Research & reports

Naser I. Faruqui, Odeh Al-Jayyousi · Water International · Jordan

This paper describes a pilot project in Tufileh, Jordan, that allowed poor residents to reuse untreated household greywater in home gardens. Women in the community used small revolving loans to implement simple greywater recovery systems and set up gardens. The project enabled the community to offset food purchases and generate income by selling surplus production, saving or earning an average of 10% of its income. An environmental impact assessment demonstrated that the quality of the untreated greywater was adequate, and the negative impacts on soil and crops were negligible.

Marianne E. Krasny, Rebekah Doyle · Journal of Extension · Global

This study applied participatory models to an inter-generational program aimed at having youth document ethnic gardening practices in urban community gardens. Outcomes for educators included professional development and the opportunity to expand programs to urban audiences, while youth learned about gardening, developed positive relationships with elders, and enhanced academic skills. Developing relationships with youth was an important outcome for gardeners.

C. Clare Hinrichs, Kathy S. Kremer · Journal of Poverty · United States

This 1997 case study examined a Midwest community supported agriculture (CSA) project that aimed to increase low-income participation through financial subsidies, using a telephone survey of 41 member-households. The study found that while subsidized households had lower incomes, the overall CSA sample was more advantaged in income, occupation, and education compared to local populations. The project inadvertently served the "advantaged" poor, indicating that social inclusion efforts in local food systems may not effectively reach the most vulnerable.

Joseph H. Konen · Journal of Extension · Global

This article summarizes three years of experience in training and supporting volunteer mentors who work with juvenile offenders in an urban gardening program. It details the program parameters and describes the methods used for selecting, orienting, and training these volunteers.

Mpho Tshepiso Khumalo, Nomsie Makhubela · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · South Africa

This mixed-methods study investigated urban youth engagement in community gardening initiatives in six South African cities, using surveys, ethnographic observations, structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. Participants reported a significant 34% increase in self-reported empowerment levels after engaging in these initiatives. The findings suggest community gardens can be effective for youth empowerment, but further research on long-term effects and scalability is needed.

E. Albertse, Technikon Pretoria · · South Africa (Atteridgeville)

This article identifies and defines three extension domains among urban farmers in the informal settlements of Atteridgeville, South Africa: home gardeners, community-project gardeners, and users of open urban spaces. A survey (n=120) with face-to-face interviews, structured interview schedules, semi-structured interviews, and observations gathered information on farming space, crops, resources, and socio-economic characteristics. The study concludes by calling for greater government and public extension involvement in urban agriculture in the area, identifying specific constraints for each domain.

Regina Day Langhout, Julian Rappaport, Doretha Simmons · Urban Education · United States

This article addresses tensions in facilitating the relationship between teachers and community members while working on a community garden project. The authors adopt an ecological model for effective classroom-community collaboration and discuss how this process unfolded in their setting, presenting two classroom projects as examples of culturally relevant classroom-community collaboration. The garden project is evaluated using classroom-community collaboration models, including a discussion of teachers' and community members' shared and differing goals and how those differences were navigated in practice.

John Ferris, Carol Norman, Joe Sempik · Social Policy and Administration · USA

This article reports on research and experience from the USA regarding community gardens and their role in the social dimension of sustainable development. It explores how the use of urban green spaces for gardens links to health, education, community development, and food security. The article concludes that using urban open spaces for parks and gardens is closely associated with environmental justice and equity.

Rachel Slater · Development Southern Africa · South Africa

This study examined urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town, South Africa, focusing on its contribution to low-income households. It found that UA's contribution to income generation and expenditure substitution is limited. However, UA is important to women in low-income households in ways less directly related to monetary gain, being used for empowerment, establishing social networks, symbolizing a sense of security, and encouraging community development.

Haile Meskel Balcha · Food and Nutrition Bulletin · Ethiopia

World Vision Ethiopia launched a Micronutrient Program in October 1998 to improve the micronutrient status of mothers and children, promoting vitamin A–rich food production. By 1999, 11,708 backyard gardens, 275 school gardens, and 77 community gardens were developed, contributing to household food security and income. The program found that vitamin A–rich vegetable production was well accepted, sustainable, and cost-effective, but faced challenges with the availability and cost of imported seeds.

Karen Flynn · Africa · Tanzania

This article compares urban farmers in Mwanza, Tanzania, with those in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. In Mwanza, urban agriculturalists are increasingly not among the poorest, often being middle and upper-class males with access to scarce land and inputs, similar to Ghana. They differ from farmers in Kenya and Zambia in terms of gender, socio-economic class, and motivations. Many of Mwanza's wealthier males continue to face enough job/income insecurity to choose to plant crops to support themselves and their household in lean times.

Chinedum Nwokocha, Obioma Obiora, Oludamini Olayiwola · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Nigeria

A survey of 150 Nigerian immigrant families living in various regions and cities across Nigeria, recruited via online questionnaires distributed on social media, examined the role of community gardens in social cohesion. Analysis found that 72% of respondents reported increased feelings of community belonging linked to their involvement in community garden activities, indicating these spaces play a role in fostering social cohesion among this immigrant population. As an exploratory study, the findings are preliminary, and the authors call for further research to validate them and to examine the long-term impacts of community garden participation on family dynamics, mental health and overall well-being among immigrants in Nigeria.

Melford Mj W. Gunderson · UND Scholarly Commons (University of North Dakota) · United States

A study of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and the community of Elbowoods, North Dakota (2001) describes the social disorganization and community upheaval inflicted on Native Americans by the 1954 construction of the Garrison Dam by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Flooding of thousands of acres stripped Elbowoods residents of farmland, natural shelter for people and cattle, family structure, community gardens, and a way of life that had existed for thousands of years. Drawing primarily on interviews with ten former Elbowoods residents, supplemented by newspapers, published reports, photographs, video, and congressional records, and framed through social disorganization and community theory, the study documents that the dam's construction and the resulting relocation devastated the community and forced residents to cope with and adapt to a "loss of community."

Maxwell D., Levin C., Armar-Klemesu M., Ruel M., Morris S., Ahiadeke C. · IFPRI Research Report 112, International Food Policy Research Institute · Ghana

Based on a 1996-97 survey, this IFPRI report analyzes the relationship between urban poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition in Accra, developing food and livelihood security indicators suited to urban settings and examining nutrition outcomes among the urban poor.

Chinwe Okonkwo · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Nigeria (Lagos)

A study in low-income Lagos neighborhoods, Nigeria, qualitatively explored the perceived impact of urban vertical farming projects on household dietary diversity. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 24 household primary food providers participating in vertical farming initiatives and focus group discussions with project facilitators. Participants reported a marked increase in regular consumption of leafy green vegetables, and a "substitution effect" was observed where savings from home production were redirected to purchase other nutrient-rich foods.

Simon Clarke, Elena Varshavskaya, Сергей Алашеев, Marina Karelina · Work Employment and Society · Russia

This paper examines the "myth of the urban peasant" in Russia, which suggests urban households survive economic collapse through subsistence agriculture. Based on official and survey data analysis, it shows that while many urban households grow food, those with low incomes are least likely to do so, and subsistence production complements rather than replaces paid employment. Furthermore, those who grow their own food work long hours for little return, spending no less on purchased food than those who grow nothing.

Andres Dasso, Teobaldo Pinzas · · Peru

In Lima, Peru, a city with an infertile sandy environment and 0.0 mm average rainfall, urban agriculture has been implemented since the late 1980s to improve the living conditions of the resource-poor urban population. This initiative addresses the rapid urban growth experienced by Lima between the 1950s and 1990s, primarily due to migration.

Donna Armstrong · The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care · United States

This study aimed to design a culturally appropriate diabetes education program for a Northwest American Indian tribe. A community-based intervention, including workshops on health themes and a community garden, was designed to address multiple barriers to diabetes care. However, prior to the implementation of the community workshops and evaluations, the tribal government chose to discontinue receiving federal funding for this project.

Fiona Nunan · · India (Hubli-Dharwad)

Urban agriculture in Hubli-Dharwad, India, is characterized by tradition and links with rural areas. The majority of urban agricultural activities in India involve keeping livestock, particularly in urban dairies, rather than vegetable growing by low-income communities. Urban and peri-urban agricultural activities in India are strongly associated with urban-based sources of waste, both in terms of consuming waste and producing dung.

Lorie Hammond · · United States (California)

This study applies an anthropological approach to science teaching at a mainstream California elementary school, focusing on inter-cultural dialogue between Mien refugee families from Laos and mainstream educators. Using a family literacy project and a school-community garden, the research explores how traditional cultural knowledge and Western scientific knowledge can blend to develop curricula for science and literacy. The paper emphasizes dialogue where minority and majority voices co-create curricula, contrasting with standard parent involvement models.

Bryan Zinschlag · · United States

This case study examines the City Soil Network (CSN), a community garden organization comprising seventeen garden sites in Portland, Oregon, thirteen of them in Northeast Portland — an area with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination. Methods combined content analysis of organizational publications, participant observation at four Northeast Portland garden sites, and interviews with eleven CSN members representing all three levels of involvement in the organization. Recent gentrification in Northeast Portland has disproportionately displaced African Americans and other historically marginalized residents, and the author argues that the CSN has so far failed to engage the residents who stand to benefit most from involvement.

Martha S. Burns, Nicholas J. Certo, Keith Storey · Education and training in mental retardation and developmental disabilities · Global

This quantitative study explored regular education students' attitudinal changes towards students with severe disabilities through inclusive service learning projects. The study involved a first intervention group of 12 volunteers who created a community garden with 8 students with severe disabilities, and a second intervention group of 12 Outdoor Education students who assisted 8 students with severe disabilities at a Special Olympics event. An attitudinal questionnaire was administered before and after the projects, and a control group was also included, but the abstract does not report the findings.

Jan L. Flora, Robert Karp, Shelly Gradwell · Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) · United States

A 1999 article introduces the "Field to Family Community Food Project," which began in Iowa, US, in 1997. The project was intended to support the "Magic Beanstalk" community supported agriculture (CSA) initiative — a local food system in which farmers provide fresh food, fiber, and related products directly to area consumers — by forming partnerships with churches, social service organizations, Iowa State University, and other community groups.

Adrienne Martin, B. Pound · · South Africa

This report describes a visit to South Africa to facilitate a participatory workshop for an urban agriculture project in Sobantu Village, KwaZulu-Natal. The visit's objectives were to identify organizational, social, technical, and financial issues and necessary activities to initiate an urban agriculture project with the Sobantu community, the Institute for Natural Resources (INR), and Department of Agriculture staff. Discussions also included a draft manual on FSR/FPR being prepared by NRI/INR.

Christian M. Rogerson, Rogerson, Christian M. · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · South Africa

This paper aims to analyze the existing challenge of urban poverty in South Africa and examine the potential role of urban agriculture as a component of a pro-poor urban development strategy.