Research & reports

Sandra Girbés Peco, Ana Inés Renta Davids, Lena De Botton, Pilar Álvarez Cifuentes · Social & Cultural Geography · Spain

This qualitative study, based on communicative methodology, examined "The Dream," a community development process initiated by a group of unemployed Moroccan residents in an impoverished urban neighborhood in Spain, centered on the Mare de Déu de Montserrat School, a Learning Community. The process led residents to create a self-managed community garden that improved their job training and built social networks, and the school is found to have fostered a horizontal, dialogical organization that placed neighbours in central decision-making and leadership roles, helping overcome barriers that had previously hindered community responses.

Przemysław Charzyński, Renata Bednarek, Patrycja Hudańska, Marcin Świtoniak · Soil Science & Plant Nutrition · Poland

This study examined the extent and properties of garden soils in Toruń, Poland, using five soil profiles from four allotment gardens; the city has 66 allotment gardens covering over 300 ha, or 3% of the city area. None of the studied mineral surface horizons met the criteria for a Hortic horizon under the World Reference Base (WRB) 2015 classification because of too-low phosphorus content, although the other hortic criteria were fulfilled, and the authors recommend further study at a larger scale to evaluate whether the WRB criteria are too strict for typical garden soils that are only a few decades old.

Luisa De Marco, Susan Denyer, Regina Durighello, Ege Yıldırım · · Germany

This chapter uses Bamberg, Germany, as a case to examine how a World Heritage site addresses its Outstanding Universal Value alongside intangible cultural heritage connected to the city's urban gardening tradition, and discusses environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and peace and security. It concludes that social cohesion, broad site accessibility, and municipal investment in heritage conservation support inclusive economic development in Bamberg, and that the city is generally peaceful and safe with a high degree of social cohesion, meaning all principal dimensions of sustainable development apply to the Bamberg World Heritage site.

Andrea Colantoni, Ilaria Zambon, Maria Gras, Enrico Maria Mosconi, Alessandra Stefanoni, Luca Salvati · Sustainability · Europe

This study uses multivariate analysis to identify the socioeconomic transformations shaping cropland distribution in the Athens metropolitan region, Greece, from 1960 to 2010. The share of cropland in total municipal area increased moderately, with a non-linear relationship to distance from downtown Athens: the highest cropland rates occurred 20-30 km from the inner city. Decade-by-decade multivariate regressions using 11 predictors per municipality found distance from downtown, soil and climate quality, population growth rate, and competing land use to be the factors most associated with cropland change. Competing land use drove cropland decline during the first urbanization phase (1960-1980), while population growth became positively associated with cropland in a later phase (1990-2010); per-capita urban land was negatively correlated with cropland in 1960 and 1970 but positively in 2010, suggesting a shift from a monocentric toward a more dispersed metropolitan structure.

Franklin Ginn, Eduardo Ascensão · Antipode · Europe

This article examines collective gardening spaces that have existed for decades across Lisbon, Portugal, analyzing the racialized urban geography revealed by the differing fortunes of makeshift gardens built by black migrants from Portugal's former colonies compared with white Portuguese community gardening spaces. Framing urban gardens as commons-in-the-making, it sets subaltern urbanism and the emergence of autonomous gardening commons against state erasure, overwriting, or top-down construction of commons. While urban gardening produces commons of varying persistence, the commons are shown to be closely entwined with processes of enclosure; the article argues these gardening commons are divergent, cannot be judged against any single abstract ideal, and ultimately do not share a "common" in common.

Gabrièle Larguinat-Turbatte · Histoire urbaine · Europe

A historical study (Histoire urbaine, 2018) examines empty spaces—excluding streets and squares—in Hellenistic-period Greek urban centers, mainly drawing examples from Asia Minor (Ionia and Caria). It develops a typology distinguishing temporary empty lots, abandoned neighborhoods, and spaces within city walls known as Gelandemauern, finding that while some hosted no activity or served as dumping grounds, others accommodated urban farming, livestock breeding, or various cultivation practices in central or marginal positions within the fortified city, and that many apparently empty areas likely held buildings of perishable materials.

Helen Traill · London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) · United Kingdom

A doctoral thesis examined two community growing projects in Glasgow, United Kingdom, using multi-sited ethnography and in-depth interviews to analyze how "community" is constructed in local processes of exclusion and urban land development. It found that, despite hopes that community gardens could serve as sources of renewal and collective resistance to neoliberal urban capitalism, communal growing does not constitute a systematic alternative, and it identified the selective reproduction of class and social exclusion within the growing spaces studied.

Generalitat Valenciana · Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) · Spain

A law enacted by the Generalitat Valenciana on 6 March 2018 to protect the Huerta de València, published in the official state gazette (BOE) on 20 April 2018 and in effect from 13 March 2018. It consists of 47 articles across 8 chapters, aiming to preserve, restore and revitalize the huerta as a space with agricultural, environmental, landscape, historical and cultural value, while promoting economically viable farming in the metropolitan area of Valencia.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO Agroecology Knowledge Hub · United Kingdom

A FAO Agroecology Knowledge Hub profile of Farm Hack, a community-led approach to developing, modifying and sharing designs for farm tools, machinery and other innovations, emphasizing farmer-to-farmer learning and platforms for collective 'hacking'. The first Farm Hack was started by The Greenhorns in the U.S.A. and has since been taken up in the U.K. It typically involves two complementary components: web-based and events.

