Research & reports

B. Borra, R. van Veenhuizen, Marc Schut, Andrew Adam‐Bradford · Coventry University Open Collections (Coventry university) · Global

A report on the collaboration between RUAF (the urban agriculture resource centre) and The Spontaneous City International (SPcitI), begun in 2015 in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis. It focuses on the Mafraq region of northern Jordan, where an inventory of the role of food and agriculture was commissioned by the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNGI). The two organizations describe building partnerships linking urban agriculture and urban planning in cities of the Global South.

Maya MITEVA · AGROFOR · Global

Citing UN (2015) projections that Bulgaria's population will shrink by 27.9% by 2050 (compared with 15.1% for Japan), this case study positions urban agriculture as a planning tool for responding to population decline and urban shrinkage. It analyzes Japan's Kashiniwa program, an innovative local governance system for managing vacant lots in shrinking cities that began in Kashiwa City in 2010, examining Japanese local authorities' approach to declining and aging population and discussing its transferability to Bulgarian planning practice.

Puentes Torres, Róger Eduardo · · Colombia

This study compiles and analyzes documents describing the urban agriculture program run by the Mesa Ambiental de Bosa, a participatory environmental planning forum between local government and citizens in the Bosa locality of Bogotá, Colombia, to trace the program's trajectory and its contributions to the local community. The paper is presented as a document-based approximation rather than a study reporting primary field data or measured outcomes.

Javier Melero Llorente · Phytoma España: La revista profesional de sanidad vegetal · Global

This is a profile and interview piece on Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the Argentine artist, architecture professor, human rights activist, and 1980 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, describing his decades of support for agroecology and social movements defending alternative, ecologically based agricultural production, and covering his October visit to the School of Agricultural Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València to inaugurate its fifth course on agroecology, urban agriculture, food sovereignty, and rural development cooperation, shortly after serving as an international observer for Colombia's peace referendum. It contains no research data or study findings.

BibekDhital BibekDhital, Anusha Sharma, Santosh Adhikari · International Journal of Environment Agriculture and Biotechnology · Nepal

Against a backdrop of rapid urbanization and increasing land fallowing in rural Nepal, this case study examined the current state of urban agriculture in Pokhara and Dhulikhel municipalities. It found that a 150 m² area was sufficient to meet the vegetable needs of an urban family of four to five, saving an estimated NPR 6,000-8,000 per year per 100 m².

George R. Smith, Dilip Nandwani, Vanaja Kankarla · International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology · Global

This conceptual article works to validate a common set of parameters and principles for sustainable agriculture, comparing alternative forms of sustainable agriculture with rural-to-urban community resilience and drawing conclusions across multiple sustainable/alternative agriculture systems. It proposes organic agriculture parameters and principles as a conceptual framework and examines best-management parameters of urban and rural sustainable agriculture in the United States and United Kingdom. The article states that urban agriculture is expanding alongside rising demand for fresh, accessible produce, and that evidence supports a symbiotic relationship between sustainable agriculture and rural/urban communities, while also noting that some hold this relationship has not been clearly defined.

· · Global

This essay argues that when spatial planners and other policymakers promote or preclude certain land uses, they interfere with the rights of land users, most notably property rights. It frames "land policy" as the concept connecting land uses, planning, and property, arguing that good land policy provides for a diversity of land uses through plural property relations, since no single kind of property rule fits the purposes of all land-use types — a detached single-family house, a community garden, and a highway each need their own property "fingerprint." It states that when planners find existing property rules do not suit their goals at all, they need to understand the extent to which property obstructs the implementation of their plans, noting that property rules are often more helpful than planners initially expect.

