Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
2091 results(58 / 84)
Defining and theorizing global urban agriculture.
2017Antoinette WinklerPrins · CABI eBooks · Global
This chapter provides definitions and theoretical framing for urban agriculture (UA). Research on UA has evolved beyond describing food production systems to its role in creating spaces of community, resistance, and empowerment. UA serves as a means for those not central to the city's function to claim a right to the city, and it is a rich field for interdisciplinary inquiry into urban sustainability.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeThe underestimated power effects of the discourses and practices of the food justice movement
2017Éric Darier · · Global
This chapter reviews Michel Foucault's contribution in the context of environmental effects of biopolitical disasters and presents three Foucaultian approaches. It then illustrates three specific components of the food justice movement: Via Campesina, urban agriculture, and Slow Food. The food justice movement exemplifies the theoretical lenses of power/knowledge, resistance, and ethics from the three Foucaultian perspectives.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunitySeeding Social Capital? Urban Community Gardening and Social Capital
2017Søren Christensen · Civil Engineering and Architecture · Global
This meta-analysis of literature published between 2000 and 2016 examined urban community gardens' capacity to generate social capital. It found that several studies confirm urban community gardens create both bonding and bridging social capital, with indications of linking social capital. The analysis suggests future research should use mixed methods, including qualitative approaches focusing on activity meanings and documenting sociodemographic compositions, to further understand how these gardens foster social capital.
CommunityHealthMaize Germplasm Conservation in Southern California's Urban Gardens: Introduced Diversity Beyond ex situ and in situ Management
2016Heraty J.M., Ellstrand N.C. · Economic Botany 70(1):37-48 · Global
Measures maize genetic diversity in home and community gardens kept by immigrant farmers in Southern California, showing transnational seed dispersal sustains landrace diversity beyond recognized centers of diversity.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityIncreasing food sovereignty with urban agriculture in Cuba
2016Leitgeb F., Schneider S., Vogl C.R. · Agriculture and Human Values · Cuba (Havana)
Using semi-structured interviews with 15 urban farmers in Havana, this study examines how Cuba's 2008 land reform and 2011 Lineamientos policy created conditions for food sovereignty while generating new marketing opportunities, though reducing subsidies raised consumer prices.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsFood educationCommunity gardens in Israel: Characteristics and perceived functions
2016Filkobski I., Rofè Y., Tal A. · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening · Israel
A survey of 44 community garden coordinators across Israel found that community gardens serve as community anchors and sites of encounter for diverse urban populations. The study documented their characteristics and functions within the Israeli urban context.
CommunityPolicyHealthThe loss of land devoted to allotment gardening: The context of the contrasting pressures of urban planning, public and private interests in Prague, Czechia
2016Spilková J., Vágner J. · Land Use Policy · Prague, Czechia
Since 1989 Prague's allotment gardens have been diminishing rapidly, converted to residential, transport, and commercial development or recreation. The paper documents how allotments are among the most vulnerable urban green spaces under the pressures of urban planning and private interests.
PolicyCommunityThe development of a model of community garden benefits to wellbeing
2016Victoria Egli, Melody Oliver, El‐Shadan Tautolo · Preventive Medicine Reports · New Zealand (Auckland)
From April to August 2015, a model illustrating the many wellbeing benefits of community garden participation was developed based on a global, critical literature review. This model grouped the benefits into factors influencing the nutritional health environment and factors influencing the social environment. In October 2015, the model was presented to a diverse group of community members in the Tāmaki region of Auckland, New Zealand, to test its comprehension and gather feedback.
CommunityHealthFood educationEmergent approaches to urban gardening
2016Silvio Caputo, Eva Schwab, Kostas Tsiambaos, Mary Benson, Hervé Bonnavaud, Neslihan Demircan, Tim Delshammar, Frederico Meireles, Nerea Morán, Jeanne Pourias · · Global
This chapter provides an overview of emergent approaches to urban gardening, identifying urban dynamics and spatial implications. It notes that a lack of suitable urban land and difficulties in establishing constructive dialogue with local authorities regarding land provision can lead to the use of interstitial urban spaces for gardening practices. An example includes a community-based organization constructing a permaculture garden on a supermarket rooftop, highlighting challenges in land access and governance.
