Research & reports

Roseline J. Akinlade, Olubunmi Lawrence Balogun, Adekemi A. Obisesan, Akinlade, Roseline J., Balogun, Olubunmi L., Obisesan, Adekemi A. · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Nigeria

This study analyzed the determinants of commercialization among 230 urban vegetable farmers in Oyo and Lagos states, southwest Nigeria, using primary survey data and a Tobit model. It found that farmers' participation in domestic and regional markets remains low due to various constraints, notably poor market access. The average farm size was 0.05ha, and the average market participation index was 0.73. Factors influencing commercialization included age, farm size, association membership, education, distance to market, and input costs. The study concluded that social capital significantly affects market participation, and recommended proactive support from governments and NGOs to facilitate farmer organizations and market linkages.

Max Pearlstein · · Cameroon

Rachel Gilbert, Grace Lange, and Sarah Wright, alumni of Dickinson, founded Cameroonian Roots. This program disseminates microfinance opportunities and education in urban agriculture and women's empowerment.

Chen Hui-fan · Anhui nongye kexue · China (Zhengzhou)

This article analyzes the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in Zhengzhou and proposes a new Chinese-style CSA model, "daughter-in-law in the city, her husband outside the city," inspired by roof vegetable gardens. This model is presented as beneficial for organic agriculture development and urban roof greening, offering a mutually beneficial practice for combining roof greening and agriculture. It is described as a green economy approach that promotes ecological environment protection and urban-rural economic development.

Yukihiro Yamaguchi · ScholarSpace (University of Hawaii at Manoa) · United States

This research aimed to enhance Waikīkī's image with sustainable planning and design, focusing on visitors' perceptions. While visitors' images of Waikīkī were primarily positive, the region faces environmental problems including inadequate recycling, transportation, and agriculture/aquaculture issues. The project proposes a new sustainable solution incorporating urban agriculture with an international event, Expo Hawai‘i 2020, to address these environmental challenges.

Marc van lersel · · Global

Agriculture faces the 21st-century challenge of feeding a growing, urbanizing population while minimizing negative environmental impact. Urban farming has been presented as a potential solution to perceived problems with conventional agricultural production, but its effectiveness as a comprehensive solution is questioned.

Zhao Shu-ji · Tianjin Agricultural Sciences · China (Tianjin)

In Tianjin, the demand characteristics for financial support for urban agriculture development were investigated. The results showed that peasant households and agricultural zones had multiple needs for agricultural techniques, and urban agriculture development required significant support from government fiscal and monetary resources.

Sumita Ghosh · · Global

This paper aims to measure and compare the morphologies and spatial dimensions of three typologies of small local food production spaces—urban small farms, community gardens, and home gardens—in two low-density suburban residential neighborhood case studies in Sydney and Miami. Miami's integrated form-based zoning code, "The Transect," provides design and planning guidelines for six zones from urban to natural areas. Results indicate that morphological analysis can significantly assist in the design and planning of built environments and the formulation of planning policy.

김효정 · 한국여성학 · South Korea

Through in-depth interviews and participant observation research targeting women's activist organizations established since 2010, the characteristics of urban agriculture cases led or participated in by unmarried women in their 20s and 30s were analyzed. Unmarried women activists met the growing demand for safe and healthy food among single-person households through community farming in urban areas, practicing agriculture not only for food production but also as a lifestyle pursuit and recreational culture. However, their practices face limitations such as urban space constraints, difficulties for unmarried women to relocate to rural areas, excessive ecological value attribution, and a lack of solidarity with rural communities.

Ran Shu · Journal of Huaiyin Institute of Technology · China

This study examined the guiding significance of the over 100-year-old Garden City theory for the construction of new development zones in China. Addressing issues like continuous development and urban-rural separation in Chinese cities, the research analyzed the core ideas of the Garden City theory and its relevance for development zone construction. It discussed the ideal composition of development zones, including city groups, urban complexes, urban green space systems, urban agriculture, and rapid transit systems, as well as development tactics encompassing city construction, industrial development, urban-rural integration, social management, and policy formulation.

Ruud Abma, U. Kirchholtes, J.E. Jansma, M.P. Vijn · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · Europe

Urban agriculture is a subject of societal interest, seen as a promising contributor to sustainable urban development. It offers alternatives for agricultural professionals, accessible locations for urban residents to relax and learn, and often improves the physical and social environment of neighborhoods.

Simon Underhill, Underhill, Simon · Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development · Cambodia

This paper reported on trends in urban agriculture (rice, vegetables, cattle, swine, and poultry) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, since 1993. Approximately 20% (125 square kilometers) of the municipal area of Phnom Penh is used for agriculture, supporting nearly 300,000 livestock. Between 1993 and 2011, livestock populations declined but increased in 2011, while vegetable production and cultivated area decreased, and rice production increased.

Cao We · Economic Geography · China

This study first divided Pukou District, Nanjing City, China into four land-use functional zones — an optimized/integrated zone, a key development zone, an urban agricultural zone, and an ecological tourism zone — based on each town's resource and environmental endowments and development intensity and potential. Using survey data from 201 households in the study area and a BP artificial neural network model, it then analyzed how farmers' willingness influenced urban-rural harmony development across zone types. Satisfaction with relocation and with social insurance were the main influencing factors in the optimized/integrated zone; willingness toward large-scale land operation, worry about retirement life, and satisfaction with relocation were the main factors in the key development zone; and worry about retirement life, willingness toward large-scale land operation, and satisfaction with relocation were the main factors in both the urban agricultural zone and the ecological tourism zone. The study concludes that urban-rural harmony development should be pursued through differentiated approaches tailored to regional characteristics and to differences in farmers' willingness.

