Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
2091 results(55 / 84)
Proposition 12: Increase access to a variety of locally relevant recreational facilities and green spaces
2017Ann Forsyth, Emily Salomon, Laura Smead · · Global
Green spaces and recreational facilities offer various health benefits, including urban cooling, opportunities for physical fitness and ecological education, improved water and air quality, refuge from traffic and noise, and enhanced mental health. An analysis of 10 British studies on green exercise found that as little as five minutes of outdoor activity was sufficient for mental health improvements. While increased recreational activity is less consistently linked to the built environment, with other factors like cost and personal preferences being more significant, access to recreational facilities can still provide opportunities for recreation.
HealthFood educationCommunityActors’ motivations
2017Judith Schicklinski · · Global
This study examines individual motivations for commitment to sustainability issues, including urban food production, across different cities globally. It notes that legal frameworks can be a motivating factor, such as land development plans designating agricultural use. While quantitative data suggests food self-sufficiency is not a major motive in any region, qualitative data indicates its increasing importance in the Global South.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyThe cost of sustainability in higher education: staff and student views of a campus food culture
2017Amy Shaw, Teresa Capetola, Justin Lawson, Claire Henderson‐Wilson, Berni Murphy · International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education · Australia (Melbourne)
This study investigated the sustainability of the food culture at Deakin University's Burwood campus and identified barriers to increasing its sustainability. An online survey of 697 staff and students from the Faculty of Health and a paper-based survey of 10 campus food outlets were conducted. The findings revealed that while sustainability considerations are important to staff and students, cost is the main issue and a significant barrier to developing a more sustainable food culture and making healthy food choices.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsRelying on urban gardens for survival within the building of a modern city in Colombia.
2017Colleen Hammelman · CABI eBooks · Colombia
In Medellín, Colombia, displaced women utilize urban gardens as a survival strategy amidst food insecurity and tenuous support from local government. Urban planning permits these gardens under the guise of supporting displaced families, but also for preserving open space and halting the growth of informal settlements. This chapter provides a clear example of how urban planning impacts the critical survival strategy of growing food.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunityPolicySustainable Development Through Urban Agriculture
2017Eric R. R. Weaver · Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) · Global
This document compiles three publications advocating urban agriculture as a solution for UN Sustainable Development Goals. The first publication examines stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) modeling for urban agriculture. The second highlights agriculture's role as a driver for planetary systems impacts, and the third proposes a new definition for urban agriculture due to existing ambiguities.
Climate changeCommunityPolicyEconomicsLandscape: from common good to human right
2017Laura Menatti · International Journal of the Commons · Global
This paper analyzed how the concept of landscape relates to notions of the common good, commons, and common pool resources (CPRs). Through theoretical research supported by practical examples like community gardens, it argued that landscape can be defined as a common good and can include commons and collective management of common pool resources. This analysis led to the possibility of defining the "right to landscape," arguing that landscape is a domain where human rights can be claimed and a right to which human beings are entitled.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceGrowing a School Garden
2017Julie Rosenthal, Anissa M. Martin-Conyers, Michelle Albritton · · Global
A vacant lot across from an urban professional development school was converted into a school garden through collaboration among community organizations, school staff, students, and university personnel. Teachers integrated gardening activities into language arts and science instruction, and teacher candidates facilitated a literacy unit on plant life. This project exemplified a PDS-University partnership.
Food educationCommunityThe hybrid landscape of public space in Thessaloniki in the context of crisis
2017Evangelia Athanassiou · Landscape Research · Greece (Thessaloniki)
Trends redefining public spaces in Thessaloniki, Greece, are analyzed. One trend involves official urban policies introducing private and voluntary sectors into public space management, while another consists of citizen-led initiatives reasserting 'publicness' through collective activity, exemplified by urban farming in an abandoned military camp. These trends are argued to create a hybrid landscape of public space where the public and private binary is redefined, representing divergent imaginaries of 'publicness'.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justicePrinciple-Centred Therapy (PCT): The Future for Therapeutic Interventions?
2017Muzammil H. Syed, Umair Majid, Reda Siddiqui · · Global
This paper proposes that community garden ventures could offer a solution for vulnerable populations struggling with mental well-being in isolation. Through gardening and acquiring agricultural techniques, participants would engage in Principle-Centred Therapy, aiming to guide individuals from dependence to independence and interdependence. Agricultural output would be sold in markets, contributing to community resilience by integrating isolated members and enhancing overall economic vitality.
CommunityHealthWelfareEconomicsViele Orte überall: Care-Logik in alternativen Projekten und Potentiale von Gegenmacht
2017Christa Wichterich · Feministische Studien · Global
This essay explores the transformative potential of caring and commoning in alternative projects such as community agriculture and urban gardening. While these self-organized experiments develop caring practices towards nature and humans, their transformative impact on society is limited. This limitation stems from unintended mechanisms of social or racist exclusion, or from appropriation by the municipality or the state.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyDiseño de un huerto escolar para la formación agroecológica de los educandos de la Unidad Educativa “Ciudad Machala”. Cantón Machala, Ecuador
2017MSc. Odalys Bárbara Burgos, Dra. C. María Elena Estrada Martínez, MSc. Carmen Benítez Ruíz · · Ecuador
This study aimed to design a school garden for the Ciudad Machala Educational Unit in Machala Canton, Ecuador, to contribute to students' agroecological training and promote sustainability and food hygiene. Using documentary analysis, the research developed a school garden design. The design is intended to foster a more comprehensive culture among students and encourage healthier, more sustainable dietary habits.
Food educationCommunityHealthGREEN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AS EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MODEL IN UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH
2017Izyan Ayuni Mohamad Selamat, Shahida Mohd Sharif, Januarius Gobilik · Journal of BIMP-EAGA Regional Development · Malaysia
This study shared the experience of Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture in developing green infrastructure (GI), specifically a rooftop garden, as a medium for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The project was conducted in four phases: planning and management team formation, participatory planning, site inventory and analysis, and GI design and development. Through this project, participants were directly exposed to identifying environmental issues and their solutions, implementing sustainable initiatives within the campus environment.
Food educationDIYCommunityAgricultura urbana: espacio de encuentro entre procesos de educación no formales y la comunicación para el cambio social (CPCS)
2017Lorena Meneses · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Colombia (Palmira)
In 2015, Pontificia Bolivariana University implemented the 'Environmental Education' project in Palmira, Colombia. This project aimed to offer an alternative means of food acquisition for children at Fundación Hogar Divino Niño and identify plants usable on the land to minimize negative environmental impact and promote food sovereignty. Although conceived from an agricultural perspective, it became a participatory scenario where non-formal education and communication for social change played a role in uniting a community around a common good.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunity Gardens as Health Promoters: Effects on Mental and Physical Stress Levels in Adults with and without Mental Disabilities
2017Nugrahaning Sani Dewi, Masakazu Komatsuzaki, Yuriko Yamakawa, Hiromi Takahashi, Shibanuma Saori, Takeshi Yasue, Tsuyoshi Okayama, Atsushi Toyoda, Hikari Shimonishi, Sei‐Ichi Sasaki · Sustainability · Global
This study investigated the psychological and physical effects of stress from various intensity community garden activities on adults with and without mental disabilities (n=42 for psychological analysis, n=13 for physical assessment). After activities, the group with mental disabilities showed decreased salivary α-amylase levels while the control group showed increased levels, but both groups exhibited lower stress response scale (SRS-18) results. The group with mental disabilities had a significantly lower increase in heart rate ratio during low-intensity work but a significantly higher increase during high-intensity work, and experienced significantly higher fatigue during high-intensity work.
CommunityHealthWelfareGlobal urban agriculture into the future: urban cultivation as accepted practice.
2017Antoinette WinklerPrins · CABI eBooks · Global
This chapter highlights three main points regarding urban cultivation. First, urban cultivation is much more than producing food. Second, it should be seen as a normal and accepted livelihood in all urban areas, requiring land rights and regulatory environments to align with this reality. Third, urban cultivation has a critical role in making cities sustainable, green, and more resilient in the future.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceFarm fresh in the city: urban grassroots food distribution networks in Finland.
2017Sophia E. Hagolani‐Albov, Sarah J. Halvorson · CABI eBooks · Finland
This chapter examines grassroots food distribution networks in Finland, focusing on their role in creating farmer-consumer linkages for urban foodsheds. It discusses and compares two networks: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), exemplified by the Herttoniemi Food Cooperative, and REKO Circles, which are based on the principle of 'fair consumption'.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityFood sovereignty & justice‘La doble condición’: landmine victims, forced displacement, and disability in Colombia’s Magdalena Medio
2017Max Counter · Social & Cultural Geography · Colombia (Magdalena Medio)
Based on fieldwork with internally displaced landmine victims in Colombia's Magdalena Medio region, this research highlights how the intersection between physical impairment and forced displacement produces disabling spatial imaginaries of fear and painfully embodied rhythms of daily life. The paper draws attention to urban agricultural projects' enabling potential to produce grounding rhythms of labor for landmine victims.
