing outnumber individual homes. No specific study population, sample size or data-based results are presented.

Bjorn Low · OpenEdition (OpenEdition) · Asia

A case study reports on Edible Garden City, launched in 2012 in Singapore — a hyper-urbanized city-state that imports 90% of its food — which has built urban gardens with the aim of increasing the country's resilience and people's connection to food. Combining commercial activities with socially driven projects, from consultancy to community farming, the company had built 200 edible gardens and states its "Citizen Farm" could potentially produce 150 kg of leafy greens and 150 kg of mushrooms per month, an effort supported by a public-private partnership that made unused spaces available and reformed regulations; it also runs a farm on the rooftop of the Raffles City shopping mall supplying local restaurants.

Ana Raihan Putri · Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa Arsitektur dan Perencanaan · Indonesia

The design of low-income housing (perumahan dhuafa) in Lhokseumawe city, Indonesia, is presented as an effort by the city government and community to provide livable housing for residents classified as below the poverty line, proposing a design concept that embodies harmony between the living environment and society. The planned housing forms a "fostered area" intended as a new district where Lhokseumawe's poor can develop their economic quality of life by drawing on surrounding environmental resources; it will include public facilities such as a mosque, commercial space, hall, early-childhood education center, and park, alongside facilities for the fostered economy, including skills-training rooms for processing organic and inorganic waste into commercial goods, fish farming, and urban farming. The design's goal is to create better-organized urban space free of slums while raising living standards through livable housing equipped with facilities that support the poor's economic activities, applying a contextual architecture approach emphasizing local wisdom and natural materials in local vernacular style, intended to bring harmony among culture, the natural environment, and society within a framework of modern development.