Research & reports

Alessandra Giannini, Andrea Oldani · TERRITORIO · Global

Micro-agriculture refers to small-scale agriculture, in contrast to intensive agriculture and monoculture. It is a collection of 'small scale' agricultural practices, including horticulture (such as urban vegetable gardens), fruit-growing, or flower-growing. Micro-agriculture is a landscape defined by garden plots and materials, forming a unified yet diversified whole that differs from traditional agricultural landscapes in its reduced scale, biological richness, material variety, and heterogeneous landscape.

Li D · Chinese Horticulture Abstracts · China

With rapid urbanization in China, urban environments face increasing threats, making horticultural plants a choice to improve and beautify living spaces. This study analyzed the connotation, industry orientation, realistic meaning, and development prospects of the domestic horticulture industry in China, based on the current state of urban horticulture.

Hee-Jeong Yun, Mi-Kyoung Cho · Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning · South Korea

This study critically considers the new paradigm of urban parks, noting that despite progress, urban parks face increased criticism. Criticisms include long development periods for tree growth, limitations in general and cultural ecology, and a lack of economic validity. The study proposes urban agricultural parks as an alternative, connecting them to sustainable regional development and low-carbon society.

Cécilia Claeys, Jean-Noël Consalès, Carole Barthélémy · · France (Marseille)

This paper re-examines the question of nature in the city through emerging environmental paradigms, using Marseille, a French Mediterranean city, as a case study. An interdisciplinary analysis combining sociology and geography revealed that new modes of urban and suburban nature management (e.g., National Park, greenways, community gardens) question spatial boundaries between wild and artificial. However, the uses of these spaces are still marked by persistent social segmentations.

Guo Hua, Guozhu Ren · JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING STUDIES · Global

This paper attempts to define the role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities. It also analyzes how urban agriculture can make cities more resilient to potential crises in emergencies or sudden events, as well as under normal circumstances, such as climate change and oil peak.

Katrin Bohn, André Viljoen · · Global

This paper focuses on urban agriculture as a major component of CPUL (Continuous Productive Urban Landscape). The CPUL City concept aims to make urban spaces more productive and desirable for citizens by planfully introducing continuous productive urban landscapes, including urban agriculture, into cities. The CPUL City concept proposes that urban agriculture can contribute to more sustainable and resilient food systems while also adding beneficially to the spatial quality of the urban realm.

José Luis Fernández de Casadevante, Nerea Morán Alonso · · Global

This article reviews the uses of the term resilience in the urban domain and examines methods for applying sustainability to urban environments. It focuses on the role of urban and peri-urban agriculture, arguing that their scope extends beyond mere food production. These practices generate spaces for developing alternative city models, fostering conviviality, and illustrating an alternative to the current agri-food system.

· Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · United States

The May 2012 issue of NEBLINE features Lincoln's Biosolids Land Application Program, which is 20 years old. It also covers topics such as urban agriculture, food and fitness, home and family living, horticulture, environmental focus, 4-H and youth, community focus, and extension news and events.

LI Mei-zhang · Anhui nongye kexue · China

The multiple functions of agriculture (economic, social, ecological, and cultural) in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone were introduced. To maximize the overall benefits of multi-functional agriculture, its layout must adhere to principles such as multi-interaction, moderate scale, land space division, and coordinated development and growth. The eco-economic zone can be divided into areas of production agriculture, ecological tourism, urban agriculture, and characteristic agriculture, with each area having distinct agricultural growth points.

· · Global

This paper proposes Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPULs) as a complement to the compact city model, arguing that urban food production contributes to environmental sustainability. The CPUL model suggests that not all brownfield sites must be built upon, while still maximizing sustainable returns from land use. This combination is envisioned to create a new type of city.

Sarah Bell, Cristina Cerulli · UCL Discovery (University College London) · United Kingdom (London)

A case study of a newly established community garden in London was analyzed. The study used the multi-level perspective on transitions to sustainable development by Grin et al. (2010) and modeling of cities as complex systems by Wilson (2010a) and Batty (2005) to analyze the potential for emerging community gardens to contribute to transitions to sustainable urban food systems. Urban agriculture is considered a core element for the future of sustainable cities.

黄卫国 · 杭州农业与科技 · China

In Xihu District, the construction of "urban agricultural fine product zones" is promoted as part of building a modern industrial system and "five zones". Recently, the Xihu District Committee and government have leveraged policy, brand, environmental, and resource advantages to focus on developing these zones, fostering the continuous and healthy development of urban agriculture.

Fritz Hammerling Navas Navarro, Luz Mila Peña Torres · Revista de Investigación Agraria y Ambiental · Global

Urban Vertical Garden Modules (MHUV) are introduced as a hybrid of vertical gardens and urban agriculture. This study presents a "culinary and medicinal module" that can be placed in kitchens, rooftops, or patios, proposing the cultivation of species like thyme, mint, and parsley. The module consists of three recyclable plastic baskets, each with four rows and a capacity for fourteen seedlings, supported vertically by a recycled wooden structure.

