Research & reports

H. de Zeeuw, R. van Veenhuizen, Marielle Dubbeling · · Global

A Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures paper reviews available evidence on the potential of urban agriculture to address urban challenges in developing countries and surveys how local and national authorities view urban agriculture, closing with the authors' perspective on its role in sustainable city development.

Jenny Gustavsson, Christel Cederberg, Ulf Sonesson, Robert van Otterdijk, Alexandre Meybeck, FAO · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Global

This FAO study, conducted for the SAVE FOOD! congress at Interpack 2011 in Düsseldorf, estimates that roughly 1.3 billion tons of edible food produced globally is lost or wasted each year. It finds large regional disparities in per capita consumer-level food waste: 95-115 kg/year in Europe and North America versus only 6-11 kg/year in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia. Combined per capita food losses and waste across the supply chain are reported at 280-300 kg/year in Europe and North America versus 120-170 kg/year in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia.

Sarah Taylor Lovell · Sustainability · United States

This paper reviews literature on urban agriculture for land use planning in the United States, where interest in urban food production is growing due to economic and food security concerns. It discusses urban agriculture's potential for integrating multiple functions in densely populated areas, from community farms to rooftop gardens. The paper also addresses barriers and constraints, and identifies research opportunities for urban planners and landscape designers to integrate food-systems thinking into city plans.

Leonie Pearson, Linda Pearson, Craig J. Pearson · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Global

This paper reviews research on urban agriculture, focusing on its social, economic, and environmental sustainability dimensions. It proposes three elements and three scales for urban agriculture, highlighting legal, social, and economic constraints and opportunities. The analysis suggests future research priorities include identifying principles for resilient cities and trialling innovative institutional mechanisms.

David Mason, Ian Knowd · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Australia (Sydney)

This paper explores the history of urban agriculture (UA) in the Sydney region, which emerged as a grassroots response to global forces negatively impacting urban and farming communities. These forces include urban sprawl, supermarket dominance, the fast food industry, and globalization. Community-based promotion of local agriculture is leading governments and organizations to recognize UA as a strategic mechanism for urban communities to address food security and other challenges.

Yingqi Yan · Journal of Gansu Normal Colleges · China (Gansu Province)

This article discusses the theory and practice of modern urban agriculture development within the integration process of urban and rural areas in Gansu Province, China. Urban agriculture is recognized as a new research area for sustainable urban development due to its unique social, economic, and ecological functions, making it a research hotspot for urban and rural sustainable development. The article offers suggestions for its development.

Nikita S. Eriksen‐Hamel, George Danso · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Global

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UA) significantly contributes to the total food requirements of cities, especially in southern cities of the developing world. This review describes agronomic issues unique to UA and identifies possible interventions to address them. Growth-limiting and growth-reducing factors in UA include water availability, nutrient supply, soil degradation, pests, and soil pollution. Addressing these constraints requires action at both field and municipal or regional levels.

Sarah Presogna · ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) · United States (Philadelphia)

The Morris Arboretum is incorporating two new Green Roofs to demonstrate sustainable and functional stormwater management. The author designed an aesthetically pleasing rooftop garden, informed by visits to other local green roofs, which will mitigate stormwater runoff and showcase native and water-wise plants suitable for the Philadelphia area.

Zhou Can-fang · Ke-ji guanli yanjiu · China

This paper analyzes the current development of urban agriculture in the Pearl River Delta, noting its similarity to and deep influence from Taiwan's urban agriculture. It draws lessons from Taiwan's model and proposes a development strategy for the Pearl River Delta's urban agriculture to promote its sustainable development.

Pablo Torres Lima, Alfonso Chávez-Muñoz, Gerardo Ávila-Jiménez, Sergio Contreras-Prado · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Mexico (Mexico City)

This article analyzes the principal components of a planning process that promotes the development of agricultural production zones in Xochimilco-Tlahuac, Mexico City. The experience was conceptualized in 2008 with the integration of data obtained through fieldwork, interviews, ethnographic techniques, and geomatics. The study highlights the critical need for district or metropolitan authorities to support urban agriculture to address various city development issues and concludes that re-assessing socio-territorial organization in the study region is also necessary to achieve an integrated, habitable, and sustainable city.

Daisuke Tachibana, Hitoshi Watanabe, Kei Yakushiji, Kenji Nakamura, Takaharu YOSHIOKA · AIJ Journal of Technology and Design · Global

This study conducted a four-year growth experiment with eighty ornamental plants, including perennials, bulbous plants, and shrubs, in an experimental rooftop garden using a rainwater storage planting base. It was found that various plant types could grow in a thin 10cm substrate depth, their bloom times and flowering periods were confirmed, and the rainwater storage system allowed for reduced irrigation frequency even in thin-layer planting.

Keith G. Tidball · Anthropology News · Global

This record is a commentary on green space and disaster resistance, recovery, and resilience. It lists keywords including community gardening, community gardens, development, ecology and environment, botany and plants, and urban anthropology.

Liu Cheng-yu · Sichuan Environment · China

This paper examines the environmental effects and management of urban modern agriculture, characterized by high input, high consumption, high output, and high discharge, using Chengdu City, China, as a case study. It states that while urban modern agriculture has a direct impact on the environment, it can develop coordinately with the environment if appropriate patterns are adopted. The paper summarizes environmentally friendly modern agriculture development patterns observed in Chengdu and proposes suggestions to promote further coordinated development between modern agriculture and the environment, which could serve as a reference for urban agriculture development nationwide.

Marina Moraes Diniz de Oliveira Queiroz · · Sweden

This work studies urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and alternative food production strategies, aiming to connect current food systems, urban structures, and climate change. It discusses urban planning, transport, waste management, and localized food production, proposing solutions for a Swedish context. The work argues for utilizing arable land in and near cities and integrating local food production with sustainable transport to prepare for reduced fossil energy and global warming.

Radojica Sarić, Vladana Hamović, Svetlana Roljević Nikolić, Radojica Sarić, Vladana Hamović, Svetlana Roljevic · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Serbia

This paper analyzes urban agriculture in Serbia, focusing on its role in configuring urban open spaces and its effects on sustainable development and environmental protection. The study aims to understand the economic, social, and ecological impacts of urban agricultural production on improving city life quality, especially given Serbia's dynamic urbanization and agricultural land transformation post-World War II.

杨卫丽, 李同昇, 陈波 · 经济导刊 · China (Xi'an)

The promotion of integration in China's Xi'an-Xianyang metropolitan area, while bringing urban economic prosperity, has also created unprecedented pressure on the ecological environment and social problems. Specifically, the "urban-rural dual structure" and "three rural issues" are the biggest bottlenecks encountered during the urbanization process.

Emmanuel Berthier, Bernard de Gouvello, Florian Archambault, Didier Gallis · · Global

This preliminary study aimed to better understand the water balance of vegetated or green roofs (TTV) and to develop a conceptual reservoir storage model. Two databases were used: CSTB's one-year data (limited to rain and runoff) and LROP's nine-day detailed data (including evapotranspiration and water storage). Detailed monitoring was shown to deepen the understanding of water balance, and the developed reservoir storage model appeared suitable for reproducing the TTV water balance.

AP Chanan, Jaya Kandasamy, S. Vigneswaran, G Spyrakis, I Ghetti, Elisa Idris · UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) · Australia (Sydney)

This paper outlines a project by Kogarah Council in Sydney, Australia, which assisted all 22 schools in the Kogarah LGA to install rainwater tanks. The initiative aimed to increase water use efficiency and reduce potable water consumption for toilet flushing and school garden irrigation. The project successfully reduced drinking water usage and served as a visual reminder for students to conserve water.

Nerea Morán Alonso · · Global

This article reviews the historical background of urban agriculture, highlighting it as an example of action in crisis situations and the social potential of food production in urban contexts. In Southern countries, urban agriculture has gained importance as a development strategy, including programs led by international organizations. Urban gardens, by integrating nature into the city, contribute to urban metabolic efficiency and enhance biological diversity.

Eva Collins, Kate Kearins · Academy of Management Learning and Education · New Zealand (Auckland)

A sustainability instructor took a graduate class to an eco-village near Auckland, New Zealand, where students observed off-grid homes and community gardens. While New Zealand students were inspired by the alternative lifestyle, two international students from China and Tajikistan expressed that this lifestyle was how they lived at home and they did not wish to live that way, preferring the New Zealand lifestyle. This indicates a limited appeal of the eco-village model to some international students.

윤혜경, 이연숙, 이홍성 · 한국생태환경건축학회 학술발표대회 논문집 · Global

This study investigates the utility of "Health Community Farming Gardens" within apartment buildings in Korea, aiming to present a realistic and effective apartment floor plan that enhances residents' health. Through a literature review of green infrastructure and urban farming, the research confirms that green infrastructure and urban farming revitalize apartment culture, effectively address ecosystem deterioration, and foster a green cultural spread within resident communities. The study emphasizes the innovation of integrating farming gardens into apartment buildings to maintain residents' holistic health.

Geisy Hernández, J. Pérez Pérez, Roberto Martínez, Teresa López · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba

This study investigated irrigation water management for guava cultivation under urban agriculture conditions at UBPC Celia Sánchez in Habana del Este, Cuba. Using a drip irrigation system with fixed doses and intervals, results showed that initial irrigation doses need adjustment based on crop demands. During the development period, the used doses and irrigation frequencies were acceptable, with an average 90% irrigation efficiency. Maintaining high soil moisture significantly impacted guava yield and size, producing more large fruits and yields up to 36.7 t/ha.

FU Li-hua · 自然资源学报 · China (Shanghai)

A study of Shanghai, China, building an evaluation index system reflecting the characteristics of sustainable urban agricultural development, using a combination of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the information entropy method to determine index weights, and applying it to time-series data from 1993 onward to produce a quantitative, comprehensive appraisal. The results comprise three findings. First, the population subsystem progressively became a main obstructive factor for sustainable urban agricultural development, the economic subsystem gradually became a main contributing factor, and the social subsystem grew more important in raising development capability, while cultivated land resources became increasingly scarce and continued to decrease, constraining improvement, and the heavy burden of agricultural production's self-pollution had a negative effect on the overall upgrade of development capability. Second, the resource (R-D) composite index was not high and declined significantly, averaging 1.9090 over 1993-2006 and falling 6.00% per year from 2.5336 in 1993 to 0.5541 in 2006, indicating growing resource pressure; the environmental (E-D) composite index was smaller and changed little, remaining around 1.0000 in most years, with environmental pressure staying high but stable. Third, after earlier wave-like fluctuations, the overall composite evaluation index entered a sustained, steady climb, with a significant increasing trend in development capability.

Sarah Rabkin · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (California)

An oral-history interview record with Amy Courtney, founder of the Freewheelin' Farm CSA in Santa Cruz County, California, USA, conducted by Sarah Rabkin on January 16, 2009. Courtney, a 1997 graduate of UC Santa Cruz's Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, started the farm in 2002 using almost no motorized vehicles, incorporating used equipment and recycled materials; CSA shares are still delivered by bicycle-drawn trailer six miles into Santa Cruz, with farming partners Kirstin Yogg and Darryl Wong. Courtney's background includes work with school gardens, the Santa Cruz Homeless Garden Project, the United Farm Workers, the AFL-CIO, and an agricultural extension program in Cuba. The farm collaborates with "Food, What?!," a youth empowerment program based at UCSC's Life Lab Garden Classroom, and hosts a community art show, yoga classes and cooking instruction with Zen priest Edward Espe Brown. At the time of the interview, Courtney and her partners had just signed a lease for an additional parcel, multiplying the farm's acreage eightfold.

Michael Raleigh · eCommons (Cornell University) · United States

This essay argues that the U.S. food system, being heavily industrialized, consumes large amounts of fossil-fuel energy — citing an estimate that it takes 10 calories of energy to produce one calorie of food — through fossil-fuel-powered planting, spraying, fertilizing, irrigation, tilling, harvesting, processing and transport, all of which generate greenhouse gases and make the food system a major contributor to climate change. It positions the development of urban farms in Buffalo as a necessary strategy to "de-carbon" the food system, on the grounds that urban farms use human labor in place of oil-powered machines and, being smaller than industrial-scale farms, can be managed with fewer machines, with home gardens and small urban farms claimed to be more productive per unit of land and energy than large-scale farms despite their low-tech approach.