Research & reports

A. Hegazy · Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants /Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants · Egypt

This landscaping study, conducted from 2017-2018, investigated eight school gardens in Mansoura City and Talkha District, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. The study revealed that most school gardens contained toxic plants like weeds and cacti, and that utilized areas were not correctly used with poor maintenance. Roof gardens and improved irrigation systems were suggested.

Antoine Perrin · Working paper/Working paper CIRIEC ... · Global

A study examining that, alongside calls from international institutions and states for food security through large-scale subsidies and improved market access, small initiatives addressing access to healthy, sustainable food are emerging everywhere - farmers' self-help groups, shared gardens, community-supported agriculture, cooperative supermarkets, and similar organisations - and analysing the discourse and practices of 20 such initiatives dealing with agriculture and food. The study drew on roughly 500 hours of fieldwork within the initiatives and 50 interviews with project planners, coordinators, and monitors, chosen from two contrasting social and economic contexts: Nancy, a medium-sized French town, and Ahmedabad, a large Indian city. The results identify two major trends common between France and India and across small farmers, shared gardens, cooperatives, and other social and solidarity initiatives: first, a general call for localised, short food circuits, with producers and consumers seeking a direct connection to each other or growing their own food; and second, participants not claiming to be part of a recent innovative wave but instead falling back on traditional ways to grow, sell, and cook food. The initiatives studied were themselves small in scale, with around 200 participants each.

Jessica Ann Diehl, Kate Oviatt, Amanda Jennifer Chandra, Harpreet Kaur · Sustainability · Global

This study examined household food security among migrant urban farmers by surveying and conducting semi-structured interviews with market-oriented small-to-medium scale farmers in three rapidly urbanizing cities: Delhi, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Quito, Ecuador. Participation in urban agriculture was found to have a positive impact on household food security through direct means (self-consumption) and indirect means (improved income and access), though the form of low-income migrant urban agriculture differed across the three cities.

Maurice Mitchell, Amara Roca Iglesias · Frontiers of Architectural Research · Global

This research explores opportunities for creating a green city on the recently secured Bagmati riverbanks in Kathmandu, Nepal, an area subject to rapid inward migration by landless rural farmers. It asks what architectural theory and practice can contribute to supporting the fit between emergent bottom-up initiatives and top-down city investments, developing loose fit theory, research methods, and reflective practice to investigate latent possibilities, assemble a narrative of embedded change, and create spatial imaginaries of topographical change on the riverbanks. It argues that architectural theory and practice can play a role in integrating migrants into civic institutions and helping generate a greener city by making explicit the relationship between setting and occupant, stimulating and representing alternative imaginaries, and framing civic discourse.

Julian Cribb · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global

This concluding chapter lists the book's policy recommendations without presenting new data: build a global food system based on regenerative farming, aquaculture and urban food production; redesign cities to recycle nutrients and water into local, climate-proof food production under permaculture principles; reallocate 20% of world military spending to food-based conflict prevention; rewild half the planet under leadership of small farmers and indigenous peoples; introduce a "Year of Food" in every primary school; and put women in leadership across business, politics, government, religion and society.

Ilona Liliána Birtalan, Ágnes Neulinger, József Rácz, György Bárdos · International Journal of Consumer Studies · Global

Using an explorative design, this study examines how spousal involvement affects membership in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a type of alternative food network centered on fresh produce. It identified three patterns of spousal influence: coherent, integrative, and neutral/antagonistic. CSA membership was found to significantly affect lifestyles and often require substantial adaptation, at times leading to a crisis point over whether to remain in or leave the CSA. Spousal support was found to be crucial over the long term, and the study suggests that inconveniences associated with CSA membership could be reduced by providing more information about the importance of that support.

Nur Farzana Ahmad Sanadi, Chew Tin Lee, Mohammad Roji Sarmidi, Jiří Jaromír Klemeš, Zhenjia Zhang · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This study characterized the physical and nutrient properties of liquid fertiliser (compost leachate and compost tea) derived from different bio-waste composts and sought to establish a correlation between their nutrient composition and that of the resulting solid compost. It found that the liquid fertiliser contains nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus essential for plant growth but requires dilution or pre-treatment before use due to high organic content, and developed a formula, using graphical analysis and simple linear regression, that predicts solid compost nutrient composition from analysis of the liquid fertiliser.

Jean-Louis Yengué · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · Cameroon

Focusing on the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé and one of its valleys, the Ekozoa, this study examines the forms taken by urban residents' cultivation of food and horticultural crops and its place within the urban fabric. Despite its illegality, this agriculture proved essential to the survival strategies of the poorest households, improving their nutrition and economic base, and it also played an environmental role through waste recycling and greening the city. At the same time it raised numerous problems related to pollution and public health. The solution proposed by the authorities is to bring these areas under control as non-buildable zones, incorporating them into a green network that is more ornamental than productive.

Rosângela Aparecida de Medeiros Hespanhol, Antônio Nivaldo Hespanhol · Revista Campo-Território · Cuba

In Cuba, political and economic factors have made urban cultivation an important alternative for easing food supply and food security problems. Examining cases of organopónicos (organic urban farms) in the cities of Camagüey and Cienfuegos, the article shows that urban agriculture, structured on agroecological principles, is an important food-producing and job-generating activity that is closely integrated with the city's economy, ecology, and physical planning.

Suzanne Stapleton · Journal of Agricultural & Food Information · Global

An article introduces the "4/5 paradox" in global food production: 80% of food is produced by family farmers, while at the same time 80% of the world's hungry and malnourished people are family farmers and their children. It concerns Urgenci, the international network of Community Supported Agriculture, though the available abstract is truncated and gives no further detail.

Sang Mi Lee, Young Chae, Young-Bin Jung, In-Kyoung Hong · Journal of people, plants, and environment · Global

A survey examined proper planting and use of climbing plants in urban community gardens. A majority of respondents accepted planting climbing plants in their community garden plots, and those with gardening experience were more favorable. There was a strong tendency to use climbing plants for aesthetic/ornamental purposes and for creating fences, and many respondents said the plants should be planted outside or on the edge of the garden so they would not cross into other plots. Respondents who favored planting on the edge or outside wanted aesthetic/ornamental use, while those wanting the plants for shade also favored planting them on the edge or outside.

Claire Elizabeth Haselhorst, Grace Baldwin, Robert M. Stwalley · International Journal of Business and Economics Research ·

This piece argues that a lack of understanding between urban agriculture promoters and local city officials is stunting the development and economic sustainability of urban agriculture, since planning that fails to account for stakeholders can cause delays and economic setbacks. It states that urban farm installations require attention to neighborhood integration, city planning, adaptation to or upgrading of existing infrastructure, odor abatement and visual screening, but presents no original study data.

Jeltsje de Kraker, Katarzyna Kujawa-Roeleveld, Marcelo Villena, C.P. Pabon Pereira · Sustainability · Global

A case study of Peñalolén, Santiago, Chile, examining the potential for decentralized recovery of nutrient-rich residual urban waste flows — organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus — using technical and socio-economic criteria. Kitchen waste, garden residues and urine were treated as system inputs, with urban agriculture, municipal green space and peri-urban agriculture as destinations for recovered nutrients; the technologies studied were anaerobic digestion, vermicomposting, composting, and urine storage with struvite precipitation. Material flow analysis compared the inputs and outputs of the traditional centralized waste management system against household- and municipality-level decentralized valorization scenarios. The findings show that decentralized valorization of kitchen and garden waste reduces landfill fees and waste-transport costs compared with the current centralized system.

Ioannis Manikas, George Malindretos, Konstadinos Abeliotis · Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing · Global

An essay that states urban food production is exposed to high levels of urban-generated contaminants, and argues that urban floriculture - an intensive form of agriculture with income per unit area far higher than other agricultural branches - can offer a more sustainable and socially acceptable alternative to urban food production. It states floriculture may also reduce the carbon footprint of cut-flower transport and provide higher-quality seasonal product, and examines urban floriculture as an approach for mitigating the negative impacts of global floriculture supply chains.

Lucy Rose Wright, Ross Fraser Young · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global

A chapter introducing the concept of political gardening. It begins by situating the re-evaluation of "everyday space" within neoliberal processes of privatization, devolution and entrepreneurialism, then connects the rise of academic interest in urban gardening with the movement's political dimension. Drawing on Rawls' theory of social justice, it conflates political gardening with injustice, uses case studies to unpack that process of addressing injustice across six iterative stages, and arrives at a definition of political gardening as both a term and a process through which participants become "democratized" citizens.

Hans Schildermans, Joke Vandenabeele, Joris Vlieghe · Teoría de la Educación Revista Interuniversitaria · Global

This theoretical article proposes "study practices" as a response to Bruno Latour's question of "where to land" amid socio-ecological transformation. It analyzes the urban farming initiative Torekes as a study practice, identifying educational dynamics of composition, problematization, and attention, and contrasts this reading with sociological and political analyses that frame the initiative as aimed at social cohesion or political subjectification. The piece is a conceptual/theoretical discussion rather than an empirical study, arguing that study practices, by enabling the creation of a common world, may offer a way of living together on a damaged planet.

Asnath Alberto Malekela · · Tanzania

In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a study of climate change impacts on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) drew on secondary literature plus primary data from structured and in-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussions with 201 UPA practitioners. 84% of respondents engaged in UPA for food and income, and UPA made a positive contribution to food security. However, UPA was found to be severely affected by climate change: effects included drying of crops (41%), crop pests and diseases (28%), decreased crop yields (13%), loss of soil fertility (8%), animal diseases (43%), drying of pasture lands (41%), and livestock deaths (16%). The study states plainly that urban and peri-urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam is severely affected by climate change, and recommends adopting farming systems such as vertical farming that use limited water resources.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.

