Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
2091 results(66 / 84)
Irrigated vegetable farming in urban Ghana: a farming system between challenges and resilience
2014Pay Drechsel, Andrew Adam‐Bradford, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Drechsel, Pay, Adam-Bradford, A., Raschid-Sally, Liqa · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Ghana
This chapter introduces urbanization in West Africa, particularly Ghana, the general role of urban agriculture, and the common use of polluted irrigation water. It focuses on irrigated smallholder vegetable production, reflecting on the key challenges, dynamics, and resilience of this farming system.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureTransnational at Home: Intercultural Gardens and the Social Sustainability of Cities in Innsbruck, Austria
2014Markus Schermer · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Austria (Innsbruck)
This paper examines an intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. It uses interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings to describe how intercultural gardens function as transnational spaces. These gardens foster new social networks and learning processes, impacting urban social cohesion and community stability by enabling interaction beyond assimilation.
CommunityPolicyWelfareThe role of intercultural gardens in the construction of a sustainable city. The example of Innsbruck in Austria
2014Markus Schermer · Hábitat y Sociedad · Austria (Innsbruck)
This paper examines the importance of social stability and cohesion for urban sustainability amidst changing relations between diverse cultural groups due to global migration. It analyzes the role of intercultural gardens, which are gaining attention for migrant integration, using the intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. The empirical material is based on interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings.
CommunityPolicyCity Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing
2014Michael Classens · UnderCurrents Journal of Critical Environmental Studies · Global
This is a review of Lorraine Johnson's book "City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing" by Michael Classens. Johnson argues that small-scale 'city farmers' are the vanguard of an emerging transformation of the contemporary food system, despite urban farming being more prefigurative than productive in aggregate. The book reveals the potential in interstitial urban spaces for food production and urges a reimagining of our relationship to cities as farms.
DIYCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeS'intégrer pour se pérenniser : pratiques d'agriculteurs urbains dans trois villes du Sud
2014Ophélie Robineau, Julia Tichit, Thomas Maillard · Espaces et sociétés · Global
This study examines the socio-spatial integration of urban agriculture in three Southern cities, despite its limited consideration in urban planning policies. In Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), farmers secure access to productive resources through social relations. In Metro Manila (Philippines), local actor networks ensure the sustainability of practices. In Saint-Louis (Senegal), farmers' self-initiated organizations enable them to assert their interests with urban authorities, highlighting the challenge of urban agriculture not being adequately integrated into planning policies.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsGovernmentality in urban food production? Following “community” from intentions to outcomes
2014Luke Drake · Urban Geography · Global
This study analyzed six case studies of community gardens, categorized by grassroots, externally-organized, and active nonprofit management, to examine how "community" definitions influence participation or resistance in urban food production. The analysis highlights specific organizational and management moments that affect engagement, scrutinizing community gardens as sites of governmentality that produce neoliberal subjects.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsTowards urban food sovereignty: the trials and tribulations of community-based aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne
2014Julia Laidlaw, Liam Magee · Local Environment · Global
This paper explores stakeholder experiences of community-based urban aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne using a comparative case study methodology and in-depth interviews. It aims to understand the internal and external factors impacting their success or failure. The study highlights challenges in establishing these enterprises.
Economic viabilityFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsOn showing and being shown plants ‐ a guide to methods for more‐than‐human geography
2014Hannah Pitt · Area · Global
This paper proposes a methodology for more-than-human geography, focusing on understanding plants as agents through a "showing and being shown" approach. Drawing on ethnographic research in community gardens, the author demonstrates techniques like walking, talking, doing, and picturing to engage with human and nonhuman guides. The study identifies limits to understanding plants without specialist botanical training.
CommunityBiodiversityLos latidos de la tierra: Arte ecologico para acompasar nuestros ritmos
2014Ma Isabel Soler Ruiz, Pilar Soto Sánchez · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This paper reviews the evolution of ecological movements from the late 19th century to the mid-1960s, focusing on the defense of natural spaces and urban sustainability actions. It examines collective initiatives like the reforestation of abandoned industrial areas and the creation of urban gardens, as well as individual artistic actions that aim to reconnect viewers with the earth.
