Research & reports

Catherine Oliver · Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers · United Kingdom (London)

This paper examines urban chicken-keeping in London, where urban spaces are transformed to accommodate chickens. It argues that the human-imposed design of urban barnyards is often impractical for chickens, leading to lawns being torn up, plants demolished, and vegetable patches consumed. Additionally, chickens are vulnerable to local foxes, highlighting that chickens' behaviors and territoriality often overflow their assigned space, challenging human design intentions.

Anna M. Roodhof · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Netherlands

To map and analyze food forestry (FF) in the Netherlands, a survey of 109 participants and interviews with five experts were conducted, identifying 231 food forests established since 2017. The survey data indicates that while FF initiatives are diverse in goals, few focus on profitability. Practitioners are largely homogeneous, consisting of university-educated individuals aged 40 to 60.

Mesut YILDIZ, Tayfun Özkaya · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Turkey

This participatory action research was conducted with five community-supported food groups formed by consumers in İzmir province, Turkey, and associations/groups producing wheat landraces in Çanakkale, Balıkesir, and Kars provinces. The research aimed to identify common problems that reduce the separation between wheat production and consumption and to determine how to increase the use of wheat landraces and their products.

Alberto Matarán-Ruiz, David Fanfani, Josefa Sánchez Contreras, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar · · Central America; Europe

This chapter examines bioregional food systems and territorialization processes in peri-urban agricultural areas, using three case studies from Central America and Europe. It notes that the historical co-evolutionary relationship between cities and surrounding farmlands weakened in modernity due to the global capitalist market, which reduced food to a commodity. The study highlights current problems while exploring how inherited relationships are being revived to adapt urban bioregions to climate emergency and resource scarcity.

Ion Martínez Lorea · Revista Española de Sociología · Spain (Pamplona)

This article uses Henri Lefebvre's concept of concrete utopia to analyze the practices of community urban gardens in Pamplona-Iruña, Spain. It interrogates their potential and limitations in responding to various situations of social vulnerability and rethinking the relationship between the rural and the urban.

Wendy Davies · · Europe

A historical chapter exploring why monasteries were interested in acquiring gardens in the tenth century. It concludes the likely reasons included increasing the regular supply of garden fruit, legumes and medicinal herbs for expanding monastic communities, along with a regular supply of textile fibres. Some rural monasteries bought gardens in towns and operated shops there, supported by an available road network and plentiful draught animals as necessary elements of a distribution system. Textiles and plant dyes appear to have been supplied to urban communities, and the chapter suggests garden plots may have been acquired specifically to focus on textile and dye plants for cloth production and distribution, marking a new direction in monastic enterprise with a corresponding shift in garden output.

Hüseyin Berk TÜRKER, Murat Akten · Mimarlık Bilimleri ve Uygulamaları Dergisi (MBUD) · Turkey

This study assessed the urban agriculture potential of vacant lands in the city center of Usak, Turkey, and created a GIS-based urban agriculture inventory. The analysis focused on available vacant lands including municipally-owned, foundation, public, forest, and pasture lands. Results showed a significant amount of vacant lands in Usak suitable for urban agriculture, with 7.32 ha highly suitable, 80.58 ha moderately suitable, and 110.94 ha marginally suitable.

Chloé Duffaut, Florence Brondeau, Julien Gasparini · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · France (Ivry-sur-Seine)

This study tested the effects of feral pigeon guano as a fertilizer on cherry tomato plants in an urban environment on a rooftop in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. In June 2017, 15g of guano was added to 15 cultivation bags, while 15 control bags received only water. After 15 days, guano-treated plants were taller and tended to have more flowers, and the total number and mass of harvested cherry tomatoes were one to two times higher than the control. However, the average mass per fruit was not affected by the treatment. The study concluded that pigeon guano is an efficient local fertilizer for cherry tomato plants in urban areas.

Guillaume Delfesc, Bertug Ozarisoy · · United Kingdom (King's Cross Central)

This project investigated community fragmentation in the Caledonian Road area of London, UK, situated between King's Cross Central and Upper Street. Research indicated that communities in Caledonian Road live separately and do not fully utilize the site's potential, such as existing green spaces. The project aims to create linkages among diverse communities through urban agriculture.

