Research & reports

Maede Hedayatifard, Mitra Azimi · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Iran

This research assessed the feasibility of initiating a community garden in Pardis New Town, Iran, through a qualitative approach involving interviews, focus group meetings, and an online survey. Findings revealed favorable conditions due to residents' background in local communal activities, adequate agricultural skills from previous residences, and their readiness to engage in volunteer activities. The study also identified strategic requirements for the design and management of community gardens.

Mahyuddiin · KnE Social Sciences · Indonesia (Makassar)

This qualitative study analyzed the network structure of sustainable urban farming development policies in Makassar City, Indonesia, using observations, interviews, and documentation with stakeholders. The findings indicate that the network structure is not fully effective due to erratic, uneven, and unclear contact between actors, and a lack of binding written agreements in the trust dimension. However, information sharing and resource exchange dimensions are progressing well.

Jens Lachmund · · United Kingdom (London)

This chapter traces the emergence of initiatives promoting urban agriculture in London, a pioneering city for urban agriculture in Europe, from a history of knowledge perspective. It identifies three formative episodes: open civic experimentation in community projects, city modeling and surveying in food planning scholarship, and government-sponsored knowledge mobilization campaigns. These processes shaped London as a food-system and a space for community engagement.

Shifa Ma, Bin Ai, Haiyan Jiang, Yunnan Cai, Dixiang Xie · Ecological Indicators · China

This study developed a framework to explore urban agglomeration growth patterns in the terminal urbanization stage, integrating inertial driving factors, spatial development strategy, and urbanization cycles represented by constrained S-curves. The framework was applied to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a case study. Results showed that planning strategy can reshape growth patterns, subregional constrained S-curves can reasonably predict urban quantity, and the coupled model provides a referable simulation pattern for urban agglomeration.

Angele Proust, Maura Neves Coutinho · Confins · Brazil

Public policies for urban agriculture and food in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte face the challenge of considering a perpetually changing territory due to metropolization. Urban agriculture is presented as a political practice that renews the vision of the metropolis and encourages new resistance practices. It is argued that urban agriculture holds a political position in the city, fostering alliances between metropolitan, municipal, and local scales.

Carlos Novaes, Rui Cunha Marques · Sustainability · Global

This study points out the potential importance of urban stormwater in the circular economy (CE) when treated as a useful resource. Urban stormwater can replace part of the water supply from distant sources, reducing energy consumption and emissions. Urban agriculture can also benefit from using green infrastructures. The main gap lies in implementing an efficiency mentality and aligning policies, institutions, regulations, urban planning, and water cycle efficiency.

Seongeun Lee, Seongmin Shin, Hansol Lee, Mi Sun Park · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Global

A systematic review of urban agriculture (UA) case studies identified conditions enabling and constraining UA development across different country income groups. For high-income countries, a lack of farmers' knowledge and urban development are significant challenges to UA implementation. Common requirements for all income levels include motivation, labor, policy, social capital, and arable land.

Francisco Tomatis, Monika Egerer, Adriana Corrêa-Guimarães, Luis Manuel Navas-Gracia · Agriculture · Global

This study systematically reviewed 72 academic documents published from 2000 to 2022 to investigate the relationship between climate change and urban gardening. The analysis showed that climate change can have negative impacts on cities, people, and urban food. Suggestions for building urban gardens' adaptation capacity include rainwater collection, changing plant selection, adjusting planting times, and applying vegetative soil cover. Community and allotment gardens contribute to urban adaptation, mitigation, and resilience by regulating microclimates, reducing urban heat island effects, buffering floods, capturing carbon, and fostering social networks.

Agnes Naipospos, Raia Azzura · Journal of Sustainable Development and Regulatory Issues (JSDERI) · Indonesia

Indonesia faces a reduction in vegetable supply due to rapid urban development, and urban farming can be a solution to meet food needs, reduce household expenses, and increase farmer income. Using a normative juridical approach, this study indicates that Indonesia needs an urban farming program, but its current implementation is not optimal. Therefore, the Indonesia Masterplan for Future Urban Farming (IM-for-FUF) is introduced as an innovation expected to better support the implementation of the green economy.

