Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
2531 results(57 / 102)
Food system lessons from the SDGs
2019Alison Blay‐Palmer, Laine Young · · Global
This abstract discusses how initiatives like the Habitat III New Urban Agenda and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact can complement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at municipal and regional scales. It explores the complexities of SDG 2 (food and hunger) when considering SDG 5 (gender equality), suggesting that urban agriculture and agroecology offer potential for transformative opportunities and policy coherence.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityDrought Mitigation Policies: Waste Water Use, Energy and Food Provision in Urban and Peri-Urban Africa
2019Hendrick J. Bruins · · Africa
This paper discusses drought mitigation in urban and peri-urban Africa, where severe droughts threaten food production under rainfed agriculture. It argues that while urban and peri-urban farming's informal private sector should not be government-controlled, the treatment and use of urban wastewater in agriculture requires government planning, investment, and extension services. Participatory development is suggested to integrate central wastewater planning with private farmer use.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceOrganic cycleDiagnostic Agronomique de la Riziculture Périurbaine dans la Commune de Ziguinchor au Sénégal
2019Maurice Dasylva, Ngor Ndour, Bienvenu Sambou, Sara Danielle Dieng · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Senegal (Ziguinchor)
In Ziguinchor, Senegal, the peri-urban rice farming system contributes to food security but is ignored by decision-makers and suffers from urbanization and physicochemical changes in rice field soils. An agronomic diagnosis, based on 180 yield squares (1/4m side) installed in 4 peri-urban valleys, showed average yields of 4.79 ± 0.35 t.ha-1. However, urbanization, silting, acidification, and progressive salinization of soils are the main limiting factors for this production system.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyThe role of cooperation amongst cities, universities, research bodies and civil society organizations Food on Urban Policies in Africa as innovative actions in the cadre of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact.
2019Valerio Bini, Maria Bottiglieri, Egidio Dansero, Andrea Magarini, Yota Nicolarea, Roberto Sensi · · Africa
This paper explores urban food policies from a Global South perspective, focusing on African cities and their unique urbanization processes and city-food linkages. It describes an overview of initiatives in African cities, aligning with the New Urban Agenda and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, to promote new forms of cooperation among cities, universities, research bodies, and civil society organizations. The paper aims to identify cross-cutting issues like land tenure, climate change, and urban agriculture to compare cases across different African perspectives.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeAgroecology, the Interaction between Agriculture and Environment: An Example from Cuba
2019Ana Cristina Teixeira Alves, Miguel Nenevé · International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science · Cuba
This study addresses the benefits of agroecology, using Havana, Cuba as an example. Following the 1989 socialist crisis and economic blockade, urban agriculture emerged as a social movement in Havana. Through sustainable practices, this movement demonstrates success in generating jobs and income, as well as enhancing food security and sovereignty. Production, technical assistance, and sales outlets are steadily growing, supported by the government through an ecological and efficient low-cost agricultural policy that combines traditional knowledge with cutting-edge technology.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsClimate changeCommunitySubsistence Solidarity and the Extension of Trust: Moral Economies of Organic Farming in Northern China
2019Anders Sybrandt Hansen · Journal of Current Chinese Affairs · China
This article focuses on organic farming, which has grown in response to unsafe food on the Chinese market, based on ethnographic fieldwork at one such farm in northern China. While the farm's Community Supported Agriculture model relies on establishing personal trust with member households, the entire organic farming project is shown to be undergirded by strong expressions of solidarity with conventional farmers. The article proposes an extended concept of moral economies to capture the coexistence of differential care alongside horizontal solidarities within contemporary China's moral landscape.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceOrganic cycleNet Yield Efficiency: Comparing Salad and Vegetable Waste between Community Supported Agriculture and Supermarkets in the UK
2019N. R. Baker, Simon Popay, James Bennett, Moya Kneafsey · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United Kingdom
This paper introduced "net yield efficiency" (NYE) to compare food system performance by accounting for yields, loss, and waste. A UK case study compared fresh vegetable and salad waste between a community supported agriculture (CSA) scheme and the supermarket system. The study found that the CSA system wasted only 6.71% by weight across all stages, dramatically outperforming the supermarket system which wasted 40.7–47.7%. These findings highlight significant differences between the systems and suggest NYE offers a more accurate measure of food system performance.
CSA & TeikeiFood lossEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePersepsi dan Pola Perilaku Masyarakat dalam Pengembangan Pertanian Perkotaan sebagai Upaya Memperkuat Sistem Ketahanan Pangan Keluarga: Studi Kasus Kota Makassar Sulawesi Selatan
2019Abdullah Abdullah, Abdul Haris, Annas Boceng · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Fakultas Pertanian UNS · Indonesia (Makassar)
A quantitative survey of 300 respondents in Makassar City, Indonesia, used the Theory of Planned Behavior to study factors influencing urban agriculture development. Environmental knowledge was not a direct driver of behavior but contributed through attitude formation. Urban agriculture knowledge directly drove behavior and positively influenced motivation, subjective norms, and behavior. Motivation directly drove attitude formation, and attitude acted as an intervening variable between motivation/subjective norms and behavior.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationPropuesta metodológica simple para el cultivo agrícola urbano (basada en la experiencia de una familia venezolana en Viena)
2019Debbie Méndez, Julio Quintini · · Austria (Vienna)
This project proposes a simple 7-step methodology for urban agriculture, based on the experience of a Venezuelan family participating in a community garden in Vienna, Austria, for two years. The methodology aims to enable urban residents to create sustainable communities, improve nutrition with fresh produce, and generate economic gains and better quality of life. It draws on successful urban agriculture experiences globally and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals 2, 11, and 13.
CommunityDIYFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeCentro Socio Cultural Energético Awarala - Albania La Guajira
2019Llanos Roa, Juan Sebastián · · Colombia (La Guajira)
The Awarala Project in Albania, La Guajira, Colombia, aims to create a resilient region by reducing dependence on mining and gasoline smuggling. It seeks to benefit indigenous communities, urban populations, farmers, and Venezuelan immigrants by improving living conditions through eco-rancherias with community gardens and providing spaces for tourism and alternative energy production. The project includes 15 hectares of solar panels, 30 wind turbines, and biodigesters for organic waste.
CommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeUrban gardening and the quest for just uses of space in Europe
2019Chiara Certomà, Martin Sondermann, Susan Noori · Manchester University Press eBooks · Europe
This chapter critically analyzes the relationship between urban gardening and socio-spatial justice, exploring whether and how urban gardening practices can tackle social and spatial injustices. Urban gardening points out less visible sides of urban governance and planning, unveiling different forms of power, dominance, and resistance to the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens in space. The analysis questions the contradictions in the constitution of urban spaces and their capability to mitigate material, political, and social exclusions, unfairness, and inequalities.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura Urbana e Periurbana
2019Maira dos Santos, Mariana Campos Martins Machado · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · Brazil (Florianópolis)
A qualitative study was conducted with 11 participating families of a community garden in the Campeche neighborhood of Florianópolis, Brazil, to evaluate the impact of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (AUP) on Food and Nutritional Security (SAN) and eating behavior. Through interviews using semi-structured questionnaires, the community garden was understood as a space for health promotion, strengthening healthy eating practices, and preserving the municipality's food culture. The community garden proved effective in promoting and guaranteeing SAN principles, strengthening healthy eating practices, and fostering citizenship.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceHealthOrganic cycleThe foreseen future of urban gardening
2019Efrat Eizenberg · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global
This concluding chapter reviews the literature on urban gardening, outlining both enthusiastic approaches that focus on its transformative potential and critical approaches that analyze it as greenwash or a strategy of neoliberal development. The chapter discusses how the book's chapters address this gap in understanding urban gardening and the resolutions and new directions they offer. It states that urban gardening is sometimes analyzed as a form of greenwash and a strategy of neoliberal development.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justicePotencialidades da produção de alimentos nas cidades: experiências de agricultura urbana no município de Pirapozinho – São Paulo
2019Daiara Batista Mendes · Geografia em Atos (Online) · Brazil (Pirapozinho)
This article identifies the potentialities of urban agriculture in Pirapozinho, São Paulo, focusing on food and economic use. Based on field research and interviews, the study found that urban agriculture provides quick access to quality products and fosters close farmer-consumer links. However, it also found that urban agricultural practices have not received due governmental attention at national or local scales, despite their potential.
Governance failureEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePolicyUrban Agriculture, Production and Marketing: The Tanzania Experience
2019M. R. S. Mlozi · · Tanzania
This chapter presents research findings from an urban agriculture project conducted in several towns in Tanzania. It discusses the market flow of agricultural products in Tanzanian towns, explaining that products come from two sources: household compounds and gardens, plots, and various open spaces not part of urban dwellers' household compounds. Several factors are involved in production and marketing operations, and their complexity tends to intensify and exacerbate problems.
EconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceSituated agroecology: massification and reclaiming university programs in Venezuela
2019Olga Domené-Painenao, Francisco Herrera · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Venezuela
The Bolivarian University of Venezuela established the Program Degree in Agroecology (PDA) in 2004 to expand agroecological practices and knowledge. Over a decade, more than a thousand PDA graduates have contributed to agroecological scaling in urban and rural areas, playing a key role in urban agriculture amidst economic crisis. The PDA has created human talent for territorializing agroecology and institutionalizing pro-peasant policy in Venezuela.
Food sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsFood educationUrban–rural linkageAgriculture Supported Communities: Connecting Low-income Communities with Small-scale Vegetable and Fruit Producing Farms (P04-128-19)
2019Renate M. Winkels, Susan Veldheer, Andrew Smith · Current Developments in Nutrition · United States (Pennsylvania)
Rodale Institute's Agriculture Supported Communities (ASC) program aimed to connect small-scale fruit and vegetable farms with low-income communities in Pennsylvania. Surveys were distributed among ASC shareholders in 2016 and 2017 to collect socio-economic data and program satisfaction, and SNAP usage was also evaluated. With 150 shareholders in 2016 and 151 in 2017, 59% of shareholders lived in low-income areas in 2016 and 50% in 2017; however, the program also reached a population at the other end of the economic spectrum, posing challenges for farmers regarding production and distribution.
WelfareCommunityCSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceCommunity adaptation on ecological changes through urban farming innovation for family food security
2019Sumardjo, Aldrin Yusuf Firmansyah, Manikharda Manikharda · · Indonesia (Majalengka Regency)
In Majalengka Regency, threats to food security are worsened by the conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes. This research investigated how urban farming innovations could be a solution to food security threats and how the community adapts to ecological changes, specifically land conversion and urban farming innovation, using participatory action research. The study found four types of adaptation to urban farming innovation: apathetic, reactive, proactive, and anticipatory, with field assistance facilitating increased community adaptation.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changeUrban–rural linkageSustentabilidad y agricultura urbana practicada por mujeres en la Zona Metropolitana de Ciudad de México, Valle de Chalco Solidaridad
2019Silvia Iveth Moreno Gaytán, Mercedes A. Jiménez-Velázquez, Martín Hernández Juárez · Estudios Sociales Revista de Alimentación Contemporánea y Desarrollo Regional · Mexico (Ciudad de México)
The sustainability of urban agriculture practiced by women in the Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, Mexico City Metropolitan Area, was investigated. A qualitative follow-up on 45 production units and a quantitative questionnaire to 25 female producers from Xico Kaa’a Comunicaciones A. C. were conducted. Urban agriculture's sustainability was found to be strong, contributing to family food self-sufficiency, employing agroecological techniques for environmental improvement, and over 50% of MESMIS diagnostic criteria were evaluated as sustainable.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsOrganic cycleWelfare“Plant Some Plants, Plant Some Hope, Plant Some Future”. Urban Gardening at Lingnan University of Hong Kong: An Interview with Prof. Kin-Chi Lau
2019Rainer Einzenberger, Michaela Hochmuth · Digital Commons - Lingnan (Lingnan University) · China (Hong Kong)
An interview with Professor Kin-Chi Lau was conducted in March 2015 regarding the Urban Gardening Project at Lingnan University of Hong Kong. The interview portrayed the project's history, structures, and organizational characteristics, focusing on the challenges and difficulties participants faced in realizing the project.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyFood educationThe Contribution of Agro-ecology as a Solution to Hunger in the World: A Review
2019M. W. Adidja, Julius Mwine, J. G. M. Majaliwa, Joseph Ssekandi · Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension Economics & Sociology · Global
This review synthesizes agro-ecology's contribution to sustainably solving global hunger. Agro-ecology increases food availability through augmented yields and urban agriculture, enhances accessibility by reducing poverty, and improves appropriateness with high-quality, healthy food. It also contributes to water and food security by lessening pressure on water resources, increasing resilience to climate change, and empowering peasants and women.
Food sovereignty & justiceClimate changeBiodiversityThe Urban Farm Concept
2019Neil Tyler · New Electronics · Global
Urban farming is becoming increasingly popular globally and is helping to lay the foundation for a more local approach to farming.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justicePERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TERHADAP MASYARAKAT DI SEKITAR KEGIATAN USAHA PT PERTAMINA GEOTHERMAL ENERGY (PT PGE) HULU LAIS DI KABUPATEN LEBONG DITINJAU DARI ASPEK HUKUM LINGKUNGAN
2019Tri Andika, Waryenti Deli, P.E.Suryaningsih P.E.Suryaningsih · University Of Bengkulu Law Journal · Indonesia
Residents in Lebong Regency, Indonesia, experienced anxiety due to a landslide at PT PGE's Hulu Lais cluster A site. This landslide resulted in 6 deaths, sinking fish ponds, rice fields, and community gardens, and crop failure. Additionally, residents' drinking water sources were polluted, and drilling caused loud sounds, ground vibrations, hot steam, and dried plants. The drilling also drastically reduced water discharge from the Mubai river, impacting residents who relied on it.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceThe ‘fluid governance’ of urban public spaces. Insights from informal planning practices in Rome
2019Chiara Certomà, Lorenzo Chelleri, Bruno Notteboom · Urban Studies · Italy (Rome)
This paper investigates informal planning practices and "fluid governance" in urban public spaces, using the case of Parco delle Energie in Rome, Italy, and a comparative analysis of international cases. It found that politically progressive urban gardening challenges traditional governance networks and redefines public space functioning by transforming green spaces into food production and collaboratively managed areas through informal planning. This demonstrates that urban gardening worldwide challenges traditional planning perspectives and governance, turning citizens' dissensus into a productive force.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceA narrative inquiry into becoming attentive to relational ethics in recreation practice
2019Michael Dubnewick, Sean Lessard, D. Jean Clandinin, Tara-Leigh McHugh · Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health · Global
This narrative inquiry explores the experiences of the first author and two non-Indigenous recreation practitioners in a community garden project involving Indigenous peoples. It highlights how they negotiated professional competence focused on program outcomes, which often overlooked relational aspects of their practice. The inquiry demonstrates how they developed an understanding of ethical living as a relational practice, thereby shifting their interactions within the community garden.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceHealth