Research & reports

Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba

This book chapter opens with a review of various perspectives on urban agriculture in Cuba, gathered by the author through many interviews. It then reports on the author's own urban-agriculture site visits: the Municipality of San Cristóbal (including the IPA Batalla de Rubi hydroponic unit and UBPC El Mango); the Municipality of Matanzas (including Organopónico Triangulo and an Organipónico at the Empresa Forestal); Santiago de Cuba (Organopónicos Luis M. Poz and Roberto Alegre Capriles); and the City of Havana (UBPC Organopónico Vivero Alamar, CCS Antero Regalades Falcón, CCSF Arides Estevez Sánchez, parcela de Falcón, and the patio La Hierba Buena, which holds national-reference status). The chapter is descriptive, presenting site accounts rather than quantitative findings.

길승호, 송병화, 양병이 · · South Korea

Based on a survey of 30 green roofs created between 2002 and 2004 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, this study analyzed the properties needed to reclassify green roofs into three types via cluster analysis. The previous classification, based on structural safety diagnosis type and visual expert judgment on site, was found to require correction. Results showed that the concepts of "rooftop garden" and "green roof" differ from those in previous studies: intensive green roofs referred to as rooftop gardens were closer to integrated management, while green roofs were closer to low management. Reclassification of greening types was also carried out using categorical regression analysis, which extracted factors influencing greening type; the analysis's R-squared value was 95.2%. This result indicated that rooftop gardens are places demanded for high levels of human activity.

陈百如 · 上海蔬菜 · China

The project's implementing entity is Hangzhou Dingyi Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., recognized as a leading agricultural enterprise of Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a Zhejiang provincial pollution-free production base, a Hangzhou urban agriculture demonstration park, and one of the district's "top-100 urban demonstration" agriculture parks. The company operates 92 hectares, of which 77.2 hectares are under cultivation and 14.8 hectares are usable water surface for aquaculture. Its Dingyi-brand watermelon, fresh soybean, and cabbage hold national A-grade green food certification, and its Dingyi-brand fresh corn, scallion, and cauliflower hold national pollution-free product certification.

Kristin Reynolds · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

In Alameda County, California, the University of California Small Farm Program collected data from 2006 to 2009 through on-site interviews with 52 urban farmers and gardeners, surveys of Extension staff, and participant observation. The study examined characteristics of urban agriculture in the county, operators' challenges and assistance needs, and Extension staff members' interest in expanding programming for urban agriculture.

James Krohe · Planning · Global

This planning article argues that cities facing steady population decline, which often leads to blight, can treat the situation as an opportunity to create more desirable urban spaces through deliberate planning. It describes comprehensive land recategorization based on ecological criteria, land banks that buy up vacant or abandoned properties for later redevelopment, urban agriculture and green space, and improvements to walkability and transportation infrastructure as elements of strategic planning for shrinking cities.

Özge Volkan Aksu, Öner Demirel · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Europe (Turkey)

A study of 35 primary school yards in the city center of Trabzon, Turkey, conducted to determine their existing physical condition. It examined outdoor space qualities including use of the surrounding school area, adequacy of open and green space, appropriateness of land use for functional and aesthetic purposes, and outdoor furnishing elements, through observation. The study is framed against a broader pattern in Turkey of school outdoor spaces planned with inadequate green area and hard concrete surfaces that fall short of children's developmental needs, but the abstract does not report specific numeric findings from the 35-school survey itself.

Sung-Ho Gil, Byeong-Hwa Song, Byoung-E Yang · KIEAE Journal · South Korea (Seoul)

A study of 30 green roofs created by the Seoul Metropolitan Government between 2002 and 2004, using cluster analysis to reclassify them into three types. The prior classification, based on structural safety diagnosis and on-site visual judgment by experts, was found to need correction. The study redefines the concepts of rooftop garden (intensive green roof) and green roof differently from earlier studies, positioning rooftop gardens as closer to integrated management and green roofs as closer to low management. Categorical regression analysis was also used to extract the factors influencing greening type, with an R-squared of 95.2% for the regression's explanatory power. The results indicate that rooftop gardens are spaces expected to support high levels of human activity.

Saad El‐Din Hassan, Eva Boon, Marc St‐Arnaud, Mohamed Hijri · Molecular Ecology · Canada

A study assessing indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community structure in roots and soil of Plantago major (plantain) growing on trace-metal (TM)-contaminated versus uncontaminated sites, selected based on a survey of TM concentrations (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sn, Zn) in community garden soils in Montreal, Canada. AMF community structure was analyzed using PCR-DGGE, cloning and sequencing, and direct sequencing. Native AMF diversity, measured by the number of AMF ribotypes, was decreased in TM-polluted soils and plant roots compared with unpolluted sites, and community structure was altered by TM contamination. Various Glomus species along with Scutellospora aurigloba and S. calospora were the most abundant ribotypes in unpolluted soil, while G. etunicatum, G. irregulare/G. intraradices and G. viscosum occurred in both polluted and unpolluted soils, and G. mosseae together with unidentified Glomus ribotypes (B9, B13) dominated in TM-polluted sites. The predominance of G. mosseae at metal-polluted sites is interpreted as suggesting tolerance to TM stress and potential use for phytoremediation.