Aldira Guimarães Duarte Domínguez, Diogo Isao Santos Sakai, Alba Evangelista Ramos, Camila Dias de Aragão, Erivan de Jesus Santos, Gleice Kelly Campelo Barbosa, Hisa Dutra Alves, Julia Maria de Oliveira Compan, Plácido Lima Ferreira Sobrinho, Satyam Bömer Dienstmann, Vinicius Araujo Gonçalves · LaSUS FAU eBooks · Brazil

This book presents the fundamentals of a multi-professional course in CTS (Science, Technology, and Society) developed within a graduate program at the University of Brasília. The course socially integrates four interdisciplinary themes: Habitat, Agroecology, Health, and Associated Work, aiming to form a transdisciplinary epistemological base in Solidarity Technoscience.

Emelie Larsson, Katarina Giritli Nygren · Journal of Risk Research · Global

This study analyzed strategy documents and municipal website information to examine how municipalities frame urban gardening as a risk-reduction strategy, using critical discourse analysis. It identified two discourses: an eco(no)logical risk discourse addressing ecological risks within a capitalist market logic, and a social risk discourse focusing on gardening for work training. The findings reveal that top-down urban garden initiatives highlight contemporary inequalities in urban spaces.

Perci Coelho de Souza, Letícia Miguel Teixeira, Cinthia Mariane Nolaço de Oliveira, Clarissa Sapori Avelar, Gabriel Ribeiro Couto, Geraldo Fábio Alves de Souza, Juliana Leal Santana, Kamila Dos Santos Pita, Sarah Lima Cirino · LaSUS FAU eBooks · Brazil

This book presents the fundamentals of a multidisciplinary CTS (Science, Technology, and Society) course developed within a graduate program at the University of Brasília, Brazil. The course socially and territorially integrates four interdisciplinary themes: Habitat, Agroecology, Health, and Associated Work. Offered in 2021, it integrated 15 master's and doctoral students with over 50 individuals from social movements, professionals, government technicians, researchers, and undergraduate students, forming a transdisciplinary epistemological base in Solidarity Technoscience.

Zaydeé Jahel González García · Revista Alfa · Peru (Ate)

This descriptive cross-sectional documentary study identified existing environmental policies within the Ate District Municipality in Peru, focusing on guidelines for the 2022 Work Plan of the EDUCCA Municipal Program. The study found that the municipality promotes a pilot project for sustainable urban agriculture, identifying the urban agriculture initiative as a pioneering plan among discussed programs.

Deni Permana · ANTASENA Governance and Innovation Journal · Global

This analysis evaluated the impact of school garden programs on students' nutritional status and nutritious food intake, using surveys, interviews, and nutritional status measurements before and after program implementation. School gardens positively impacted students' nutrition knowledge and increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, contributing to a reduction in malnutrition prevalence with significant increases in children's weight and height. However, the program's success was constrained by budget limitations and a lack of training for educators, highlighting the need for adequate training, stable financial support, and curriculum integration.

Gabriela Rigote, Alessandra Xavier Bueno, Marco Akerman · Saúde e Sociedade · Brazil (São Paulo)

This study analyzed the everyday elements of cooking and its relationship with the food system, based on the experiences of seven female urban farmers in eastern São Paulo, Brazil. Using body-map storytelling, visual and oral data were collected on the meanings of cooking. The findings indicate that cooking connects the field to the table, strengthens urban and peri-urban farming practices, and promotes health and sustainability.

Camilo Espitia · · Argentina (Buenos Aires)

After the 2001 national economic crisis, Buenos Aires, Argentina, faced increased food insecurity due to higher local product prices and difficulties for low-income families. This chapter describes the city's urban development and food security challenges, discussing urban agriculture as a mitigation strategy implemented by Buenos Aires to reduce dependency on national food production. The city uses zoning and land use ordinances, with community engagement, to bring food closer to people.

