Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
222 results(8 / 9)
A Work in Progress - The British Columbia Farmland Preservation Program
2012Barry E. Smith · · Canada
The British Columbia Farmland Preservation Program, established by the Land Commission Act on April 18, 1973, aims to preserve the province's valuable farmland. This program has sustained economic and social benefits from agriculture, preserved community character, and maintained natural capital. The Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) has also acted as an urban growth boundary, contributing to compact urban development and addressing land use conflicts.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsHealthStewards of the land : demonstrations of agricultural authenticity in Columbia County, NY
2012Bruntfield, Jaclyn Rose · Scholars Archive - University at Albany (University at Albany, State University of New York) · United States (Columbia County, NY)
This abstract discusses the increased public scrutiny of food origins in the U.S. and the growing demand for alternatives to the mainstream food system, as evidenced by more farmers markets, organic products, and Community Supported Agriculture programs. It notes that post-WWII industrialization of food production, while providing inexpensive food, has potentially compromised people's relationships with food. Currently, only one percent of Americans identify farming as their primary occupation.
CSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageCivic Agriculture: Towards a Local Food Web for Sustainable Urban Development
2012Siqing Chen · APCBEE Procedia · United States
This paper uses a housing development project in the United States to exemplify how civic agriculture can be integrated into urban development through forms like Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), kitchen gardens, and farmer's markets. This integration creates a local food web, enhancing civic engagement and welfare among residents, maintaining landscape authenticity, strengthening ecosystem services, reducing carbon footprint, and promoting long-term sustainability. Civic agriculture represents a transition in agricultural practice from large-scale commodity enterprises to small-scale, self-sustaining civic activities.
CommunityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageAre Consumers Willing to Pay for Organic When the Food is Already Local?
2012Cristina Connolly, H. Allen Klaiber, Connolly, Cristina, Klaiber, H. Allen · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · United States
This study evaluated consumers' willingness to pay for organic certification programs using price and attribute data from 188 CSA farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania. A semi-log hedonic analysis revealed a willingness to pay approximately 9% more for organic branding compared to natural, translating to an additional $48 per summer season share. However, no premium was found for competing certification programs.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAGRICULTURA URBANA E ÊXODO RURAL
2012Ana Carolina Vinholi, Pedro Martins · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil (Itajaí)
This article investigates urban agriculture practices in Itajaí/SC, Brazil, to identify their potentials and obstacles for territorial development. Using participant observation and semi-structured interviews, the study concludes that urban agriculture is an expanding phenomenon closely linked to rural exodus. It also serves as a space for the conservation of traditional knowledge.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsWelcoming animals back to the city: Navigating the tensions of urban livestock through municipal ordinances
2012W. H. Butler · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
The reintroduction of livestock into urban areas in the United States creates tensions regarding public health and the urban-rural divide. This paper analyzes municipal codes to identify how communities regulate urban livestock through prohibitions of certain animals, zoning, site-level restrictions, and management requirements. The analysis demonstrates that while no two municipalities approach the urban livestock question identically, each seeks to place limits on raising livestock in urban areas using a combination of regulatory land use tools.
Governance failurePolicyHealthUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceNEBLINE, May 2012
2012· Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · United States
The May 2012 issue of NEBLINE features Lincoln's Biosolids Land Application Program, which is 20 years old. It also covers topics such as urban agriculture, food and fitness, home and family living, horticulture, environmental focus, 4-H and youth, community focus, and extension news and events.
Urban–rural linkageFood educationCommunityUrban Farming in the West: A New Deal Experiment in Subsistence Homesteads (review)
2012James E. McWilliams · Southwestern historical quarterly · United States
This is a review of Robert Carriker's book "Urban Farming in the West: A New Deal Experiment in Subsistence Homesteads", which examines the Division of Subsistence Homesteads (DSH) program in the American West. The DSH, established in 1933 by the New Deal, aimed to redistribute population and support self-sufficient homesteads. Carriker's work offers a balanced perspective on the program, noting that "confusion over disparate objectives" and bureaucratic conflicts ultimately undermined its goals.
PolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAgricultura urbana e conservação de agrobiodiversidade: um estudo de caso em Mato Grosso, Brasil
2012Mirella Cultrera, Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo, Fábio Cop Ferreira · SITIENTIBUS série Ciências Biológicas · Brazil (Mato Grosso)
An ethnobotanical study in five peripheral neighborhoods of Santo Antônio do Leverger, Mato Grosso, Brazil, surveyed 135 households and detailed 30 to characterize food plant cultivation. Ninety-seven species from 38 families were identified across homegardens, fields, and empty lots. While some species were common, the similarity between species/varieties across households was generally below 50%, and many had low frequency, revealing a vulnerability to species loss despite social network circulation.