Zai Xue-ming · Ningxia Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Science and Technology · China

A Chinese agricultural college describes building a horticulture curriculum combining higher education with vocational training to prepare "double-certificate" talent for urban modern agriculture, including on- and off-campus practice bases linked to teacher research projects, agricultural services, and student innovation training programs. The report states that students' innovation and entrepreneurship abilities improved significantly, without giving measured data or a comparison group.

ON Nwaogwugwu, JU Ulebor, AC Agumagu, CL Aboh · Journal of Agriculture and Social Research (JASR) · Nigeria

This paper examines rural-urban migration's impact on agricultural and national development in Nigeria and argues that extension policy has focused primarily on rural agriculture, neglecting urban agriculture's role in poverty alleviation. It recommends that extension agencies organize urban-specific extension services to inform smallholder urban farmers about which food products are in demand in urban areas, without presenting original survey or experimental data.

Tracey J. Woodruff, Patrice Sutton, David Wallinga, Joanne Perron, Michelle Gottlieb, Lucia Sayre · · United States

This review examines evidence that intensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics, and fossil fuel in the US food production system, along with chemicals in food packaging, are potentially harmful to human reproductive and developmental health, and argues that policies including changes to the Farm Bill and the Toxic Substances Control Act, plus greater health-sector involvement in sourcing food from urban agriculture programs and farmers, are needed to prevent adverse reproductive effects. The abstract does not report a specific negative or null finding about urban agriculture itself — urban agriculture programs are named only as one proposed sourcing channel within the recommended policy response, not as a subject with measured outcomes.

Tommy Bleasdale, Carolyn J. Crouch, Sharon L. Harlan · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

Researchers studied a struggling community gardening program in a low-income minority neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, operated within a larger local food initiative led by a nonprofit community development organization. Based on interviews and participant observation used to build an exploratory survey, the study found that while residents had gardening interest and experience, awareness of the program itself was low, perceptions of gardening's benefits and burdens varied among current gardeners, ex-gardeners, and those who had never gardened, and the benefits residents cited often differed from the goals stated by the local food initiative.

이응직, 이형숙, 윤은주, 칼루 엑페게어, 고성철 · · South Korea

A South Korean study examined the functions and roles of a Green Community Rediscovery Center (GCRC) in terms of community integration, designed a GCRC incorporating various green roof types, and investigated applying a renewable energy system (e.g., PV) to building greenery. Four functional modules were proposed: an ecopark and community gardens with environmental education programs, a green housing model with education programs, a Discover Science Center, and a green business model with education programs. In design terms, three main functions were presented: community garden functions; establishment of a green business model, community composting system, and urban farming system; and the role of community gardens in social interaction within the GCRC. Air temperature on the green roof (using Sedum sarmentosum as cover) was about 3°C lower than on a non-green roof, indicating potential efficiency gains for PV systems. The study concludes that the proposed GCRC would raise neighborhood satisfaction and quality of life and contribute to social integration and community regeneration.

Morongoa Rosina Pako · · South Africa

This qualitative study assesses the Mogabane Community Garden Project in South Africa to determine why it did not reach its objective of poverty reduction in the community. It situates the project against South Africa's poverty lines — roughly 33% of the population living on less than R271/month, 50% on less than R422/month, and 79.1% on less than R1,230/month, with the highest poverty rates in the Eastern Cape (68.3%) and Limpopo (60.7%) provinces and the lowest in the Western Cape (20%) and Gauteng (28.8%) — and the government's post-1994 anti-poverty programs spanning social assistance, employment generation, enterprise development, basic household security, social services, disaster relief, and employment-related social insurance. Against this backdrop, the study assessed the Mogabane project and confirmed that it failed to achieve its poverty-reduction objective.

陈波, 杨卫丽, 苏原 · 华中建筑 · China

A design essay (Huazhong Architecture, 2011) presents the "3G-Box" composite eco-architecture concept, using the design of a university architecture-department complex building that incorporates urban agriculture elements as its case example. The paper frames the design around low-carbon, energy-saving, ecological sustainability principles, aiming to create an inclusive, open, interactive, energy-efficient, green building that blends traditional and modern architectural imagery; it is a design proposal rather than a study reporting measured outcomes.

