Research & reports

Kimisato Oda, Christoph Rupprecht, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Steven R. McGreevy · Sustainability · Japan (Kyoto)

A study in Kyoto City, Japan, examined agricultural land use from 2007–2017 to assess urban agriculture as a sustainability strategy for shrinking cities. Analysis revealed a 10% decline (209 ha) in agricultural land use over ten years, with main post-agricultural uses being residential (40%) and vacant land (28%). The findings indicate that Kyoto City is not currently positioned to benefit from population decline through localized food production.

Robert McDougall, Paul Kristiansen, Romina Rader · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · Australia

This study evaluated small-scale urban agriculture systems in Australia using economic and emergy (embodied energy) analyses. While these systems used land efficiently, they were relatively inefficient in their use of material and labor resources. Benefit-to-cost ratios demonstrated that, on average, the gardens ran at a financial loss, and emergy transformity was one to three orders of magnitude greater than many conventional rural farms. Only 14.66% of all inputs were considered "renewable," resulting in a moderate mean environmental loading ratio (ELR) of 5.82.

Naomi Shimpo, Andreas Wesener, Wendy McWilliam · Urban forestry & urban greening · New Zealand (Christchurch)

This paper examines the community benefits provided by an established community garden in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquakes. Based on surveys and interviews, findings indicate the garden helped gardeners cope with the post-quake situation by serving as a place to de-stress, share experiences, and gain community support. Garden features encouraging social interaction, such as central meeting and communal working areas, reportedly supported disaster recovery.

Petra Hauke, Jens A. Geißler, Tim Schümann, Andrea Kaufmann · · Germany

This "Hands-on-Lab" aimed to share practical experiences on how libraries can contribute to sustainable development, referencing the UN Agenda 2030 and German sustainability strategies. It included impulse presentations on ecological and social sustainability good practices, such as urban gardening in libraries, followed by a World-Cafe discussion. The event focused on discussing practical implementation methods.

Doris Laury Beatriz Dzib Moo, Sandra Patricia Dzib Moo, L.E. Gerardo González García · · Venezuela (Falcón)

This proposal introduces urban gardens for Colonia Lindavista in Tabasco, Mexico, aiming to demonstrate the benefits of urban farming. The project, initiated in January 2017 as a pilot, seeks to raise awareness and secure institutional support. It also aims to show how urban gardens can promote daily consumption of organic produce for health benefits and support family economies, thereby increasing the community's resilience.

Joana Castellar, Carlos Alberto Arias, Pedro N. Carvalho, Martina Rysulová, Joan Canals, Gabriel Pérez, Montserrat Bosch González, Jordi Farreras Morató · Desalination and Water Treatment · Global

The WETWALL design concept proposes a unique ecotechnology for secondary wastewater treatment at an urban scale, integrating constructed wetlands and modular living walls into a modular living wall hybrid flow. This article reviews existing living walls treating wastewater, focusing on nitrate and phosphate removal, and presents the WETWALL concept, including component selection (plants, substrate) and operational strategies. It also discusses potential interactions with the urban environment, aiming to substantiate WETWALL's potential as an innovative urban wastewater treatment.

Neslihan Demircan · ATLAS JOURNAL · Global

This workshop evaluated the impact of urbanization and population growth on urban agriculture. Amid challenges to food security and hygienic maintenance due to decreasing urban agricultural lands, global urban allotment models and research on their benefits to local ecosystems and the negative aspects of climate shifts were revealed.

Camille Frazier · Journal of Political Ecology · India (Bengaluru)

This article examines the motivations and practices of organic terrace gardeners (OTGians) in Bengaluru, India, who grow food in private spaces. While OTGians successfully create a vibrant community driven by food safety and environmental concerns, their efforts are limited to the middle class due to class-specific concerns and production practices. The study highlights that urban gardening in this context remains an intervention primarily for the middle class.

Andreia Gerbaudo Gimenez, Cleidivaldo Siqueira Pereira, Gislania Nobres da Silva, Heloísa Alves Pereira, Hérica Ribeiro Fabro · · Brazil

This work proposal focuses on school gardens as a means to develop environmental education and food themes, connecting theoretical and practical concepts to aid interdisciplinary teaching and learning. It aims to foster students who value agricultural principles, noting advances in students' methodological conception of Field Education despite regional challenges from the agro-industrial sector.

Khadija Benis, Rukaia Gashgari, Adnan Alsaati, Christoph Reinhart · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)

The Urban Foodprints (UF) methodology was applied to assess the environmental sustainability of high-yield urban agriculture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focusing on tomatoes. While urban production in high-yield greenhouses could reduce Global Warming Potential by 9% and water savings were significant, the energy needs of these greenhouses were considerably higher than the baseline. This indicates a trade-off where environmental benefits are partially offset by increased energy consumption.

Bolanle, Oluwafisayo Wahab, Abiodun Abiodun · Ghana Journal of Geography · Nigeria

This study examined peri-urban agriculture (PUA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, by surveying 230 randomly selected farmers across six local government areas. Findings showed farmers benefited from opportunities like abundant land (47.4%) and good soil (32.2%), but faced major challenges including inadequate finance (43%), farm encroachment (15.7%), and erosion/flooding (13.5%). The study concluded that PUA opportunities in Ibadan can strengthen food security, recommending government support for finance and development control.

Jennifer White · Sustainability The Journal of Record · United States

The Sustainable Learning Initiative at Franklin Falls is a long-term partnership between Colby-Sawyer College and PermaCityLife in Franklin, New Hampshire. To date, 265 students have participated, engaging in experiential learning to develop sustainable solutions for community needs. Students have assisted with projects including permaculture/edible landscaping, contributing to a grassroots effort to revitalize the community.

