Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1627 results(39 / 66)
Searching for Haknip Achukma (Good Health): Challenges to Food Sovereignty Initiatives in Oklahoma
2017Devon A. Mihesuah · American Indian Culture and Research Journal · United States
In Oklahoma, tribes have initiated numerous food projects over the past three decades aimed at achieving food sovereignty. However, Oklahoma's complex history, environmental issues, and current politics present challenges such as uneven food quality, poor indigenous health, intratribal factionalism, racism, and a stark dichotomy of affluence and extreme poverty. These factors complicate the creation of self-sufficient food systems and the reconnection of tribal members with traditional foodways.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationHealthUC pursues rooted research with a nonprofit, links the many benefits of community gardens
2017Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell, James Bliesner, Keith Pezzoli · California Agriculture · United States
This study collaborated with the San Diego Community Garden Network to analyze the production, distribution, and consumption of produce from eight community gardens in San Diego County. UC San Diego researchers and students worked with county residents and community-based organizations to develop a survey. Interviews with gardeners and survey data documented how community gardens contribute to individual and household health, well-being, and community development. The findings suggest that community gardens have the potential to contribute meaningfully to community development, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.
CommunityHealthEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura urbana: o desenvolvimento de um projeto social
2017Joice Zagna Valent, Letícia de Oliveira, Vinicius Dornelles Valent · DRd - Desenvolvimento Regional em debate · Brazil
This descriptive study aimed to describe a social urban agriculture project in a community located in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Through a literature review and a semi-structured interview with the project coordinator, it was shown that urban agriculture possesses social, economic, ecological, and symbolic dimensions beyond food production. The study concluded that various projects developed around urban food cultivation, with main impacts including the promotion of food security, generation of employment and income, environmental management, social integration, and development of human capital.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsHealthWelfareTaxonomic and functional trait diversity of wild bees in different urban settings
2017Étienne Normandin, Nicolas J. Vereecken, Christopher M. Buddle, Valérie Fournier · PeerJ · Canada
This study collected 32,237 wild bee specimens (200 species, 6 families) from 46 sites in Montreal and Quebec City in 2012 and 2013, across cemeteries, community gardens, and urban parks. It demonstrated that cities are home to diverse communities of wild bees, which in turn affect bee community structure and dynamics. Community gardens specifically harbored high levels of functional trait diversity, suggesting a substantial contribution to urban pollination services.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityContaminants in Urban Soils: Bioavailability and Transfer
2017Dorothy Menefee, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi · · United States
Soil contamination with potentially toxic trace elements and anthropogenic organic pollutants is a widespread problem in urban areas worldwide. While urban agriculture increases food security, potential risks exist without knowledge of urban soil contamination. Lead (Pb) contamination is a widespread and common urban soil issue associated with human health risks, with almost half of US EPA Superfund sites having Pb contamination. Cadmium (Cd) is also a widespread urban soil pollutant, largely from industrial activities like plastic manufacturing, battery disposal, and metal ore processing. The bioavailability of soil Pb to humans is unusually low and generally tied to Pb speciation.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityMapping the growing capacity of climate smart food in urban environments
2017Gavin Schneider, Victoria Fast · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada (Calgary)
This study assessed the potential of urban land to grow "climate smart food," a term proposed to examine the environmental impact of urban food production. Using the Bowness neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, as a case study, a geospatial constraint mapping process analyzed suitable private land for conversion from lawns to gardens. In 2016, six urban farms in Calgary produced approximately 8,200 pounds of food from private gardens, while 42% of Bowness's private turf grass land produced only about 800 pounds, quantifying underutilized urban land for food production.
Climate changeUrban–rural linkageCommunityCSA & TeikeiConstructing the “Greener, Greater” City
2017Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)
This chapter analyzes why urban forestry was prioritized in New York City's PlaNYC mayoral initiative while urban agriculture was overlooked. It examines the networks, public-private partnerships, elite ties, and bureaucratic structures involved in PlaNYC, revealing that certain voices were heard while others were ignored in the sustainability planning process. The analysis highlights issues of governance and equity in urban nature planning.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsCity of Farms
2017Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)
In New York City, chapter six revealed how civic and public actors working outside PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. Within the void created by city hall’s lack of engagement, other figures in the municipal government seized the opportunity to advance food policy agendas for New York City. The 2011 update to PlaNYC included a brief crosscutting section on food, although it lacked capital funding to fuel the achievement of its stated goals, and was seen by advocates as a symbolic and political achievement.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceA Knotty Problem: Arts Based Action Research in and out of a Community Garden
2017Sam Smiley · Catalyst Feminism Theory Technoscience · United States (Provincetown, MA)
This arts-based action research, conducted by media artist and researcher sam smiley, explored the process of building a sculpture from Japanese Knotweed, an "invasive species," in the B-Street community garden in Provincetown, MA, USA. A series of community interventions with gardeners, naturalists, and sculptors were organized during the May 2016 Appearances Environmental Arts Festival. This article debriefs the journey of the Knotweed Sculpture from the community garden to its ultimate destruction in a bonfire on National Seashore.