Michael J. Roy, Neil McHugh, Stephen Sinclair · Stanford Social Innovation Review · United Kingdom

Published 1 May 2018. The authors argue that Social Impact Bonds look like an ideology-neutral financing fix but carry significant technical problems and a troubling ideological shift. At the time of writing the UK had 32 SIBs; government had put in $28 million in 2012 and a further $113.4 million through the Life Chances Fund in 2016, with the UK market predicted to reach $1.4 billion by 2020, while the US had at least 10 SIBs and 19 more existed across 14 other countries. The Peterborough prison SIB's initial result was an 8.4 per cent reduction in reoffending. They find little evidence that SIBs encourage innovation, note the heavy administrative burden, and contend that prioritising investor returns over service users turns citizens into commodities.

Watanabe Y., Amemiya M., Shimpo N. · 都市計画報告集 (Reports of the City Planning Institute of Japan), No.16 · Germany

Surveys the management and social background of Germany's 'intercultural gardens' (Interkulturelle Gärten), which aim to integrate immigrants and refugees into local society, and considers their applicability in Japan. Finds that the gardens originated as a grassroots activity by locals and spread across Germany through a supporting organisation.

Pölling B., Prados M.-J., Torquati B. M., Giacchè G., Recasens X., Paffarini C., Alfranca O., Lorleberg W. · Moravian Geographical Reports 25(3):166-180 · Europe

Comparative analysis of urban farming enterprises in Spain, Italy and Germany, concluding that differentiation, diversification, and low-cost specialization are essential business strategies for long-term profitability in cities.

Martin P., Consalès J.-N., Scheromm P., Marchand P., Ghestem F., Darmon N. · Appetite · France (Marseille)

Study in a deprived Marseille neighborhood found that socioeconomically disadvantaged women with access to a community garden were more likely to adopt a healthy diet than matched controls without such access.

Cabral I., Keim J., Engelmann R., Kraemer R., Siebert J., Bonn A. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening · Germany (Leipzig)

Assessed ecosystem services such as climate and water regulation and habitat provision across 30 allotment plots and adjacent community gardens in Leipzig, finding highest plant species richness in medium-intensity managed plots.

· Agriculture · Rome, Italy

Models rooftop rainwater harvesting to irrigate 2,631 fruit and vegetable gardens in Rome, estimating 19-33% of gardens could be water self-sufficient depending on irrigation efficiency.

Rotheram S., McGarrol S., Watkins F. · Health & Place · United Kingdom

Qualitative interviews with 18 clients with a learning disability who attend UK care farms examined how these spaces contribute to their health and wellbeing, identifying care farms as a positive 'space of wellbeing'.

· Regional Studies, Regional Science · United Kingdom (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Investigates the motivations and lived experiences of community garden participants in Edinburgh, Scotland.

· BMC Geriatrics · Netherlands

A cross-sectional study in the southern Netherlands comparing quality of care and quality of life for 115 residents with dementia across green care farms, regular small-scale living facilities, and traditional nursing homes.

· Agricultural Systems · France

Simulating 18 French organic microfarm scenarios with the stochastic model MERLIN, the study concludes that while microfarms can be economically viable in some cases, the risk of failing to reach viability is not negligible.

Kaduna-Eve Demailly, Ségolène Darly · ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies · France (Paris)

Shows how Paris's temporary 'licence to occupy' model for urban gardens produces extreme precarity: gardens are placed on vacant lots slated for building and must physically relocate ('nomadic' gardening) when the temporary permit is revoked, revealing interim-use policy as structurally unstable.

Amélie Robert, Jean Louis Yengué · Environment and Ecology Research · France

This case study investigated the Bergeonnerie allotments in Tours, France, through in situ observations, user surveys, and interviews with municipal stakeholders. It found that these allotments provide not only provisioning services like food but also cultural ecosystem services, serving as a source of well-being for gardeners and a place for walking, sociability, and education for other people. Municipal stakeholders confirmed these broader benefits, indicating allotments offer more than just vegetable cultivation.

Attila Tóth, Axel Timpe · Moravian Geographical Reports · Europe

This paper presents and discusses the application of figure-ground plans combined with complex land-use maps as a tool for spatial analysis of urban agriculture in European cities and their multifunctional green infrastructure, using 'Urban Atlas' data. Urban fabric, agriculture, and non-agricultural open spaces were analyzed and compared in selected cities and metropolitan areas, including Dublin, Ruhr Metropolis, Geneva, and Sofia. The results reveal the scale and land-use diversity of metropolitan regions and different spatial patterns of urban agriculture at both regional and central urban levels.

Pere Serra, David Saurı́, Luca Salvati · Landscape Research · Spain (Barcelona)

A quantitative approach was proposed to analyze peri-urban agriculture (PUA) dynamics in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, profiling farm types and related landscape structures. Results indicated that PUA is based on five typologies with varying territorial values, reflecting diverse economic relevance, socio-environmental weight, and landscape prominence. A conservation strategy is proposed to preserve the residual PUA landscape by promoting a polycentric functional network of farming with natural vegetation.

HENKE Roberto, VANNI Francesco · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Italy

This 2017 article analyzed the role of peri-urban agriculture in Italy through a comparative study of seven metropolitan areas, using micro-data from the sixth Italian agriculture census. It identified six typologies of market-oriented farms. The study found that a significant share of farms in Italian urban poles are passively absorbed by urban expansion, indicating a challenge to their economic viability. However, the most reactive farms are diversifying and supplying social and economic services.

Hanna Hilbrandt · Urban Studies · Germany (Berlin)

This paper investigates the powers at play in informal housing practices and their regulation within Berlin's allotment gardens, where residency is prohibited. It argues that gardeners' ability to remain in these sites depends on their mediation of regulatory practices through relationships with state actors or institutional frameworks. This process highlights the co-construction of order and the establishment of boundaries for inclusion and exclusion.