Research & reports

Amy Hui‐Mei Lin, Andrea Gómez‐Maqueo · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A review paper (2023) examines the challenge of strengthening food security — especially production of staple food carbohydrates — in places with limited or unavailable land and natural resources, using the city-state of Singapore as its case. Unlike some alternative foods such as cultured meat, producing carbohydrate foods through conventional agri-food approaches requires substantial natural resources unavailable in regions like Singapore, so the paper argues for developing new, sustainable methods to increase the quantity and nutritional quality of carbohydrate-rich foods. It reviews technology developments such as indoor vertical farming and urban farming used to improve crop quality and production, and recommends exploring underutilized and unconventional resilient, nutrient-dense crops, identifying hidden resources in local ecosystems such as revalorizing agri-food processing byproducts, and producing alternative carbohydrates including microbial and synthetic sources, suggesting Singapore's experience and approaches may serve as an example and inspire creativity for other regions.

SUEDANUR ÖZDEN, ESRA ARSLANTÜRK, MEHMET SENEM, İmdat As · Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ) · Europe

Focused on a planned future city for 50,000 residents on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, this study (2023, Europe) explores a virtual reality (VR) gaming environment that lets citizens experience smart-city topics including innovative mobility approaches, drone delivery, and urban farming. It frames VR as offering a testing ground for ideas, performance simulation, and crowdsourcing input before a city is physically built, with gamification intended to incentivize citizen participation in the design process and generate a feedback loop for shaping the future city. Citizens can experience the city design through four circulation modes — walking, biking, driving, and flying — within the VR environment, and earn points by engaging with smart-city topics such as urban farming, solar energy use, and carbon neutrality. The project comprises three phases — an immersive head-mounted-display VR version of the city, edutainment/gamification, and integration into Meta's multi-user space — and the paper presents early findings, the methods and tools explored, and a discussion of VR's utility in architecture and urban planning design processes.

Nancy Harlet Esquivel-Marín, Leticia Myriam Sagarnaga Villegas, Octavio T. Barrera-Perales, Juan Antonio Lugo Machado, José María Salas González · Acta Universitatis Sapientiae Agriculture and Environment · Europe

This bibliometric review analyzes the systemic structure of multifunctional agriculture (MFA) and its relationship to sustainability, based on a sample of 432 documents published on the Web of Science platform. Using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer to map scientific collaboration networks, the review identified the authors, journals, and countries shaping the current knowledge structure and four thematic clusters: (a) MFA and sustainability, (b) ecosystem services and biodiversity, (c) European public policies, and (d) governance and urban agriculture. It concludes that, despite an increase in publication rates, research remains concentrated in Europe with few collaborative networks across disciplines, indicating that SDG 17 (partnerships) is not being achieved.

NOVI EFRIYANTI, Ratna Komala Dewi, IDA AYU LISTIA DEWI · Jurnal Agribisnis dan Agrowisata (Journal of Agribusiness and Agritourism) · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This study identifies internal and external factors and derives priority strategies for urban farming development in the Cempaka Farmers Group in South Jakarta, Indonesia, using IFE, EFE, SWOT, and QSPM matrix analysis. Among internal factors, the group's already having a defined vision and mission was the main strength (score 0.197), while insufficient urban farming production, much of it not worth selling, was the main weakness (score 0.083). Among external factors, government assistance in the form of programs, training, and agricultural tools for urban agriculture actors was the main opportunity (score 0.370), while the agricultural land not being owned by the Cempaka Farmers Group was the biggest threat (score 0.164). The resulting priority strategy is to maximize the farmer group's own activities while drawing on support from outside parties, the government, and developing technology.

G. C. Moore Smith, Gilda Berruti · · Italy

This chapter explores Italian community gardens and the multiple policy frameworks that govern these activities, framing urban and peri-urban horticulture as part of a long tradition carrying social, environmental, and health benefits. It states that the drive for locally produced food is part of a recurring theme in public discussion; while few advocate national self-sufficiency, the widespread presence of locally based civic horticulture is said to raise awareness of food-production factors and to have a beneficial impact on patterns of food consumption and procurement. The chapter presents results of an investigation carried out in various parts of the country — Turin, Venice, Bologna, Siena, Rome, and Palermo — and also explores the special case of urban horticulture in greater Naples.

Junaidi Junaidi, Mahadi Bahtera, Halil Akmal, Maisarah Maisarah · Jurnal Agroristek · Indonesia

This study examined income levels and the internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats affecting horticultural urban farming development in the city of Sigli, Indonesia, using descriptive and SWOT analysis. Using a census sampling method, respondents comprised 8 people total: 3 farmer-group officials and 5 horticultural farmers. The results placed Sigli's horticultural urban farming in "Quadrant I," indicating internal strengths, and the study recommends an aggressive strategy that maximizes strengths and exploits available opportunities.

Ambroise Dalecky, Madougou Garba, Abdoulaziz Ibrahim Danzabarma, Jonas Etougbétché, Sylvestre Badou, Henri‐Joël Dossou, Ibrahima Sow, Cheikh Tidiane Niang, Ousmane Diene, Idrissa Diallo, Mohamed Seyidna Ali Saghiri, Mohamed El Hady Sidatt, Frank van Steenbergen, Amadou Bocar Bal, Luwieke Bosma, Gualbert Houémènou, Solimane Ag Atteynine, Karmadine Hima, Gauthier Dobigny, Yonas Meheretu · Environnement Risques Santé · Sub-Saharan Africa

The abstract text provided consists only of acknowledgments—thanking Valérie Golaz (INED-LPED), Marc Egrot (IRD-LPED), and the organizers of the international conference "Implementation of public policies and pesticides in the Souths" (PoPPesCI project, on public policies and pesticides in urban agriculture), held in October 2021 in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, for prompting the article's writing. It contains no actual findings or content about rodent proliferation or synthetic chemical rodenticides despite what the title suggests.

Ayşegül YARIŞ, Emel Karakaya Ayalp · · Africa

This article reviews the City-Region Food System (CRFS) approach and toolkit developed by FAO and RUAF, translated into Turkish, and examines its roadmap through the West African cities of Ouagadougou and Tamale to assess applicability for building sustainable urban food systems. The review concludes that the CRFS Toolkit offers a limited set of tools and does not incorporate the relationship with spatial disciplines.

Maria Korkou, Ari K.M. Tarigan, Hans Martin Hanslin · Urban forestry & urban greening · Global

A systematic literature review examines the multifunctionality concept in urban green infrastructure planning, identifying a knowledge gap in the planning literature regarding multiple ecosystem functions and a lack of methods for quantifying and monitoring ecological services and biodiversity at different spatial scales. The reviewed literature clustered into five main themes — planning methods for urban green infrastructure, assessment approaches, ecosystem services and their benefits, sustainability and climate adaptation, and urban agriculture — which the review found were interconnected. It identifies a knowledge gap in incorporating multifunctional green infrastructure into planning principles and proposes five critical elements for ensuring multiple functions: spatial distribution, optimal distance, integrated network, accessibility, and public participation and engagement.

P. Post, H. Hengsdijk · · Global

This study inventoried and characterized food production systems in Rincon, Bonaire, combining literature review and online key-informant interviews with biophysical analysis and calculations of land and water requirements for several production scales, and applying a SWOT analysis to multiple production systems. It found that increasing year-round fruit and vegetable production in Rincon, and Bonaire more broadly, is challenging and may not be feasible without support, given limited and irregular water availability, an unsupportive business environment, and harsh conditions from pests, diseases, and weather; without sufficient support to expand water availability, local agricultural knowledge, and a suitable business environment, neither capital-intensive nor small-scale crop production is likely to improve the availability of healthy food or employment opportunities.

Joe Nasr, Matthew Potteiger · Land · Global

Situating the proliferation of urban agriculture within a historical dialogue among foundational figures in urban and regional planning, architecture, and landscape architecture, this theoretical paper identifies fundamental strategies for designing and planning the "productive city" as a response to perceived failures in contemporary food systems. Drawing on a growing body of theory and practice for integrating urban agriculture into urban design and planning, it identifies three approaches: spatial design strategies that identify new territories for food production, systems design linking individual production spaces to broader food-system networks, and infrastructure design addressing flows of soils, water, and nutrients.

Nada El Habibi, Hesham El-Barmelgy · Journal of Urban Research /Journal of Urban Research · Africa

This paper addresses urbanization pressures and food security challenges in Egypt, along with the negative impact of a shortage of green space on public health and productivity, by examining the concept of urban agriculture and how to activate it. Using an analytical review of literature and international experiences, the study identifies the main patterns and types of urban agriculture, analyzes global cases to understand the potential contributions and challenges facing different urban agriculture types, and, through a deductive approach, proposes a framework for activating the urban agriculture concept as a pathway toward sustainable urban development in Egypt; the paper presents no empirical survey data.

André Augusto Manoel, Carolina Andion · Cadernos Metrópole · Brazil

A qualitative intrinsic case study of Florianópolis, Brazil, examines the processes of social innovation generated by urban agriculture practices, using a pragmatist perspective and the analytical framework of ethnography of public arenas. Through a mapping of the city's urban agriculture practices, the study identifies three dynamics of social innovation situated in three distinct public arenas: solid organic waste, the human right to adequate food, and production-consumption cycles. These findings are presented as contributing to understanding the complexity of social innovation processes and their implications for governance in the city.

Laura Ospina, Paula Parra · Pensamiento udecino · Colombia

A documentary literature review examines the importance of urban agriculture, urbanization and community participation in the context of community gardens in Colombia. It draws on high-quality scientific texts from portals including Scielo, Publindex and Scopus, plus undergraduate, master's and doctoral theses, along with a review of statistical data for each variable studied. The results point to social, economic and environmental implications and the importance of participation in these spaces. The review concludes that urban gardens are a strategy that can offset negative externalities of the current capitalist urban model -- environmental degradation, pollution, poverty, inequality -- and can positively affect residents' quality of life, becoming consolidated as spaces linking social and environmental concerns and enabling new territorial configurations.

Lorien Nesbitt, Daniel L. Sax, Jessica Quinton, Leila M. Harris, Camilo Ordóñez Barona, Cecil Konijnendijk · Ecology and Society 28(4): art29 · Canada (Metro Vancouver, Greater Toronto Area)

An online survey of 51 urban greening practitioners in Metro Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area. Most respondents defined green gentrification as the displacement of vulnerable residents caused by new or improved green space that attracts wealthy in-movers and raises property values. The largest group identified greening itself as the main driver of green gentrification, while a minority saw greening as a secondary factor alongside other systemic drivers. Practitioners cited multiple barriers to addressing it - limited institutional capacity, limited access to data and information, policy or mandate restrictions, and a lack of engagement tools - showing a gap between practitioners' concern and what they can act on in their day-to-day work.

· こども家庭審議会（2023年12月1日答申。同年12月22日閣議決定） · Japan

The first guideline under the Basic Act on Children for ensuring every child has safe, secure places to be. It organises place-making around four verbs (expand, connect, refine, review) and directs support to community-run places — children's cafeterias, adventure playgrounds and, by extension, garden-based places.

· 農林水産省 · Japan

MAFF's Q&A on operating the Urban Farmland Leasing Facilitation Act, covering how the certification criteria are applied in practice, how the three-party agreement for allotment gardens is concluded, the interaction with inheritance-tax deferral, and termination procedure — the practical questions the statute alone does not answer.

Tibisay Pérez, Sintana E. Vergara, Whendee L. Silver · Scientific Reports · United States

Continuous micrometeorological mass-balance measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from commercial-scale windrow food-waste composting found emission factors of 6.6–8.8 kg CH4–C and 0.01 kg N2O–N per Mg of wet food waste, for a combined emission factor of 926 kgCO2e per Mg of dry food waste. Composting emissions were 38–84% lower than equivalent landfilling, with a projected minimum net savings of 1.4 MMT CO2e for California by 2025.

Ministère de la Transition écologique · Ministère de la Transition écologique (France) · France

France's Ministry of Ecological Transition's official page on the mandatory source-sorting of biowaste (food and garden waste). Per EU law and France's 2020 anti-waste law, source-sorting became mandatory nationwide for all professionals and households from January 1, 2024. Biowaste is described as making up one-third of unsorted household waste; the government's 'Fonds vert' has supported local authorities' sorting infrastructure since 2023.

Jordan Ashby, Clarissa Libertelli · Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) · United States

Just after NYC announced expansion of mandatory residential organics collection by 2024, the mayor's office eliminated funding for the city's community composting program. The article identifies three failures reflecting national trends: government 'composting' programs that actually rely on anaerobic digestion, centralized processing that concentrates environmental burdens in vulnerable neighborhoods, and mandatory government programs undercutting community composters' viability.

Cole Rosengren · Waste Dive · United States

California's Little Hoover Commission recommended pausing SB 1383, the state's organics recycling law, citing concern the state will miss its 2025 targets, but CalRecycle, industry and environmental advocates strongly opposed the pause, noting roughly $500 million already invested. 445 of 614 jurisdictions now have residential food-waste collection programs, and waste costs rose 20% for residential and 30% for commercial customers.

Li Jiacheng · Eco-Business / Dialogue Earth · China

China's mandatory waste-sorting policy, launched in Shanghai in 2019, improved diversion and recycling but created a new problem: overbuilt waste-to-energy incineration capacity. Shanghai diverted 54% of its waste (6.46 million tonnes) in 2021, up from 21% in 2018, while the number of national incinerators grew from 130 in 2011 to 927 by 2023, pushing 2022 national overcapacity to 100.99%.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development · United States

An EPA report that for the first time quantifies methane emissions attributable to food waste in U.S. municipal solid waste landfills from 1990 to 2020 (EPA-600-R-23-064). In 2020, food waste was responsible for about 55 million metric tons CO2e of landfill emissions and accounted for 58% of fugitive methane emissions from MSW landfills. Because food waste decays quickly, 50% of its carbon degrades within 3.6 years, often before gas collection systems are installed.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development · United States

This EPA report (October 2023, EPA-600-R-23-065) introduces the 'Wasted Food Scale,' a new ranking of eleven food waste management pathways from most to least environmentally preferable, replacing the 1990s 'Food Recovery Hierarchy.' It finds source reduction, donation, and upcycling most preferable, and that sewer/wastewater treatment and landfill stand out for their sizeable methane emissions.

Fields in Trust · Fields in Trust · United Kingdom

The UK charity Fields in Trust protects parks and green spaces permanently for sport and recreation by entering a legally binding agreement with the landowner — a Deed of Dedication in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or a Minute of Agreement in Scotland. The process runs through 10 steps, and the deed must be registered with the land registry within three months of signing. The charity states it has helped save almost 3,000 parks and green spaces to date.