Limited or null effectBiodiversityCommunityHeirloom & landraceUrban–rural linkagePost‐Industrial Imaginaries: Nature, Representation and Ruin in Detroit, Michigan
2012Nate Millington · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States
This article analyzes representations of urban nature in Detroit, Michigan, focusing on journalistic and photographic work over the past 5 years. These representations, part of a discourse on Detroit's decline, ultimately reflect dominant conceptual divisions between the city and nature. Journalists and commentators perceive nature in the city as a reflection of the city's absence rather than its materiality, suggesting an ambivalence about emergent urban ecologies.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyBiodiversityUrban–rural linkage“Perennial Growth” in a Shrinking City: A Case Study of Urban Agriculture Policy and Planning in Cleveland, Ohio
2011Elizabeth S Schuering · Digital Commons-DePaul (DePaul University) · United States (Cleveland)
This paper examines urban agriculture as a strategy for managing vacant land in Cleveland, Ohio, a shrinking city facing population loss and economic decline. The study analyzed Cleveland's urban agriculture movement and municipal policies, including eighteen interviews with local policy experts. Findings indicate that the municipal government supports urban agriculture as a tool for the city's revitalization efforts.
PolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageMetro Vancouver: Designing for Urban Food Production
2011Daniel Roehr, Isabel Kunigk · Berkeley Planning Journal · Canada (Metro Vancouver)
This article focuses on the role landscape architects and planners can take in creating urban food production landscapes, within the context of Metro Vancouver. Significant constraints to expansion exist due to geographical limitations, a steadily growing population, and large low-density residential areas. It is suggested that successful future food production strategies can be achieved by integrating urban agriculture into a wider city planning context and transcending the creation of community gardens.
PolicyCommunityUrban–rural linkageCultivating ImmigrantCommunities and Plants in Los Angeles Urban Gardens
2011Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · United States (Los Angeles)
This sociological study explores the diverse gardens of Los Angeles, including public parks, private residential gardens, a botanical garden, and urban community gardens. It aims to understand the meaning of engaging with these gardens, laboring in them, and being associated with them in both imagination and practice. The study posits that gardens serve as windows revealing the changing social and cultural landscape of Los Angeles.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageFood and Sustainability
2011Jack Russell Weinstein, Jay Basquiat · UND Scholarly Commons (University of North Dakota) · United States
This abstract explores philosophical questions regarding food and sustainability. It raises inquiries about why certain foods are eaten, the meaning of 'natural,' and the moral rules for food manufacturing and agricultural priorities. The text also questions the cultural and spiritual roles of food and responsibilities in providing food. Jay Basquiat is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bismarck State College who sustainably farms near Mandan, ND.
CSA & TeikeiFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageEconomicsSocio-territorial changes in peri-urban food production spaces in Central Mexico
2011Héctor Ávila-Sánchez · Norois · Mexico
This paper discusses socio-territorial changes in peri-urban food production spaces in Central Mexico, focusing on the impacts of urbanization on old rural areas. It highlights that peri-urban poor populations often face marginalization, degradation of their agricultural activities, and conflict over space with other social groups. The development of peri-urban agriculture has led to significant transformations in land use, production structures, and social and cultural aspects.
Equity & displacementPeri-urban agricultureEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban Green Uses: The New Renewal
2011Catherine J. LaCroix · Planning & Environmental Law · United States
This article discusses how cities in the United States, particularly those in the Rust Belt experiencing population decline, are adopting innovative green uses for vacant and surplus land. Facing a new reality of limited growth, cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Youngstown are utilizing urban agriculture, community green spaces, alternative energy, and green infrastructure to revitalize and serve residents. This approach is presented as a "New Renewal" for urban planning challenges.
PolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAgricultura Urbana: ruralidades no espaço intra-urbano de Montes Claros, MG
2011Marina de Fátima Brandão Carneiro, Antônio Maurílio Alencar Feitosa, Dulce Pereira dos Santos, Gabriel Alves Veloso, Igor Martins de Oliveira · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Brazil (Montes Claros)
This study investigated the role and importance of urban agriculture in Montes Claros, MG, Brazil, as a dynamic activity creating a specific rural-urban interaction space. Using bibliographic and documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews with farmers, iconographic production, and geotechnologies for mapping, the research found that urban agriculture is a reality in intra-urban spaces. It occupies vacant lots and backyards with diverse activities, generating work, employment, income, food security, and products for local commerce.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban Agriculture and Other Green Uses: Remaking the Shrinking City
2010Catherine J. LaCroix · Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons (Case Western Reserve University) · United States (Cleveland)
This paper explores legal challenges faced by shrinking cities, using Cleveland, Ohio as an example. It specifically examines issues related to downzoning urban property for urban agriculture and other green uses, focusing on takings law, fairness, and the limitations of current legal structures for Brownfield revitalization when traditional redevelopment is improbable. The study identifies significant legal constraints and challenges in implementing such land use changes.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsTheGeography of US Peri-Urban Agricultural Adaptation
2010J. David Clark, Douglas B. Jackson‐Smith, Darla K. Munroe, Jeff S. Sharp, Shoshanah Inwood · Indian Journal of Experimental Biology · United States
This study characterized diverse trajectories of agricultural change in US peri-urban areas, where broader agri-food system changes are compounded by land use pressures. Utilizing farmer and landowner surveys from five distinct peri-urban farming regions across the United States, the research examined different theories of agricultural structural change. The results provide an empirical profile of the types and geography of US peri-urban agriculture and the most common adaptive strategies employed by farmers at the urban-rural interface.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsUrban–rural linkagePolicyZoning Considerations for Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture
2010John Ikerd · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
According to the American Farmland Trust, approximately 1.2 million acres of U.S. farmland are converted to residential and other commercial uses annually. This farmland conversion is noted to be putting the long-run sustainability of U.S. food production at risk.
PolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceSemillas y la Ciudad: La Agricultura Urbana en Oaxaca de Juárez Como un Aporte a la Soberanía Alimentaria
2010Katie Oberwager · Archives of Oral Biology · Mexico (Oaxaca de Juárez)
This project examined the urban agriculture movement in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico, as a potential local contribution to food sovereignty. Through interviews, observations, and participation, the research found that urban agriculture can be a form of local political expression against governmental and large agricultural company control over food production and consumption. It concluded that while urban agriculture can make a small contribution to food sovereignty, as a local movement, it cannot resolve global agricultural and food issues.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCommunityUrban–rural linkageA Business Plan and Community Vision for a Productive Greenhouse in Seward
2010Megan Sheridan · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · United States (Minneapolis)
This project aimed to facilitate the creation of a commercial urban farm in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. Goals included developing a business plan for an economically viable urban farm. The project found that economic viability without foundation grants is challenging, and site control is key.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityUrban–rural linkagePutting the culture back into agriculture: civic engagement, community and the celebration of local food
2010Jennifer Sumner, Heather Mair, Erin Nelson · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Canada (Ontario)
This paper presents a case study of Fourfold Farm CSA, an urban agriculture exemplar in south-western Ontario, Canada. Analysis of in-depth interviews with CSA members and co-founders revealed that the farm serves as more than just a source of organic food. It links urban food consumers with producers through cultural activities, emphasizing civic engagement and community.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkagePerfil socioeconômico de feirantes brasileiros e bolivianos que comercializam hortaliças folhosas em feiras-livres no município fronteiriço Corumbá-Brasil/Bolívia
2009Mirane dos Santos Costa, Marivaine da Silva Brasil, Alberto Feiden, Adalgiza Inês Campolim · · Brazil/Bolivia
An exploratory study was conducted in the border cities of Corumbá, Brazil, and Puerto Quijarro/Puerto Suarez, Bolivia, to investigate the socioeconomic profile of Brazilian and Bolivian sellers of leafy vegetables at street fairs and their relations with urban farmers. The study aimed to identify the origin, production system of leafy vegetables, and the socioeconomic characteristics of these fair sellers and farmers, with preliminary results presented.
EconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityMaking Connections - Envisioning Springfield's North End
2009David M Ahronian, Kelly R Ashton, Erin G Bassett, Maxwell A Cohen, Victor J Czulak, Gregory S Dunbar, Brendan T Farragher, Jonathan L Gorman, Peter L Guy, Timothy J Iles, Piyawut Inthasorn, Travis A Johnson, Jonathan B. Koch, Justin J Kronewitter, Zachary B Livingston, Matthew Morano, Brian Mulvehill, Kevin Murphy, Sean P O'Connell, Peter W. Stephens, Christopher Tourigny, Bryce P White, Timothy E Young · ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · United States (Springfield)
This work explores a service learning strategy within an Urban Design Studio at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, focused on envisioning Springfield's North End. The project aimed to stimulate conversation, develop green design strategies, improve services, and foster cultural engagement to enhance the community's vibrancy and quality of life. It proposes that improved physical, cultural, and social connectivity is key to achieving these goals, and identified six sustainable learning and planning principles, including urban agriculture and education for healthy living.
Urban–rural linkageFood educationCommunity