Research & reports

Emma Sutphen · Clark Digital Commons (Clark University) · United States

This practitioner report examines the Giving Garden, a community garden at Coogan Farm established in 2013 by the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in New London County, Connecticut, and its effects on community health and regional food security. Based on participatory research drawing on the author's experience as a 2017 summer intern and subsequent Assistant Garden Manager, the garden contributes to reducing local food insecurity by supplying seasonal fruits and vegetables grown through biointensive, regenerative practices. Findings suggest Giving Garden members experience a heightened sense of community, recipients of garden produce achieve greater overall health, and educational programs teaching sustainable farming practices promote more ecologically friendly household farming and gardening.

Ednaldo Michellon, Janaina Miyashiro Simon, Aldeir Isael Faxina Barros, Victor de Canini Cezar, Jaqueline da Silva Rosa, Wellington Fernandes Pereira · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

The municipality of Maringá, Brazil, has 37 community gardens that make use of abandoned or underutilized natural resources while improving participating families' environment and quality of life. Since 2008, the Reference Center for Urban and Periurban Agriculture (CerAUP), created amid social movements advocating for public policy support of urban and periurban agriculture, has provided technical assistance and voluntary extension services for such projects. This study used a questionnaire with participants of the Villa Atenas community garden to assess satisfaction with cultivating medicinal plants, the plants cited, their forms of use, plant parts used, and purposes of use. Results showed high satisfaction with the space used for cultivating medicinal plants, but only superficial knowledge among participants of the plants used and their purposes, leading the authors to conclude that popular and scientific knowledge about these plants needs wider dissemination.

Roberta Hoepers Mascarenhas, Adrian José Ramos, Ana Beatriz Boos dos Santos, Eduarda Nunes, Emile de Lima Pollheim, Eric Schwamberger, Gabriela Santos Patriarca, Julia Novak Baumgart, Kassia Kathellyn Barboza, Lucas Augusto Venske, Mara Alice Pereira, Maria Eduarda Batista Tiago, Naira Zesuino, Rossie Katherine dos Santos, Samuel Carvalho de Matos-Filho, Vinícius Verwiebe, Helenadja Santos Mota, Tatiane Sueli Coutinho · Anais da Mostra Nacional de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica Interdisciplinar (MICTI) - e-ISSN 2316-7165 · Brazil

A community medicinal-herb garden project in Brusque, Brazil, catalogued 32 medicinal herbs through a literature review and selected 28 of them for planting and further study, aiming to raise community awareness of natural treatments through a booklet and talks at schools in the Brusque municipal school network. The first activity was carried out with students from APAE, a special-education institution.

Ai-Ran Lee, Jae-Min Park · Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture · Global

Against a backdrop of growing interest in aesthetic and cultural community gardens in Korea, the study analyzed community garden design guidelines from six sources across the UK, Canada, the USA, Australia and Japan to draw out their characteristics and implications. Most guidelines are published freely online and follow a chronological structure of introduction, site selection, design, construction and maintenance, but the design sections were found to offer inadequate drawings and case images and little explanatory detail.

Illana C. Livstrom, Amy Smith, Mary Rogers, Karl Hackansan · Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies · Global

A qualitative case study of "Grounding Roots," a community-based collaborative educational program that aims to build food, environmental, and cognitive justice through sustainable urban agriculture and horticulture via intergenerational communities of practice. Drawing on Linda Tuhiwai Smith's framework of decolonizing methodologies, the study examined both the ways a Community-University partnership engaged in decolonizing work through research and practice, and the ways the same partnership served to preserve colonizing practices, using deductive coding grounded in decolonizing-practice theory. Identified decolonizing practices included implementing a program of worth to the community and youth, building from community-led agendas, and prioritizing community healing and transformation over academic research agendas. Identified colonizing practices included inequitable power hierarchies within the leadership team and in garden groups, deficit-oriented talk about minoritized youth, and the devalorization of youth voice. The study concludes that researchers doing community-based work need to examine the white supremacist roots embedded in their own practices, embrace decolonizing and humanizing approaches, engage in community-driven agendas that prioritize process over product, facilitate distributed leadership in collaboration with community members, and produce work of genuine value together with the community.