Efrat Eizenberg · · Global

This chapter discusses the broad, self-generated relations between the institution of community gardens and opportunities both to engage in political practices and to take part in the process of producing space. The self-generative power of this assemblage is described as having a life of its own, continuously producing new participants and sustaining the institution over the long run. The development of political consciousness remakes participants as a different kind of urban resident; paraphrasing Gramsci, the author terms this process the production of "organic residents" — people who may not be defined as citadins but can nonetheless be seen as a step toward utopian urban political subjects. Multiple opportunities for political development are embedded across many levels of the production of space, with the actual space of the gardens serving as the blueprint for a political strategy, and the institution linking vision to space.

Christopher Maughan, Christopher Maughan · Exchanges The Interdisciplinary Research Journal · Global

An essay reflects on Critical Foodscapes, a one-day conference part-funded by the University of Warwick's Institute of Advanced Study and the Food GRP, that sought to bring a critical-studies approach to the emerging research area of urban community food growing. It offers reflections on the conference itself as well as on prospects for urban gardening more broadly.

Helen Armstrong, Abby Mellick Lopes · Water science and technology library · Global

This chapter contrasts growing cities (such as in Asia and Australia), which are destroying their rural edge, with shrinking cities (such as in Europe and North America), which are creating a new rural urbanism in their urban centres, and examines how design and mapping technology enable new typologies for peri-/inter-urban rural land. It draws on small-scale community initiatives in Penrith, Western Sydney -- Out & About in Penrith, Penrith as a Regional City Garden, and the Cooling the Commons project -- to show the potential of mobile infrastructure and temporary urbanism for Western Sydney.

Silvana Moscatelli, Hamid El Bilali, Mauro Gamboni, Roberto Capone · AGROFOR · Global

This review paper argues for a holistic, multidimensional, interdisciplinary, and systemic approach to understanding food systems "from farm to fork" -- production, processing, trade, distribution, and consumption -- as a prerequisite for achieving sustainable food security amid population growth, resource scarcity, ecosystem degradation, and climate change. It states that cross-cutting issues such as gender, innovation, and technology should also be considered, and it lists alternative food consumption and production models linking production and consumption -- organic agriculture, urban agriculture, community-supported agriculture, and short food chains -- among the options that can help foster a shift toward sustainable food systems.

Anne Marie Todd · · Global

This chapter analyzes guerrilla gardening as a form of environmental communication, examining the rhetorical strategies used in guerrilla gardening manuals to show how the discourse both constructs and deconstructs community. It argues that guerrilla gardeners deconstruct public space through embodied critique of the urban environment and transgression of public norms and boundaries, while simultaneously constructing community through aesthetic appeal and civic engagement, drawing people in and mobilizing support for community gardens.

Mashaallah Nabi · · Global

A theoretical discussion, focused on Iran, of rural-to-urban migration under conditions the author frames as globalized capitalism, arguing that such migration drives rapid urban growth and marginalization and that peripheral rural landscapes — farmland, orchards and wasteland near cities — come under pressure of devaluation as urban development demand rises. It emphasizes maintaining ecological systems and diversity, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions with limited natural resources, and argues for a participatory, locally grounded approach to redesigning these peri-urban areas. The text presents an argument rather than an empirical study, with no site data, sample or measured outcomes given.

Thomas Elmqvist, Erik Gómez‐Baggethun, Johannes Langemeyer · · Global

A review discussing ecosystem services in rapidly urbanizing settings, framing cities as both major centres of demand for ecosystem services and sources of environmental impact, arising from a tightly coupled social-ecological system. It notes that food supply from urban agricultural land and gardens has played a critical role in cities' historical development, and that urban green infrastructure — particularly trees — removes air pollutants and gases, while features such as coarse woody debris, in-channel gravel beds and wider vegetation buffers can enhance nutrient retention. It states that city authorities worldwide are seeking ways to maintain and expand green infrastructure through urban planning. The text is a review and presents no original data or case measurements.

