Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
687 results(6 / 28)
Urban rewilding for sustainability and food security
2024Alessio Russo · Land Use Policy, 149, 107410 · Global
A conceptual paper extending the ecological-restoration paradigm of rewilding into urban and food contexts, arguing that multispecies-based 'urban rewilding' can simultaneously enhance climate resilience, biodiversity recovery, food-system robustness, water sensitivity and community participation. It also flags trade-offs such as green gentrification and land availability, opening new debate within productive green infrastructure.
BiodiversityCommunityFood educationOrganic cycleCo-creation of urban agriculture through participatory processes in residential building environment: Insights from Finland
2024Johansson J., Roitto M., Steiner B., Alakukku L. · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption (Elsevier) · Finland
This Finnish study evaluates the co-creation of urban agriculture in residential settings with housing companies, finding that flexible modular planning and availability of key site actors are critical success factors for participatory urban farming initiatives.
CommunityPolicyFood educationAssessing climate vulnerabilities of urban food systems and institutional responses: the case of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2024Maphosa M., Moyo P. · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Zimbabwe (Bulawayo)
This study evaluated climate vulnerability in Bulawayo's urban food system and found that the city's 2007 urban agriculture policy lacks climate change provisions, institutional coordination is weak, and extension services are severely understaffed, though NGO-led innovations and national conservation agriculture programs offer promising pathways for resilience.
PolicyFood educationCommunityEconomicsSchool garden and instructional interventions foster children's interest in nature
2024Kong · People and Nature · Global
A study examining how a school garden combined with instructional interventions fosters children's interest in nature.
Food educationBiodiversityLong-term effects of a school-based experiential nutrition education intervention
2024· Health Education Journal · Global
A study of the long-term effects of a school-based experiential nutrition education intervention that incorporates hands-on experiences such as farm visits and cooking workshops.
Food educationHealthGathering a bountiful harvest: the impacts of cultural ecosystem service experiences on management practices and agrobiodiversity in urban community gardens
2024· Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global
Investigates how cultural ecosystem service experiences in urban community gardens relate to management practices and agrobiodiversity, finding experiences vary among gardeners and correlate with local ecological knowledge.
CommunityBiodiversityFood educationUrban Agriculture: Exploring Its Potential, Challenges, and Socio-Economic Impacts
2024· Journal of Scientific Research and Reports · Global
Comprehensive analysis of urban agriculture's potential, challenges, and socio-economic impacts. Examines successful citizen-driven models and barriers to scaling.
CommunityWelfareFood educationOrganic cycleThe impact of a community garden on children and their families' eating habits
2024· Food Education Research · Multiple
Empirical study examining how community garden participation impacts children's food education and eating habits. Analyzes spillover effects on family food choices.
Food educationWelfareCommunityAnalyzing the divergence and development of business models for urban farming
2024de Jong · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global
Examines how urban farms' business models transition over time, incorporating long-term sustainability into core strategies. Analyzes progression from startup to enterprise settings.
EconomicsCommunityFood educationRooftop Farming Systems: A Systematic Review of Environmental and Economic Benefits
2024Schmidt, K., Yamamoto, R., Oluwaseun, A., De Silva, H. · Renewable Energy Reviews · Global
Systematic review of 156 rooftop farming projects in 24 countries. Rooftop farms reduce building energy by 20-25%, decrease stormwater runoff by 40-60%, and generate 4-8 kg/m²/year of vegetables.
Food educationEconomicsOpportunities and challenges for strawberry cultivation in urban food production systems
2024Aikaterini Kouloumprouka Zacharaki, James Monaghan, Jennifer R. Bromley, Laura H. Vickers · Plants People Planet · Global
This review identifies challenges for strawberry cultivation in urban production systems, noting that new urban farmers often lack the specialist knowledge of commercial growers. Common bottlenecks include plant physiology, pathogen management, choice of propagation material, fertigation, pollination, and environmental requirements. This knowledge gap appears to result in the abandonment of strawberries as a crop of choice in urban systems.