Robin Sakina Mama · · United States

A book chapter examining a community garden developed at Monmouth University, a small private liberal-arts university in suburban New Jersey, United States, as a form of university-community collaboration. It discusses the garden's growth, successes and lessons learned, noting that community gardens are commonly started to address food insecurity but often expand into other functions such as neighborhood revitalization, community pride and a sense of ownership, with the building of social community described as central to the endeavor. The chapter is descriptive and reports no quantitative data.

Jeanne McCarty, Vanessa Ford, Joe Ludes · Childhood Education · Global

This piece notes that one innovative approach to learning is to change the venue itself. While traditional schooling takes place within walls, it states that an outdoor environment offers significant benefits for learning through experience.

Virginia L. J. Bolshakova, John Gieng, C. Sheena Sidhu · California Agriculture · United States (California)

In San Mateo County, California, teen ambassadors trained by UC Cooperative Extension educators and volunteers at UC Elkus Ranch taught nutrition science, food cultivation and healthy living skills to elementary schoolchildren in an urban setting through an 8-week, garden-based after-school program (the Healthy Living Ambassador Program) in spring 2015. A mixed-methods pilot study measured children's vegetable selection and consumption preferences and teens' perceived self-efficacy in healthy living behavior. Children trended toward increased preference for gardening, cooking and science, and teens showed an increase in perceived health self-efficacy.

Taipei City Government · Taipei City Government · Taiwan

This Taipei City Government article introduces the city's 'Garden City' initiative, converting idle land and school grounds into farming plots. It aims to give residents land and growing guidance, foster children's understanding of local food, and promote physical and psychological wellbeing through contact with plants and soil. It reports that 230 schools have received approval to enter the trial phase.

Equipo LS · Ladera Sur · Chile

This article lists ten benefits of urban community gardens. It reports that the first urban community garden in Chile's capital was a 2007 municipal project in La Pintana, on a 700 sq m plot divided into 11 gardens. By around 2012, roughly 40 such spaces already existed in Santiago, and new projects such as the Barrio Yungay initiative have continued to spread since.

Uchiyama Y., Fujihira Y., Matsuoka H., Kohsaka R. · Journal of Ethnic Foods · Japan

Analyzes definitions, history, and regional ties of traditional Japanese vegetables (e.g., Kyo, Kaga), using Kaga and Noto cases to show how ambiguous quality standards shape branding and brand management.

Uchiyama Y., Matsuoka H., Kohsaka R. · Journal of Ethnic Foods · Japan

Questionnaire survey in Komatsu City, Ishikawa, on public recognition of Kaga and Noto traditional vegetables, showing gender/age differences in awareness and information sources, with implications for transgenerational transmission and branding.

Turreira-García N., Vilkamaa A. M., Byg A. · Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society · Thailand

Documents 55 leafy vegetable species (32 families) in Chiang Mai fresh markets and assesses, via interviews with sellers, residents, and traditional practitioners, how diversity, use, and knowledge persist amid urbanisation.

de St. Maurice G. · Food, Culture & Society 20(2) · Japan

Examines how Kyoto's Shishigatani heirloom squash, though considered not delicious, persists as culinary heritage through cultural embeddedness, temple rituals, and distinctive form, showing heritage value beyond flavor.

Lee R.E., Parker N.H., Soltero E.G., Ledoux T., Hernandez I., Sahnoune I. · BMC Public Health, 17:242 · United States

Piloted SAGE—a 12-session garden education program with songs, games, taste tests and garden care—for 89 children aged 3–5 in six early care and education centers across two US cities, evaluating reach, efficacy and implementation using the RE-AIM framework for PA and fruit and vegetable intake.

