Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
3623 results(38 / 145)
Screech owls, Super Soakers, and school gardens
2024Miranda S. Fitzgerald, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar · Phi Delta Kappan · Global
Project-based learning (PBL) is argued to provide a rich context for fostering students' literacy motivation and engagement. Characteristic features of PBL align with research-supported instructional practices, such as peer collaboration and communicating with real audiences. Educators can use the SMILE concept (sharing, me, importance, liking, engagement) to design and implement PBL in K-12 classrooms.
Food educationSocial prescribing of urban agriculture: The importance of minimizing risks from soil contamination
2024Luke Beesley, Michael Hardman · Cities · Global
This opinion piece discusses the potential risks of urban agriculture (UA) practices within Green Social Prescribing (GSP), particularly in post-industrial regions. It highlights barriers related to heavy metal-enriched urban soils, emphasizing the need for greater awareness and management of these risks. The piece provides recommendations for improving knowledge exchange on urban soils and risk in GSP contexts.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityPolicyGREEN INFORMALITIES AS SOCIALLY JUST ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Enduring with Dignity at the Edges of Resilient Development in Dhaka
2024Efadul Huq · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · Bangladesh (Dhaka)
This article argues that in the global South, ecological infrastructure often displaces marginalized urban dwellers by erasing existing informal agricultural practices, or "green informalities." Based on research with urban farmers facing eviction in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it highlights that these green informalities are crucial for understanding grassroots practices and collective power-building. The study advocates for recognizing the political and affective dimensions of informal urban agriculture as a socially just ecological infrastructure that prioritizes justice and dweller agency.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityWelfarePolicyEconomicsHOW LOCAL PRACTICES OF SOCIOPOLITICAL INNOVATION DEVELOP: And Why This Matters for Urban Transformations
2024Merlijn van Hulst, Catherine Durose, Annika Agger · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · Global
This article theorizes sociopolitical innovations as practices that reshape urban spaces for local social and political ends, identifying three activities: assembling, extending, and institutionalizing innovations. An international qualitative study of neighborhoods in Amsterdam, Birmingham, Copenhagen, and Glasgow underpins this theorization. The study notes that while the ongoing development of everyday systems may have limited immediate transformative impact, it prefigures an alternative embedded in urban life.
CommunityPolicyImpact of Irrigation Water on the Bacteriological Quality of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in the Market Garden Zone of Niamey, Identification of Enterobacteria
2024Almou Abdoulaye Alio, Alio Sanda Abdel-Kader, Alio Fody Mahamadou, Chaibou Yaou, Rabiou Mamane Moustapha, Hamidou Djelifa, SOUMANA SOUROUNDA Idé, Mahamane Idi Issa Abdoulahi, Lewamy Mamadou, Haoua Sabo Seini, Hassimi Sadou · Asian Journal of Biology · Niger (Niamey)
This study assessed the impact of irrigation water on the bacteriological quality of lettuce in three market garden sites in Niamey, Niger. Analysis of 18 lettuce and 29 irrigation water samples revealed high contamination across all sites with various bacteria, including total coliforms, fecal coliforms, enterobacteria, and E. coli. The irrigation water quality was found unsuitable for irrigation, significantly contaminating the lettuce and posing potential health risks to consumers.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agricultureMultifunctional Role of Land-Use Planning in Peri-Urban and Urban Agricultural Drylands: The Mediating Effect of Urbanization Level
2024Muhammad Waseem Khan, WU Qun, Siqi Yan, Komal Bilal, Muhammad Bilawal Junaid, Wesam Atef Hatamleh · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Global
This global study investigated the multifunctional role of land-use planning in peri-urban and urban agricultural drylands, using a survey of 680 participants and a structural equation model. Findings indicated that amenity, landscape and recreational value, and proximity significantly affect these areas. Conversely, large rural lots in China's Tianjin region negatively affected both the level of urbanization and urban agricultural drylands.
PolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageHuerto escolar orgánico: una experiencia desde la educación ambiental en escolares de primaria
2024José Angel Vences-Martínez, Alejo Javier Lungo Rodríguez, Grecia Hernández Zamacona, Juan Ernesto Mendoza-Ramos, José Pepe Vargas Soberanis, José Domingo Cipriano Espino · REVISTA DE EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL Y SOSTENIBILIDAD · Global
An organic School Garden (HE) was designed through Environmental Education (EA) workshops for 13 sixth-grade primary school children. The project aimed to develop students' attitudes and skills regarding global environmental problems and their environment. Three EA workshops were designed: "Knowing my Garden," "Locating my garden," and "Composting," followed by two workshops for preparing and sowing the garden.
Food educationCommunityCompostValuing ecosystem services of community gardens in developing countries: a case study of Dezful City in Iran
2024Mostafa Baniasadi, Mohammad Eydipour · Nature Conservation · Iran (Dezful)
This study analyzed citizen preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for community garden services in Dezful, Iran, using a choice experiment with 170 respondents in autumn 2022. Results showed citizens were willing to pay 4.57 USD per month, valuing cultural services most, followed by provisioning services. Age, being native, education, household expenditure, and awareness of ecosystem services significantly affected WTP.
CommunityEconomicsBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceSpatio-temporal Landuse/Landcover Dynamics in the Coastal Areas of Limbe and Douala IV Municipalities and Implications on Wetland Regulating Ecosystem Services
2024Aminkeng Lucienne Fuanyi, Tata Emmanuel Sunjo, Balgah Sounders · Environmental Management and Sustainable Development · Cameroon
This study analyzed the implications of spatio-temporal land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics on wetland ecosystem services in the coastal areas of Limbe I and III Municipality and Douala IV Municipality, Cameroon, from 1986 to 2022, using GIS techniques. Over 36 years, wetlands retreated by -0.2km² (-0.96%) in Limbe I & III and -0.48km² (-0.14%) in Douala IV, while built-up areas increased by 0.75km² (0.36%) and 1.63km² (0.45%) respectively. These LULC changes, based on wetland regulating services, exposed neighborhoods in Limbe I & III to flood vulnerability and identified two categories of vulnerable neighborhoods in Douala IV.
Environmental trade-offsClimate changeUrban–rural linkageTackling Social Inequality in the City of Porto, Northern Portugal: Grassroots Horticultural Practices and the Desired City
2024Paula Mota Santos · Social Inclusion · Portugal (Porto)
Grassroots urban horticultural plots (hortas) in the Porto Metropolitan Area, Northern Portugal, are informal communities that have existed for decades, often involving over 20-30 people. However, these low-income urbanite horticultural communities are not cherished by city governance, which does not prevent their destruction. This incompatibility between urban governance and grassroots communities hinders the right to the city for the low-income urbanites who created them.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceTeaching through community artistic practices in informal urban agriculture laboratory
2024Isabel Cristina Carvalho, Raquel Luz Sousa · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Global
This chapter advocates for teaching contexts that integrate community art practices, using an informal urban agriculture laboratory as a basis. It proposes pedagogical approaches for Architecture and Urbanism education that leverage action and experimental research to structure living spaces, focusing on proximity, solidarity, intergenerationality, multifunctionality, and sustainability. The aim is to foster social, biophysical, and ecological integration, promote diversity and gender equality, and raise awareness of active citizenship through collaborative co-planning and co-management of plural green urban spaces.
CommunityFood educationPolicyBiodiversity7 Countryside–City Revisited
2024John Wilkinson · Bristol University Press eBooks · Global
This book argues that the wave of agri-food innovations under review takes urban life, rather than rural production, as its point of departure, motivated by urban sensibilities like health, climate, and animal wellbeing, and existing urban food consumption practices. The two main innovations analyzed—climate-controlled agriculture and alternative proteins—can be integrated into the urban environment, radically reducing the agricultural footprint and environmental pressure. Combined with deindustrialization and energy transition, new food perspectives question the historical urbanization-agriculture relation, identifying varied food provision forms, often involving significant urban food production. A radical city-country separation occurred only in the early 20th century due to public hygiene, transport innovations, and the end of horse transport. Deindustrialization in the North and urban poverty in the South see urban agriculture reintroduced as a food security strategy. Urban designers envision food reintegration into the city, compatible with the innovations analyzed.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeSchool gardening through the perspective of the Whole School Approach
2024Maria Neocleous Maliotou, Γεωργία Λιαράκου · Education 3-13 · Global
This research employed the Whole School Approach framework to address obstacles in setting up and operating a school-integrated, long-sustained school garden. A school case study involving in-depth interviews with school stakeholders was utilized. Findings suggest that a long-sustained school garden requires collective vision and strategic planning, a holistic curriculum connection, continuous staff capacity building, and school community involvement.