Christina Purcell · Arrow - TU Dublin (Technological University Dublin) · United Kingdom

Background material from a paper on urban community gardens in Dublin, Ireland (2011, UK-based repository) describes Dublin's community gardens as ranging in scale from small disused residential plots (Cabra Park) to a four-acre site in Santry, taking forms from individually worked plots to communal gardens, with some space allocated to charities such as soup kitchens or to college plots. Citing prior literature, it notes an estimated 18,000 community gardens in the United States and Canada and reports that such gardens have been associated with improved nutrition, increased physical activity, greater social engagement, and better mental health, but this excerpt itself presents no original data or results measuring fruit and vegetable intake in Dublin.

Chabalani Ndlovu, Shethile Simelane, Kgosiwele Mngeni · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · South Africa

In Cape Town's high-rise neighborhoods, South Africa, where geographic constraints and socio-economic disparities limit access to fresh produce, a mixed-methods study using surveys, interviews and observation compared participants who regularly used community garden spaces with a control group who did not. Community gardens yielded an average of 50% more fresh produce per square meter than traditional urban plots, contributing to local food security, and garden users showed health changes including better nutrition and lower obesity rates.

Zhu Ke-xian · Shanxi Architecture · China

This paper analyzes the functions and development status of urban garden greening/reforestation in Taiyuan, China, sets out principles and allocation methods for urban afforestation parks, and discusses considerations and design directions for future greening in Taiyuan in terms of lawn planning, forest ecological reforestation, and legal-system development for greening.

شعبانعلی فمی شعبانعلی فمی, قاسمی قاسمی, سرور امینی سرور امینی, سعادتزاده سعادتزاده · پژوهش های اقتصاد و توسعه کشاورزی · Asia

A correlational survey of farmers' attitudes toward participating in community-supported agriculture (CSA) in the Markazi district of Karaj, Iran. Out of a population of 1,598 farmers, a sample of 130 was drawn by simple random sampling (initially 117 via Cochran's formula, later expanded), using a questionnaire validated by expert judgment and showing Cronbach's alpha reliability of 0.7–0.9. Farmers' main motivation for CSA participation was securing financial resources and marketing their produce. Interest in receiving citizens' financial support correlated significantly and positively with annual income, family labor use, and number of citizen visits to farms (p<0.01), and with dependency on the residential area and education level (p<0.05). A Kruskal-Wallis test found significant differences among farmers from different residential areas in interest in citizen financial support, willingness to cooperate with citizens across income levels, satisfaction with farming income, and length of cultivation (p<0.05).

H. de Zeeuw, R. van Veenhuizen, Marielle Dubbeling · · Global

A Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures paper reviews available evidence on the potential of urban agriculture to address urban challenges in developing countries and surveys how local and national authorities view urban agriculture, closing with the authors' perspective on its role in sustainable city development.

Ben Amsden, Jesse McEntee · Leisure/Loisir · Global

This paper introduces "Agrileisure," a conceptual framework addressing both supply and demand sides of agriculture engaged for leisure and recreation purposes — such as farm-based agritourism, hobby farming, farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture — arguing that existing leisure-studies scholarship on agriculture has largely stopped at farm tourism. The framework draws on theoretical roots in leisure studies, ecology, sociology, psychology, social justice and geography.

Patricia M. Clay, Julia Olson · Anthropology News · Global

The available record for this Anthropology News piece consists only of a keyword list — sustainability, biological anthropology, fisheries management, food system, sustainable fishery, Community Supported Agriculture, food and nutrition, ecology and environment — with no abstract text describing a study, method or finding.

Jordi Franquesa Sànchez · Revista iberoamericana de urbanismo · Spain

A survey of garden communities (urban interventions built around private-garden housing types with strategic use of open space and facilities) in the Catalan region of Spain, spanning the late 19th century to 1960 — the point at which the rise of private-vehicle access marked a substantial shift in community design ideas. The study finds that these garden communities show versatility in adapting to different cultural contexts while retaining their main identifying features, resulting in a wide range of design outcomes and constituting a precedent relevant to the growth of present-day cities.

Arrate Corres Velasco · Soberanía alimentaria, biodiversidad y culturas · Argentina

The Urban Agriculture Program of Rosario, Argentina, has succeeded in changing part of the city's landscape by integrating a social-economy project into its neighbourhoods. Formerly unused vacant lots are now community gardens managed agroecologically. Mariana Ponce and Raul Terrile, members of the technical team coordinating the initiative, describe what the program involves.

Xiaohe Gu, Jihua Wang, Lijian Han, Huang Wenjiang, Pan Yuchun · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · China (Beijing)

Using multi-temporal Landsat TM imagery to track land-use and land-cover change across a demonstration zone for urban modern agricultural development in Beijing, China, this study built a quantitative ecological-service valuation model based on vegetation cover. Ecological service value increased substantially as urban modern agriculture diversified land-use types and expanded forest, grassland, and water cover, and the results indicate that environmental improvement and increased agricultural production can both be achieved by preserving and better transforming farmland.