Research & reports

Kizza Ssentongo, Kalisa Muhangizwe, Namukasa Kinya · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Uganda (Kampala)

This study investigates market penetration strategies and economic outcomes of sustainable urban agriculture in Kampala's informal settlements, Uganda. Using ethnographic methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions, it found that producers face challenges like limited market access and high input costs. Despite this, some have successfully integrated products into urban supermarkets and cooperatives, highlighting the importance of tailored market strategies for economic resilience.

Colin Crawford · · Cuba

This 2003 law-review article examines the land-use planning implications of Cuban urban organic agriculture, placing the Cuban experience in international context, evaluating the advantages of urban agriculture for urban living, describing Cuba's efforts to formalize what began as an informal practice, and examining the formal and informal work of Cuban lawyers and planners in securing a place for urban agriculture within long-term land-use planning before and after the U.S. embargo.

Erik Millstone · Nutrition & Food Science · Global

This reference volume surveys global food topics chapter by chapter, covering population and productivity, water pressure, under- and over-nutrition, food aid, mechanization and industrial farming, genetically modified crops, pesticides, urban farming, fishing, trade flows, food miles, processing, retailing and consumption, and organic foods. The abstract consists only of a table of contents; no specific findings are given.

Zhang Luxiang · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · Global

A conceptual paper discussing the relationship between urban agriculture and the ecologic city. It positions urban agriculture as an advanced stage of agriculture and the ecologic city as an advanced phase of the city and its ideal model, with both embodying the pursuit of sustainable development. The paper notes that urban agriculture has many modes of expression and the ecologic city contains many connotations, characterizes the relationship between the two as one of "paragenesis" (co-occurring, symbiotic development), and argues that the relationship between exploring urban agriculture and constructing the ecologic city must be harmonized, following scientific planning and highlighting the distinct characteristics of each when developing both.

Charles W. Howe · Environment and Development Economics · Global

This study noted that in inappropriate legal and administrative settings, groundwater becomes an open-access resource, leading to excessive externalities. Competition between urban and agricultural sectors for limited groundwater can lead to crises if appropriate policy instruments are not used to mediate it. For non-renewable groundwater stocks, without economic and demographic development planned according to long-term criteria, there is a risk of overly rapid exploitation, unsustainable population levels, and inappropriate infrastructure investment.

Patrick Henn, John Henning · International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development · Cuba (Havana)

This paper argues for an extended assessment of the total economic value of urban agriculture (UA), encompassing social, environmental, and economic benefits, to inform optimal decisions on its role in urban sustainability. It presents results from a contingent valuation study on the value of popular gardens in Havana, Cuba. The abstract notes that despite significant benefits, UA remains marginalized in urban planning.

Adriana Maria de Aquino · · Cuba

This study analyzes the geographical scope and organizational structure of urban agriculture in Cuba. It identifies organic matter as one of the key bases for urban agriculture and describes modalities for producing fresh vegetables and condiments.

Kwaku Obosu-Mensah · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Ghana (Accra)

This paper examines the initial negative attitudes of officials towards urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana, and the factors that led to a shift towards more positive support. It notes that officials began encouraging urban agriculture after recognizing its importance and due to external compelling factors. The study emphasizes that official attitudes are crucial for the profitability of urban agriculture.

Ausaf-ur Rahman, Mohammad Ait Kadi, Johan Rockström · Water Science & Technology · Global

A synthesis paper from a 2002 workshop reports that competing demand for water between agriculture and urban users is generating severe stress on water resources, with virtual water trade (importing food instead of pursuing self-sufficiency, to conserve real water resources) and water reuse (irrigation with treated urban wastewater) emerging as the two dominant proposed responses. It states that virtual water trade carries serious political and economic risks, with one proposed remedy being an international virtual water trading council.

Yang Hai-juan · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · Global

This paper argues that urban agriculture has its own distinct resource base and functional requirements, and that the key to its development lies in harmonizing urban agricultural and non-agricultural activities in resource use and functional design. It outlines cultural, legal, technical and district-level harmonizing mechanisms intended to let urban agriculture make the best use of urban resources and meet city needs.

Robyn Lynn · ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) · Global

This paper highlights the significance of urban food production, which has been historically neglected despite its potential to address issues of globalization, urbanization, and environmental degradation. It explores the relationship between cities, food production, and activism, noting a growing local food movement that resists global food discourses. The paper aims to identify issues within urban food production activism and its organizational aspects.

Moez Bouraoui, Pierre Donadieu, André Fleury · Cahiers Agricultures · Tunisia (Tunis)

In Tunis, the concept of public green spaces has not evolved much, and the risk of continuous urbanization is real, making agriculture not inherently sustainable between dynamic urbanization poles. However, new attitudes are emerging, with environmental concerns influencing public planning policies, and residential forms, recreational/cultural practices associated with agriculture, and new citizen interest in rural areas are appearing. These developments may signal the beginning of a new planning policy and the advent of urban agriculture in Tunis.

Frank Lohrberg · OPUS Publication Server of the University of Stuttgart (University of Stuttgart) · Global

This study argues that agricultural production forms near cities, often overlooked by municipal and environmental policy, are innovative, consumer-oriented, and economically efficient. It suggests that urban and and open space planning should abandon the prejudice that agriculture on the city outskirts is an outdated model. A differentiated view reveals an "urban" agriculture that is more vital than its rural counterpart and can provide important impulses for more sustainable cities and efficient planning.

Bu Miao · Journal of Zhangkai Aguotechaical College · Global

Urban agriculture aims to meet the needs of modernization and high-grade consumption in large central cities. Its establishment and development rely on creative, highly skilled personnel and scientific research from agricultural higher education and research organizations. Colleges and universities involved in urban agriculture education should establish appropriate specifications, patterns, and mechanisms for personnel cultivation, aligning with urban modernization demands for the industry's establishment, operation, and management.

Aleksandra Nowysz, Elżbieta Trocka-Leszczyńska · Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Architectura · Global

This paper addresses contemporary urban farming architecture, defined as urban spaces and structures located within cities and dedicated to growing edible plants. It aims to investigate designs that facilitate urban development integrating city life with food production, using literature review, case studies, project descriptions, and comparative analysis. The paper presents a typology of urban agriculture architecture along with selected examples of each type.

N. Hayashi, Tsuyoshi Takahashi · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Global

A questionnaire survey focused on childhood perceptions of water edge use was conducted to derive a strategy for advanced utilization of irrigation ponds. Statistical analysis of residents' answers concluded that perceptions of playgrounds and agriculture are important in planning advanced utilization of irrigation ponds. Concrete tentative plans include environmental education and allotment gardens.

James Leo Garrett, Garrett, James L. · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Global

This work presents a table of contents for a publication addressing urban food and nutrition security in the developing world. It covers topics such as urbanization, rural-urban interdependence, urban livelihoods, food supply and distribution, the significance of urban agriculture, nutrition transition, urban women's work-life balance, urban health threats, and programming for urban food and nutrition security.

유병규 · · Global

This paper argues that peri-urban agriculture faces difficulties in maintaining its agricultural production function alone due to external factors such as rising land prices, urban development, the IMF crisis, and WTO agricultural renegotiations. It proposes that to revitalize peri-urban agriculture, a multi-industrialization strategy is needed, emphasizing not only agricultural production but also the spatial concept of "rural areas" by incorporating secondary and tertiary industry concepts. Specifically, the paper suggests that multi-industrialization strategies within the spatial concept of urban-integrated rural areas, such as the creation of "urban agricultural villages," are essential for the maintenance and development of agriculture.

Richard Wiltshire, Ren Azuma · Local Environment · Global

In the late 1980s, Japanese experts seeking a model allotment garden rejected the UK model, perceiving it as low status and in decline, in favor of the German Kleingarten. This paper suggests reconsidering the UK experience, given efforts to rebrand UK allotment gardening within sustainable development and the challenges faced by the Japanese Kleingarten model in the 1990s' changed economic climate.

Jörg Gertel, Salman Samir, N. Bakker, Marielle Dubbeling, S. Gündel, U. Sabel-Koschella, H. de Zeeuw · · Egypt

A paper on Cairo, the urban centre of Egypt, which has undergone numerous transformations shaping its social and spatial structure over its long history. It describes a complex urban structure in which modern, post-modern-style architecture stands beside centuries-old buildings, and inner-city slums directly border high-rise buildings with mirror-glass windows. Greater Cairo is described as a typical mega-city of about 13 million inhabitants across three municipalities — Cairo, Giza and Qaliyubiya. The abstract provided breaks off at this point and does not include specific content on urban agriculture.

Altieri M.A., Companioni N., Cañizares K., Murphy C., Rosset P., Bourque M., Nicholls C.I. · Agriculture and Human Values · Cuba (Havana)

This study analyzes Cuba's grassroots urban agriculture movement that emerged after the 1989 Soviet collapse, showing how ~8,000 gardens nationwide operated on agroecological principles without synthetic inputs, providing Havana with thousands of tonnes of produce by 1996.

Daniel Maxwell, Wordsworth Odame Larbi, Grace Mary Lamptey, Sawudatu Zakariah, Margaret Armar‐Klemesu · Third World Planning Review · Ghana (Accra)

This paper compares four cases within peri-urban Greater Accra, Ghana, to assess the impact of rapid urban sprawl on the surrounding area. The study examines cases including land loss to housing, protection of agricultural land from urban sprawl, environmental degradation due to urbanization, and commercialization of peri-urban agricultural production from changing market demand. The paper also reviews the perspective that rapid peri-urban growth leads to the destruction of agricultural livelihoods without necessarily replacing them with alternative economic activity.

John A. G. Briggs, Davis Mwamfupe · Scottish Geographical Journal · Tanzania (Dar-es-Salaam)

Drawing on recent evidence from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, this paper suggests that a combination of structural adjustment measures and the eased economic crisis in the 1990s changed conditions, resulting in the increasing commodification of land in the peri-urban zone. This shift transformed the peri-urban zone into an area of investment and economic opportunity, rather than survival, leading to the increasing exclusion of poorer urban groups. Furthermore, confusion arising from current Tanzanian land law, particularly tensions between customary and statutory law, complicates the situation.

Keiichi Moritsuka, Yoshiyuki Tokunaga, Hiraku Hoshi, Hiroshi Suda · INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING REVIEW · Global

This paper proposes policies for allotment garden facilities and management, based on a survey of users' consciousness. The survey found that some users rent gardens that do not satisfy their purpose due to a lack of publicly available information about allotment gardens. The paper concludes that garden managers must publicize the purpose of establishing gardens and show eagerness, while users should communicate with managers, guides, and other users.

ETC Agriculture · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Global

A resource guide compiling information on people and organizations with expertise relevant to formulating and implementing urban agriculture policies, plans and projects.