Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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4283 results(67 / 172)
Urban Agriculture: The Feasibility of Rooftop Farming in Penang Island, Malaysia
2022Ee-Wei Then, Meenchee Hong · Journal of Regional and City Planning · Malaysia (Penang Island)
This study investigated the likelihood of rooftop farming and its determinants among residents on Penang Island, Malaysia. Data collected from 323 Penangites living in high-rise residential buildings revealed that 65% of respondents were likely to participate in rooftop farming. The ordered Probit model estimated that awareness of rooftop farming's potential benefits, environmental knowledge and awareness, and environmental consciousness and perception are important factors determining participation likelihood.
CommunityClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsSynchronous Generative Development amidst Situated Entropy
2022Stephen Fox · Entropy · Global
This paper aims to extend the theory of synchronous generative development, which balances human and environmental well-being, towards practical application in sustainable development projects. The theory is extended by referencing research on multilevel pragmatics, competing signals, commitment processes, technological mediation, and psychomotor functioning, and is related to human-driven biosocial-technical innovation through the example of digital twins for agroecological urban farming. However, practical examples in the paper suggest that counterproductive complexity can arise from situated entropy amidst biosocial-technical innovations, even when compatible with synchronous generative development.
Digital agricultureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceEcological Prototypes for Green Construction
2022Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel · · Global
This work, "Ecological Prototypes for Green Construction - 1", focuses on linking architecture and ecological engineering. Its purpose is to achieve integrated urban, agricultural, and ecological land use.
Urban–rural linkageBiodiversityThe Search for a New Theory of Sustainable Architectural Design: Breathing Architecture
2022Tamer El Gabaly, Rasha Abd el-Lateef · Journal of Engineering Research - Egypt/Journal of Engineering Research · Global
This paper explores a new theory of sustainable architectural design, termed "Breathing Architecture," in the context of reducing fuel consumption and adapting to climate change. It uses a qualitative research methodology, including data collection, data analysis, theoretical analysis, and analytical case studies, integrating green technologies and sustainability. The aim is to develop a new architectural language based on dynamic relationships among materials, structures, and spatial ideas, with empirical application and study.
CommunityClimate changeBiodiversityCity and Agriculture
2022Vito D'Onghia · IGI Global eBooks · Global
This paper analyzes the cultural debate and policies in urban and rural fields, comparing various actions to outline new opportunities for developing more sustainable cities with inclusive projects. It considers how urban agriculture in policy contexts raises questions about integrating sustainable practices and spatial planning tools to guide local communities. Innovative experiments at national and international levels demonstrate how research and practical experiences can support urban agriculture.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceAGRICULTURA URBANA E PERIFÉRICA: CAMINHOS PARA ESTIMULAR NOVAS ATITUDES E TRANSFORMAR REALIDADES
2022Ananere da Silva Crüz, Márcia Maria Rodrigues Sá, Tarcísio Dorn de Oliveira, Daniel Knebel Baggio, Nelson José Thesing, Sandra Beatriz Vicenci Fernandes · Revista GESTO Revista de Gestão Estratégica de Organizações · Global
This literature review highlights the importance of urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUPs) for food security, household economy, and biodiversity. It concludes that AUPs contribute to job creation, alternative income, supplying small markets, valuing local cultures, community empowerment, and expanding gender participation opportunities. AUPs also improve climate and biodiversity, enhance urban productivity, foster cooperation among residents, reduce temperatures, improve air quality, preserve natural resources, and mitigate food scarcity.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBiodiversityCommunityCognitive Dimension of Learning Using Garden-Based Education towards Sustainability: A Meta-Synthesis
2022Jennifer D. Paño, Jeralden Jumao-as, Marchee T. Picardal · Recoletos Multidisciplinary Research Journal · Global
This meta-synthesis of 22 published articles examined the impact of garden-based education (GBE) on the cognitive domain of learning. Five themes emerged: experiential learning, meaningful learning, explicit and implicit learning, discovery learning, and transmissible learning. GBE is a successful program contributing to the improvement of academic performance, although there is no standard template for its implementation.
