Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
974 results(6 / 39)
Claiming space
2025Kirsty Lohman, Ruth Pearce · Community Development Journal · United Kingdom (Durham)
This article describes a community garden in Durham, United Kingdom, maintained by volunteers working to retain common access to green space. The garden is located on a disused bowling green, against a backdrop of a struggle over land, ownership, and community use. The council had reportedly failed to maintain the land for many years, and much of the surrounding area is owned by Durham University. The community association aims to obtain control of the land through an adverse possession claim to prevent it from being sold off by the council.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyThe Impact of Lifestyle on Individual’s Perception of Urban Agriculture
2025Simona Gavrilaş, Oana Brînzan, Radu Lucian Blaga, Maria Sinaci, Eugenia Țigan, Nicoleta Mateoc-Sîrb · Agriculture · Europe
This study investigated the correlations between perceived benefits of urban agriculture (socialization, recreation, and food waste avoidance) and education levels and financial situations among 648 inhabitants of western Romanian towns, using data collected via an online questionnaire. Analysis showed that a high level of education leads to increased belief in urban farming's contributions to improving residents' socialization and recreation. Income level also significantly shaped opinions regarding urban agriculture's contribution to increased recycling.
HealthEconomicsFood lossCommunityPlanting futures: School-based food forests and their contribution to holistic education for sustainable development
2025Julia Gobs · GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society · Germany
This study investigated the school-based food forest project at Chestnut School in Northern Germany, using interviews and participatory methods framed by the Whole School Approach. School-based food forests contribute to holistic education for sustainable development by offering interdisciplinary, hands-on learning environments. They promote systemic thinking, agency, and self-efficacy, fostering human-nature connections, critical thinking, and sustainable food practices.
Food educationBiodiversityCommunityClimate changeGasteizko eskola-baratzeen ezarpenaren eta erabilera didaktikoaren analisia
2025Iratz Pou de Los Mozos, Igone Palacios-Agúndez, Daniel Zuazagoitia, Unai Coronel Gastiain · IKASTORRATZA e-journal on Didactics · Spain
This field research analyzed the presence and didactic use of school gardens in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, using a two-phase questionnaire approach. The study found a large presence and high didactic use of school gardens, with many interesting experiences, but noted room for improvement. Teacher training and networking among schools were recommended.
Food educationCommunityTHE WILD IN THE CITY: DIFFERENT CONCEPTS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF URBAN COMMUNITY GARDENS OF GOUTTE D'OR DISTRICT OF PARIS.
2025Marina Abrão Ballak Dias · Revista Andaluza de Antropología · France (Paris)
This article explored how different conceptions of human-nature relationships shaped practices in two community gardens in Paris's Goutte d’Or neighborhood. Conceptions grounded in a human–nature divide prevailed, leading to a conservationist approach. Practices stemming from this perspective were found to be in constant tension with garden goals like increasing urban biodiversity and human socialization.
Governance failureCommunityBiodiversityPolicyTransformando desde los intersticios: huertos urbanos comunitarios ante la crisis ecosocial
2025Sara Sama Acedo, David Berná Serna, Patricia Homs Ramírez de la Piscina · Etnografica · Spain (Madrid)
This paper analyzes the case of community urban gardens in Madrid integrated into the Municipal Program of Community Urban Gardens. These initiatives are situated in the interstices between community management and public institutional management, generating new demands on the management of urban green commons and enabling forms of shared governance. The study reveals that these gardens face the challenge of maintaining themselves as transformative spaces without being absorbed by commercial logics or marginalized into welfare-oriented or community volunteer spaces.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunity Readiness for Agro Living Lab (ALL) Projects: Factors Influencing Engagement of Young Urban Residents
2025Wojciech Sroka, Karol Król, Jakub Kulesza, Marcin Stanuch, Sławomir Lisek · Agriculture · Poland (Kraków)
This study analyzed factors influencing young urban residents' readiness to participate in agro living lab (ALL) projects in Kraków, Poland. Based on a literature review and a survey among university students, it found that readiness to engage in ALL projects is strongly associated with respondents’ field of study, interests, individual experiences, positive attitudes toward urban agriculture, and personal relationships with farmers.
CommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceSlippery pathways to socio-ecological utopias of community gardening: examples from Poland
2025Dorota Rancew-Sikora, Anna Horolets, Joanna Krukowska · Environmental Sociology · Poland
This article investigates how community gardening ideals are materialized and abandoned, applying Hannah Arendt’s distinction between types of work. Based on empirical analysis of narratives and observations in 12 gardens across Poland, the research demonstrates obstacles to democratic sustainability transitions. It proposes a processual concept of "slippage" to understand mechanisms by which departures from ideals occur in community gardens.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyMotivations and barriers in Huddersfield’s community gardens: exploring experiential social capital and community resilience
2025Sara Mahdizadeh, Yun Gao · Local Environment · United Kingdom
This qualitative study, based on 16 semi-structured interviews, examined motivations and barriers to participation in community gardens in Huddersfield, UK. Key motivations included social interaction, mental well-being, and skill development. Reported barriers were declining volunteer numbers, physical workload, limited institutional support, and accessibility challenges.
Governance failureCommunityHealthPolicyWelfareLa dimensión urbana del patrimonio agrario: el paisaje de la huerta de Nerja, Málaga
2025Mar Loren-Méndez, Celia Chacón-Carretón, Pablo Manuel Millán Millán · ACE Arquitectura Ciudad y Entorno · Spain (Málaga)
This study examines the urban dimension of agricultural heritage, specifically urban orchards, in cities where agrarian activity is deeply intertwined with their origin and evolution. Using Nerja, Málaga, Spain, as a case study, the research highlights that accelerated urban transformation in recent decades has led to a rupture, undermining agrarian logic by abandoning historical growth practices. The study emphasizes the fundamental role of agrarian activity in built environments and advocates for the protection of urban orchards.
Governance failureUrban–rural linkagePolicyHeirloom & landraceGrowing Social Spaces: Farming and Food Growing as Part of the Urban Landscape
2025Chris Blythe, Veronica Barry · · United Kingdom
This chapter examines urban farming and growing in the United Kingdom, advocating for a broader definition beyond purely productive practices to include social, political, and environmental interpretations. It explores how physical spaces in four Birmingham examples foster social interaction, drawing on practitioner experience, literature, and user perspectives. The aim is to provide insights into the value of these spaces as social landscapes for urban policy.
CommunityUrban–rural linkagePolicyBeyond urban farm and community garden, a new typology of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Europe
2024Jansma · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Europe
Proposes a new typology of the diverse forms of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Europe, moving beyond the conventional 'urban farm vs community garden' divide and offering a framework for situating citizen-driven initiatives.
CommunityPolicyLandrace in situ (on-farm) conservation: European Union achievements
2024Raggi L., Spataro G., Tiranti D., Negri V. · Biodiversity and Conservation 33:2709-2738 · Europe
Reviews the status of on-farm landrace conservation in the EU, including the materials conserved, who maintains them and why, and EU policies governing the commercialization of landrace seeds.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicyCommunityResource Orchestration in Cross-Sector Partnerships for Systemic Change: A Longitudinal Study of Urban Food Assistance
2024Bartezzaghi G., Garrone P., Rizzuni A., Melacini M., Perego A. · Business & Society · Italy
A longitudinal action-research study of a cross-sector partnership delivering urban food assistance, showing how resource orchestration by public, corporate, and nonprofit actors spurs phases of systemic change in the urban food system.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyGermany: Urban Farming as an Innovation and Application Environment of an Agile Start-Up Mindset
2024· Springer (book chapter) · Germany
A book chapter framing urban farming in Germany as an innovation and application environment for an agile start-up mindset, discussing entrepreneurial urban agriculture ventures.
EconomicsDIYCitizen participation and acceptance in the context of urban events. An investigation on regional garden shows in Germany
2024· Planning Practice & Research · Germany
Investigates citizen participation and acceptance around regional garden shows (Landesgartenschauen) in Germany as recurring urban greening and event-driven planning instruments.