Governance failureCommunityDIYPolicyUrban Agriculture: Environmental, Economic, and Social Perspectives
2016Steve G. Hallett, Lori Hoagland, Emily Toner · Horticultural reviews · Global
This chapter discusses urban agriculture from economic, environmental, and social perspectives, acknowledging differences between urban agriculture in small and large cities, as well as the Global North and South. Urban farms and community gardens can have both positive and negative environmental impacts, such as reducing or increasing energy consumption, improving water infiltration, and beautifying neighborhoods, or producing odors and contaminating water. The chapter also attempts to frame policy recommendations that might help guide urban agriculture's development.
Contamination & food safetyEconomicsClimate changePolicyCommunityNorwegian allotment gardens — a study of motives and benefits
2016Helena Nordh, Kristin Tuv Wiklund, Kaja Elisabeth Koppang · Landscape Research · Norway
This study interviewed 33 plot holders in Oslo, Norway, to explore their reasons for engaging in urban allotment gardens (AGs) and the perceived benefits. Reasons included a desire for a safe play environment for children, a place to cultivate, and outdoor contact. Benefits were related to meaningful activities, social networks, and respite from urban life, indicating physical and psychological health benefits.
CommunityHealthDIYCommunity supported agriculture (CSA) as a transformational act—distinct values and multiple motivations among farmers and consumers
2016Christine Hvitsand · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Norway
This article explores why Norwegian producers and consumers engage in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), identifying distinct values and motivations related to environmental protection, justice, health, participation, and communication. While CSA demonstrates transformational power in the agri-food system through sustainable practices and power reallocation, the challenge remains to upscale these actions and prevent the dilution of core values and agroecological practices.
Limited or null effectCSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changeUrban Gardening and Green Space Governance: Towards New Collaborative Planning Practices
2016Sofia Nikolaidou, Tanja Klöti, Simone Tappert, Matthias Drilling · Urban Planning · Switzerland (Geneva)
This article examines new forms of small-scale urban gardening practices in Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on how multiple actors negotiate over open space and the resulting hybrid forms of public green space. Main findings indicate emerging forms of collaboration, partnerships, and governance patterns involving public and private sectors and increased civil society participation. This cooperation enhances accessibility and diversified uses of urban green spaces.
PolicyCommunityKözösség által támogatott mezőgazdaság a világban és Magyarországon = Community Supported Agriculture in the World and in Hungary
2016Piroska Nagy · Repository of the Academy's Library (Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) · Global
This study provides an overview of the development, geographical emergence, and key values of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) globally and in Hungary, using secondary research methods. The roots of CSA trace back to Rudolf Steiner's ideas in the 1920s, forming the basis for CSA movements in Germany, Switzerland, and the Americas. In contrast, the French AMAP and Hungarian CSA are based on the teikei communities that emerged in the 1970s. Both models were found to be motivated by consumers' desire for access to healthy food, with consumers initiating their establishment.
CSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityOrganic cycleChildren and Nature
2016Tina Marie Waliczek, Jayne M. Zajicek · · Global
This document presents sections such as the history of school gardens and gardens for education, the need for youth gardens, ways to garden with youth, and the benefits of gardening with youth. No specific research content or findings are provided.
Food educationCommunityAction Research: An Essential Approach for Constructing the Development of Sustainable Urban Agricultural Systems
2016Antonia Bousbaine, Christopher Bryant · Challenges in Sustainability · Global
This article proposes Action Research as a key approach for research to contribute to sustainable solutions in urban agriculture. It describes the researcher's roles, such as providing information, counseling, and organizing meetings, which are adopted based on requests from actors like citizens and farmers. The article synthesizes relevant research on sustainable agricultural systems in periurban areas and the co-authors' own research over eight years, identifying patience, process emphasis, and multi-actor participation as necessary characteristics of Action Research.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceGoverning Social Innovation: Exploring the Role of ‘Discretionary Practice’ in the Negotiation of Shared Spaces of Community Food Growing
2016Alex Franklin, Imre Kovách, Bernadett Csurgó · Sociologia Ruralis · Global
This article qualitatively examined a public sector-led initiative to instigate co-production of community food growing, focusing on the discretionary practice of front-line public sector workers. The study found that public sector-led initiatives lack sufficient intention or scope to transform existing social orders. However, they do contribute to propagating individual and smaller-scale occurrences of social innovation in community food security.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justicePerceptions and attitudes of participants toward urban gardening. A case study of nutrition gardens in Mucheke town, Masvingo
2016Florence Chimbwanda · Journals & Books Hosting (International Knowledge Sharing Platform) · Zimbabwe (Masvingo)
This study investigated participants' attitudes and perceptions toward urban gardening in Mucheke town, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, using questionnaires, focus group discussions, and field observations with a sample of 40 participants. It found that urban gardening is important for the community and income generation, with participants reporting benefits like additional income, family consumption, and socialization. However, participants identified challenges including theft, dilapidated canals, a single water point, and limited market access.