CommunityDIYUrban–rural linkageLocal Food Futures and Healthy Communities: Role of Sustainable Practices
2014Dilip Ghosh, Debasis Bagchi, Tetsuya Konishi · · Global
This study highlights the importance of local food movements and urban agriculture, citing Havana, Cuba, as an example of self-reliance achieved through food growing in urban spaces. In 1999, allotment gardens in London produced 232,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, supplying 18% of the population's daily intake. Urban food growing spaces encompass diverse typologies, varying in their production potential and health contributions.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityHealthUrban–rural linkageEmergence and Effects of Urban Agriculture in Cuba
2014Janice Argaillot · Espaces et sociétés · Cuba
This article analyzes the development of urban agriculture in Cuba. Driven by crises from the USSR collapse and US blockade, Cuba developed an internationally recognized agricultural model. The study explores the causes of urban agriculture's emergence in Cuba, its various forms, and its repercussions on citizens' social and cultural life.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyCommunityUrban Farming and Transition Towns Initiatives: Practices and Paths of Urban Regeneration
2014Maurizio Bergamaschi, Marco Castrignanò, Alessandra Landi · Journal of Nutritional Ecology and Food Research · Global
This paper examines community vegetable gardens and Transition Towns initiatives. It finds that these experiences contribute to sustainable urban development, improve environmental health and quality of life, reshape urban image and morphology, and enhance cities as forms of social cohesion.
CommunityClimate changeHealthA MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT GREEN WALL: THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF REAFFORESTATION IN SENEGAL
2014Anna Eugenia Alsobrook · · Senegal
This in-progress assessment investigates the Great Green Wall (GGW) reafforestation project in north-central Senegal, which aims to restore degraded land and improve local lives. Using field experiences, interviews, and observations, the study found that young GGW trees decreased land-surface temperatures and solar radiation, improving environmental conditions. While gardening and economic components showed positive village-level impacts, problems with water and grazing areas led to negative perspectives from stakeholders.
CommunityClimate changeBiodiversityFrom Chemical Reactions to Community Interactions – A Case Study on The Development of Community-Based Learning and Research
2014Claire McDonnell · · Ireland (Dublin)
This case study examined community-based learning and research projects at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), including soil analysis in a community garden, from 2007 onwards. Analyzing student reflective accounts, questionnaires, and assessment grades, the study found improvements in learner engagement, confidence, and appreciation for real-world subject application. However, issues were identified regarding the level of critical thinking and self-awareness in some students' reflective writing, leading to the introduction of a framework to support reflective practice.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cyclePolyrational property: rules for the many uses of land
2014Benjamin Davy · International Journal of the Commons · Global
This theoretical paper argues that effective land policy should accommodate diverse land uses with plural property relations, as no single property rule fits all land use types. It observes that while everyday practice often manages varied demands, many existing theories of property and land policy do not recognize this plurality. The paper proposes a "polyrational theory" that identifies eight distinct types of land uses, each requiring its own appropriate property rules, to ensure desirable land uses are supported by suitable property relations.
PolicyCommunityCommunity Gardens Versus Family Gardens? Urban Reform and Controversies Around the Beautiful Garden and its Legitimate
2014Arnaud Frauenfelder, Christophe Delay, Laure Scalambrin · Espaces et sociétés · Switzerland (Geneva)
This article examines a contemporary urban reform in Geneva concerning family gardens, whose status is now in competition with new forms of community gardens. While the reform is presented as necessary, spokespersons for family allotment associations welcome it with some reservation. Social actors' positions for or against the reform implicitly refer to different socially situated modes of gardening and lifestyles, revealing that "urban agriculture" masks heterogeneous social meanings behind a visible consensus.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyUrban–rural linkageSchool Gardens: Situating Students within a Global Context
2014Thomas DeVere Wolsey, Diane Lapp · Journal of Education · Global
This article proposes a pedagogical framework for school gardens, highlighting their role in promoting healthier eating habits, sustainable local practices, and community service. It suggests that school gardens can integrate knowledge of cultures, resources, and sustainable food sources, potentially leading to increased care for the community and the planet. The article also notes that school gardens can provide opportunities for students to contribute to the availability of fresh, healthy foods in socioeconomically challenged areas.
Food educationCommunityHealthEconomicsWelfareDependency syndrome by communities or insufficient ingestion period by benefactor organizations? The Chirumanzu caritas community gardening project experiencein Zimbabwe
2014Mark Matsa, Beauty Dzawanda · · Zimbabwe
This study assessed the performance of Caritas-initiated and sponsored community gardens in Chaka ward, Chirumanzu District, Zimbabwe, during and after the sponsors' regime. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and direct observations, and analyzed with descriptive statistics and content analysis. Results showed that the gardens flourished during Caritas's presence but quickly shrank and folded after the NGO's departure, indicating a lack of sustainability.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsClimate changePolicy都市农业 农业里的“高大上”
2014古月 · 新农业 · Global
This paper describes urban agriculture using the popular 2013 term "gaodashang" (high-end, atmospheric, and classy). Urban agriculture is an industry in urbanized areas that utilizes pastoral landscapes, natural ecology, and environmental resources, combining agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery production, agricultural business activities, rural culture, and rural life. It provides places for people to engage in leisure tourism, experience agriculture, and understand rural areas, integrating the three functions of agricultural production, life, and ecology.
CommunityEconomicsClimate changeFood educationALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT ON THE ORGANIC SECTOR HORIZONCOMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE IN HUNGARY
2014Zoltán Dezsény, Bálint Balázs, Katalin Réthy · · Hungary
This study explored farm enterprises following Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) practices in Hungary. The research confirmed that CSA can be identified as a sustainable rural business strategy for innovative organic farmers. It also has transformative potential for food-system localization, providing decent livelihood, good care of natural resources, and strengthening social cohesion within the rural-urban interface in Hungary.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityUrban–rural linkageDomestic Residential Garden Food Production in Melbourne, Australia: a fine-grained analysis and pilot study
2014Zainil Zainuddin, David Mercer · Australian Geographer · Australia (Melbourne)
This pilot study conducted a fine-grained analysis of domestic residential garden food production among 15 selected householders in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Participants collected detailed daily information about their food production over a three-month period, with two respondents maintaining records for one or more years. The results demonstrated enormous diversity in harvested food and extremely high productivity levels from relatively small domestic spaces.
DIYCommunityEconomicsThe Research of CSA Project Financing Obstacles and Forming Factors
2014Song Pin · Anhui nongye kexue · Global
This paper examines the obstacles and forming factors in project financing for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), identifying problems such as imperfect investment entities, unclear financing objectives, and single investment methods and channels. Using a four-stakeholder model (project investors, national policy, CSA, and consumers), the study elaborates on the causes of these financing difficulties. It proposes solutions including strengthening CSA's brand and marketing to cultivate loyal customers, and leveraging government, financial institutions, and private capital to address financing challenges.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunity– Regenerative design and development
2014Dominique Hes, Chrisna du Plessis · · Global
This chapter examines how the Living Building Challenge (LBC) supports transformation towards an ecological worldview, focusing on its "Petals." The LBC's Site Petal determines where and what type of development can be built and how to restore a place, while the Urban Agriculture Imperative requires projects to contribute to local and regional food production. The Energy Petal aims to utilize the site's energy budget, and the Materials Petal is noted for its demanding imperatives.
PolicyCommunityClimate changePlace Remaking through Environmental Recovery and Revitalization
2014Isabelle Anguelovski · The MIT Press eBooks · Global
In Dudley, Casc Antic, and CayoHueso, residents feel strongly attached to their places of living and working, and to the relationships they have built. This attachment has motivated engagement in environmental revitalization initiatives, where activists repair community spaces, build parks, and develop urban farms to address trauma and fear of erasure. These environmental projects contribute to healing the community, achieving environmental recovery, and creating a sense of rootedness and home.
CommunityHealthWelfareTo Integrate is to Survive: Urban Agricultural Practices in Three Southern Towns
2014Ophélie Robineau, Julia Tichit, Thomas Maillard · · Burkina Faso (Bobo-Dioulasso)
This study examines the socio-spatial integration of urban agriculture in three southern cities: Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), Metro Manila (Philippines), and Saint-Louis (Senegal). It highlights different integration modes resulting from urban farmers’ practices. In Bobo-Dioulasso, farmers establish social relationships to ensure access to productive resources; in Metro Manila, the appropriation of practices and networks of actors at the local level guarantees sustainability; and in Saint-Louis, farmer-initiated organizations assert their interests with urban authorities.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justice