Ana Paula Pedrosa, Romana Xerez · Global Social Policy · Brazil

This article discusses the implications of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) for social policy in Brazil, based on qualitative methods, namely, semi-structured interviews with subscribers from six administrative regions who participated through digital platforms. The results indicate that the factors determining consumer participation in CSA are health impact, strengthening local production, environmental concerns, and eating as a human right and political act. This article also demonstrates the need to promote participation among low-income and socially vulnerable families in CSA and to firmly connect food and nutrition security policy with health and environment aimed at poverty alleviation.

Mulugeta Chane Wube, Heena Atwal · Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship · Ethiopia

This study, conducted in the Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia, examined the integrated effect of the entrepreneurial ecosystem's political-legal subsystem on the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and the mediating role of entrepreneurial competence. A sample of 499 MSE operators engaged in manufacturing, construction, and urban agriculture was selected. While the political-legal aspects significantly impacted both entrepreneurial competency and MSE performance, the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and MSE performance was found to be insignificant. The mediating role of entrepreneurial competency in the relationships between policy and business performance and other business environments and business performance was also shown to be insignificant.

Olalekan A. Uthman, Rachel Court, Seun Anjorin, Jodie Enderby, Lena Al-Khudairy, Chidozie Nduka, Hema Mistry, G. J. Meléndez‐Torres, Sian Taylor‐Phillips, Aileen Clarke · Health Technology Assessment · Global

A systematic review of 54 simulation-based studies investigated the potential effect of structural interventions on preventing cardiovascular disease. The studies indicated a prospective decrease in cardiovascular incidents from interventions in areas such as diet, tobacco, and alcohol control. However, significant heterogeneity in models prevented output data comparisons, and no models considered interrelationships between multiple policies.

Georges Flexor · Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural · Global

This article explored various technological paths that can emerge in response to rising food prices and the need to preserve land. Based on a diagram analysis of the economic model of technological change, it indicated through specialized literature that the hypotheses derived from the model already exist. It also investigated the potential geopolitical effects of these technological shifts on the global agri-food industry, stating that changes aimed at conserving land must encourage urban food production.

Catharina Any Sulistyowati, Suraya Afiff, Muhammad Baiquni, Mia Siscawati · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A literature study conducted from October 2021 to June 2022 identified challenges in the development of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Farmers face expenses for sustainable practices and labor shortages, while CSA members encounter issues with time commitment, cost, and adapting food consumption habits. Organizational challenges include member recruitment and retention, competition, and CSA sustainability.

Sinan Kordon, Patrick Miller · ArtGRID - Journal of Architecture Engineering and Fine Arts · United States (Roanoke)

A survey in five disadvantaged neighborhoods of Roanoke, Virginia, identified primary reasons for non-participation in community gardening. Using descriptive statistics, T-test, and factor analysis, the study found that "theft and damage," "difficult access," "too much effort," and "no personal interest" were the main deterrents. These findings highlight specific barriers to public involvement in community garden projects.

Bezamat de Souza Neto, Anderson Luiz Duarte · OBSERVATÓRIO DE LA ECONOMÍA LATINOAMERICANA · Brazil (São João del-Rei)

This article aims to examine the intervention potential of urban agriculture in the physical and symbolic construction of city space. It is based on the premise that urban community gardens constitute an educommunicative ecosystem that, through collective cooperation, promotes transformations in urban space. To this end, theoretical discussions on urbanity, especially in a postmodern context, and urban agriculture are compared with the specificities of the Vida Verde community garden, located in the Senhor dos Montes neighborhood on the periphery of São João del-Rei (MG).

Victorine Dréau · EcoRev · Colombia

In Bello Oriente, Medellin, Colombia, displaced peasant communities resist extractivist expansion and neoliberal territorial reconfiguration through practices like urban agriculture, reasserting collective land use. This research reveals a struggle to reclaim land from the control and speculation logics of criminal gangs and urban planning institutions, indicating critical governance issues.

Diana Hertati · MIMBAR Jurnal Sosial dan Pembangunan · Indonesia

This study investigated the development of urban farming as a strategy to support food security in Indonesia using descriptive and qualitative methods. While the community understands urban farming (P2L), inhibiting factors include perpetrators' lack of technical understanding, insufficient capital, and extreme weather. Local government strongly supports food security policies through urban farming.