Food educationCommunityPolicyGreen Informalities as Socially Just Ecological Infrastucture: Enduring with Dignity at the Edges of Resilient Development in Dhaka
2024Huq, Efadul · Smith ScholarWorks (Smith College) · Bangladesh (Dhaka)
Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, indicates that ecological infrastructure often erases existing informal agricultural practices, leading to the displacement of marginalized urban dwellers. Based on engaged research with a collective of urban farmers facing eviction, this paper argues that green informalities are crucial for understanding grassroots practices and can be appreciated as socially just ecological infrastructure.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyWelfareA tale of service regimes in irrigated urban agriculture: evidence from two cities in the Global South
2024B.J.M. van Vliet, Kamonashish Haldar, Matthijs T. Wessels, Katarzyna Kujawa-Roeleveld, Gert Jan Veldwisch · Water International · Global
This study examined the governance of irrigated urban agriculture in Arusha, Tanzania, and Khulna, Bangladesh, from a service regime perspective. Findings showed how service regimes bridge the gap between formal governance institutions and practices around irrigated urban agriculture. It is concluded that acknowledging, facilitating, and aligning these regimes can strengthen governance arrangements.
Governance failurePolicyHealthFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeAssessing how pro-environmental perspectives impact participation in rooftop organic agriculture in urban neighborhoods
2024Mohammad Enamul Hoque, Abdullah Al Mamun, Perengki Susanto · International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management · Bangladesh
A study collected data from 352 households in two major Bangladeshi cities to predict organic food production intention and behavior in urban rooftop gardens using the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory and theory of planned behavior (TPB). Findings showed that biospheric and egoistic values improved ecological worldview, which, along with awareness of consequences and social norms, predicted personal norms. Personal and social norms forecasted the intention to produce organic food in rooftop gardens.
DIYClimate changeCommunityOrganic cycleGrowing utopia – undoing risk through self-sufficiency and urban gardening?
2024Elin Montelius · Journal of Risk Research · Sweden
This paper analyzes the utopia of self-sufficiency as a response to risk and uncertainty, particularly focusing on the growing interest in gardening and cultivating vegetables in Sweden. Using intersectional risk theory, it examines how narratives of self-sufficiency function to address ecological risk and uncertainty, and how utopian narratives can contribute to undoing risk.
DIYCommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceExploring climate change adaptation strategies of crop and livestock farmers in urban Ghana
2024Godwin K. Naazie, Isaac Agyemang, Anthony Mwinilanaa Tampah-Naah · Discover Environment · Ghana
This study investigated climate change adaptation strategies among 191 urban crop and livestock farming households and 13 key informants in Ghana using mixed methods. Findings revealed a significant link between farmers' educational status, gender, and climate adaptation information sources. Strategies include cultivating improved crop varieties, rearing exotic animal breeds, and treating animals with vaccinations and chemicals, but access to agricultural extension services remains a primary challenge.
