Research & reports

Bernard Hourcade · Revue Géographique de l Est · Iran (Tehran)

This research investigates the origins and current economy of the Anti-Alborz region, an arid mountain east of Tehran, Iran. Due to military compounds and royal hunting grounds, the expansion of Tehran has been artificially limited, leaving the Anti-Alborz as a remote area. In this region, urban, agricultural, and pastoral economies are growing in conflictual ways, indicating governance challenges in managing land use and development.

Abalimi Bezekhaya · Abalimi Bezekhaya · South Africa

The official site of Abalimi Bezekhaya, a non-profit founded in 1982 that provides urban agriculture training, affordable resources, irrigation and soil-building support, and market access in Khayelitsha and Nyanga, Cape Town. It states its Harvest of Hope programme generated R16 million in sales between 2008 and 2019, of which R10 million went directly to about 245 farmers (supporting 1,225 dependants) across roughly 70 gardens.

Martine Berger, Jean-Pierre Frust, Françoise Plet, Marie‐Claire Robic · L’Espace géographique · Global

The concept of rurbanisation is ambiguous, referring either to population overspill into peripheral rural space or to processes affecting peri-urban rural space that lead to a slackening of urban functions. Studies on peri-urban space focus on land assignment changes, social change, land issues, and the specificity/future of peri-urban agriculture. Peri-urbanisation occurs within interacting systems, including socio-economic, state-specific, and urban region systems.

Taizan Oishi, 堪山 大石 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This study analyzed the transformation and reorganization processes of suburban agriculture and farmers in urbanizing areas, including "former farmer groups." It examined land conversion, changes in crop cultivation, farmer numbers, and agricultural employment. The research found that rental housing management is not economically viable, and that due to an abnormally high land price appreciation rate, the earlier rental housing management is undertaken, the greater the loss incurred, despite an observed increase in rental housing.

Bundesverfassungsgericht · Bundesverfassungsgericht (DFR, Universität Bern) · Germany

The First Senate judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of 12 June 1979 (docket 1 BvL 19/76). It held that the combination of a blanket bar on termination, narrowly enumerated grounds, mandatory administrative approval and price control under the 1944 protection ordinance and the 1969 amending act was incompatible with the property guarantee of Article 14 of the Basic Law as it applied to private landlords. Section 1(3) of the 1944 ordinance and section 2(2) of the 1969 act were declared void for breaching rule-of-law principles. The court reasoned that allotments had shifted from subsistence necessity to recreational use, weakening the social justification for restrictions of that breadth.

Jeff Garmany · The Journal of Modern African Studies · Africa

This article argues that many African countries, in their pursuit of rapid economic development, risk misaligning their strategies and priorities concerning the rural-urban and agricultural-industrial balance. It specifically advocates for increased research attention on traditional food farming, whether for subsistence or cash, which has been neglected despite its crucial and inevitable role in supporting growing populations over the long term.

Natalia Przesmycka, Rafał Strojny · Teka Komisji Architektury Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych · Poland (Lublin)

This article examines allotment gardens in downtown Lublin, Poland, from a historical, architectural, and landscape perspective, focusing on the oldest garden, "Nasza Zdobycz nad Bystrzycą." It identifies that city-center allotment gardens are at risk from commercial development and discusses the increasing alienation of owners and progressing devastation of these areas. The study also attempts to explain these issues and suggests design applications for revitalization.

Martha Díaz-Betancourt, Luciana Ghennandi, Ana H. Ladio, Ismael R López-Moreno, Estela Raffaele, Eduardo H. Rapoport · Revista de Biología Tropical · Latin America

This study compared edible weed biomass in tropical (Coatepec, Mexico, 400 samples) and temperate (Bariloche, Argentina, 739 samples) Latin America. Average edible fresh biomass ranged from 1277-3582 kg/ha in tropical areas and 287-2939 kg/ha in temperate areas. 43 species were sampled in Coatepec and 32 in Bariloche, with general means of 2.1 and 1.3 tons/ha respectively.

Natália da Silva Lemos, Liza Maria Da Souza de Andrade, Valério Augusto Soares de Medeiros · Paranoá cadernos de arquitetura e urbanismo · Brazil

This research analyzed urban planning challenges in Brazil from the perspective of urban agriculture, examining social policies and legal frameworks including the City Statute (Law 10.257/2001) and Law 6.766/1979. The findings indicate a gap in legal provisions for urban agriculture actions and practices within land use and occupation regulations. The study suggests guidelines for implementation to address this deficiency.

Parliament of the United Kingdom · legislation.gov.uk (UK Public General Acts) · United Kingdom

The UK's Allotments Act 1925 enabled local authorities to acquire land for allotments and established tenant protections for allotment holders. An 'allotment' is defined as land not exceeding five acres cultivated as a garden or farm. Landowners reclaiming allotment land must give three months' notice for non-agricultural uses and six months' for sport or recreation, and tenants retain compensation rights under set conditions regardless of contract terms. Local authorities cannot sell or repurpose allotment land without approval from the agriculture minister and adequate provision for displaced holders. The Act applies to England and Wales only.

· Wikipédia (français) · France

This French Wikipedia article traces the history of French family/allotment gardens (jardins familiaux). The movement began in 1896 when abbé Lemire founded the "Ligue française du Coin de Terre et du Foyer," reorganized in 1921 into the "Fédération nationale des jardins familiaux," with the term "jardins familiaux" legally defined by a law of 26 July 1952. Gardens in the Paris region grew from 48 in 1904 to 1,515 in 1913, and by around 1945, at the end of World War II, France had roughly 250,000 such gardens.