Raúl Puente Asuero · Revista de estudios regionales · Spain

Based on 30 interviews conducted between May and November 2011 with farmers, farming associations, irrigation associations, the University of Granada, business associations, local councils, political parties and citizen platforms such as Salvemos la Vega, this study examined La Vega de Granada, the agrarian landscape along the River Genil in central Granada province, Spain. It shows that this once-unified agrarian landscape has, in recent decades, become a fragmented and discontinuous aggregation, and reports that in the absence of administrative coordination, social movements have taken the lead in protecting and revalorizing its agrarian heritage.

California State Legislature · California Legislative Information · United States

California's AB-551 (enacted 2013-2014 session) allows local governments to establish Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones, letting landowners enter contracts of at least five years to have land used for agriculture assessed at the lower value based on the state's average irrigated farmland value, rather than market value. Eligible parcels must be between 0.10 and 3 acres, dwellings are prohibited on the property while under contract, and new contracts originally had to begin by January 1, 2019.

City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development · City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development · United States

The Chicago Department of Planning and Development publishes a dataset and map of the location, satellite imagery, and square footage of green roofs citywide, derived from high-resolution multispectral imagery acquired in September 2013. The analysis identified 509 vegetated roofs within city limits totaling 5,564,412 square feet of coverage.

City Farmer News · City Farmer News · Cuba

This City Farmer News article introduces the 2013 documentary 'TIERRALISMO' (directed by Alejandro Ramirez Anderson) about a 26-acre agricultural cooperative in the Alamar district outside Havana. It notes over half the laborers are elderly, including an 82-year-old worker described as outperforming anyone in their twenties at weeding. It describes the government permitting cooperative formation after the early-1990s Soviet collapse cut access to chemical fertilizers and farm machinery, methods using compost and manure fertilization and self-bred pest-control insects, and workers who transitioned from careers as doctors, fishermen, and oil-industry workers.

Du, Xing-ying · 亚洲农业研究：英文版 · China (Huainan)

This paper analyzes the necessity of developing urban agriculture in Huainan City, China, identifying it as crucial for agricultural industry transformation, urban-rural integration, sustainable urban development, and effective resolution of issues concerning agriculture, countryside, and farmers. It also examines the city's endowments for urban agriculture and proposes a basic conception for its industrial form and spatial framework.

Osama M. E. Seidahmed, M.A. Abdelmajed, Mashair Sir El Khatim Mustafa, Abraham Mnzava · Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal · Sudan (Khartoum)

A baseline survey in Khartoum city, Sudan, from September to November 2007, assessed the insecticide susceptibility of 9820 Anopheles arabiensis specimens across 6 urban and periurban sites. The mosquito was susceptible to bendiocarb, propoxur, fenitrothion, deltamethrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin. However, susceptibility rates for malathion, DDT, and permethrin differed significantly between urban and periurban sites, and 50% knockdown times were significantly higher in periurban populations for deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, and malathion.

Yun Xiao-lan · Anhui nongye kexue · Global

This paper introduced the concept and application status of value chain management, and the implications of using an industrial value chain to increase effective urban agricultural investment. Based on value chain management principles, the study explored the mechanism for increasing effective urban agricultural investment through the value chain of urban agriculture and other industries.

Barry E. Smith · · Canada

The British Columbia Farmland Preservation Program, established by the Land Commission Act on April 18, 1973, aims to preserve the province's valuable farmland. This program has sustained economic and social benefits from agriculture, preserved community character, and maintained natural capital. The Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) has also acted as an urban growth boundary, contributing to compact urban development and addressing land use conflicts.

Zeng Fan-rong · Shanghai nongye xuebao · China (Shanghai)

This paper presented ideas and proposals for the future development of modern urban agriculture in Minhang District, Shanghai, particularly during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period. These proposals focused on developmental orientation, adjustments to industrial structure and spatial distribution, and innovation in agricultural management systems.

Chen Yu, Wong Nyuk Hien · Advances in Building Energy Research · Global

This chapter reviews worldwide research on urban greenery, discussing three main types: public green areas, rooftop gardens, and vertical landscaping. It examines these from both a systematic and thermal benefit perspective. The chapter provides general guidelines for strategic landscaping in cities to mitigate environmental issues.

Sylvestre Dasylva · Journal of environmental science & engineering · Senegal (Dakar)

This paper discusses rainwater management in the "niayes" zone of Dakar, Senegal. This area is characterized by agricultural depressions with typically high groundwater levels, but a recent drop has turned some into runoff-gathering sites, used for urban agriculture among other services. However, two acute problems are observed: hydrological drying due to insufficient rainwater refill and urbanization of these bottom-lands. Furthermore, decreasing pluviometry exacerbates nuisances like floods and malaria.

程存旺, 孙永生, 石嫣, 温铁军 · 绿叶 · China (Beijing)

This paper discusses the importance of ecological civilization in China's national development strategy, as highlighted by the 18th National Congress. It argues that Beijing's agricultural work should shift from industrialization to "social agriculture," moving beyond traditional GDP-focused strategies from 1956 and 1996. The paper advocates for promoting urban agriculture that combines citizens and farmers, aligning with ecological civilization and drawing on domestic and international transformation experiences.

Indrė Gražulevičiūtė–Vileniškė, Jurga Vitkuvienė · American Journal of Tourism Management · Lithuania

This research addresses the threat of rapid urban expansion to valuable rural heritage, specifically Lithuanian manor residencies, which are historically agricultural but increasingly affected by urban growth. The study aimed to develop interdisciplinary guidelines for managing these manor residential ensembles within urbanized areas. Methods included literature analysis and photographic surveys of manor residencies in Kaunas, Lithuania, also considering their connection to tourism.