Research & reports

Xiulan Xie, Hao Cheng, Chenyang Hou, Maozhi Ren · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · Global

This review synthesizes the molecular mechanisms of shade avoidance and shade tolerance in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, focusing on how plants integrate light and auxin signaling to regulate their response to shade. It discusses biotechnological strategies for enhancing shade tolerance in crops, framing dense planting, vertical production and indoor cultivation as approaches for making full use of limited urban space to raise crop yield.

Marek Hekrle · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water · Global

A systematic review of 153 scientific publications examined data collection techniques and well-being perspectives used to elicit preferences toward multiple ecosystem services (ES) provided by nature-based solutions (NBS). Ecosystem services from urban parks, urban trees and community gardens were the most commonly examined, with questionnaire surveys the dominant data collection technique followed by semi-structured interviews and workshops, while only a limited number of studies used revealed- or stated-preference methods such as choice experiments or contingent valuation; the review defines three distinct well-being perspectives — individual, community and society — that it finds are rarely discussed explicitly in existing NBS literature.

Nur Shuhamin Nazuri, Nobaya Ahmad, Mohd Roslan Rosnon, Mohd Harifadilah Rosidi, Siti Nur Shuhada Nazuri, Sara Shakilla Mohd Salim, Razif Sazali, Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad, Siti Shazwani Ahmad Suhaimi · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

Among participants in a Malaysian urban agriculture (UA) program, the study examined how dimensions of participation (planning, implementation, evaluation) relate to economic and social empowerment, moderated by social capital (bonding, bridging, linking). Most respondents were male, aged 41-60, married, with secondary/vocational education, and 5 to 12 family members. The relationship between participation, social capital, and empowerment was found to be insignificant, and social capital (bonding, bridging, linking) did not function as a moderator between participation and empowerment.

Jin-Hee Ju, Yong-Han Yoon, So-Hui Shin, Se-Young Ju, Kyung‐Jin Yeum · Horticulturae · Global

A review covers up-to-date information on the mechanisms producing bioactive compounds in plant foods grown through urban agriculture and the main factors influencing their levels, organized into four categories: ground-based uncontrolled agriculture, ground-based controlled agriculture, and building-integrated uncontrolled and controlled agriculture. In ground-based urban agriculture, applying short-term abiotic or biotic stress through agronomic management practices was shown to significantly affect bioactive compound levels in fruits and vegetables, while in building-integrated urban agriculture, artificial lighting, cultivation medium, and water use efficiency were identified as factors of interest for improving the level and composition of functional plant components.

Yi Xun, Guangpei Ren · Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience · Global

A study building a smart garden planning and design system for urban agricultural landscapes using agricultural Internet of Things technology. The researchers applied the LEACH protocol for long-term monitoring and used the grey wolf swarm-intelligence algorithm to improve cluster-head selection, in-cluster data transmission, and route maintenance, then ran simulation experiments. The improved algorithm showed clear advantages in these areas, and evaluation of a constructed garden simulation system confirmed the agricultural IoT approach performed well for smart garden planning and design.

Richard Kwasi Bannor, Helena Oppong-Kyeremeh, Samuel Kwabena Chaa Kyire, Humphrey Nii Ayi Aryee, Helen Amponsah · Sustainable Futures · Ghana

A study examining the impact of urban agriculture commercialization on poverty in Ghana and the determinants of urban farmers' choice of market outlet, based on 480 urban farmers. It used the Household Commercialisation Index (HCI) and Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) model to analyze poverty, Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and heteroskedastic linear regression to assess commercialization's effect on poverty, and Probit and Bivariate Probit models for market-outlet choice. Age, gender, education, experience, household size, household food security and commercialisation significantly influenced urban poverty, while education, postharvest losses, commercialisation, storage ability, grading and sorting, distance to the nearest market, extension contacts and road quality influenced outlet choice. The study recommends that government, traditional leaders and other stakeholders integrate urban farming into urban development policy for sustainable poverty reduction.