CommunityPolicyUrbanization reduces Orthoptera diversity and changes community structure towards mobile species
2024Pernat N., Buchholz S., Schirmel J. · Insect Conservation and Diversity · Germany (Berlin)
Sampled 42 dry grasslands in Berlin along urbanisation and connectivity gradients, finding urbanisation the main driver reducing Orthoptera richness and functional diversity and filtering communities toward mobile species.
BiodiversityInitiating, innovating and accelerating edible cities. A case study based on two transition experiments in the city of Dresden (Germany)
2024· Urban Ecosystems · Germany (Dresden)
A case study based on two transition experiments in Dresden, analyzing how edible cities are initiated, innovated, and accelerated.
CommunityPolicyFood educationAssessment and Monitoring of Local Climate Regulation in Cities by Green Infrastructure—A National Ecosystem Service Indicator for Germany
2024· Land · Germany
Presents a national ecosystem-service indicator for Germany to assess and monitor local climate regulation provided by urban green infrastructure.
BiodiversityPolicyHealthMapping municipal food supply: A longitudinal-spatial case study in Southern Germany
2024Mager · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Germany (Southern Germany)
A longitudinal-spatial case study mapping municipal food supply in Southern Germany.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityFood from urban agriculture has carbon footprint six times larger than conventional produce
2024· PhysOrg (Research Report) · Multi-regional (France, Germany, Poland, UK, USA)
International citizen science study recruiting farmers and gardeners at urban agriculture sites in France, Germany, Poland, UK, and USA. Participants recorded daily diary entries of inputs and harvests. Found that urban farms may have higher carbon footprints due to intensive inputs, suggesting need for optimization of composting and organic waste utilization to reduce environmental impact.
Organic cycleFood educationComparing the carbon footprints of urban and conventional agriculture
2024Hawes J., Goldstein B., Newell J. · Nature Cities · Europe and United States
A large-scale life-cycle study using citizen-science data from 73 urban sites in Europe and the US found that food from urban agriculture had a carbon footprint about six times that of conventional farming (roughly 420 vs 70 gCO2e per serving), driven mainly by infrastructure and inputs.
PolicyEconomicsLarge scale study on PFASs levels in fruits, vegetables and soil from allotments and gardens contaminated by atmospheric deposition from a Dutch fluorochemical production plant
2024Pancras T., van Bentum E., de Pagter L., van Hoef M., Hoogenboom R., Berendsen B., van Leeuwen S. · Chemosphere · Netherlands
Fruits and vegetables from allotments contaminated by atmospheric deposition from a fluorochemical plant contained PFASs such as PFOA and GenX, with the highest levels downwind and in brassicas, leafy and root vegetables.
HealthReality vs. Expectations in the Implementation of Urban Agricultural Projects—A Polycentric Governance Analysis
2024Boukharta Ouiam Fatiha, Sauvée Loïc, Chico-Santamarta Leticia, Pena-Fabri Fabiana, Navas-Gracia Luis Manuel · Urban Science · France (Normandy)
Multi-level governance analysis of urban-agriculture projects in Normandy based on interviews and fieldwork. Documents a gap between policy prescriptions and how local authorities actually implement them, showing expectations for UA-driven resilience outrun delivery on the ground.
PolicyThe food-water-climate nexus of green infrastructure: Examining ecosystem services trade-offs of peri-urban agriculture
2024Ricard Segura, Johannes Langemeyer, Alba Badía, Sergi Ventura, Jaime Vila-Traver, Gara Villalba · The Science of The Total Environment · Spain (Barcelona)
A study in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, Spain, investigated the impacts of peri-urban agricultural expansion on the food-water-climate nexus using urban metabolism and atmospheric-biosphere models across four land-use scenarios. While expansion increased food production and irrigation water requirements, replacing natural non-forested and forest areas for peri-urban agriculture was predicted to reduce net ecosystem productivity by up to 18.5% and total carbon stocks by 3.3%. Irrigated peri-urban agriculture potentially reduced near-surface temperatures by 0.7°C, though reductions in the densest urban areas were minimal.
Environmental trade-offsPeri-urban agricultureClimate changeBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justice