Research & reports

Justine Lindemann · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (Cleveland)

This article explores the potential for "collaborative survival" in deindustrialized urban spaces, arguing that abundant so-called vacant parcels offer a pathway toward more self-determined food systems. Using the work of Black gardeners and farmers in Cleveland, Ohio as a case, it frames urban food production as a praxis of liberation that contests structural racism and reimagines alternative urban futures.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China (Beijing)

Examines the state and challenges of urban vegetable production in Beijing, China.

· Foods · China (Pearl River Delta)

Quantifies the foodshed and food self-sufficiency of the Pearl River Delta megacity region using land footprints, finding regional and urban self-sufficiency is not achievable.

Chang Y., Si Z., Crush J., Scott S., Zhong T. · Urban Governance · China (Wuhan, Nanjing)

Examines central, provincial, and municipal government responses to ensuring stable urban food supply during zero-COVID measures in Wuhan and Nanjing, China.

· Agriculture · China (Pearl River Delta)

A study classifying urban agricultural functional regions at the county level in the Pearl River Delta, China, and analyzing their carbon effects from 2002 to 2020.

· Frontiers of Engineering Management · China

A paper framing urban agriculture as nature-based solutions and proposing three key strategies to address food security in Chinese cities under climatic and non-climatic challenges.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China

A study discussing how policymaking can support both migrant and native gardeners engaged in urban gardening in China.

· Land · China

Analyzes newspaper coverage of participatory urban gardening in China to examine how mass media promotes participatory landscape revitalization.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Germany

Analyzes Community-Supported Agriculture (Solidarische Landwirtschaft) in Germany as a form of food-democratic experimentalism, in which producers and consumers share the costs, risks and governance of production.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Germany (Freising)

Developed a holistic assessment of bee and flowering-plant diversity in the medium-sized city of Freising using citizen science, identifying 22 bee-diversity hotspots and evaluating planted flower patches as stepping stones for oligolectic bees.

De Simone M., Pradhan P., Kropp J. P., Rybski D. · Sustainable Cities and Society · Germany (Berlin)

Evaluates five urban space types (residential areas, allotments, rooftops, supermarket parking lots, cemeteries) and estimates the potential to produce a large share of Berlin's vegetable consumption locally.

Pham · Asia Pacific Viewpoint · Vietnam (Hôi An)

Case study of peri-urban agriculture in Hôi An, Vietnam, analyzing how agrotourism development and rapid urbanisation jointly pressure farming.

· Urban Geography · Global

A critical discussion arguing that urban agriculture can drive environmental gentrification: by boosting neighborhood attractiveness through greening it may attract affluent newcomers and contribute to the displacement of lower-income residents and people of color.

Marini M., Caro D., Thomsen M. · Land Use Policy · Europe (Barcelona, Lyon, Trieste, Udine)

Reviews 83+ policy documents and surveys local managers in four EU cities. Finds land-use frameworks fail to prioritise urban agriculture, that only allotment gardens are meaningfully supported, and that local policies are formulated ad hoc outside any comprehensive UA framework, weakening effectiveness.

Range Camille, O'Hara Sabine, Jeffery Tia, Toussaint Etienne C. · Foods · USA

Assesses effectiveness of food policy councils in major US cities, highlighting how unstable funding and weak institutional support undercut their ability to influence policy. Concludes that many councils underperform relative to their mandate due to resource and capacity constraints.

Polman Daniel, Bazzan Giulia · European Urban and Regional Studies · Europe (26 cities)

Uses fuzzy-set QCA across 26 European Milan Pact cities. Finds that the absence of governance practices—initiative mapping, integrated food strategies, and monitoring/evaluation—prevents most cities from becoming policy-innovative, so many signatories deliver only limited food-policy innovation.

· City · Austria (Vienna)

Examines how greening-oriented planning policy shifts in Vienna interact with gentrification pressures, analyzing whether municipal planning instruments mitigate or inadvertently enable green gentrification in a social-democratic housing context.

· Journal of Urban Affairs · USA

Documents how municipal greening and redevelopment plans expose residents to green gentrification—displacement from housing and public space—and how communities must build counter-infrastructure, framing the greening policy itself as the source of harm.

· Cities · Portugal (Lisbon)

Cost-benefit analysis showing that Lisbon's flat, city-wide green-roof subsidy design is suboptimal—constant subsidy values fail to optimize public funds because ecosystem-service benefits vary spatially, evidencing a poorly targeted (wasteful) green-infrastructure incentive.

· FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO · Global

The 2023 flagship report jointly produced by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. It analyzes how urbanization is transforming agrifood systems and affecting the availability, affordability and security of healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum.

Setyardi Pratika Mulya, Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, Delik Hudalah · Geography and sustainability · Global

This 2023 global systematic literature review examined peri-urban agriculture (PUA) as an ecosystem service, focusing on urbanization pressures and governance. The review found that PUA is crucial for urban areas in terms of food supply, ecology, biodiversity preservation, disaster mitigation, and recreation. However, massive urban expansion is a primary cause of PUA loss, and sociocultural biases have led to institutional constraints on peri-urban management within existing political and regulatory frameworks.

Pengyao Li, Feinan Lyu, Yuan Zhou, Zhenrong Yu · Ecological Indicators · China (Beijing)

A study in Beijing, China, surveyed ground spiders and carabids in 12 plantation forests and nearby arable lands to assess the impact of afforestation on biodiversity. Intensive afforestation on arable lands did not increase local ground arthropod diversity. Ground arthropod abundance and species richness in plantation forests were significantly lower than in arable lands when surrounding arable land cover was relatively high, and overall landscape-scale diversity was not improved.

Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira · Urban Forum · South Africa

This narrative literature review analyzed 62 peer-reviewed articles on urban agriculture in South Africa from 1993 to 2022. The findings indicate several knowledge gaps, including an under-representation of secondary cities and a general productivist focus in most studies, which limit understanding of urban agriculture for sustainable cities.

Zhiwei Zheng, Rung-Jiun Chou · Land · Taiwan (Taoyuan City)

This study investigated strategies for promoting edible landscapes in urban communities, focusing on the San-He community in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Using in-depth interviews and non-participant observation, the research found that edible landscapes offer social, economic, and cultural benefits but face challenges in marketing, government policies, and growing techniques. Place branding strategies were identified as effective in addressing these challenges.

Artëm Lytovchenko, Oksana Nekhaienko · Baltic Journal of Legal and Social Sciences · Ukraine (Kharkiv)

A 2023 paper aimed to characterize the sociological potential of the military factor in the global food crisis through the lens of food security challenges in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kharkiv. Based on results from an original reconnaissance case study conducted in Kharkiv from May to August 2022, assumptions were formulated regarding the main directions of transformation of food practices among residents of a large city undergoing combat actions. The study also proposed methods and directions for possible sociological research to verify these assumptions.