Pastory Salvatory Thomas, Wilbard Kombe, Aldo Lupala · International Journal of Social Science Research and Review · Tanzania

In-depth interviews with 60 purposefully selected respondents in the Daraja Mbili and Lemala wards of Arusha City, Tanzania, examined how diverse stakeholder perceptions of urban agriculture affect its governance. Farmers and agricultural officers viewed urban agriculture positively because their livelihoods and professional interests were tied to it, while urban planners and environmental officers were skeptical, citing a lack of evidence for its value, and implementation and enforcement of related policies and bylaws had not succeeded. Farming in environmentally sensitive areas violated bylaws, yet encroachment by farmers with no alternative land continued. The study concludes that urban agriculture cannot be effectively governed, even where policy and bylaws exist, as long as the actors involved perceive it negatively.

Lalehan DOĞAN, Akın Efendioğlu · Çukurova Araştırmaları Dergisi · Global

A study observed the outdoor play areas of 40 primary schools across four central districts of Adana Province, Turkey, selected by quota sampling during the 2021–2022 school year, using a primary school garden play area observation form. Play area per student was found to be insufficient. Hopscotch was the most commonly present game. Swings, slides and seesaws belonged to the preschool classes attached to the primary schools and were used by preschool children. Painted line games had faded in most schools. Football goalposts, basketball hoops and volleyball posts needed repainting in some schools, and basketball hoops were found to be too high for students' developmental stage. Most sports areas were shared with ceremonies and other play uses. Primary school garden play areas were generally clean but dominated by hard surfaces such as concrete, stone and asphalt, with insufficient provision of natural areas.

Irina PANȚIRU, Erzsébet Buta, Dănuţ Maniutiu, Alexandru I. APAHIDEAN, N. Sima, Alex Dregan, Rodica Sima · Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca Horticulture · Global

A 2022 literature review assessed the overall role and benefits of urban allotments and home gardens for urban green infrastructure (GI) in Global North countries, drawing on published evidence from 2000 onward and using narrative synthesis to interpret the research on domestic gardens and identify areas needing further study. The review found key differences in both the nature and management of urban domestic gardens with major implications for their contribution to GI sustainability, alongside heterogeneous social, cultural, ecological and economic contexts shaping that impact. It also noted that domestic gardens act as a source of food security and provide additional ecosystem services. The review concludes that home and allotment gardens are important contributors to urban GI sustainability and should be incorporated into the planning, design and management of urban infrastructure.

Hongya Tang · Journal of Architectural Research and Development · Global

A conceptual paper examining the aesthetic education function of urban agricultural landscape. It argues that urban agricultural landscape carries a distinct local aesthetic value expressed mainly through the beauty of traditional agricultural skills, agricultural landscapes, and agricultural activities, and classifies its vernacular aesthetic education development into three modes based on differing ways people interact with the environment: a viewing mode, short-time contact, and long-time immersion.

Luz Andrea Táutiva-Merchán, Tomás Enrique León-Sicard, María Fernanda Garrido Rubiano · Agricultura Sociedad y Desarrollo · Colombia

A study of three existing urban agriculture demonstration spaces run by the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research (AGROSAVIA) in the departments of Córdoba, Cundinamarca and Nariño, Colombia, characterized their economic, social, institutional and technological features and analyzed participants' perceptions of training workshops held between 2015 and 2016. Based on 17 semi-structured interviews, 64 online surveys and the systematization of two collaborative-construction workshops with external actors, the study developed a proposal centered on experience exchange directed mainly at women (66%) and students aged 18-28 (30%), and suggested community activities in "satellite" spaces focused on recovering knowledge and collaborative research, supported by four lines of action: knowledge exchange, co-innovation, dissemination, and training.

Diep, Vu Bach, Dinh Hong Linh, Mai Viet Anh, Điep, Vu Bach · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global

Against a backdrop of continuously shrinking agricultural land as it gives way to urban and industrial development, this article analyzes models of urban agriculture development in Thai Nguyen, a province in Vietnam's northern midland and mountainous region with strengths in urban agriculture, using descriptive, comparative, and analytical statistical methods over the period 2015–2020.

Kate A. Congreves · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems ·

An opinion article published in the Urban Agriculture section of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems on 19 August 2022. The available abstract contains only bibliographic information, with no stated study details or findings on urban horticulture.