CommunityBiodiversityUrban Agricultural and Sustainability Program at Houston’s Downtown University: Combining New Curriculum, Hands-on Projects, and a Hurricane
2017Lisa Morano, Vassilios Tzouanas · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Houston)
The University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) launched an urban agriculture and sustainability program in 2016, engaging undergraduates in hands-on projects like creating aquaponics systems. Qualitative student surveys indicated increased knowledge and impact on career directions. However, the 2017 program plans were disrupted when Hurricane Harvey flooded the school and destroyed student aquaponics systems, necessitating a focus on rebuilding and future resiliency.
Food educationCommunityClimate changeSurvey Data from Utah Urban Agricultural Workshop
2017Tyson J. Sorensen, Kelsey Hall, David Francis, Joshua Dallin · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States (Utah)
A survey was conducted among 42 teachers who attended the Urban Agriculture Workshop in Utah to assess the value of various workshop aspects and measure pre-post gains in knowledge, ability, and importance. The survey also measured attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls, and behavioral intention, with demographic data also collected.
Food educationCommunity“We Always Say: And Then Came The Water…” 1 Flint’s Emergent Latinx Capacity Building Journey During the Government-Induced Lead Crisis
2017Roxanna Duntley-Matos, Victoria Arteaga, Ángel García, Rafael Arellano, Roberto Montes Garza, Robert M. Ortega · Journal of Community Practice · United States (Flint)
This critically intersubjectively engaged ethnography examines emergent Latinx lead crisis rehabilitation efforts in Flint, MI, focusing on the role of education within multicultural struggles for validation. It employs cultural humility, transformative complicity, and empowerment paradigms, emphasizing organizing strategies that respect faith-based, union, and urban gardening histories. The study's popular pedagogical methods promote agency among detained youths from Kalamazoo, who contribute through protest music, testimonies, and commentaries.
CommunityFood educationLeadership, partnerships, and civic engagement
2017Helena C. Lyson · · United States (California)
This qualitative fieldwork in a large, urban school district in Northern California explored school food reform efforts addressing childhood obesity. Reforms transpired through three processes: sustained involvement of parent-activists, leadership by the school food service director in championing farm-to-school efforts and facilitating partnerships, and widespread community support for funding and implementation. These findings indicate how local social change transformed public school food programs to benefit youth health.
Food educationCommunityHealthPolicyEngaging Past and Future on a Community Supported Agriculture Farm
2017Catherine Villar · Scholarship@Western (Western University) · Canada
This ethnographic study, conducted from August 2013 to August 2014, examined Orchard Hill Farm, an organic, draft-horse powered Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Sparta, Ontario, Canada. It found that the farm's management approach resulted in a financially viable small-scale farm. The study highlighted that CSA members experience a "re-enchantment" through closeness to food and the farm, while farmers and apprentices demonstrate a commitment to sustainable practices.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsGetting the Lead Out: Urban Chicken Keeping as Transformative Neo-Agrarianism
2017Sydney Giacalone · Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography · United States (Boston)
This ethnographic study, conducted in Boston and Somerville in the summer of 2016, investigated how urban chicken keeping might transform keepers’ thinking about food systems and animal relationships. The research revealed the unexpected discovery of lead contamination in urban chicken flocks in the Boston area, which unsettled the imagined simplicity of urban agriculture and exposed a "metabolic rift." This finding prompted keepers to engage more deeply with the history of the soil and opened new ways of thinking about collective metabolism, multispecies living, and food politics.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthFarming in the City: Investigating the Policy Implications for Urban Farming in Regina
2017Osazuwa Osayomwanbor · Open MIND · Canada
This study discusses the concept of urban agriculture in Regina, Canada, its growth, and the implications of municipal bylaws and policies on urban agricultural activities. It uses policy frameworks from other cities to suggest changes needed to improve Regina's urban agriculture landscape and presents practical actions required for urban agriculture to thrive in Regina.
PolicyCommunityFood justice or food sovereignty? Understanding the rise of urban food movements in the USA
2016Clendenning J., Dressler W. H., Richards C. · Agriculture and Human Values 33:165-177 · United States
Through interviews with activists in Oakland and New Orleans, analyzes how food justice and food sovereignty have become embedded as concepts, strategies and practices in the rise of US urban food movements.
CommunityPolicyWelfareFood Policy: Urban Farming as a Supplemental Food Source
2016Bessie DiDomenica, Mark Gordon · Journal of Social Change · United States
This study explores urban farms as a secondary food source and examines common themes across the public, nonprofit, private, and academic sectors, using a Northeastern U.S. city that implemented a formal urban agriculture program as its case study. It notes that food systems can be disrupted by external forces (weather extremes) and internal forces (zoning regulations). The authors argue that urban farms offer greater food visibility and access in low-income areas, but conclude that local food alone cannot feed large populations.
PolicyCommunityAvailability and Accessibility of Vacant Lots for Urban Cultivation in Post-Katrina New Orleans
2016Yuki Kato, Scarlett Andrews, Cate Irvin · Urban Affairs Review · United States (New Orleans)
Based on interviews with 44 urban growers in New Orleans, this study examines their experiences establishing urban agriculture projects on publicly and privately owned lots through purchase or lease. It finds that publicly owned lots are easier to identify but insecure to access due to bureaucratic processes and shifting policy, while privately owned lots are easier to lease but hard to identify; neither offers significantly more secure land tenure, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of urban agriculture.
PolicyCommunityEffects of greening and community reuse of vacant lots on crime
2016Michelle Kondo, Bernadette Hohl, SeungHoon Han, Charles Branas · Urban Studies · United States (Youngstown)
Using a difference-in-differences design, this study evaluates Youngstown's 'Lots of Green' program, comparing crime around newly treated vacant lots—via a cleaning-and-greening 'stabilization' treatment and a 'community reuse' treatment involving mostly community gardens—to matched untreated control lots. It finds statistically significant reductions across crime classes for at least one treatment type, with community-initiated greening associated with greater reductions in serious, violent crimes, alongside spillover reductions in contiguous areas but increases in motor vehicle thefts.
CommunityPolicyEffects of Garden Attributes on Ant (Formicidae) Species Richness and Potential for Pest Control
2016Naim Edwards · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Ann Arbor)
This study investigated ant (Formicidae) species diversity in relation to garden attributes at three gardening sites in Ann Arbor, Michigan, along with predation experiments testing biocontrol of Cabbage Looper moths and Squash Bugs. It sampled 19 ant species from 12 genera, finding that soil texture, intense tilling and distance from less-disturbed areas significantly reduced species richness, with less-tilled plots averaging nearly double the species of tractor-tilled plots. Ants consumed Cabbage Looper eggs and larvae, and the authors conclude that reducing disturbance in and around gardens can promote ant biodiversity and beneficial pest predation.
BiodiversityCommunityCommunity Gardens for Refugee and Immigrant Communities as a Means of Health Promotion
2016· Journal of Community Health · United States
A mixed-method evaluation of a church-hosted refugee gardening project serving primarily Karen and Bhutanese populations, using early- and late-season surveys and seven end-of-season focus groups.
WelfareHealthCommunityOrganic farm volunteer tourism as social movement participation: a Polanyian political economy analysis of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) in Hawai'i
2016· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States (Hawai'i)
Analyzes WWOOF organic-farm volunteer tourism in Hawai'i as a form of social movement participation, using a Polanyian political economy framework.
CommunityOrganic cycleEconomicsUrban agriculture: connecting producers with consumers
2016Carolyn Dimitri, Lydia Oberholtzer, Andy Pressman · British Food Journal · United States
Based on a 2012 national survey of urban farmers in the USA (35 questions), this study analyzed the social missions of urban farms, their extent, and differences and similarities among farms with varying missions. The survey found that food production is an essential mission for all urban farms, and some also have social missions related to food security, education, and community building. Farms with explicit social missions were found to donate a higher share of food and were less likely to own farmland compared to market-oriented farms.
EconomicsCommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceWomen and Children
2016David J. Bettez · · United States
During wartime, the Kentucky Division of the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense guided women's efforts, supporting activities like the Red Cross and Liberty Bond campaigns, and pursuing initiatives in child health, schooling, and recreation. Children were also expected to contribute, mainly by cultivating school gardens and promoting the purchase of War Savings Stamps.
Food educationCommunity