Research & reports

Alma Clavin · Local Environment · Europe

This paper reports on the multiple impacts that community garden design may have on the subjective well-being of site users, using the capability approach as a normative framework. Qualitative research conducted in five community garden sites in the UK and Ireland in early 2011 yielded new explanations for both sustainable design and well-being. Two key design aspects, agency and dynamic balance, were found to enhance both the sustainability of the community garden sites and the well-being of site users.

Steffen Lehmann · Journal of Green Building · Europe

This paper discusses resource recovery and materials flow in cities, noting that urban farming has emerged as a valid urban design strategy in Europe, contributing to local food production, organic waste composting, and biodiversity. It reports on best practices for implementing zero waste, including adaptive re-use and design for disassembly, and identifies that the construction and demolition sector is a major waste producer. A key finding is that achieving 'zero-waste' requires strong industry leadership, new policies, effective education, and refocused research agendas.

M. Booij-Vonk · · Netherlands

In Amsterdam, pupils experience the circle of life through year-round programs offered in 13 school gardens. This study investigated how primary school teachers in Amsterdam perceive the quality of school garden education. To account for the influence of teacher background on quality perception, the study categorized teachers based on their educational philosophies: Montessori, Jena plan, Waldorf, Dalton, and schools without specific educational philosophies.

Elizabeth Day · Crossings Journal of Migration and Culture · United Kingdom

This visual essay reflects on the ideas and processes of migration, mutation, and transplantation. Inspired by Robert Smithson's work, the author's art practice is intimately connected to the earth, exploring deterritorialization and reterritorialization in the creation of earthworks. The author examines Tasmanians' special connection to the earth through two photographic series: depictions of their own earthworks and a series created with women in a women's prison centered on the theme of a 'community garden'.

Anne-Marie Pailhès · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · Germany

Today, allotment gardens are counted among Germany's "lieux de mémoire," finally recognising the importance of the "allotment holders' movement" (Kleingärtnerbewegung) in the German cultural landscape. From the 1890s to the 1920s, in a continuous process centred mainly on the Berlin area, allotment enthusiasts gradually changed the character of urban peripheries, occupying parcels of land grouped into "sections" (Sparten) of "colonies." Since 1996 there has been a museum dedicated to this social movement.

Katrin Bohn, André Viljoen · University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) · United Kingdom

A 2011 paper from the UK discusses the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL), a strategic concept for introducing interlinked productive landscapes into cities. It focuses on the environmental benefits of integrating urban agriculture as one of CPUL's major spatial and functional components, tracing, with reference to international exhibitions and publications, how urban agriculture has moved from a fringe interest toward the center of contemporary urban and architectural discourse. It concludes that while urban agriculture is attracting more attention, further cross-disciplinary work is needed to build the theory underpinning productive landscape design and the policy rationale to support it.

Monica Caggiano · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · France

This brief article discusses the public health role of urban agriculture in urban contexts, where most of the world's population now lives, noting its contribution to food security in developing countries and ecological services everywhere (citing FAO, 2000). It states that the new interest in urban agriculture reflects diverse and multifaceted needs and trends, illustrated by the notable urban agriculture practices found in the densely built city of Paris.

Zane Vincēviča–Gaile, Māris Kļaviņš, Vita Rudoviča, Artūrs Vīksna · Environmental and Climate Technologies · Europe

A study quantified element content in root vegetables (onion bulbs and carrot roots) grown in farmlands and allotment gardens in Latvia, using atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. It measured 17 trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, La, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, V, Zn) and 5 major elements (Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na), finding that carrot roots contained higher amounts of several elements than onion bulbs. Differences in element content were also found between the farmland-grown and allotment-garden-grown sample subgroups, with onions grown in farmlands more affected by contaminants.

Özge Volkan Aksu, Öner Demirel · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Europe (Turkey)

A study of 35 primary school yards in the city center of Trabzon, Turkey, conducted to determine their existing physical condition. It examined outdoor space qualities including use of the surrounding school area, adequacy of open and green space, appropriateness of land use for functional and aesthetic purposes, and outdoor furnishing elements, through observation. The study is framed against a broader pattern in Turkey of school outdoor spaces planned with inadequate green area and hard concrete surfaces that fall short of children's developmental needs, but the abstract does not report specific numeric findings from the 35-school survey itself.

Christina Purcell · Arrow - TU Dublin (Technological University Dublin) · United Kingdom

Background material from a paper on urban community gardens in Dublin, Ireland (2011, UK-based repository) describes Dublin's community gardens as ranging in scale from small disused residential plots (Cabra Park) to a four-acre site in Santry, taking forms from individually worked plots to communal gardens, with some space allocated to charities such as soup kitchens or to college plots. Citing prior literature, it notes an estimated 18,000 community gardens in the United States and Canada and reports that such gardens have been associated with improved nutrition, increased physical activity, greater social engagement, and better mental health, but this excerpt itself presents no original data or results measuring fruit and vegetable intake in Dublin.

Jordi Franquesa Sànchez · Revista iberoamericana de urbanismo · Spain

A survey of garden communities (urban interventions built around private-garden housing types with strategic use of open space and facilities) in the Catalan region of Spain, spanning the late 19th century to 1960 — the point at which the rise of private-vehicle access marked a substantial shift in community design ideas. The study finds that these garden communities show versatility in adapting to different cultural contexts while retaining their main identifying features, resulting in a wide range of design outcomes and constituting a precedent relevant to the growth of present-day cities.

Haney D. H. · Routledge · Germany

The first book to fully document Migge's life and work, presenting him as a central figure across garden reform, urban planning, the Siedlungen housing movement, and organic architecture and planning, with extensive archival illustrations.

Van den Berg A. E., Van Winsum-Westra M., De Vries S., Van Dillen S. M. E. · Environmental Health · Netherlands

Comparative survey of Dutch allotment gardeners and non-gardening neighbors finding gardeners, especially older adults, scored better on health, wellbeing, physical activity, and social contacts, evidencing welfare benefits of shared urban gardening.

Marit Rosol · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · Germany (Berlin)

Argues that the state's new acceptance of citizen-run gardens as green-space governance is an expression of neoliberalization: participation is mobilized to shift fiscal responsibility onto residents. Shows contradictory, self-undermining outcomes of this participatory policy instrument.

Ebenezer Howard · Cambridge University Press eBooks · United Kingdom (London)

This paper presents two quotes: one from G. J. Shaw-Lefevre (1891) criticizing London's chaotic, unplanned urban growth and lack of unified design, and another from The Echo (1890) advocating for attaching half-an-acre of land to public elementary schools for school gardens to teach horticulture and food physiology. Shaw-Lefevre noted that the city developed without considering convenience or aesthetics.

Poppy Nicol · ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) · United Kingdom (London)

This paper studies how various apples enter a community in London, using the apple as a device to analyze the city-region's food system and its connection to productive land. A multi-level analysis examined four arenas of procurement: mainstream retail (supermarkets), wholesale markets, direct links with producers (CSA box schemes, farmers' markets), and ecologically localized procurement (gleaning projects, community orchards). The study explores how these different journeys are understood and accounted for.

Richard L. Wiltshire · Research Portal (King's College London) · United Kingdom

This chapter provides authoritative guidance to present and future allotment holders on statute and case law and support mechanisms related to the acquisition, use, defense, and termination of allotment gardens and allotment tenancies. It draws on "Growing in the Community" to contextualize specific, prescriptive allotment legislation within the broader context of good management practices.

Amanda Claremont, Andrew Church, Mark Bhatti, Paul Stenner · Cultural Geographies · United Kingdom

This 2010 account documented a practice-based approach to British gardens, involving public engagement through a seminar, writing workshop, and an exhibition of amateur photographs. The exhibition explored the production and limits of lay and expert knowledge, noting that many displayed photos did not meet public exhibition standards. The study highlighted challenges encountered and the value of public engagement for understanding everyday spaces and academic practice.