Ana Spataru, Robert Faggian, Victor A Sposito · International Journal of Agricultural Resources Governance and Ecology · Global

A paper proposing a comprehensive conceptual framework for assessing metropolitan peri-urban agriculture. It argues that peri-urban agriculture provides non-commodity benefits — food security, farm viability, environmental stewardship, and landscape and socio-cultural preservation — that free markets under-recognize, and that the double vulnerability created by urban pressure and systemic agricultural change has led to myopic policy interventions. The proposed framework integrates the concepts of multifunctional agriculture, resilience, climate-smart agriculture and alternative food networks into 21 enabling features across five dimensions.

Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris, Nur Amanina Yunus, Jasmin Arif Shah · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Malaysia

A structured questionnaire (via Google Form) using simple random sampling surveyed 353 participants across Peninsular Malaysia, applying the Community Readiness Model (CRM) framework and analyzing the data in IBM SPSS (version 26) to assess levels of the independent variables knowledge, attitude, and leadership alongside community readiness for urban farming practices. Levels of all three independent variables and of community readiness were high, and knowledge, attitude, and leadership each contributed significantly to community readiness.

Sarvenaz Pakravan, Shahin Keynoush, Ehsan Daneshyar · Sustainability · Global

An essay noting the global population is increasing while agricultural land per capita is declining, and that feeding a projected 9.1 billion people by 2050 would require global agricultural output to grow by roughly 60% to 110%, positioning urban agriculture as an alternative that could reduce this future burden. In response, interior architecture design studio-V (INT 401) proposes a futuristic vision built on urban agriculture and defines a pedagogical framework around three notions: (1) residential urban agriculture, (2) a context- and culture-based design approach, and (3) social sustainability, itself structured as development, bridge and maintenance sustainability. This is a proposed teaching framework rather than an empirical study.

Son Truong, Tonia Gray, Kumara Ward · Urban forestry & urban greening · Australia

A study examining the Community Greening program run by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australia, for the past two decades, at six new community gardens built in social housing communities in New South Wales. It used focus group interviews with residents and questionnaires with program staff. Participant narratives showed the gardens function as sites for knowledge generation and connection to nature, for building a sense of community, and for improving residents' sense of pride and public perceptions of public housing. The findings suggest community gardens enhance green infrastructure and support place-making in social housing estates and their surrounding areas, and the study concludes with recommendations for policies and practices addressing social and environmental sustainability priorities in social housing.

Gabriel Elías Chanchí Golondrino, Manuel Alejandro Ospina Alarcón, Manuel Saba · Revista Científica · Global

Motivated by the growing trend of urban agriculture, this study built an IoT system for monitoring and analyzing climatological variables relevant to urban agriculture crops. Development followed four phases: selection of tools and technologies, IoT system architecture design, prototype construction, and a case study on a lettuce crop. The resulting system used open-source hardware and software tools within the conventional four-layer IoT architecture (capture, storage, analysis, visualization). Its stated advantage over existing solutions is the use of portable single-board-computer (SBC) platforms and the inclusion of machine-learning models in the analysis layer. The case study, carried out on a home lettuce crop, concluded that the chosen tools adequately captured, monitored, and analyzed climatological variables of interest, and that the analysis models can be customized to a crop's agroclimatic characteristics, making them useful for decisions related to crop physiology.

Tama Bawack Ako, Clarkson Mvo Wanie · Current Urban Studies · Cameroon

This study examined challenges in rural-urban road transportation and coping mechanisms for food security in Maroua municipality, Far North Region, Cameroon. Primary data came from field observation, interviews and 261 administered questionnaires, supplemented by published and unpublished secondary sources, with descriptive analysis conducted in SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Results showed that rural-urban roads in Maroua are dilapidated and inadequate, making movement difficult especially during the rainy season, which negatively affects multiple dimensions of food security. Adaptation mechanisms identified included urban agriculture and rehabilitation of rural-urban road infrastructure, and the study concluded there is an urgent need for stakeholders to improve this infrastructure.

Jennifer Catalina Murcia Rodríguez, Adriana Quimbayo Feria · HUMAN REVIEW International Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades · Colombia

This article discusses urban agriculture as a practice that enables the production of food — particularly fruit, vegetables and aromatic plants — while helping reduce ecological footprint and improve self-sufficiency. It frames urban agricultural production as a global trend that, in Colombia, helps mitigate environmental pollution and reduce spending on basic foods, against a backdrop of inflation that has raised food prices and reduced the quantities households can afford to buy.