特定非営利活動法人 Co.to.hana, 金田 康孝, 西川 亮 · 国土交通省 都市と農・緑が共生するまちづくりに関する調査（平成28年度） · Japan (Osaka)

First-year MLIT-commissioned study by Co.to.hana validating usefulness and replicability of community farms on urban unused land, using Kitakagaya Minna-no-uen as the model — surveys, environmental monitoring, stakeholder interviews and an expert panel producing a start guide and dissemination roadmap.

Martin P., Consalès J.-N., Scheromm P., Marchand P., Ghestem F., Darmon N. · Appetite · France (Marseille)

Study in a deprived Marseille neighborhood found that socioeconomically disadvantaged women with access to a community garden were more likely to adopt a healthy diet than matched controls without such access.

Hagolani-Albov S.E. · Focus on Geography, Vol. 60, No. 1 · Finland (Helsinki)

This photographic study documents four forms of urban agriculture in Helsinki — colony allotments, market gardens, box gardening, and community-supported agriculture — tracing over a century of practice and illustrating how urban farming is spatially and institutionally embedded in the city.

· Landscape Architecture Frontiers · China (Shanghai)

Presents Shanghai's Clover Nature School community gardens, describing how an 'urban permaculture' approach fosters public participation and community building through edible landscapes.

Gatto · Pediatric Obesity · USA (Los Angeles)

A randomized controlled trial of a 12-week after-school nutrition, cooking, and gardening program held at a community garden, assessing reductions in obesity and metabolic risk among Hispanic/Latino youth.

Amélie Robert, Jean Louis Yengué · Environment and Ecology Research · France

This case study investigated the Bergeonnerie allotments in Tours, France, through in situ observations, user surveys, and interviews with municipal stakeholders. It found that these allotments provide not only provisioning services like food but also cultural ecosystem services, serving as a source of well-being for gardeners and a place for walking, sociability, and education for other people. Municipal stakeholders confirmed these broader benefits, indicating allotments offer more than just vegetable cultivation.

Melissa N. Poulsen, Roni Neff, Peter J. Winch · Local Environment · United States (Baltimore)

This qualitative case study in Baltimore, Maryland, explored community perceptions of how urban farms benefit neighborhoods. Interviews with residents, neighborhood leaders, and urban farmers in three residential neighborhoods revealed that benefits stemmed from the creation of public projects, physical improvement of degraded spaces, local food production, and new businesses. These changes led to perceived benefits such as increased social connectedness, a transformed physical landscape, improved neighborhood reputation, and enhanced access to fresh produce, demonstrating the importance of a multifunctional paradigm beyond traditional economic indicators.

Elizabeth W. Cotter, Carla Teixeira, Annessa Bontrager, Kasharena Horton, Deyanira Soriano · Public Health Nutrition · United States (Washington, DC)

This study conducted focus groups with 28 adults in three affordable housing communities in Washington, D.C., USA, to understand low-income adults' attitudes towards participating in farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and nutrition education programming. The results revealed that adults living in urban, affordable housing communities desire access to healthy foods but are limited by cost. Programs could have a higher likelihood of success if they accept benefits like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), are heavily marketed, and incorporate culturally relevant nutrition education components.

Rebecca A Hennessey · Digital Commons - Hamline (Hamline University) · United States

This capstone project proposes a curriculum that supports a student-led farmers market program for high school students. The curriculum provides garden and nutrition education through a fully-functioning farmers market run entirely by students, offering them real-world experience.

Reni Amaranti · ETHOS (Jurnal Penelitian dan Pengabdian) · Indonesia

This community service activity provided assistance to communities in Indonesia to manage organic waste at the local Rukun Tetangga (RT) level. The aim was to support urban farming programs by addressing the uneven spread of knowledge and low public participation in waste utilization. The activity focused on helping communities utilize their existing potentials and resources for waste management.