Governance failureCommunityHealthWelfareEconomicsUrban Gardening, Food Coops, Community Supported Agriculture: Transformative Wirtschaftsformen – Konsumpraktiken – Marktbeziehungen
2016Irene Antoni-Komar · HiBiFo – Haushalt in Bildung & Forschung · Global
This study evaluated how new food-related economic forms, such as urban gardening, food coops, and community-supported agriculture, contribute to reshaping consumption practices and market relationships to foster a sustainable food economy. Based on empirical data, the research elucidated the specific characteristics and transformative potentials of these initiatives. The question is whether these initiatives can transform the prevailing food system from the bottom up.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceCSA & TeikeiBetween Green Image Production, Participatory Politics and Growth: Urban Agriculture and Gardens in the Context of Neoliberal Urban Development in Vienna
2016Sarah Kumnig · WU Research · Austria (Vienna)
This paper analyzes the implications of neoliberal urban development for agricultural spaces and practices in Vienna, Austria, where agricultural areas face pressure from population growth and a construction boom. Using the Donaufeld district as a case study, the analysis reveals selective preservation and activation of specific urban agriculture types and the use of participatory politics in urban development projects. The study highlights the challenges faced by urban agriculture amidst competing interests in a rapidly developing city.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsCultural services provided by urban allotment garden ecosystems
2016Janina Borysiak, Andrzej Mizgajski · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This study identified 64 cultural ecosystem services provided by urban allotment garden ecosystems. These services fit into the lowest level of the CICES v.4.3 classification, representing class types within one section, two divisions, three groups, and eight classes. All identified services were tabulated and discussed in light of the latest scientific publications.
CommunityBiodiversityHealthLos medios de comunicación y el surgimiento de la cultura agrícola urbana en Venezuela || The Media and the Rise of Urban Farming Culture in Venezuela
2016Irama Flores · Razón y Palabra · Venezuela
This work reflects on the relationship between media communication and the promotion of urban agriculture, and the creation of a new agricultural culture in Venezuelan cities. The essay focuses on the rescue of values rooted in planting, against a backdrop where reduced production of staple items and black market premium sales, coupled with high inflation, violate food access. It also considers how urban dwellers with an oil culture are now motivated to use their yards or residential areas as nurseries to grow their own food to ensure food security during scarcity.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationDIYConcluding remarks
2016Runrid Fox-Kämper · · Global
This book provides insights and examples of how urban space is negotiated, describing urban gardens as "lived places" where social relations, meanings, and a sense of place are developed. To trigger social benefits, it is essential that these sites fulfill more functions than just food growing and leisure. Horticultural practices, such as using pesticides or fertilizers, have a strong influence on the ecological impact of urban gardening; although awareness among gardeners has increased due to training programs in recent decades, this impact persists.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityOrganic cyclePolicyThe feasibility of school gardens as an educational approach in Greece: a survey of Greek schools
2016Valentina Plaka, Constantina Skanavis · International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development · Greece
A survey of 27 Greek schools with high interest in environmental education programs investigated the perceived value and feasibility of school gardens. Teachers in schools with gardens confirmed that participating students gained benefits and showed strong environmental consciousness. Interviewed teachers stressed that school gardens are feasible educational tools for promoting positive behavioral results and enforcing environmental knowledge. Teachers in schools without gardens cited lack of in-service training and funding as their main difficulties.
Food educationCommunityGreen inclusion: biophilia as a necessity
2016Alexandros Stavrianos · British Journal of Special Education · Global
This article argues for a strong link between inclusive pedagogy and environmental education, suggesting that environmental programs can promote inclusion. Transforming schoolyards into school gardens is presented as an example. Outdoor education experiences are proposed to facilitate positive development of self-esteem, peer socialization, teacher-student relationships, and a positive attitude towards school.
Food educationCommunityWelfare