Benjamin Hennchen, Martina Schäfer · Frontiers in Sustainability · Global

A comparative study of three food system innovations — citizen shareholder companies, community-supported agriculture, and food co-ops — examining their inclusiveness, degree of member involvement, and quality of experienced connectedness. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey, two focus group discussions, and a broad literature search. All three food innovations were found to show a rather low level of inclusiveness, although efforts are being made to overcome barriers to access. The innovations were found to generate social cohesion between different actors along the value-added chain, constituted differently in a more service-oriented versus a community-oriented model. The study concludes these innovations provide momentum toward the dominant food regime by rewarding producers for sustainable practices, establishing stronger producer-consumer relationships, and motivating consumers to assume shared responsibility, and considers the three innovations complementary for food system transitions.

Kyle Richardville, Dan Egel, Andrew Flachs, Amit K. Jaiswal, D.J. Perkins, A. W. Thompson, Lori Hoagland · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global

A two-year field trial tested whether amending degraded urban soils with locally made leaf-mold compost could improve soil chemical and biological properties and support the survival of a plant-growth-promoting, disease-suppressive microbial inoculant (Trichoderma harzianum T-22) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production. Compost-amended plots showed markedly higher active soil organic matter and marketable fruit yield in both years, lower foliar disease severity in year two, and reduced transplant-stress deaths from T-22 inoculation in one cultivar, but the authors caution that all composts must be tested for heavy metals or pathogens and that overapplication can reduce crop health.

Muhamad Subhi Apriantoro, Indah Noor Rahayuningsih, Sarwanto Sarwanto · IQTISHODUNA Jurnal Ekonomi Islam · Global

Drawing on descriptive field research, this paper addresses how, amid the coronavirus's impact across economic sectors, many individuals struggled to meet basic needs. Urban farming is positioned as one answer to food availability, with food safety, food pricing, and stimulating the local economy as its main concerns; people cultivated short-cycle crops in small pots or used hydroponic methods in their yards. Integrated urban farming is characterized as a type of green economic activity that adheres to the maslahah (public benefit) aim of maqasid sharia. Green economy activity built around integrated urban farming is described as aiming to improve community economic wellbeing and as able to help mitigate the risk of substantial environmental harm, including the pandemic's detrimental impact on macro and micro food security. The paper observes that the green economy concept can be integrated harmoniously with core maqasid sharia values.

Pedro Neto · Sophia · Global

This editorial essay introduces the third thematic cycle, "Landscapes of Care," opening volume 7 of the journal Sophia, on contemporary photography and visual practices addressing how architecture, broadly conceived, can help heal a damaged planet. It draws on Elke Krasny's reframing of architecture as a form of caring labor and Wilfried Wang's argument that changes such as the renewal of urban farming, decentralized renewable energy harvesting, and smaller production facilities should reshape conventional zoning, and situates the "landscapes of care" concept — drawn from health geography, the arts, and architecture — as a lens for understanding architecture, city, and territory. The piece is an introductory editorial for the issue's theme and presents no empirical data or case findings.

· Egyptian Journal of Applied Science · Egypt

This experiment, conducted at the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt, evaluated eggplant yield and quality in urban substrate culture using three fertilizing sources (nutrient solution, mineral fertilizer, vermi-liquid) combined with two pot volumes (6 and 8 liters of a standard 50:50 peat moss:perlite substrate) across two summer seasons (2019 and 2020). Total fruit number and leaf count were recorded during harvest, along with fruit diameter, length, average fruit weight, and fruit nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content. Chemical nutrient solution produced the highest vegetative growth and yield characteristics, while vermi-liquid produced the lowest; nutrient solution and mineral fertilizer increased fruit N, P, and K content compared with vermi-liquid. Increasing pot volume from 6 to 8 L increased vegetative growth, yield, and N-P-K content. The highest growth, yield, and nutrient content came from chemical nutrient solution combined with 8 L pots, while vermi-liquid with 6 L pots was framed as a more sustainable and economical urban horticulture option for supporting food security during the Covid-19 epidemic.