European Environment Agency · Climate-ADAPT (European Environment Agency) · Switzerland

Basel mandated green roofs on new and renovated flat roofs via a 2002 amendment to its building law, reinforced in 2010. By 2006 the city had 1,711 extensive and 218 intensive green roofs, with about 100 new roofs covering 80,000 m2 installed each year since; by 2019 Basel had 5.71 m2 of green roof per inhabitant, among the highest per-capita green roof coverage in the world. The roofs are reported to cut stormwater runoff by 17-20% and lower indoor temperatures by up to 5°C.

S.G. Potts, V.L. Imperatriz-Fonseca, H.T. Ngo · Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Bonn, Germany · Global

IPBES's first international science assessment on pollinators, pollination and food production (552 pages), approved at its 4th Plenary session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2016. It covers animal pollination as a regulating ecosystem service underpinning food production, gene flow and ecosystem restoration, addressing the roles of native and exotic pollinators, status and trends in pollination networks, drivers of change, impacts on human well-being, and the effectiveness of policy responses. The Assessment was formally endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity's COP13 and prompted national pollinator strategies in countries including France, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa and the Republic of Korea.

Lydon M., Garcia A. · Island Press · Global

A foundational book systematising short-term, low-cost, scalable interventions (pop-up parks, gardens, experiments) that use space temporarily to build consensus for permanent change — a theoretical pillar of interim land activation.

Visser O., Mamonova N., Spoor M., Nikulin A. · Globalizations · Russia

Introduces the concept of 'quiet food sovereignty' to describe how Russian smallholders practise dispersed, muted, bottom-up food autonomy in the absence of organised rural social movements.

Badami M., Ramankutty N. · Global Food Security · Global

Assessing the urban land needed to grow the urban poor's daily vegetables, the authors conclude urban agriculture can make only a limited contribution to food security in low-income countries where need is greatest, and argue its benefits are often overstated.

Warren E., Hawkesworth S., Knai C. · Food Policy · Global

A systematic review of studies quantifying urban agriculture's link to food security, dietary diversity, and nutrition finds the evidence base weak and inconsistent, showing that empirical support for its effectiveness in easing food-security challenges remains limited.

Eigenbrod C., Gruda N. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global

Reviewing urban vegetable production for food security, the authors note that high land prices and urban pollution constrain urban horticulture, indicating that despite opening new cultivation sites, such limits make it difficult for urban agriculture to fully meet cities' food demand.

von Döhren P., Haase D. · Ecological Indicators · Global

Reviewing 103 studies, the paper synthesizes ecosystem disservices, functions of urban green and agricultural spaces perceived as negative for human well-being, such as pests, allergens, pollution, and wildlife conflict, and argues that valuing only benefits while ignoring disservices is inadequate.

Ina Opitz, Regine Berges, Annette Piorr, Thomas Krikser · Agriculture and Human Values · Global

An extensive literature review systematically analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North, comparing their spatial, ecological, and socio-economic characteristics. The study found that urban and peri-urban agriculture differ in most characteristics and in their ability to meet urban food needs. Urban agriculture primarily meets household-level food needs, while peri-urban agriculture provides larger quantities and broader distribution pathways, indicating distinct roles in food security. Both forms of agriculture face similar threats from urbanization pressures.

Mary J. Thornbush · AIMS environmental science · Global

This review paper examines global trends in urban agriculture as a climate change mitigation and adaptation approach. It presents urban agriculture as a land-use solution that enhances food security, sequesters carbon, and offers rural services within cities. The review discusses physical and human factors influencing urban agriculture adoption, integrating a social-ecological perspective.

Nadal, Ana, Cerón, Ileana, Cuerva Contreras, Eva, Gabarrell Durany, Xavier, Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro, Pons Valladares, Oriol, Rieradevall Pons, Joan, Sanyé-Mengual, E. · UPCommons institutional repository (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) · Global

This paper discusses the historical relationship between cities and agriculture, noting that agriculture was essential in ancient civilizations. However, in 20th-century modern urban planning, such as Le Corbusier's Chandigarh and Lucio Costa's Brasília, agriculture was largely excluded from major cities.