Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
6072 results(55 / 243)
Penyuluhan pemanfaatan sumber daya lokal di Dusun Kontar: Pelatihan pembuatan pupuk organik cair dari bonggol pisang (Musa paradisiaca)
2024Anwar Anwar, Haisyah Haisyah, Permi Kabisatio AS., Wiwi Sawira, Aco Iham Belman, Hildawati Hildawati, Muhammad Fahyu Sanjaya · Jurnal Tarreang Tren Pengabdian Masyarakat Agrokompleks · Indonesia
In Kontar Hamlet, Indonesia, a community service team provided counseling and training on processing banana tuber waste into liquid organic fertilizer. This addressed the issue of abundant unused banana stems. As a result, organic fertilizer was produced, approximately 90% of the community understood the concept of liquid organic fertilizer during counseling, and about 80% knew the production process after training.
CompostOrganic cycleCommunityDIYScoring Setting and Infrastructure di Kampus Politeknik Negeri Medan Berdasar UI GreenMetric
2024Muhammad Taufiq, Nasfryzal Carlo, Dwifitra Y Jumas, Eva Rita, Lusi Utama · Structure (Jurnal Sipil) · Indonesia
This research focused on the Setting and Infrastructure indicator of the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking program at Medan State Polytechnic (Polmed) in Indonesia. The study found that Polmed's current score is 440 out of an expected 1500. To improve the score, the abstract suggests implementing vertical or rooftop gardens, creating biopore infiltration holes, replacing paving blocks with grass blocks, and installing guiding blocks and ramps for disabled facilities.
PolicyCommunityClimate changeHOW LOCAL PRACTICES OF SOCIOPOLITICAL INNOVATION DEVELOP: And Why This Matters for Urban Transformations
2024Merlijn van Hulst, Catherine Durose, Annika Agger · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · Global
This article theorizes sociopolitical innovations as practices that reshape urban spaces for local social and political ends, identifying three activities: assembling, extending, and institutionalizing innovations. An international qualitative study of neighborhoods in Amsterdam, Birmingham, Copenhagen, and Glasgow underpins this theorization. The study notes that while the ongoing development of everyday systems may have limited immediate transformative impact, it prefigures an alternative embedded in urban life.
CommunityPolicyCommunity gardens support high levels of food production, but benefit distribution is uneven across the gardener community
2024Brenda B. Lin, Peter Bichier, Heidi Liere, Monika Egerer, Stacy M. Philpott, Shalene Jha · Sustainability Science · United States (California)
A study of 18 urban community gardens in Central Coast, California, USA, used gardener surveys and field measurements to evaluate food production and its distribution. Gardeners produced an average of four pounds of food per week, saving an estimated $16 USD weekly. However, gardeners with greater food insecurity (larger families or lower incomes) were not the largest producers, indicating uneven benefit distribution despite high overall productivity.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsHuerto escolar orgánico: una experiencia desde la educación ambiental en escolares de primaria
2024José Angel Vences-Martínez, Alejo Javier Lungo Rodríguez, Grecia Hernández Zamacona, Juan Ernesto Mendoza-Ramos, José Pepe Vargas Soberanis, José Domingo Cipriano Espino · REVISTA DE EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL Y SOSTENIBILIDAD · Global
An organic School Garden (HE) was designed through Environmental Education (EA) workshops for 13 sixth-grade primary school children. The project aimed to develop students' attitudes and skills regarding global environmental problems and their environment. Three EA workshops were designed: "Knowing my Garden," "Locating my garden," and "Composting," followed by two workshops for preparing and sowing the garden.
Food educationCommunityCompostHorta comunitária – produção de hortaliças para segurança alimentar de famílias com vulnerabilidade social
2024Ive Mariana Guissoni Arantes, Cícero José Da Silva, Natália Gislene Silva Salvador, Anselmo Afonso Golynski, Ênio Eduardo Basílio, Danilo Silva de Oliveira, Valentine Virginia Matheus, Eduardo Cardoso da Silva Assunção · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil (Morrinhos-Goiás)
The Horta Comunitária extension project in Morrinhos-Goiás, Brazil, produces vegetables to ensure food security for socially vulnerable families. Managed by teachers, staff, and students from Intituto Federal Goiano Campus – Morrinhos, the project has achieved significant results in training and providing healthy food.
CommunityWelfareFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceAnalisis Faktor-faktor yang Memengaruhi Minat Masyarakat Terhadap Urban Farming (Kasus pada Kelurahan Sungai Jawi Dalam Pontianak Kota)
2024Geger Nusantara Putera, Erlinda Yurisinthae, Maswadi Maswadi · MIMBAR AGRIBISNIS Jurnal Pemikiran Masyarakat Ilmiah Berwawasan Agribisnis · Indonesia (Pontianak)
This descriptive quantitative study, conducted in Sungai Jawi Dalam sub-district, Pontianak City, analyzed factors influencing urban farming interest using primary data from 32 purposively sampled individuals and Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. The research found that the "Business Opportunity" variable had no effect on urban farming interest. However, the "Land Use" variable positively affected urban farming interest (p=0.008, original sample value 0.479), explaining 47.9% of the interest.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsMethodological rift: Applying infrastructure activism's ‘skin in the game’ embodied art research methods to urban green infrastructure planning
2024Debra Solomon, Maria Kaïka · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · Europe
This article explores the extent to which applying embodied, ‘skin in the game’ methods used in infrastructure activism (a contemporary art practice) can expand the toolkit of methods in action research on urban green infrastructure planning. It focuses on two cases of infrastructure activism: the Amsterdam Zuidoost Food Forest (VBAZO) in Amsterdam's South East, and the KRATER project in Ljubljana's city centre. Through discussing these projects, the article explores embodied research practices developed by infrastructure activists to change urban green infrastructures and researcher-actors’ perspectives.
PolicyCommunityBiodiversityDesign factors promoting the benefits of an edible campus in China
2024Xiaoying Ding, Shuqi Zhao, Xiaopeng Yue, Yangang Xing, Zhiyuan Zhao · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China
This study explored the correlation between design factors and the benefits of an edible campus, using the South Campus of Hebei University of Technology in China as a case study. Through 261 questionnaire surveys and 30 interviews, it identified seven design factor categories and five benefit categories, including environmental education and economic output. The results showed significant differences in how design factors correlate with benefits, with planting function having the strongest positive correlation with all five benefits.
Food educationCommunityHealthFood lossInvestigating the role of women producers in alternative food networks implementing organic farming in Berlin Brandenburg
2024Faiza Darkhani · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Germany (Berlin)
A qualitative content analysis of interviews with active female respondents in community-supported agriculture, food cooperatives, and self-harvest gardens in Berlin Brandenburg revealed challenges faced by women in alternative food networks. Interviewees expressed optimism but emphasized the need for increased governmental support and community engagement, and the data highlighted demands for gender equality improvements and support mechanisms.
Equity & displacementCommunityCSA & TeikeiPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceValuing ecosystem services of community gardens in developing countries: a case study of Dezful City in Iran
2024Mostafa Baniasadi, Mohammad Eydipour · Nature Conservation · Iran (Dezful)
This study analyzed citizen preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for community garden services in Dezful, Iran, using a choice experiment with 170 respondents in autumn 2022. Results showed citizens were willing to pay 4.57 USD per month, valuing cultural services most, followed by provisioning services. Age, being native, education, household expenditure, and awareness of ecosystem services significantly affected WTP.
CommunityEconomicsBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justicePemberdayaan Program Urban Farming Untuk Meningkatkan Ketahanan Pangan Dan Kualitas Lingkungan di Kelurahan Gebang Putih Kota Surabaya
2024Tiara Himma Fadhilah, Adilah Dwita Cahyana, Ferdiansyah Dwiky Nugraha, Gideon Setyo Budiwitjaksono · JURNAL PENGABDIAN MASYARAKAT AKADEMISI · Indonesia (Surabaya)
This community service program aimed to empower residents of Gebang Putih Subdistrict, Surabaya, through urban farming. Activities included outreach and training on hydroponics and growing plants in pots. Residents showed positive responses and high enthusiasm, indicating that urban farming can increase food security, family independence, environmental quality, and public health.
CommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceHealthClimate changeUnderstanding the emerging phenomenon of food forestry in the Netherlands: An assemblage theory approach
2024Anna M. Roodhof · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Netherlands
To map and analyze food forestry (FF) in the Netherlands, a survey of 109 participants and interviews with five experts were conducted, identifying 231 food forests established since 2017. The survey data indicates that while FF initiatives are diverse in goals, few focus on profitability. Practitioners are largely homogeneous, consisting of university-educated individuals aged 40 to 60.
Economic viabilityCommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageTackling Social Inequality in the City of Porto, Northern Portugal: Grassroots Horticultural Practices and the Desired City
2024Paula Mota Santos · Social Inclusion · Portugal (Porto)
Grassroots urban horticultural plots (hortas) in the Porto Metropolitan Area, Northern Portugal, are informal communities that have existed for decades, often involving over 20-30 people. However, these low-income urbanite horticultural communities are not cherished by city governance, which does not prevent their destruction. This incompatibility between urban governance and grassroots communities hinders the right to the city for the low-income urbanites who created them.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceʺEthnobotanical spaceʺ: plants as a link between nature and culture.
2024Buonanno Rosa · IRIS UNIMORE (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) · Italy (Reggio Emilia)
This study in Reggio Emilia, Italy, explored primary school children's knowledge of plants and their uses, and aimed to rebuild a plant-focused learning environment with school stakeholders. Qualitative analysis of children's conversations and documentation revealed their innate connection with plants through food or health applications, supporting their "naturalistic intelligence." Teachers reported that the plant project fostered group work, collaboration, and a changing didactic approach, connecting children to the earth's environment.
Food educationHealthCommunityTeaching through community artistic practices in informal urban agriculture laboratory
2024Isabel Cristina Carvalho, Raquel Luz Sousa · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Global
This chapter advocates for teaching contexts that integrate community art practices, using an informal urban agriculture laboratory as a basis. It proposes pedagogical approaches for Architecture and Urbanism education that leverage action and experimental research to structure living spaces, focusing on proximity, solidarity, intergenerationality, multifunctionality, and sustainability. The aim is to foster social, biophysical, and ecological integration, promote diversity and gender equality, and raise awareness of active citizenship through collaborative co-planning and co-management of plural green urban spaces.
CommunityFood educationPolicyBiodiversitySchool gardening through the perspective of the Whole School Approach
2024Maria Neocleous Maliotou, Γεωργία Λιαράκου · Education 3-13 · Global
This research employed the Whole School Approach framework to address obstacles in setting up and operating a school-integrated, long-sustained school garden. A school case study involving in-depth interviews with school stakeholders was utilized. Findings suggest that a long-sustained school garden requires collective vision and strategic planning, a holistic curriculum connection, continuous staff capacity building, and school community involvement.
Food educationCommunityPolicyOccupant Needs for Neighborhood Outdoor Spaces Based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Evidence from Wuxi, China
2024Jing Zhao, Faziawati Abdul Aziz, Norsidah Ujang · International Journal of Business and Technology Management · China (Wuxi)
This study investigated the correlation between residents' needs and the provision of neighborhood outdoor spaces in Wuxi, China, through the lens of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, using survey data from 372 residents. Findings revealed that residents seek clean and verdant spaces at the physiological level, well-lit and secure spaces for safety, environments like community gardens that encourage interaction for love and belonging, aesthetically appealing spaces that bolster local identity for esteem, and areas providing avenues for personal development, such as neighborhood vegetable gardens, for self-actualization.
