Research & reports

J. Lambie, W.T. Osborn, A. Dominski · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · United States (Florida)

The Florida House Foundation, Inc. (FHF), a non-profit regional economic incubator, developed a demonstration house and yard in Sarasota County, Florida, in partnership with the Cooperative Extension Service. This model home, designed to appeal to consumers and be marketable by the construction industry, aimed to stimulate interest in solar and resource-efficient technologies. It incorporated active and passive design, solar photovoltaic and water heating systems, daylighting, cisterns, gray water, and native edible landscaping.

H. B. Tukey · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global

This paper defines urban horticulture as the functional use of plants to improve urban environments. It states that urban horticulture contributes to screening views, food production, reducing noise and air pollution, ameliorating urban climates, and improving human well-being. The abstract notes that information on city plants often comes from observations and anecdotes, and that strategies from commercial agriculture do not always apply well to urban horticulture.

Lee M · PubMed · Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, urban agriculture faces significant challenges due to government disapproval of public land use for farming and difficulty in obtaining credit. A 1983 survey in Addis Ababa found that 17% of 1352 households produced their own food on less than 25 sq. meters, with 90% of non-farmers citing lack of land. Despite urban agricultural cooperatives demonstrating 70% higher member income, their lack of government legalization prevents access to loans for productivity improvement.

Jac Smit, Joe Nasr · Environment and Urbanization · Global

This article describes how urban agriculture can transform cities from mere consumers of food and agricultural products into sustainable generators of these products. It focuses on using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources to achieve resource conservation and health improvement.

Richard Gosnell Richard Gosnell · Waterlines · South Africa

This study assesses the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) pump installed at Sondela Community Garden in South Africa. The garden is a vegetable garden managed by 46 Zulu women in a semi-rural area. The research investigates whether solar-electric water pumping can provide water supplies in a region with abundant sunshine but limited water resources.

H. B. Tukey · HortScience · Global

Urban horticulture is defined as a scientific field focused on the functional uses of plants to maintain and improve urban environments. These functional uses extend beyond aesthetics to include screening against wind and views, influencing climate, reducing noise, combating air pollution, providing food, and enhancing human well-being in densely populated areas. The audience for urban horticulture includes landscape professionals, plant societies, and amateur horticulturists.

Earle Barnhart · Birkhäuser Basel eBooks · United States

This paper argues that producing food within a forest ecosystem through careful cultivation of tree crops on hilly, marginal land is a successful and sustainable strategy for conserving soil and nutrients, and holds potential for the northeastern United States, where natural vegetation is predominantly steep, hilly forest unsuited to normal food production. Drawing on forest farming development at the New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, it discusses concepts of ecology, energy use and erosion control in agricultural ecosystems.

Gary B. Palmer · Anthropological Quarterly · United States

This paper applies Clifford Geertz's theory of involution, defined as social and technological substrategies for resource scarcity, to water development in the Colorado River Basin, United States. It proposes involution, including urban agriculture, as an alternative to competitive expansion, interpreting its regional implications for geothermal, desalinization, and irrigation projects. The study suggests that impacts on regional water allocation and quality from energy development depend on institutional and economic factors.

Sam Love · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · Global

This paper discusses contemporary industrial societies' reliance on extensive resource networks and proposes an alternative: moving towards self-sufficient small loop and flow systems. It describes examples of short loop arrangements in urban agriculture and solar energy housing, advocating for decentralization and diversity.

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.

Sibo Chen · Stream Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication · Global

This record announces the MA thesis defense of Gonen Steinberg, titled "Cultivating Resistance? Urban Sustainability, Neoliberalism, and Community Gardens," which took place on March 25th, 2015. The abstract provided is the title of the thesis itself.