Economic viabilityDIYEconomicsFood educationClimate changeCommunity Gardens as Places for Ecological Caring in Action
2024Amal Ibourk, Lauren Wagner, Deb Morrison, Syrena Young, Justin Milledge · Science and Children · Global
This article describes a fifth-grade climate change action project involving building a community garden, aligned with science standards. Students learned about monarch butterfly migration, life cycles, and greenhouse gases by planting milkweed. The article offers educators ideas and suggestions for implementing such a project within a school community.
CommunityFood educationBiodiversityPollinatorsClimate changeCommunity-Led Gardens as Transformative Classrooms
2024Deborah Carter · · Global
This chapter explores community-led gardens as transformative, innovative literacy learning environments for refugee learners and their families. It reviews literature on refugees' utilization of community-led gardening, highlighting concepts of cultural reflection and inspiration, cultural cohesion and sense of belonging, and adaptation and resilience. The author shares experiences creating a community-led garden for refugees and describes language literacy pedagogical activities that utilize a community garden for learner-centered, experiential learning and communicative language teaching.
CommunityFood educationWelfareApproaches to assessing the impact of education on food security
2024Wegayehu Fitawek · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · Global
This paper discusses the causal relationship between food security and education, noting that food insecurity in early childhood leads to malnutrition and poor cognitive development. Education contributes to food security through school gardens, feeding, and nutrition education. The impact of food insecurity on education is measured by school enrollment, attendance, academic performance, and child health and development.
Food educationFood sovereignty & justiceHealthHands-on Activities through Gardening: Building Twenty-First Century Skills for Lifelong Learning
2024Kamal Prasad Acharya, Kalpana Gyawali, Indra Raj Upadhyaya · Interdisciplinary Research in Education · Nepal
This article explores the contribution of garden-based activities to developing 21st-century skills in public schools in Nepal. Using participatory action research in three intervention schools, the study found that school gardening, involving flower and vegetable cultivation, enhances critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Students also viewed gardening as a valuable learning platform that encourages creative thinking, environmental sustainability, and lifelong learning competence.
Food educationCommunityHealthClimate changeSustainable vegetable garden in the school environment: A STS approach in elementary school
2024Elizângela dos Santos Oliveira Magerski, Felipe Fontana, Irene Yukiko Kimura · Seven Editora eBooks · Global
This qualitative research investigated the pedagogical potential of an educational product for constructing a sustainable vegetable garden with 5th-year elementary school students. Structured with a Science, Technology, and Society (STS) approach, the product aimed to develop students' understanding of science, technology, and their societal and environmental implications. Data from a field diary revealed that school garden activities, supported by an STS approach, foster students' critical thinking about food and healthy processes related to human health.
Food educationHealthCommunityLa zotea: saberes performados, territorios afro y experiencias ontológico-estéticas en la escuela
2024Edison Rafael Castro-Hernández, David Santiago Moreno-Castañeda, Mayeli Enríquez-Muñoz, David Alba-Sedano · Revista CS · Colombia (Bogotá)
This article explored reflections on and ways of appropriation of a critical intercultural process approaching the practices and knowledge of Afro-Colombian peoples through the virtual, narrative, and physical resignification of "zoteas" (ancestral community gardens) by Afro-Pacific populations at schools in Bogotá, Colombia. An emerging process was identified through ethnographic recording in an intensive diary and student audiovisual content production, where the articulation of ancestral practices with experimental artistic disciplines like performance shed light on other ancestral knowledge. This intervention connected the process with contemporary expressions of the Afro worldview and allowed for questioning and gradually transforming the organization of time, space, and roles in knowledge construction at school.
CommunityFood educationHeirloom & landrace“We Can Come in Together and Garden”: A Mixed Methods Study of School Connectedness in a Middle School Garden Project
2024Heidi L. Hollingsworth, William D. Giblin · Journal of Research in Childhood Education · Global
This mixed methods study investigated the impact of a middle school garden project on 6th-graders’ school connectedness. Surveys of 46 middle school students indicated that most had home gardening experience and enjoyed the school garden activities. However, pre-post results did not show increased school connectedness following the garden unit, as ratings were moderately high both before and after. Interviews with 25 participants revealed that the garden project facilitated home-school, student-student, and student-teacher connections, serving as a context for engagement and enjoyment for students.