CommunityHealthWelfareHandmade Spaces: Creative Placemaking in a Local Neighborhood
2024Silvia Gullino, Heidi Seetzen · · United Kingdom (London)
This ethnographic research in a former Victorian square in South London examined how residents transformed derelict spaces, including creating two community gardens, over three decades. The study found that while informal, bottom-up practices shaped a vibrant urban culture, the neighborhood is now undergoing progressive gentrification. This gentrification reflects trends in other London neighborhoods, posing challenges to community initiatives.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyA review of food asset maps in Canada
2024Belinda Li, Tammara Soma, Raghava Payment, Srishti Kumar, Nicole Anderson, Flora Xu, Phonpoom Piensatienkul · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada
This study reviewed and categorized 73 food asset maps in Canada based on their included food assets and design characteristics. Most maps included built environment assets like grocery stores and food banks, as well as agriculture-based natural food assets such as farms, community gardens, and orchards. However, representations of Indigenous-focused food assets and non-agriculture-based natural food assets like forests, water bodies, and foraging areas were generally lacking. This lack of Indigenous perspectives reinforces the values of a settler-colonial food system within food asset maps.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsPemberdayaan Warga Griya Pataruman Asri Berbasis Urban Farming
2024Sopian Alviana, Bobi Kurniawan · Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat Tekno. · Indonesia
This community service program aimed to empower residents of Griya Pataruman Asri, Indonesia, through hydroponic urban farming, addressing limited agricultural land in urban areas. The program provided training and understanding of hydroponic technology, and distributed 10 hydroponic kits to residents. This initiative sought to utilize vacant land and enable residents to cultivate crops with limited space.
CommunityDIYFood educationGreen Informalities as Socially Just Ecological Infrastucture: Enduring with Dignity at the Edges of Resilient Development in Dhaka
2024Huq, Efadul · Smith ScholarWorks (Smith College) · Bangladesh (Dhaka)
Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, indicates that ecological infrastructure often erases existing informal agricultural practices, leading to the displacement of marginalized urban dwellers. Based on engaged research with a collective of urban farmers facing eviction, this paper argues that green informalities are crucial for understanding grassroots practices and can be appreciated as socially just ecological infrastructure.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyWelfareAssessing how pro-environmental perspectives impact participation in rooftop organic agriculture in urban neighborhoods
2024Mohammad Enamul Hoque, Abdullah Al Mamun, Perengki Susanto · International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management · Bangladesh
A study collected data from 352 households in two major Bangladeshi cities to predict organic food production intention and behavior in urban rooftop gardens using the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory and theory of planned behavior (TPB). Findings showed that biospheric and egoistic values improved ecological worldview, which, along with awareness of consequences and social norms, predicted personal norms. Personal and social norms forecasted the intention to produce organic food in rooftop gardens.
DIYClimate changeCommunityOrganic cycleMarginalised agrarian traditions as a tool for climate justice
2024Finn Bell · Critical and Radical Social Work · United States (Ypsilanti)
This qualitative study explored how marginalized agrarian traditions can aid communities in surviving climate change, conducting in-depth interviews with 23 marginalized food growers and community leaders in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The study found that while growing food builds resilience to food insecurity and climate change, it is difficult due to land injustice. Policy implications include the need for housing justice, proactive planning for climate refuges, and reparations for land rematriation.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeGreen resilience: Securing life through vegetal being
2024Delf Rothe · Political Geography · United States (New York City)
This paper critically examines the concept of "green resilience" through a case study of various green resilience projects in New York City, including survivor trees, memorial groves, and community gardens. The study argues that these spaces function as key forms of state rule and biopolitical power, identifying three tensions or contradictions of green resilience as a form of biopolitical government: visibility and invisibility, knowledge and ignorance, and control and emergence.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justice