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Antonio Luis Montealegre Gracia, Sergio García-Pérez, Jorge Sierra-Pérez, Joan Muñoz‐Liesa, Xavier Gabarrell, Gara Villalba, Cristina Madrid‐López · Sustainable Cities and Society · Spain (Cerdanyola)

This study investigated the supply potential and impacts of four roof mosaic scenarios for local food, energy, and water production systems on urban rooftops in Cerdanyola, a 58,000-inhabitant town in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Using spatial analysis, metabolism analysis, and impact assessments, the study found an average rooftop/household potential of 31 m2, with single-family housing showing the highest potential for electricity (51%) and water (14%) self-sufficiency. Housing estates achieved the highest vegetable self-sufficiency (32%), while rooftop farming systems showed the best performance for housing estates and originary fabrics in terms of overall impacts.

Susana Alves, Bahar Bașer Kalyoncuoğlu · Ecopsychology · Turkey (Istanbul)

This study explored the socio-ecological potential of urban agriculture in 10 family-related projects in Istanbul, where Bostans (historical urban vegetable gardens) are culturally significant. Despite their importance and UNESCO recognition, the planning and management of bostans have been hampered by rapid urbanization and a lack of integrative policies. Data from interviews, observations, and fieldwork highlighted the role of kinship in knowledge transfer and how farmers base activities on past-present affordances and future expectations.

David Adams, Peter J. Larkham, Michael Hardman · Land · United Kingdom

This paper explores how porous boundary treatments and plot layouts can encourage ecological exchanges in new urban and peri-urban developments, focusing on a large-scale residential development in the English midlands. It outlines the socio-economic, cultural, and ecological significance of embedding diverse hedgerow designs into early planning, revealing a need to move beyond current models. The study suggests these designs could encourage sustainable land use and scalable urban agricultural systems.

Alessandra Como, Albina Cuomo, Luisa Smeragliuolo Perrotta · Sustainability · Italy (Pozzuoli)

In Pozzuoli, Southern Italy, multidisciplinary research addressed sustainability in urban agricultural landscape design. The study presented an integrated solution combining architecture and hydro-geomorphology for water management, accessibility, and use of urban agricultural landscapes. A prototype water and landscape infrastructure was developed, integrating a subsurface water system, cycle–pedestrian paths, and small-scale architecture around water tanks. This integrated system contributes to implementing green transition within cities.

Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto · · Europe

This article introduces the Urban Algae Canopy, an innovative architectural system that redefines farming and horticulture within urbanism. It proposes agriculture as a tool for reprogramming Milan's public realm and challenges the separation between urban and rural conditions. The Urban Algae Folly aims to integrate technical and scientific research with societal needs through architectural design.

Koen van der Gaast, J.E. Jansma, Sigrid Wertheim‐Heck · Agriculture and Human Values · Netherlands

This study explored how residents of Almere Oosterwold, Netherlands, envision and organize urban agriculture futures, where 50% of plots must be used for urban agriculture. Using futuring, it found that residents have diverse future perspectives and can formulate specific actions but struggle to commit to them, attributing this to temporal dissonance. The paper concludes that both planning and entrepreneurship are necessary for realizing urban food futures.

Ada Górna · Prace i Studia Geograficzne · Europe

A discussion piece examines vineyards as a specific form of urban agriculture, focusing on their spatial and functional dimensions through a case study of Vienna. Drawing on data from the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and field observations conducted in April 2022, it analyzes Vienna — described as "the king of urban viticulture" — to determine the spatial distribution of vineyards within the city, their production structure, and the functions they perform. It concludes that viticulture and winemaking in Vienna display a multifunctionality that combines production with recreational, tourist, landscape and cultural functions, which contributes to the preservation of vineyards within the city's space.

· Wikipedia (Italian) · Italy

Cascina Chiesa Rossa is a farmhouse-and-church complex built between the 9th and 13th centuries, acquired by the City of Milan in 1960. Since 2009 it has operated as a public park including an orchard and wooded area, a bar, and a library, with a preservation committee founded in 1988 overseeing conservation and cultural activities. It is an example of a historic agricultural building repurposed as public civic space.

Josephine Rother · Stadt und Grün 11/2023 · Germany

An article that traces the history of German allotments through one site in the Linden district of Hannover. The Linden association first appears in lease records in 1909, had more than 1,000 members by 1925, and saw its first colony building erected in 1926. On the municipal side it notes the establishment of an office for allotment construction (Amtsstelle für den Kleingartenbau) in 1919 and the merging of the clubs into the Reichsverband der Kleingartenvereine in 1921. Plot numbers rose to 20,000 in the five years from 1927 to 1932 and peaked at 26,000 in 1935. In 1983 the land was secured by permanent-allotment designation; Hannover today has roughly 20,000 gardens on 1,048 hectares, about 5 per cent of the city's area, or one garden per 28 residents.

Adelina Court, Aileen Kelly, Michael Hardman · Cogent Social Sciences · United Kingdom (Greater Manchester)

This paper explores the need for innovation in urban green infrastructure, focusing on enabling urban food growing in cities. It reviews current policy tools and presents a case study of a multifunctional forest school in Salford, UK, which enables larger-scale farming in a deprived area. The study, conducted by a multidisciplinary team, also proposes a visual methodology framework for future replication.

Wim van Dijk, J.E. Jansma, J. Broeze, J.J.R. Groot · · Netherlands (Amsterdam)

This chapter focuses on regional resourcefulness for food systems, arguing that urban areas are vital for closing nutrient loops to prevent resource depletion. Two case studies in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam (MRA) discuss phosphorus (P) flows, exploring the potential of a circular food system in Almere and quantifying actual P-flows across the MRA. The chapter concludes that a circular City Region Food System is technically feasible but requires a fundamental shift in the organization of food and waste systems.

Heike Oevermann, Daniel Keech, Marc Redepenning, Li Fan, Patricia Alberth · Urban Planning · Germany (Bamberg)

The German city of Bamberg offers lessons on how continuity and change interact within the context of inner-urban commercial horticulture, informing sustainable urban transformations in historic cities. Urban food production in Bamberg is not just well-established but a consistent, centuries-old cultural structure influencing the city's fabric. This study discusses what forms of urban horticulture were evident from Bamberg's past and which may prevail in the future.

Davide Marino, Giampiero Mazzocchi, Davide Pellegrino, Veridiana Barucci · Land · Italy

This study investigated the role of Ecosystem Services (ES) assessment within a "place-based policy-mix model" for urban planning, testing and integrating three ES assessment methodologies: mapping and assessment, expert-based evaluation, and social perception. Results indicate that mapping assessment assigns higher values to regulating ecosystem services, expert-based evaluation assigns slightly lower values to regulating ecosystem services, and social perception highlights the importance of cultural ES but tends to underestimate other ecosystem functions. These methodologies lead to sectoral, non-dialoguing policies based on partial and non-integrated information.

Eda Ustaoğlu · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Turkey (Istanbul)

This study assessed land suitability for urban agriculture, forest, and natural vegetation in the Pendik district of Istanbul, Turkey. It integrated GIS with a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) approach, using both deterministic and fuzzy membership methods. Key evaluation criteria included geophysical factors, transport and services accessibility, land cover/use, blue and green amenities, soil properties, geology, and erosion susceptibility.

Petr Klusáček, Stanislav Martinát, Klára Charvátová, Josef Navrátil · Land · Europe

This study investigated the drivers of de-agrarianization in post-socialist cities, using Brno, Czech Republic, as a case study through qualitative interviews. It found procedural issues in preserving architectural heritage during the redevelopment of a former Cistercian monastery site, often resulting in only fragments being preserved. The research also demonstrated a decline in the use of urban agricultural properties, which are rapidly transformed into new urban environments under intense urbanization pressures.

Madara Dobele, Aina Dobele, Andra Zvirbule · Rural Sustainability Research · Europe

This research aimed to identify the main functions of urban agriculture and evaluate their significance in Latvia. The study identified 14 functions of urban agriculture, classified into five groups: political, economic, social, environmental, and technological. The most significant functions in Latvia were found to be social (promotion of social cohesion and public health, education, and maintaining traditions and values) and technological innovations.