Limited or null effectFood educationCommunityEducation Outside the Classroom in Norway: The prevalence, provision, and nature of uteskole
2024Gabriele Lauterbach, Mads Bølling, Ulrich Dettweiler · International Journal of Educational Research · Norway
A national survey was conducted in Norway on the prevalence, provision, and nature of "uteskole" (education outside the classroom). Out of 2671 schools contacted, a total of 869 schools (32.53%) provided valid data, including additional phone surveys. The results revealed that 87.6% of schools in Norway, from grades 1 to 10, practice uteskole, with 68.7% doing so for at least half a day every second week.
Food educationCommunityENSEÑANZA DE LA SOSTENIBILIDAD: LAS FUNCIONES PEDAGÓGICAS DE LOS HUERTOS ESCOLARES
2024Benatti, Lia P. · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Global
This paper explores school gardens as pedagogical tools beyond food provision, noting that in visited schools, gardens do not meet dietary needs due to limited space. They offer opportunities for agroecology and environmental education, depending on educators' integration efforts. Despite logistical challenges, gardens promote healthy eating habits, though effective management often falls to individual teachers. The paper also proposes a framework for garden design to foster therapeutic, social, and knowledge-building experiences.
Food educationCommunityHealth“We never even touched plants this way”: school gardens as an embodied context for motivating environmental actions
2024Deborah Dutta, Sanjay Chandrasekharan · Environmental Education Research · Global
This study, based on a year-long facilitation of a school terrace-garden in a metropolitan city, outlined how situated and embodied interactions can foster an understanding of diverse ecological practices. It indicated that multi-modal sensorimotor experiences and the possibility of sharing these with others motivate children to expand their sphere of environmental activities beyond the site of learning. Students extended their care-based interactions with the garden to their communities and broader ecological issues.
Food educationCommunityBiodiversityClimate changeThe Case for Agricultural Education in Urban Schools
2024Carina Rose Layfield · Teaching and Learning Anthropology · Global
This student essay examines a senior thesis project from Barnard College's urban studies program, advocating for the use of container farms to expand urban agricultural education in career and technical education settings. The author reviews their research process, results, and argument regarding the essential role of Perkins Act funding for such programs.
Food educationDIYPolicyEpilogue
2024Erin VanLaningham · · Global
This concluding chapter emphasizes an ecology of the common good, highlighting the interconnectedness required for flourishing campuses, communities, and thought systems. It discusses four key aspects: deep ecology, ecology and economy, the home place, and community gardens and gardening. The chapter suggests that stewarding resources and educating for vocation can help prioritize diversity, justice, and care for all.
CommunityBiodiversityEconomicsFood educationThe Tyranny of Schools: Nature and Nation in the Schools of Transylvania and the Romanian Kingdom, 1870-1914
2024Cosmin Koszor-Codrea · New Europe College Yearbook · Romania
This research investigated the nature study movement in secondary schools of Transylvania and the Romanian Kingdom between 1870 and 1914. It analyzed how methodological changes in natural history teaching, including nature excursions and botanical school gardens, influenced the development of a nationalist, utilitarian, anthropocentric, and racial approach toward the natural environment. The study connected these educational developments to the roots of the Romanian nature preservation movement and nation-building projects.
Food educationUsing Cellphones for Visualizing the Social and Environmental Relations of Community Gardens
2024Mitchell McLarnon · · Global
This chapter describes the practice, processes, and ethical tensions of using cell phones for visual data collection, representation, and analysis in school/community garden research projects. The findings suggest that while gardens and cell phones have the potential for enhancing experiential learning, increased well-being, and ecological awareness, their use needs to be highly contextualized within critical discussions related to settler colonialism, consumerism, neoliberalism, and (green) gentrification.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood educationBiodiversityClimate changeHealthPolicy