Research & reports

Sophia E. Hagolani‐Albov, Sarah J. Halvorson · CABI eBooks · Finland

This chapter examines grassroots food distribution networks in Finland, focusing on their role in creating farmer-consumer linkages for urban foodsheds. It discusses and compares two networks: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), exemplified by the Herttoniemi Food Cooperative, and REKO Circles, which are based on the principle of 'fair consumption'.

Max Counter · Social & Cultural Geography · Colombia (Magdalena Medio)

Based on fieldwork with internally displaced landmine victims in Colombia's Magdalena Medio region, this research highlights how the intersection between physical impairment and forced displacement produces disabling spatial imaginaries of fear and painfully embodied rhythms of daily life. The paper draws attention to urban agricultural projects' enabling potential to produce grounding rhythms of labor for landmine victims.

Nóra Gombkötő, Judit Vincze, Judit Hegyi, Károly Kacz, Gombkötő, Nóra, Vincze, Judit, Hegyi, Judit, Kacz, Károly · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Hungary

A questionnaire survey was conducted among producers and consumers regarding Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) systems in Hungary's West Transdanubian region. The study found that CSA is not mature in Hungary and requires broader support. Producers were predominantly over 45 years old, with few engaged in animal product production, and primarily used traditional markets, missing out on other sales opportunities. Consumer awareness of CSA types was low, with only 25% preferring buyer communities and 3% each for subscription/box systems and share farming.

Erminia D’Itria, Loredana Di Lucchio · The Design Journal · Global

This article discusses the growing interest in urban agriculture, driven by factors such as healthy food access, green space, and community engagement. It suggests that architects and designers can play a strong role in expanding urban agriculture by developing innovative practices to enable more people to farm in their own spaces. The text emphasizes the need to amplify the benefits of urban agriculture to a larger population.

Wendy Castañeda Abad, Angelina Herrera Sorzano, Roberto González Sousa, Eduardo San Marful Orbis · Revista Novedades en Población · Cuba (La Habana)

This research studies the organization, structure, and development of urban agriculture in Cuba, focusing on organoponics as a high-yield modality using agroecological techniques. The study evaluates the behavior and community impact of these centers in Havana Province, an urban territory, as a factor for local development.

Stephanie White, Michael W. Hamm · CABI eBooks · Global South

This chapter discusses urban agriculture's role in urban food systems, particularly in the Global South, and proposes theoretical framings of urban agriculture as an 'urbanistic practice'. It argues that urban agriculture studies can enhance understanding of regional food provisioning and exchange, especially concerning informality, shed light on urban socio-ecological processes including food insecurity and marginalization, and provide case-study accounts of peripheral livelihoods that challenge conventional understandings of urban construction.

Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Silvana M Ribeiro, Ana Cláudia Camargo Gonçalves Germani, Cláudia Maria Bógus · Public Health Nutrition · Global

This systematic review examined the impacts of urban garden participation on food and nutrition outcomes, including healthy food practices, access, beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes. It analyzed 12 studies published between 2005 and 2015, finding significant heterogeneity in settings, populations, and methods, and a need for greater methodological rigor. The review reported positive impacts such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption, better access to healthy foods, and enhanced valuing of cooking and organic production.

Miriam Bodino · PORTO Publications Open Repository TOrino (Politecnico di Torino) · Global

Given the clear limits to growth, this study argues for a better definition and application of sustainable development, particularly in urban areas. It proposes envisioning a de-growth society, emphasizing resilience, flexibility, and adaptability in urban regeneration. The use of Third Landscape, public spaces, and urban agriculture is suggested as a more sustainable approach to urban transformation.

Robert B. Stevenson, Gregory A. Smith · · Global

This paper discusses professional learning opportunities for teachers regarding outdoor environmental pedagogy. These opportunities include resource materials, formal experience-based workshops at centers, informal observations and discussions, and collaborative curriculum planning with center educators. Various methods, such as creating school gardens and engaging in green school activities, are presented to alert students to the importance of reinhabitation.