Antonio Emilio Alvise Longo · Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) · Italy

This essay recounts the experience of the project for the open spaces in the Martesana area, coordinated by the author following a call from Fondazione Cariplo di Milano. Moving from operational experience, the essay generally considers the role of agricultural open spaces in peri-urban areas, contextualizing it with long-term urban planning themes.

Se-Kun Kim, Seung-Hee Han · Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science · South Korea

In Kimje-si, South Korea, land use changes were analyzed and future changes beyond 2030 were forecasted using LANDSAT TM imagery, HSB transformation, and a Markov Chain method with GIS data. Geographical features were found to have the greatest influence on land use changes, with 21.67% of mountain lands predicted to become farmland and 13.11% to become city areas.

In-Hwan Lee, Hyo‐Jeong Lee, Seul-Bi Lee, Jeon In-Cheol, Yong-Geun Kim · Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture · South Korea

In Seoul metropolitan urbanites, South Korea, differences in willingness to participate in farm village experience tourism and perceptions were investigated between groups with and without urban farming experience. The study found that the urban farming experienced group showed less willingness to participate in farm village experience tourism compared to the non-experienced group. Primary reasons for participation were the natural environment and children's education, while the main reason for non-participation was busy daily life.

James E. McWilliams · Southwestern historical quarterly · United States

This is a review of Robert Carriker's book "Urban Farming in the West: A New Deal Experiment in Subsistence Homesteads", which examines the Division of Subsistence Homesteads (DSH) program in the American West. The DSH, established in 1933 by the New Deal, aimed to redistribute population and support self-sufficient homesteads. Carriker's work offers a balanced perspective on the program, noting that "confusion over disparate objectives" and bureaucratic conflicts ultimately undermined its goals.

Xin Guan · Economic Research Guide · Global

This discussion emphasizes the necessity of village renovation planning in metropolitan rural outskirts, particularly when combined with new land use and urban village layout plans. It outlines five key considerations for such planning: linking with upper-level plans without direct copying, breaking village ownership boundaries to accelerate land transfer, promoting intensive land use and moving away from canal irrigation, planning for agricultural development to lead urban agriculture trends, and coordinating short-term and long-term goals while retaining flexible space.

Rolando León Aguilar, Zemedhun Girma Hailu · Avanzada Científica · Cuba

In Cuba, food production for the population is a state priority, and urban production has achieved rapid development in the last decade. Vegetable production is among the prioritized subprograms, but challenges exist regarding water and organic matter.

Godwin Arku, Paul Mkandawire, Nathaniel Djanmah Aguda, Vincent Kuuire · · Africa

The history of urban agriculture in Africa dates back to the colonial era, when farming flourished in urban areas primarily to meet the consumption needs of bureaucrats, settlers, and other elites. Urban agriculture is considered a potentially viable policy response to the complex challenge of feeding a growing urban population amidst declining food production in rural areas.

Mary Caesar, Jonathan Crush, Trevor Hill · Scholars Commons (Wilfrid Laurier University) · South Africa (Msunduzi Municipality)

A study on food security in Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa, was part of AFSUN's baseline survey across eleven Southern African cities. The survey found that urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than those in Cape Town and Johannesburg, with one-third of households reporting frequent food shortages. Urban agriculture is not particularly significant in Msunduzi, and while supermarket supply chains dominate the food system, they do not meet the needs of the poor.

叶林, 魏皓严 · 规划师 · China (Meishan)

The design of the Meishan "China Pickled Vegetable City" urban agricultural base proposed a design concept from the composite perspectives of spatial, industrial, and landscape systems, aiming to maintain ecological patterns, promote industrial integration, and continue rural landscape characteristics. By strengthening the ecological, production, and living functions of the urban agricultural base, and constructing a rational spatial layout, complete industrial structure, and unique landscape system, this design provides insights for similar urban agricultural base designs.

Mirella Cultrera, Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo, Fábio Cop Ferreira · SITIENTIBUS série Ciências Biológicas · Brazil (Mato Grosso)

An ethnobotanical study in five peripheral neighborhoods of Santo Antônio do Leverger, Mato Grosso, Brazil, surveyed 135 households and detailed 30 to characterize food plant cultivation. Ninety-seven species from 38 families were identified across homegardens, fields, and empty lots. While some species were common, the similarity between species/varieties across households was generally below 50%, and many had low frequency, revealing a vulnerability to species loss despite social network circulation.

Iwona Makuch · Soil Science Annual · Global

This study investigated the influence of intensive horticulture on lead content and its fractions in soil profiles from house gardens, allotment gardens, and arable fields. It was not determined that the manner of usage had any influence on total lead content or its distribution in soil profiles. However, the usage manner did influence the content and distribution of lead fraction III, which is connected with organic matter, with humus horizons of garden soils showing the highest content.

Nate Millington · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States

This article analyzes representations of urban nature in Detroit, Michigan, focusing on journalistic and photographic work over the past 5 years. These representations, part of a discourse on Detroit's decline, ultimately reflect dominant conceptual divisions between the city and nature. Journalists and commentators perceive nature in the city as a reflection of the city's absence rather than its materiality, suggesting an ambivalence about emergent urban ecologies.