Beatrice Atieno Otieno, Davis Bwire Namiripo · Australian Herbal Insight · Global

Urban gardening, an ancient practice, is described as having gained renewed significance amid rapid urbanization and associated challenges including environmental degradation and declining mental health. This study explored the multifaceted role of urban gardening in environmental, social, and health dimensions of sustainable urban development across five cities: New York, Berlin, Mumbai, São Paulo, and Nairobi. It combined structured surveys of 300 participants (covering air quality, access to fresh food, social interactions, and mental health), semi-structured interviews with 30 stakeholders including city planners and community garden managers, field observations of gardens' ecological and physical characteristics, and a review of secondary data. Results showed 67% of respondents reported improved mental health, with São Paulo and New York showing the most positive outcomes. Urban gardening contributed to reducing the urban heat island effect, with temperature reductions of up to 4°C, enhanced biodiversity by hosting various plant species that created habitats for pollinators, and served as social hubs fostering community engagement and inclusivity; 60% of respondents in São Paulo reported improved access to fresh food. The study concludes that urban gardening significantly enhances environmental sustainability, social cohesion, and mental health, particularly in marginalized communities, but states that challenges such as land access and insufficient policy support hinder its potential.

Abdallah Zacharia, Wajihu Ahmada, Anne H. Outwater, Billy Ngasala, Rob Van Deun · The Scientific World JOURNAL · Tanzania

This cross-sectional study, conducted from February to August 2018, evaluated three waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) in the Morogoro, Mwanza and Iringa regions of Tanzania, where treated effluent is used for urban agricultural activities despite the disease-transmission risks posed by untreated or partially treated wastewater. Using APHA physicochemical methods, the modified Bailenger method and Ziehl-Neelsen staining for parasites, and membrane filtration for fecal coliforms (FC), analyzed with SPSS version 20, the study found helminth egg removal ranging from 80.8% to 100% and protozoan (oo)cyst removal from 98.8% to 99.9%, with the Mwanza WSP showing the highest FC reduction (3.8 log units per 100 mL). Both parasites and FCs in the effluents of the assessed WSPs were found at concentrations exceeding World Health Organization and Tanzania Bureau of Standards limits, except for helminths in the Morogoro WSP and FCs in the Mwanza WSP. FC counts correlated significantly with protozoa (p<0.01) and predicted protozoa occurrence well (p=0.011), with correlations also found among physicochemical parameters, parasites and FC bacteria. The study attributes the systems' inadequate performance to a lack of regular maintenance and/or operation beyond capacity, and concludes that FC indicators are a reasonable proxy for monitoring protozoa but not for helminths, which should be surveyed independently.

Prof. P. R. Khobragade · International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development · Global

This project implemented and analyzed a green-campus initiative at the BDCE engineering college in Sevagram, India, involving vermicomposting of paper waste and plant matter, reducing plastic use, using solar energy, harvesting rainwater, and introducing a community garden. Water quality testing on campus confirmed the water was potable, solid waste was shown to be reducible through composting methods, and applying the 3R principle (reduce, reuse, recycle) along with maintaining campus greenery through the project's techniques produced favorable results.

Ljiljana Vasilevska, Danijela Milanović, Magdalena Vasilevska · Zbornik radova Građevinskog fakulteta · Serbia

This paper analyzes the potential of flat roofs as a suitable form of built environment for urban agriculture, focusing on how different types of flat roofs could support different categories of urban agriculture and considering the ecological, economic, and social benefits of this approach; no specific site measurements or quantitative results are given in the available text.

Jake Mowrer, Jeremy Merrill, Don Conlee, Joseph Marble, Bruce Dvorak · Journal of Living Architecture · Global

Against the backdrop of urban agriculture's potential to benefit inner-city communities by reducing food transport distance, raising awareness of food production, and improving nutrition, health, and economic status, this study grew green beans, cantaloupe, eggplant, squash, and tomatoes in a rooftop garden. The results indicate that water source quality and rooftop climatic conditions (solar-induced temperature rise) can limit the success of untrained rooftop gardeners. The study concludes that outreach and educational materials on overcoming these obstacles will be necessary to help untrained urban agriculture farmers establish productive gardens in rooftop environments.

Ana Nadal, Daniel Rodríguez-Cadena, Oriol Pons, Eva Cuerva, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall · Urban forestry & urban greening · Global

This study assessed the feasibility of implementing rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) in the social housing neighborhood "La Comuna Santa Clara de San Millán" in Quito, Ecuador. Standard assessment methods were adapted for a social neighborhood in three steps: characterization based on criteria, determination of available roof surface, and estimation of production, self-sufficiency, and self-supply. The results showed that 33.2% (7.70 ha) of the neighborhood's rooftops had short-term feasibility for installing rooftop greenhouses, with the potential to produce 1,579,140 kg of tomatoes and 56,720 kg of lettuce per year.

Sofie Bates · Eos · Global

This short item reports that placing plants near building air vents may help them grow better by drawing on carbon dioxide exhaled by people indoors, while also reducing the carbon emissions released to the outside air. No experimental method or data are given.