Rani Prihatmanti, Nooriati Taib · Arab world geographer · Global

This paper reviews the potential of biofaçades as Vertical Greenery Systems for urban food security, optimizing them as 'Vertical Edible Landscapes' on high-rise buildings. The review identifies key factors for growing edible plants on high-rises, including plant type, climatic conditions, maintenance, and pest control. Findings suggest edible biofaçades could increase vegetable consumption, lower transport emissions, minimize pesticide use, and reduce local produce expenditures.

Dan Yu, Dongyan Wang, Wenbo Li, Shuhan Liu, Yuanli Zhu, Wenjun Wu, Yongheng Zhou · Sustainability · China (Changchun)

This paper assessed the landscape ecological security (LES) of peri-urban cultivated land in Changchun City, China, at three time points, considering both cultivated and surrounding landscapes. Results showed that urbanization affected the peri-urban cultivated landscape, with metrics like patch density and edge density progressively increasing for cultivated land within 20 km of the urban center. This indicated elevated fragmentation and vulnerability, and the study concluded that decreased LES of cultivated land impedes sustainable peri-urban agriculture.

Georgia Pollard, James Ward, Philip Roetman · Horticulturae · Australia (South Australia)

A systematic review of literature from 1975 to 2018 on urban agriculture yield research found that only 5 out of 25 articles actively collected water use data from the perspective of water use efficiency, all from purpose-built experimental gardens. Given the scarcity of literature on urban agriculture water use efficiency and measurement, a case study from South Australia demonstrated the diversity of water pricing, sources, and irrigation methods. Four equations for calculating urban agriculture water use efficiency (WUE) were proposed.

Agatino Rizzo, Marcus Sandberg, Tim Johansson, Johan Wenngren · Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) · Global

This project aimed to explore the smart integration of food production in cold urban environments and to sketch an intelligent platform to guide a comprehensive, city-wide approach to urban farming in winter cities. The challenge involved integrating large databases related to energy consumption, building performance and size, and solar radiation, to visualize data in an easily understandable manner for city stakeholders.

Rowaida Rashed · Environmental Science & Sustainable Development · Global

This paper explores urban agriculture as a regenerative urban development practice aimed at decreasing the ecological footprints of cities. It defines environmental problems, explains the concept of the ecological footprint, and demonstrates how urban agriculture can be integrated into cities to improve environmental conditions and reduce ecological footprints. Urban agriculture is highlighted as one of the most effective regenerative practices.

Monika Egerer, Brenda B. Lin, Stacy M. Philpott · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (California)

This citizen science study in the California Central Coast examined water use, vegetation, and soil management in urban gardens. Water use varied by gardener and was positively related to mulching and crop cover. Gardeners expressing high concern for drought and water conservation paradoxically tended to use more water, while those in gardens with more rules used less.

Eric Love · Wildlife in Australia · Global

This paper discusses the fundamental importance of water and food for survival, with Eric Love from CORE noting global stress due to climatic fluctuations. It poses the question of whether urban agriculture could hold the key to ensuring future water and food security.

Jennifer Sumner · Sustainability · Global

This article reviews and synthesizes literature on food, leisure, sustainability, and community economic development to answer whether we can eat our way to sustainability. It begins with John Loxley's approach to community economic development and links the concept of sustainability with McMurtry’s civil commons. The article examines examples of food-related leisure activities like community gardens, CSAs, gleaning, and community kitchens, concluding that sustainability can be achieved if we choose activities that also enable others to eat.

Doris Laury Beatriz Dzib Moo, Gerardo González García, Analuisa González Dzib · · Global

This paper proposes urban gardens for Colonia Lindavista in Tabasco, Mexico, to demonstrate the benefits of urban agriculture. The project aims to raise awareness and secure institutional support, highlighting the advantages of daily consumption of organic vegetables for health and family economy. This initiative seeks to increase the resilience of the Colonia Lindavista community, which was chosen as a pilot site starting in January 2017.

Giulia Giacchè, Wania Rezende Silva · ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI · Brazil (São Paulo)

This article investigates the role of urban agriculture (UA) in reconfiguring urban spaces and promoting sustainable cities. A survey conducted in two urban gardens in São Paulo, Brazil, found that UA's individual and collective practices contribute to sustainable urban development by reducing social, economic, and environmental inequalities.

Alexis Figeac · Repositorio institucional da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (University of Santiago de Compostela) · Global

ECF is a small-to-medium sized enterprise operating an aquaponic urban farm, demonstrating a co-product recovery business model where circularity is retained within its own operations. The aquaponics system enables resource-efficient food delivery on a B2B basis and achieves significant socio-environmental impact by displacing food miles. However, fish feed sustainability challenges need addressing for greater circularity, and aquaponics faces competitiveness issues due to support for traditional farming and planning hurdles in urban communities.

Silverio Hernández Moreno, José Antonio Hernández Moreno, Bianca G. Alcaraz Vargas · Cuadernos de Vivienda y Urbanismo · Mexico

This article proposes an urban cluster for planning low-carbon cities in Mexico, drawing on environmental design models for buildings and smart city planning strategies integrating urban and rural land uses. It suggests allocating areas for urban agriculture and alternative energy generation, in addition to housing, commerce, and green spaces. The cluster design is concluded to function as an urban design pattern, useful for smart city planning, and a reference point for planning "ruracities."

Jonathan Beacham · Organization · United Kingdom

This ethnographic study explored three community supported agriculture schemes in the north-west of England to understand how Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) can foster a more-than-human ethic of care for the Anthropocene. Drawing on the diverse economies framework and feminist ethics of care literature, the study argues that AFNs offer open-ended organizational forms that can play a central role in this endeavor.