Research & reports

Mahbubur Meenar · Journal of the American Planning Association · United States (New York City)

A review of Justin Sean Myers's Growing Gardens, Building Power: Food Justice and Urban Agriculture in Brooklyn (2022, Rutgers University Press, 250 pages, $32.95). The review introduces food justice as a concept that emerged in the late 20th century in response to systemic inequalities in the food system and has since gained significant traction in both scholarly and professional circles.

Winalyn Denzon, Meraflor C. Estose, Krysha Camille Villanueva, Joa H. Jao · Multidisciplinary Science Journal · Global

A descriptive study surveyed 50 randomly selected respondents from designated areas on their acceptability of a container gardening program designed for BTVTED (technical-vocational teacher education) students, to gauge whether it could serve as a food augmentation strategy. Analysis using means and standard deviations found most participants were female, and acceptability was highest on the economic dimension — producing one's own food, generating income and supplying household subsistence. The researchers recommended that local governments run education campaigns to expand participation in container gardening.

Ilham Nur Hanifan Maulana, Ahmad Herlyasa Sosro Pratama, Sukardi Sukardi, Handayani Nurhayati, Della Agustina Putri, Tasya Fiane Wardah · Ecoplan · Indonesia

A qualitative case study using a literature review (via Mendeley, Zotero and Google Scholar) examined variations in how urban farming is applied to sustain food security in Malang City, Indonesia, an area facing high housing demand and land shortages. It found that urban farming can strengthen household food security, that motivation to farm, human resource capacity, and community participation are important factors in boosting self-reliant economic empowerment, and that vertical hydroponic "superblocks" have become a popular urban-farming cultivation method.

Anni Turunen, Riikka Aro, Suvi Huttunen · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · Europe

A qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews, observation and visual material from a citizen-led Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group in Finland examined the role of materiality in constituting food citizenship. It found that materialities such as the field, time and body play a central role in CSA activities, and concluded that food citizenship should be understood not as an individual human trait but as a collective, active form of doing produced through intra-action with material-discursive arrangements.

Fransisca Listyaningsih, Devan Adi PAWOKO, Nurul HIDAYAH · ICCD · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This activity report describes the use of limited urban land for agriculture, women's empowerment, and family food independence in North Meruya, West Jakarta, Indonesia. The activity consisted of hands-on practice of a hydroponic method usable on limited land, together with ongoing guidance provided to women and housewives.

Tailana Fraga Lima, Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio · Revista Brasileira de Tecnologias Sociais · Brazil

Using a bibliographic and documentary survey with secondary data analysis in a descriptive qualitative approach, this article systematically examines the challenges in the Brazilian population's diet posed by excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods. It discusses the relationship between agriculture in urban space and dietary readjustment and food insecurity, observing that urban agriculture can produce effects that contribute both to addressing the public health problem of hunger and to the use of urban space. It argues that occupying underused and idle sites in the city for garden development promotes integrated urban spaces accompanied by changes in eating habits and behaviors, aligned with urban planning aimed at a healthy city.

Caroline Verfuerth, Angelina Sanderson Bellamy, Barbora Adlerová, Amy Dutton · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United Kingdom

Failures of the current food system are described as sitting at the core of multiple overlapping crises, shaping both consumption choices and food production, with low-income households disproportionately affected—their food security and access to healthy, sustainable food impacted as a result. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is framed as a bottom-up response toward agri-food system transformation, an alternative food system built on locally sold, agroecologically grown food rooted in social values, and, alongside other food citizenship movements and alternative food networks (AFNs), driven by a vision of a democratic, socially and economically just, environmentally sustainable food system. Yet low-income households are underrepresented in the CSA community. This paper reports findings from a co-produced intervention between the research team, four CSA farms in Wales, United Kingdom, and two food aid partners, seeking ways to improve CSA membership accessibility for food-insecure households: 38 households received a weekly vegetable bag for two to four months, and 16 household members were interviewed at the project's start and at the end of the harvest season. Using a food well-being framework, the study found that CSA membership holistically improved food well-being by strengthening producer-consumer relationships, increasing availability of healthy foods, helping people care for their own and their families' well-being, and building place-based food capability and literacy—results the authors use to support calls for prioritizing food well-being interventions to benefit financially excluded, food-insecure households within localized AFNs.