C. Alejandro Rafael Socorro Castro, C. Fernando Carlos Agüero Contreras, MSc. Raúl Ramón Rodríguez Rodríguez · Revista Científica Agroecosistemas · Cuba

This study evaluates the cultural contribution of urban agriculture as a global phenomenon expanding since the second half of the 20th century. Its universality is observed in industrialized and emerging economies, characterized by a tendency to face correlated ecological or alimentary dangers. Urban agriculture's contributions stand out in both material and spiritual culture associated with agrarian and agricultural productive processes. The Cuban experience, examined in Cienfuegos, confirms international literature and highlights essential contributions that are indispensable to study and socialize for Cuban society's efforts towards 2030 goals.

Wendy Castañeda Abad, Angelina Herrera Sorzano, Roberto González Sousa, Eduardo San Marful Orbis · Novedades en población · Cuba (Havana)

This research studied the organization, structure, and development of urban agriculture in Cuba, focusing on organoponia as a high-performance modality developed with agroecological techniques in the urban territory of Havana province. The study considered the behavior of these organoponicos in the territory and their impact on the community as a factor in local development.

ANTONIO JOSE CHAGUENDO DORADO, Sandra Morales Velasco, Fabio Alonso Prado Cerón · Biotecnología en el Sector Agropecuario y Agroindustrial · Colombia (Popayán)

A study in Popayán's Comuna 2 evaluated PET bottle urban agriculture practices, examining two crops (cilantro and lettuce) and three bottle orientations (horizontal, vertical, 45-degree inclined). Agronomic variables like height, coverage, vigor, and biomass were analyzed using SPSS 22. Results showed that vertical bottles yielded better production in terms of vigor and fresh weight for both species, attributed to the relationship between container size and root development.

Lucy Bradley, Bridget K. Behe, Natalie R. Bumgarner, Charlotte Glen, Joseph Donaldson, Ellen M. Bauske, Sheri Dorn, Gail Langellotto · HortTechnology · Global

This study discusses the difficulty in documenting the economic contributions and benefits of consumer horticulture (CH) and CH extension programs. CH can result in individual outcomes such as money saved and improved quality of life, and community-level impacts like water quality protection. Quantifying these values is challenging but can be evaluated using several strategies, including measuring consumer dollars spent on gardening supplies, the value of environmental ecosystem services, and cultural, social, and health system services.

Natália Gebrim Dória, Denise Eugênia Pereira Coelho, Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Helena Akemi Wada Watanabe, Cláudia Maria Bógus · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Global

This study aimed to analyze a school garden as a health promotion strategy from the students' perspective. Forty-nine students aged 10-11 years participated, using a draw-and-tell method to illustrate and report on their experiences in the school garden. Analysis of these reports identified categories related to Health Promotion principles such as equity, social participation, empowerment, sustainability, and personal skills development, as well as Nutrition Education and Food and Nutrition Security.

Leslie McLees · CABI eBooks · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)

This chapter examines open-space urban farms in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, using movement, flow, and intersection as heuristic devices to bridge analytical gaps between urban agriculture in the Global South and North. It focuses on the movements of farmers, their life trajectories, and how farms serve as nodes for social interactions, information exchange, and knowledge transfer for both farmers and non-farmers. The chapter aims to facilitate an understanding of urban agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa beyond poverty and marginalization.

Kharen Viviana Pinilla Guerrero · Revista de Geografia · Colombia (Bogotá)

This paper presents the origin, background, theoretical bases, operational tools, and projection possibilities of the real-time mapping platform "agroecobogota.crowdmap.com" for urban agriculture experiences in Bogotá and its surroundings, Colombia. The initiative, active from 2014 to 2016, was driven by university students and sustained by citizen participation, but has not received direct institutional support.

Shearen Hariono · Intra · Global

This interior design project for a primary school aims to facilitate learning activities, including environmental care, by implementing a green building concept. The design incorporates green activities such as a school garden to educate children aged 6-12 about the environment. Based on greenship interior space version 1.0 parameters, this primary school design achieved a gold rating with 74 points and a percentage of 71.8%.