Climate changeFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageA growing concern: investigating sustainable water quality and urban food production in Freetown, Sierra Leone
2024Lee D. Bryant, Roy Maconachie, Bastian Schnabel, Abubakarr Swaray, Howard Gigi, Solomon Gbanie, Kabba Haroun Bangura, Anthony Kamara, Prince Antwi-Agyei · Water Science & Technology Water Supply · Sierra Leone (Freetown)
This paper examined the environmental health status of three urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) sites in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Qualitative and quantitative data revealed heavy metal concentrations significantly exceeding regulatory limits in sweet potato leaves and arable soil. Additionally, soaring levels of faecal coliform bacteria were found in irrigation water, and crops were identified as hyperaccumulators for environmental contaminants.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsUrban Agriculture and Food Security in Development Planning
2024Paul Teng · Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development · Global
This paper examines urban agriculture's role in national planning, particularly concerning global food security challenges as urban populations grow. It notes that urban and peri-urban agriculture, ranging from community gardens to commercial farms, has seen rapid technological development and private investment, especially since the early 2020s. Beyond economic and food security benefits, urban agriculture also offers environmental and social advantages for cities aiming to reduce their carbon footprints.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunityDigital agricultureUrine luck: Environmental assessment of yellow water management in buildings for urban agriculture
2024María Virginia Maiza, Joan Muñoz‐Liesa, Anna Petit‐Boix, Verónica Arcas‐Pilz, Xavier Gabarrell · Resources Conservation and Recycling · Global
A life cycle assessment compared three human urine management strategies for nitrogen fertilizer production: an artificial wetland, an on-site lab-scale aerobic reactor (S2), and a centralized wastewater treatment plant. S2 showed the highest environmental impacts in 6 out of 8 categories, including high energy demand (750 kg MJ-eq) and ecotoxicity (602 kg 1.4-DCB-eq), although it offered an advantage in marine eutrophication. Upscaling S2 could reduce impacts and lower payback time, with nitrogen production exceeding 2.3 times the yearly demand for building tomato production.
Environmental trade-offsOrganic cycleClimate changeTHE IMPERATIVE ROLE OF URBAN HORTICULTURE IN FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY: A REVIEW
2024Anusha Ghimire, Sunil Ojha, Srijana Saud, Sanju Aryal, Anjali Thapa, Prabina Bhandari · INWASCON Technology Magazine · Global
This review summarizes the need for urban horticulture, its challenges, opportunities, and new trends. Urban horticulture addresses threats to food security, environmental quality, and community well-being in urban settings by providing local produce, improving green spaces, and fostering human-nature connections. It faces obstacles such as plant selection and nutrient recycling, but new techniques like aeroponics and vertical farming are emerging.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeEconomicsTowards meeting the food needs of urban households in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of formal sector employees’ participation in agricultural production in urban Wa, Ghana
2024Peter Dery Bolang, Issah Baddianaah, Issaka Kanton Osumanu · Cogent Social Sciences · Ghana
This cross-sectional survey examined formal sector employees' participation in urban agriculture (UA) in urban Wa, Ghana, using data from 364 employees across four public institutions. Findings revealed that only 37.9% of contacted employees participate in UA (food crops and/or animal production). Participation likelihood was influenced by household size, income, expenditure, and farm income, with employees in the Teacher and Education Directorate showing higher engagement. The study highlights the need for policy attention to increase formal sector employees' UA participation to enhance food supply and household well-being.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsA Comprehensive Review on Evolution, Challenges of Models, Opportunities in Urban Farming Practices in the World
2024Anushi Anushi, A. Krishnamoorthi, Jitendra Chaurasia, Bijay Kumar Baidya, Abhishek Singh, Sapna, Vijay Kumar, Anushka Singh · Journal of Scientific Research and Reports · Global
This review explores the historical evolution and diverse models of urban farming, highlighting their contributions to food security, environmental sustainability, and community resilience. Challenges faced by urban farmers include limited space, soil contamination, regulatory hurdles, and access to resources.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyEconomicsOrganic compost belowground and floral diversity aboveground interactively shape beneficial insects in urban gardens
2024Carmen K. Blubaugh, R. Chesnut, Katherine Hagan · Journal of Applied Ecology · Global
This study investigated how organic composts mediate the effects of plant diversity across trophic levels over two field seasons, conducting 18 experiments in school gardens. Vermicompost strengthened a positive relationship between flower richness and foliar-feeding omnivores, but predators increased with flower richness and were not affected by vermicompost. The net outcomes of vermicompost and plant diversity were neutral for herbivores.
CompostBiodiversityPollinatorsOrganic cycleFood education