Ayşegül YARIŞ, Emel Karakaya Ayalp · · Africa

This article reviews the City-Region Food System (CRFS) approach and toolkit developed by FAO and RUAF, translated into Turkish, and examines its roadmap through the West African cities of Ouagadougou and Tamale to assess applicability for building sustainable urban food systems. The review concludes that the CRFS Toolkit offers a limited set of tools and does not incorporate the relationship with spatial disciplines.

Nada El Habibi, Hesham El-Barmelgy · Journal of Urban Research /Journal of Urban Research · Africa

This paper addresses urbanization pressures and food security challenges in Egypt, along with the negative impact of a shortage of green space on public health and productivity, by examining the concept of urban agriculture and how to activate it. Using an analytical review of literature and international experiences, the study identifies the main patterns and types of urban agriculture, analyzes global cases to understand the potential contributions and challenges facing different urban agriculture types, and, through a deductive approach, proposes a framework for activating the urban agriculture concept as a pathway toward sustainable urban development in Egypt; the paper presents no empirical survey data.

Ana Carla Alves Gomes de Almeida, Maria Lúcia Brito da Cruz · Revista Geonorte · Brazil

A study of Fortaleza, Brazil, examined urban agriculture initiatives in risk areas — including the municipal Hortas Sociais (Social Gardens) project — through literature review and field visits to project sites and relevant agencies. It found that introducing urban agriculture on vacant land in risk areas can help deter irregular occupation and, when incorporated into municipal policy, can provide income and food to the urban poor.

Muradiye Ateş · Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi · Global

A qualitative study on the role of social innovation in poverty alleviation and sustainable development examined two cases — the KIVA microcredit system and community-supported agriculture — assessing each for innovativeness, sustainability, social impact, target audience, and institutional structure. It concluded that both cases contribute to poverty reduction and regional development in terms of these dimensions.

Corporación de Promoción Económica CONQUITO · CONQUITO · Ecuador

CONQUITO's 2023 annual accountability report. It confirms the corporation's founding under Quito Metropolitan Council Resolution No. C 0193 (March 28, 2003), and reports that the AGRUPAR urban agriculture project's 2023 target of training 20,000 people in production techniques and food security was exceeded, reaching 20,808 people (104.04% of goal), with a month-by-month breakdown of participants trained.

Andrea Fantini · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This paper analyzes the functions of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a strategy for sustainable and resilient urban food systems and for coping with global emergencies. It identifies various functions of UPA and how they connect, but also discusses obstacles to its large-scale implementation. The paper highlights that despite its potential, significant barriers hinder UPA's widespread adoption.

Aleksandra Nowysz, Łukasz Mazur, Magdalena Daria Vaverková, Eugeniusz Koda, Jan Winkler · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

This study explored urban agriculture (UA) as an alternative source of food and water security, employing a mixed-method approach including literature survey, case studies, and comparative analysis. It compared 25 existing projects in the global north, including allotment gardens, community gardens, and urban farms, categorizing UA into architectural-urban, ecological, social, and economic aspects. The analysis concluded that UA fulfills economic, social, and environmental functions, aligning with the concept of sustainable development.

Marc François Richter, Luiza Vigne Bennedetti, Bruna Raquel Rodrigues Teixeira, Maico Ismael Klein, Angélica Gomes Florczak dos Santos · Confins · Brazil

This study mapped the concepts and benefits of urban gardens globally and in Brazil, presenting the history of urban agriculture and its modalities. A systematic literature review via Portal periódicos da CAPES corroborated various social, environmental, and economic advantages. In recent decades, Brazil has implemented federal, state, and municipal policies to support community garden projects, aiming to reduce poverty and ensure food security.

Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · Journal of Latin American geography · Global

This edited book explores how various displacements lead people to re-engage with plant life, creating meaning and sustaining biodiversity. It examines how gardening, seed saving, and cooking restore social and cultural continuity, connecting past and present. The volume, rooted in anthropology, discusses plant-human engagements in movement ("itineraries") and emplaced efforts of belonging ("sanctuaries").

Elisa Appolloni, Giorgio Gianquinto · Frontiers for Young Minds · Global

Rooftop agriculture, a form of urban agriculture where food is grown on buildings, is presented as a solution to urban food insecurity and environmental protection. This practice offers benefits such as reducing urban heat, decreasing urban poverty, fostering socialization, and benefiting buildings. Rooftop agriculture is gaining global popularity due to these advantages.

Janet Music, Lisa Mullins, Sylvain Charlebois, Charlotte Large, Kydra Mayhew · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · Canada

This study compared 19 municipal urban home food gardening programs in Canada in 2020, which provided free gardening supplies and instructions. It found a complicated relationship between municipalities, gardening programs, and food security, and determined that gardening somewhat alleviated social and emotional challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, municipalities are limited in their policy capacities to adequately address food insecurity in Canada.

Saria Lofton, Marjorie Kersten, Nanyombi Lubimbi, Angela Odoms‐Young · Journal of Community Practice · United States

This study used Chaskin’s relational framework to describe community capacity-building efforts to enhance urban agriculture in predominantly Black communities. Strategies identified for community capacity building in urban agriculture included building on existing resources, community engagement, expanding organizational capacity, identifying threats, and identifying ideal solutions. These strategies were identified by urban farmers, gardeners, and advocates to strengthen local control of the food environment through sustainable urban agriculture.

Tapan S. Parikh, Sara Perl Egendorf, Isaiah Murray, Ali Jamali, Bryan Yee, Sammi Lin, Kendra Cooper-Smith, Brendan Parker, Koron Smiley, Jenny Kao‐Kniffin · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · United States

This study described the development of virtual reality (VR) platforms to support farmer knowledge transfer and innovation in urban agriculture in the U.S. The platform features a VR model of an organic farm in New York City, detailing farm operations and offering opportunities to integrate educational materials and personal narratives. VR has the potential to accelerate innovations in food justice by transcending the physical constraints of traditional agricultural extension.

Elisabeth Meyer-Renschhausen · Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe · Global

This article provides a historical overview of small-scale, subsistence farming, primarily by women, spanning two centuries from the early 19th century to the 21st century. It traces the evolution from the loss of commons in Prussia to urban farming in contemporary cities across Europe, America, and Africa. The discussion includes subsistence farming in towns, garden cities, post-war initiatives, and the significant role of unacknowledged family production in Eastern Europe.

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.

Betty Mntambo · Huria Journal of the Open University of Tanzania · Tanzania (Morogoro Municipality)

This study examined land tenure security in urban agriculture among 69 male and female vegetable farmers in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania, using snowball sampling and a cross-sectional design. Findings revealed that farmers access land informally by renting from legal landowners, with social relationships determining tenure security. Land tenure insecurity negatively affects vegetable cultivation and generates uncertainty and animosity between farmers and landlords.

Avi Friedman · · Canada (Montreal)

This chapter explores how food production can initiate change at the neighborhood level and how using native flora in landscaping decreases water consumption and benefits local biodiversity. The Benny Farm Project in Montreal, Canada, is presented as an example of a highly productive urban agriculture undertaking.

Mosammat Rowshan Ara · Khulna University Studies · Bangladesh (Khulna City)

This study surveyed 361 household heads in Khulna City, Bangladesh, to assess the contribution of urban agriculture to the sustainable livelihoods of low-income people. Agricultural activities observed included vegetable cultivation, livestock rearing, aquaculture, crop cultivation, and innovative gardening. The Index of Agriculture for Sustainable Livelihood (IASL) showed that landowners engaged in more sustainable activities, with sustainability increasing by 0.218 units per decimal of land, and male respondents contributed more to agricultural activities than females. The findings suggest agriculture can help fulfill basic needs for low-income urban residents.