John Rennie Short · · Global

This chapter focuses on the developing imaginary of the green and resilient city and the emergence of new urban ecologies. It examines the changing city-nature dialectic, discusses cities and climate change, explores city metrics of urban sustainability, and presents urban environmental issues. In 1976, the US Department of Agriculture established an Urban Gardening Program, and Singaporean city authorities are working to green the city-state.

IdaNaziera Ngahdiman, Rika Terano, Zainalabidin Mohamed, Juwaidah Sharifuddin · International Journal of Advanced Research · Global

Urban farming is becoming an important activity among urban dwellers in most developing countries. This is to ensure full utilization of available space for agriculture and for sustaining.

Rob Roggema · NA · Global

This study tested the role and outcomes of three case studies (INCREASE-Groningen, Minamisoma-Japan, and AESOP-NL) that applied a Research by Design methodology in a design charrette. These case studies focused on sustainability and planning at different spatial scales, utilizing a design charrette as part of the planning process. The outcomes were spatial representations of future visions, evaluated by criteria such as design quality, the importance of food growth, the quality of the planning process, and the overall sustainability of the final result.

Andrea Oyuela, Arnold van der Valk · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Honduras (Tegucigalpa)

This study questions the adequacy of Tegucigalpa's top-down planning system in Honduras and explores urban agriculture (UA) as a potential building block for a bottom-up strategy. While UA is organized in Tegucigalpa due to residents' need to overcome food insecurity and hardship, the concept of active citizenship and bottom-up development is not yet consolidated. Furthermore, challenges exist regarding the resources needed for practicing UA and the diffusion of knowledge to the population.

Jason Byrne, CM Pickering, DA Guitart, R Sims-Castley · eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) · Australia

This chapter addresses the implications of urban cultivation initiatives for land-use planning and policy, against a backdrop of renewed interest in urban agriculture due to global urbanization impacts such as dwindling green spaces, food insecurity, land shortages, and loss of biodiversity. These initiatives are often framed around the social benefits of local food growing and sustainability, with residents clamoring for better access to places to grow safe and healthy food, spaces that foster social inclusion, and improved environmental quality.

Pepijn Schreinemachers, Dhruba Raj Bhattarai, Giri Dhari Subedi, Tej P. Acharya, Hsiao-pu Chen, Ray-Yu Yang, Narayan Kaji Kashichhawa, Upendra Dhungana, Gregory C. Luther, Maureen Mecozzi · Journal of Development Effectiveness · Nepal

This study evaluated the combined impact of school gardens and nutrition education on 10- to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Nepal, using a cluster randomized controlled trial with 1275 students (2014) and 785 students (2015). After one year, significant improvements were observed in children's awareness of fruits and vegetables, knowledge of sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, and health, and stated preferences for eating fruits and vegetables. However, these improvements in intermediary outcomes did not translate into significant improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status.

Donovon Ceaser · Ethnography & Education · Global

This study analyzed the leadership of founder John Browne at Green Shoots, a nonprofit service-learning urban farming school established in 2010, using the theory of founder's syndrome. Browne, despite an openly egalitarian community of practice ethic, created a hierarchy at the school that led to a staff walk-out and subsequent firings. Findings revealed Browne as a charming and inspirational teacher who engaged in dominating leadership contradicting the community of practice's ideals, resulting in disrespected students, disillusioned staff, and a founder unable to take responsibility for his leadership.

José Elvis Sierra Borras, Nubia Esperanza Suárez Suárez, Diana Bocanegra, Blanca Restrepo de Peña · · Colombia (Soacha)

In the Loma Linda neighborhood of Altos de Cazuca, Soacha, Colombia, participatory action research was conducted with 62 randomly selected families living in extreme poverty. The study found that 49.9% of the population was 60 years or older, 50.1% was between 40 and 60 years old, with an absence of young people. The horticultural component of the basic family basket was 50% supplied by artisanal or rudimentary activities, but production volumes could not be quantified, preventing the measurement of production capacity for marketable surpluses.