Food educationCommunityMetagenomics: A Tool for Exploring Key Microbiome With the Potentials for Improving Sustainable Agriculture
2022Blessing Chidinma Nwachukwu, Olubukola Oluranti Babalola · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global
This review explores metagenomic techniques for studying plant root-associated microbiota and microbial ecology, highlighting their role in understanding and improving crop yields in rural and urban agriculture. Metagenomics, a non-culture approach, enables the identification of unculturable microorganisms and their functional traits. A detailed understanding of these organisms and their interactions can facilitate improved plant growth and sustainable crop production.
Organic cycleBiodiversityDigital agriculturePast, Present and Future of Urban Agriculture in Cameroon: Major Contemporary Challenges (1993-2017)
2022Theodore Ngoufo Sogang, Youssouf Monkouop · Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment · Cameroon
This article proposes a framework for understanding the past, present, and future of urban agriculture in Cameroon, focusing on the period from 1993 to 2017. It examines the subject through five fundamental notions: International Relations and Geopolitical Agriculture, Urban Economic Agriculture, Environmental and Food Climate Stakes, and Science and Culture adapted to agricultural and food mutations. The study aims to provide a comparative review of agriculture in transition by integrating historical, social, economic, and diplomatic perspectives.
Food educationFood sovereignty & justiceHealthEconomicsMicrogreens - An Emerging Trend in Urban Agriculture
2022Gopika Somanath Prathiksha I. · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global
This paper discusses microgreens as an innovation in vegetable growing, which have gained popularity since their introduction to Californian restaurants in the 1980s. Microgreens are presented as a potential solution for malnutrition and food security, providing nutrient-rich and high-quality phytochemicals. Interest is rising due to their nutraceutical, fresh, and functional food properties, and their abundance of phyto-constituents and minerals.
Food sovereignty & justiceHealthUrban–rural linkageScaling Local Bottom-Up Innovations through Value Co-Creation
2022Chiara Marradi, Ingrid Mulder · Sustainability · Global
This work addresses the challenge of scaling bottom-up initiatives, such as urban farming, into new local ecosystems, noting that these initiatives often struggle due to socio-cultural challenges. It introduces a three-phased approach to enable knowledge exchange and collaboration across cultures and ecosystems. The approach defines common scalability criteria and frames scaling as a multi-step learning process to bridge cognitive and context gaps, contributing to transferable impact-driven scaling strategies.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsPractising Solidarity and Developing Food Citizenship in Croatia: The Example of Croatian Community-Supported Agriculture
2022Olga Orlić, Anita Čeh Časni, Kosjenka Dumančić · Ubiquity Press eBooks · Croatia
This chapter provides an overview of the development of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Croatia, within the broader context of food citizenship and solidarity economy concepts. CSA has gained attention over the past 20-30 years due to increasing awareness of the need to change food politics regarding food security and sovereignty. In Croatia, initiators and actors of CSA groups have been pioneers in achieving food citizenship.
CSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityPolicyHortas comunitárias STEM
2022Ramon Majé Floriano · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Colombia
The STEM community gardens project aims to contribute to food security in the San Francisco, Santa Inés, and Holland villages of the Pitalito Huila municipality in Colombia. This report outlines the project's development through three phases: immersion, transfer, and communication.
CommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceA review of diversity of bees, the attractiveness of host plants and the effects of landscape variables on bees in urban gardens
2022Ehsan Rahimi, Shahindokht Barghjelveh, Pinliang Dong · Agriculture & Food Security · Global
This study reviewed 87 articles on the presence of bees in urban gardens and urban farms, summarizing bee diversity, host plant attractiveness, and the effects of landscape variables. Urban environments, especially urban gardens, contained a high diversity of bees, with honeybees and bumblebees being the most dominant species. Native plants were more attractive to bees than non-native plants, and while urbanization negatively impacted bee presence, the presence of green spaces or other farms and gardens positively affected pollinators.