Susan Henderson · Planning Perspectives · Germany (Frankfurt)

The Römerstadt settlement in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, was a key achievement of the "New Frankfurt" urban expansion program (1926-1932), re-housing 60,000 people in 15,000 units. It integrated technical advances like central heating and cable radio, alongside social reforms such as a model school and a landscape plan with allotment gardens and parks. This article surveys Römerstadt's design and history, presenting it as the most complete realization of the program's ideals.

Mieczysław Kunz, Andrzej Nienartowicz · Ecological Questions · Poland

This study in Toruń, Poland, analyzed changes in the distribution and surface area of heaths over nearly 120 years at two former military sites, "JAR" and "Glinki." The analysis utilized historical topographic maps, aerial photos, a high-resolution Ikonos satellite image, and direct field exploration with GPS devices. It was found that the JAR site currently has 22 heather patches covering 11.7328 ha, and the Glinki district also has 22 heather patches covering 3.5701 ha, identifying them as the largest heath sites within Toruń's administrative boundaries. The analysis also outlined small fragments where heaths could be preserved after future housing estate construction at JAR and discussed future land use changes at Glinki due to a scheduled housing estate.

Nicola Silvestri, E. Bonari · CINECA IRIS Institutial research information system (University of Pisa) · Italy

Focusing on the area around Lake Massaciuccoli in Tuscany, Italy, this paper discusses the relationship between the management of peri-urban agricultural land — the transition zone between city and countryside — and the lake's eutrophication problem. It argues that proper management of the extensive agricultural areas within this heavily anthropized territory could contribute significantly to resolving the lake's eutrophication through management and structural interventions, while noting that partially reorganizing existing agricultural models carries both cost and difficulty.

Qian Xiong Jin · Chinese Landscape Architecture · United Kingdom

An overview of the history and future of the allotment garden in the United Kingdom. It originated in the subsistence needs of people who had lost their land during urbanization, grew steadily under legislative promotion, and peaked during the two World Wars and the Great Depression driven by national mobilization, before declining during the postwar period of economic recovery. Since the 1990s it has shifted character from allotment garden to leisure garden, and in the context of a pluralistic contemporary society it has become recognized as an important cultural heritage due to its unique social significance and long history, gradually recovering within the framework of sustainable development strategy and the 21st Century Agenda.

Lucy Bastin · · United Kingdom

Against a backdrop where about 90% of UK residents already live in towns or cities, and roughly 60% of the world's population is projected to live in urban areas by 2030, this essay argues that public land such as parks and allotments can easily be lost without a vocal set of "owners" to speak for it. It notes that most of the UK's "natural" areas have historically been created, managed, or modified by humans, and that overlooked brownfield sites can serve as valuable refuges for insect and plant species that can no longer persist in a countryside dominated by industrialized agriculture.

Sibel Mansuroğlu, Ali Sabancı · Journal of Food Agriculture & Environment · Turkey

In primary schools of the Konyaalti district, Antalya, Turkey, the study examined the physical school-garden landscape against landscape-architecture principles and educational outcomes, assessing existing conditions, planning and design problems, the qualitative state of outdoor space, and principals' awareness of using well-designed gardens to enhance educational opportunity. School gardens showed problems of poor or insufficient planning and design, inadequate land allocation, and unqualified management regarding gardens' educational importance, and an extremely high student-to-teacher ratio left teachers without the time or energy for personal garden projects, though the researchers saw potential for principals, teachers and parents to build ties with civic and public organizations.

Ross Wilson · The International Journal of Regional and Local Studies · United Kingdom

The year 2008 marked the centenary of the UK's 1908 Small Holdings and Allotments Act, which significantly shaped the landscape of urban and rural Britain by placing a new obligation on local authorities to provide allotment gardens where residents wanted them. This article focuses on the creation of corporation-owned and -operated allotment gardens in York in the early twentieth century, examining how the era's debates over poor housing, unemployment and the condition of the working classes were reflected through the allotment movement. Allotment gardens represented an important resource for residents of the city's deprived areas, while local politicians and councillors viewed the sites as significant tools for social reform.