WelfareCommunityHealthKözösség által támogatott mezőgazdaság regionális vizsgálata
2017Nóra Gombkötő, Judit Vincze, Judit Hegyi, Károly Kacz, Gombkötő, Nóra, Vincze, Judit, Hegyi, Judit, Kacz, Károly · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Hungary
A questionnaire survey was conducted among producers and consumers regarding Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) systems in Hungary's West Transdanubian region. The study found that CSA is not mature in Hungary and requires broader support. Producers were predominantly over 45 years old, with few engaged in animal product production, and primarily used traditional markets, missing out on other sales opportunities. Consumer awareness of CSA types was low, with only 25% preferring buyer communities and 3% each for subscription/box systems and share farming.
Governance failureCSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceVEG-HIVE. An easy to grow veg-kit for urban farmers
2017Erminia D’Itria, Loredana Di Lucchio · The Design Journal · Global
This article discusses the growing interest in urban agriculture, driven by factors such as healthy food access, green space, and community engagement. It suggests that architects and designers can play a strong role in expanding urban agriculture by developing innovative practices to enable more people to farm in their own spaces. The text emphasizes the need to amplify the benefits of urban agriculture to a larger population.
DIYCommunityHealthEconomicsPoblación y organoponía como estrategia de desarrollo local
2017Wendy Castañeda Abad, Angelina Herrera Sorzano, Roberto González Sousa, Eduardo San Marful Orbis · Revista Novedades en Población · Cuba (La Habana)
This research studies the organization, structure, and development of urban agriculture in Cuba, focusing on organoponics as a high-yield modality using agroecological techniques. The study evaluates the behavior and community impact of these centers in Havana Province, an urban territory, as a factor for local development.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceA view from the south: bringing critical planning theory to urban agriculture.
2017Stephanie White, Michael W. Hamm · CABI eBooks · Global South
This chapter discusses urban agriculture's role in urban food systems, particularly in the Global South, and proposes theoretical framings of urban agriculture as an 'urbanistic practice'. It argues that urban agriculture studies can enhance understanding of regional food provisioning and exchange, especially concerning informality, shed light on urban socio-ecological processes including food insecurity and marginalization, and provide case-study accounts of peripheral livelihoods that challenge conventional understandings of urban construction.
Food sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityThe impact of urban gardens on adequate and healthy food: a systematic review
2017Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Silvana M Ribeiro, Ana Cláudia Camargo Gonçalves Germani, Cláudia Maria Bógus · Public Health Nutrition · Global
This systematic review examined the impacts of urban garden participation on food and nutrition outcomes, including healthy food practices, access, beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes. It analyzed 12 studies published between 2005 and 2015, finding significant heterogeneity in settings, populations, and methods, and a need for greater methodological rigor. The review reported positive impacts such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption, better access to healthy foods, and enhanced valuing of cooking and organic production.
HealthFood educationCommunityA change is needed. Urban regeneration may be the answer.
2017Miriam Bodino · PORTO Publications Open Repository TOrino (Politecnico di Torino) · Global
Given the clear limits to growth, this study argues for a better definition and application of sustainable development, particularly in urban areas. It proposes envisioning a de-growth society, emphasizing resilience, flexibility, and adaptability in urban regeneration. The use of Third Landscape, public spaces, and urban agriculture is suggested as a more sustainable approach to urban transformation.
Climate changeCommunityUrban–rural linkageEnvironmental educators learning and theorizing place-responsive pedagogy
2017Robert B. Stevenson, Gregory A. Smith · · Global
This paper discusses professional learning opportunities for teachers regarding outdoor environmental pedagogy. These opportunities include resource materials, formal experience-based workshops at centers, informal observations and discussions, and collaborative curriculum planning with center educators. Various methods, such as creating school gardens and engaging in green school activities, are presented to alert students to the importance of reinhabitation.
Food educationCommunityContribución cultural de la agricultura urbana
2017C. Alejandro Rafael Socorro Castro, C. Fernando Carlos Agüero Contreras, MSc. Raúl Ramón Rodríguez Rodríguez · Revista Científica Agroecosistemas · Cuba
This study evaluates the cultural contribution of urban agriculture as a global phenomenon expanding since the second half of the 20th century. Its universality is observed in industrialized and emerging economies, characterized by a tendency to face correlated ecological or alimentary dangers. Urban agriculture's contributions stand out in both material and spiritual culture associated with agrarian and agricultural productive processes. The Cuban experience, examined in Cienfuegos, confirms international literature and highlights essential contributions that are indispensable to study and socialize for Cuban society's efforts towards 2030 goals.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justice