BiodiversityPollinatorsUrban–rural linkageCommunity Gardens in Budapest, Challenges and Opportunities
2022Amine Mseddi, Mariann Simon · European Journal of Architecture and Urban Planning · Hungary (Budapest)
This paper analyzes four community gardens on vacant inner-city plots in Budapest, Hungary, to understand their challenges and opportunities. It found that these gardens face significant obstacles including temporary status, changing political circumstances, and varying local population attitudes. Despite these challenges, NGOs and local communities play a crucial role in sustaining these projects and raising awareness.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsA Review of Nutrient Losses to Waters From Soil- and Ground-Based Urban Agriculture—More Nutrient Balances Than Measurements
2022Paulien C. H. van de Vlasakker, Karin Tonderski, Geneviève S. Metson · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global
A review of empirical peer-reviewed studies (2000-2021) on nutrient losses to water from soil- and ground-based urban agriculture. Of 241 publications screened for a stated concern with nutrient losses to water, 20 were retained, but only seven had actually measured losses to water. Of four experimental studies, three measured leachate losses under different garden management practices; of 16 real-world studies, only four quantified losses to water as leachate, with measured average losses ranging from 0.005 to 6.5 kg/ha for phosphorus and 0.05 to 140 kg/ha for nitrogen. Thirteen of the 16 non-experimental studies provided input and harvested-crop data allowing nutrient balances to be calculated; despite wide value ranges, most studied gardens showed nutrient surpluses (inputs exceeding crop harvest) for nitrogen and phosphorus but not potassium, identified as a risk factor for losses to water, though large surpluses were not always linked to higher leachate losses. The review concludes that more field studies measuring actual losses to water, and documenting contextual factors, are needed to determine whether urban agriculture can contribute to a circular economy without causing nutrient-related water quality impairment.
Environmental trade-offsOrganic cycleCommunityFood For The Rest of Us
2022Jaquair L. Gillette · Educational Media Reviews Online · Global
This is a review of a 2020 documentary film (83 minutes) directed by Caroline Cox. The film presents four stories in a three-act structure: an Indigenous-owned youth organic farm in Hawaii (Ma'O Organic Farm), an African American urban farmer in Kansas City who runs Kansas City Aquaponics (Eric Person), a woman of Mexican and Jewish heritage practicing Kosher butchering, and an Inuit elder in an Arctic community (Marjorie Ovauyak) who uses greenhouse gardening.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityWelfareCommunity gardens as public art
2022Mateusz Salwa · Aisthesis Pratiche linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico · Global
This article aims to discuss community gardens as works of public art. While the artistic status of gardens has generally been recognized mainly in relation to historic gardens and parks or the work of contemporary landscape architects, the article argues the same approach can apply to community gardens. First, it argues that aligning community gardens with contemporary art is honorific, showing they can be viewed as more than vernacular art, given their social and political dimension. Second, despite their seemingly idyllic character, community gardens are often contested spaces, with conflict sparked in part by community garden aesthetics. It argues that recognizing community gardens as art is best done by referring to the framework of "new genre public art" rather than to "paradigmatic arts" such as architecture or painting.
CommunityLes émotions de la terre. Des nouveaux mots pour un nouveau monde, Glen Albrecht, Paris, Les liens qui libèrent, traduit de l’anglais par Corinne Smith, 2020 [2019], 370 p.
2022Denis Martouzet · Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales · Global
A book-review notice for Glen Albrecht's "Les émotions de la terre" (French translation by Corinne Smith of the English original, published by Les liens qui libèrent, Paris, 2020 [2019], 370 pages). It appeared in the journal Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales, in an issue themed "Urban agriculture: toward a reconfiguration of social and territorial ties," distributed via the Érudit platform. The abstract does not describe the book's arguments.
CommunityPolicyLow presence of potentially toxic elements in Singapore urban garden soils
2022Tiong Ann Goh, Sorain J. Ramchunder, Alan D. Ziegler · CABI Agriculture and Bioscience · Global
Researchers assessed pseudo-total concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc in soils from community gardens, public parks and woodlands across Singapore, comparing them to risk guidelines and using lead isotope analysis to trace contamination sources. All measured concentrations were below thresholds considered to represent substantial risk, garden soils were largely equivalent in concentration to parks and woodlands though geographic distribution varied, lead sources were both anthropogenic and natural with spatial variability inconsistent with a single point source, and a correlation between copper and zinc suggested a shared source such as road traffic or atmospheric deposition; the study did not assess bioavailability or bioaccessibility of these elements, which it noted would be needed for a fuller risk assessment at sites with higher contamination.
BiodiversityCommunityHealthAssessment of the Status of Rooftop Garden, Its Diversity, and Determinants of Urban Green Roofs in Nepal
2022Sara Rawal, Sandesh Thapa · Scientifica · Global
A survey of 116 randomly selected respondents conducted from February 3 to April 6, 2021 in Morang and Sunsari districts, Nepal, assessed rooftop garden (RTG) status, plant diversity and adoption determinants, finding that 30.5% of roofs in Morang and 33.2% in Sunsari were under rooftop farming and that adopters' roof size was significantly larger than non-adopters'. A binary logit model showed age, gender, schooling year, training and farming experience significantly affected RTG adoption; 50 nutritionally important species were reported, ornamental plants showed greater diversity than vegetables, and adopters reported that a lack of proper policy and ineffective management makes it difficult to sustain their rooftop gardens.
BiodiversityPolicyCommunityPeri-urban agricultureArthropod fauna of the urban coastal wetland of Aguada La Chimba (Antofagasta Region, Chile): a wetland in an arid matrix
2022Jaime Pizarro‐Araya, Fermín M. Alfaro, Francisco Gómez, Roberto Villablanca · Anthropocene Coasts · Chile
A 2022 study characterized the taxonomic richness and abundance of terrestrial arthropod fauna at the Aguada de La Chimba urban coastal wetland in the Antofagasta Region, Chile, using multiple survey methods. From a total of 1,874 specimens, it identified 109 terrestrial arthropod species, with Insecta the most represented taxon (85 species, 47 families, 15 orders); by origin, communities included 24% native, 22% naturalized, and a smaller proportion of endemic species. The study reports that urban coastal wetlands are fragile ecosystems subject to serious disturbance in structure, function, and diversity from advancing urban, agricultural, foraging, and drainage activities, including displacement of endemic species by invasive ones, and discusses the major threats to this wetland alongside the importance of public-private partnerships with the local community for biodiversity conservation.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityBiodiversityGrowing Edible Cities and Towns: A Survey of the Victorian Urban Agriculture Sector
2022Kelly Donati, Nick Rose · · Australia
A 2022 report presents findings from a survey of urban agriculture practitioners in greater Melbourne (including green wedge areas), Bendigo, Ballarat, and Geelong, Australia. It provides baseline data on the composition, activities, market channels, challenges, needs, and aspirations of the urban agriculture sector, and, informed by the survey findings and the academic literature, sets out a roadmap for addressing the sector's key challenges and building on its existing social and environmental commitments.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsDefining a Pedagogical Framework for Integrating Buildings and Landscapes in Conjunction with Social Sustainability Discourse in the Architecture Graduate Design Studio
2022Shahin Keynoush, Ehsan Daneshyar · Sustainability · Global
This research defines a pedagogical framework for an architecture Graduate Design Studio, pursuing three objectives: connecting buildings and landscapes to facilitate walkability, incorporating green elements into buildings and landscapes to increase available green space in cities, and envisioning built environments where fresh local food can be cultivated, processed, and distributed by incorporating urban agriculture into buildings and landscapes. These objectives align with the core concept of social sustainability, including improving residents' well-being and quality of life. The framework was implemented in the Graduate Studio, with four design project samples presented as outcomes.
Food educationPolicyCommunityLoRa based intelligent soil and weather condition monitoring with internet of things for precision agriculture in smart cities
2022Dushyant Singh, Rajeev Sobti, Anuj Kumar Jain, Praveen Kumar Malik, Dac‐Nhuong Le · IET Communications · Global
Against a backdrop of urbanization expected to account for about 50% of the world population by 2050 and projected freshwater shortages in India by the same year, this article examines the potential of IoT (Internet of Things) and machine learning (ML) to support urban and precision agriculture in smart cities, including irrigation, rainfall, and drought condition monitoring to assist farmer decision-making. It presents the design of an intelligent irrigation system based on soil and weather conditions, with parameters selected from prior Agriculture 4.0 and ML research, and compares the developed weather station against existing patented technologies, stating that the resulting system provides a cost-effective solution for local weather monitoring.
Digital agricultureCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicy