Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
3144 results(8 / 126)
Securing the future of urban agriculture: Legislative reform and planning for sustainability in sub-Saharan African cities
2025· ScienceDirect · Sub-Saharan Africa
Examines legislative reform and urban planning integration needed to secure sustainable urban agriculture in sub-Saharan African cities. Notes only 3.62% of countries have implemented national urban policies with focus on urban farming integration.
PolicyFAO and Brazil launch new regional project to transform urban agrifood systems in Latin America
2025FAO & Government of Brazil · FAO Official News · Latin America
FAO and Government of Brazil launched a regional project in May 2025 to strengthen urban agrifood systems across Latin America and the Caribbean. Seven countries participate (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru). Aims to build integrated food systems connecting urban and rural areas, strengthening small-farmer capacity.
PolicyUrban food waste generation and sustainable management strategies: a case study of Nonthaburi Municipality, Thailand
2025· Scientific Reports · Nonthaburi, Thailand
Uses stratified random sampling of markets, restaurants, institutions, and residential areas to analyse urban food waste generation and sustainable management strategies in Nonthaburi Municipality, Thailand.
Food lossPolicyClosing the nutrient loop between urban and rural areas: a case study analyzing the technical potential of recycling fertilizers from urban biorefineries
2025Trenkner M., Kiesel A., Bauerle A., Lewandowski I. · Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining · Stuttgart, Germany
Analyses the technical potential of urban biorefinery concepts for recycling plant nutrients from waste streams and wastewater in a German metropolitan region to close the urban-rural nutrient loop.
Organic cycleFood lossPolicyLeaching the good stuff: nitrogen and phosphorus in real and experimental urban agricultural settings
2025Metson G., Sieczko A., Small G. · npj Urban Sustainability · United States and Sweden
Field measurements in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Linkoping, Sweden showed that fertilized urban agriculture plots leached nitrogen and phosphorus, with legacy soil-management effects amplifying phosphorus losses, indicating urban growing can contribute to water-body eutrophication.
Organic cyclePolicyA carbon-centric evaluation framework for building-integrated agriculture: a comparison of three farm types and building standards
2025Imam M., Glaros A. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global
A carbon assessment of building-integrated agriculture (vertical farms, rooftop greenhouses, soil-based urban farms) concluded that BIA does not consistently deliver climate benefits over conventional agriculture and can be less resource-efficient, with soil-based urban farms carrying the highest embodied carbon per kilogram.
PolicyEconomicsTowards Sustainable Vertical Farming: A Systematic Review of Energy Return on Investment Efficiency and Optimization Strategies
2025Aborujilah A. · Sustainability · Global
A systematic review of 52 studies concluded that, despite efficiency advances, large-scale adoption of vertical farming remains impeded by high energy requirements and costs, leaving its energy-return sustainability in question.
EconomicsPolicyVertical farming limitations and potential demonstrated by back-of-the-envelope calculations
2025Lovat S., Noor E., Milo R. · Plant Physiology · Global
The analysis shows vertical farming requires large amounts of energy and, under the recent average electricity mix, could substantially increase greenhouse gas emissions with limited land benefit; it is not cost-competitive with cereals or pulses and only marginally so for tomatoes and lettuce.
EconomicsPolicyA Comparative LCA of Field Grown Lettuce Versus Vertically Farmed Lettuce
2025Gargaro M., Harris Z. · Food and Energy Security · United Kingdom
Even on renewable electricity, vertically farmed lettuce emitted about 0.93 kg CO2e/kg versus about 0.57 for UK field farms, with higher impacts in all but one category (water) and roughly twice the land footprint.
EconomicsPolicySupporting the small market gardening sector in France: Comparison of two policy options
2025Lecole P., Preget R., Thoyer S. · Ecological Economics · France
Premised on the economic fragility of small market gardens and their need for public support, the study compares France's coupled aid program with a small-farmers subsidy scheme, reflecting that the sector struggles to be self-sustaining without policy support.
EconomicsPolicyBeyond the blueprint: Rethinking governance and sustainability in Cape Town's community gardens
2025Kanosvamhira T. · Journal of Urban Affairs · Cape Town, South Africa
While external support from nonprofits and government agencies matters for garden survival, poorly managed support can undermine local ownership and autonomy. The case study shows how governance failures threaten the sustainability of community gardens.
PolicyCommunityIntegrating urban and peri-urban agriculture in planning systems. Barriers, policy tools and recommendations
2025· Planning Practice & Research · Global
The paper identifies structural barriers to embedding urban and peri-urban agriculture in planning systems, including outdated zoning, fragmented governance, weak interdepartmental coordination, and inadequate financing, which leave agriculture routinely sidelined in favor of real-estate development.
PolicyGrowing pains: Successes and barriers in London, Ontario's urban agriculture strategy
2025Bloomfield R., Miedema K., Lee D., Ellis R., Nasr J. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · Canada (London, Ontario)
Evaluates London, Ontario's 2017 stand-alone Urban Agriculture Strategy—Canada's first. Finds that nearly eight years on, many of the strategy's goals remain unrealised, attributing the implementation gap to shortfalls in leadership, staff capacity, technical guidance, and communication.
PolicyNurturing Socio-ecological Spaces Through Urban Gardening Practices in India: An Exploration of Alternate Imaginations
2025Deborah Dutta, Amrita Hazra · SAGE Journals · India
Explores socio-ecological dimensions of urban gardening practices in India. Examines how citizen-driven agriculture nurtures social spaces, ecological value, and innovative imagination in urban contexts.
Food educationCommunityPolicyHealthUrban agriculture: A strategic pathway to building resilience and ensuring sustainable food security in cities
2025Urban Food Security Research Consortium · ScienceDirect · Global
Analyzes urban agriculture as a strategic pathway for building city resilience and food security, examining policy integration and governance frameworks
PolicyAssessing Citizens' Perceptions of Urban Agriculture and Its Contribution to Food Security—Worldwide Analysis and Specific Case Studies in Spain
2025· MDPI · Spain / Worldwide
Worldwide survey and case studies in Spain (Valladolid and Segovia) analyzing citizens' perceptions of urban agriculture and its contribution to food security. Collected over 250 responses from nearly all continents.
CommunityPolicyFood-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review
2025Leanne Idzerda, Calin Lazarescu, Tricia Corrin, Eric Vallières, Alix Couture, Sara Khan, Lynn McIntyre, Valerie Tarasuk, Alejandra Jaramillo Garcia · Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada · Canada
A systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42021254450) searching four databases to 19 February 2025, with duplicate independent screening, risk-of-bias assessment and certainty grading, on food-based interventions that could reduce household food insecurity (HFI) in Canada. Exposure to food voucher programmes may reduce HFI, but exposure to food box, community gardening, school food, hunting and fishing, and food charity programmes may have little to no effect on HFI. The authors conclude that because HFI is primarily an economic problem, food-based responses are unlikely to have a major impact on overall HFI and a more comprehensive public policy approach is required. This is direct counter-evidence to framing community gardens as a food-insecurity intervention.
Limited or null effectHealthPolicyCommunityAn Urban Farm-Anchored Produce Prescription Program's Impacts On Weight Reduction
2025Kaitlyn M. Fruin, Elizabeth L. Tung, Jean M. Franczyk, Ketaurah James, Andrew J. Koetz, Angela K. Mason, Wayne M. Detmer · Health Affairs · United States (Chicago)
An evaluation of VeggieRx, a produce prescription programme anchored to the Farm on Ogden — a 20,000-square-foot urban agriculture facility opened in 2016 in a historically disinvested food desert in Chicago, Illinois, by the Chicago Botanic Garden together with Lawndale Christian Health Center. Clinicians refer patients to the farm for free produce boxes, nutrition counselling and cooking classes. Using a retrospective, propensity-score-weighted cohort design covering January 2016 to December 2021, the study compared 680 VeggieRx participants with 978 weighted controls and found a mean body weight difference of −6.71 pounds (−4.7% of body weight) at eighteen months. Because the design is observational rather than randomised, residual confounding such as selection by motivation cannot be excluded.
HealthEconomicsPolicyCommunityDeterminants of urban agriculture and green infrastructure integration in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia
2025Ermias Debie, Demsew Mengistie · Discover Sustainability · Ethiopia
This study investigated the determinants of Urban Agriculture (UA) and Green Infrastructure (GI) integration in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected through surveys and analyzed using binary and ordinal logistic regression models. Findings revealed that a lack of awareness and lower education levels, such as no formal and primary education, significantly hinder the integration of UA and GI practices. Conversely, larger residential spaces and household sizes positively influence integration levels, with each additional household member increasing the score by 0.236 units for consumption needs, and each unit increase in residential site size raising the score by 0.004 units due to space availability.
CommunityPolicyFood educationTowards sustainable urban agriculture in the arid GCC states: Drivers of technology adoption among small-scale farmers
2025Elnazir Ramadan, Suliman Zakaria Suliman Abdalla, Ali Al Ahbabi, Tarig Gibreel, Naeema Al Hosani · City and Environment Interactions · Asia
This study explored factors influencing agricultural technology adoption among small-scale urban farmers in pre-urban areas of the arid Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Using a structured questionnaire and ordinal logistic regression, it identified performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, trust, and cultural norms as key drivers of adoption. Perceived risk negatively influenced adoption, while compatibility was not statistically significant.
Digital agriculturePeri-urban agricultureEconomicsPolicyReimagining land use planning: mixed residential–agricultural land use as a pathway to sustaining agriculture in Ghanaian cities
2025Nurudeen Issifu, Owusu Amponsah, Daniel Kwame Blija, Stephen Appiah Takyi, Abdul Majeed Issah, Abdul-Wahid Alhassan · International Planning Studies · Ghana
This study assessed whether mixed residential-agricultural land use can sustain urban agriculture and if residential landowners in rapidly urbanizing Ghanaian cities are willing to allocate plot space to agriculture. Researchers surveyed 280 landowners across four peri-urban settlements in Kumasi and used geospatial data to estimate available residential space. Nearly four out of five landowners were willing to cede their backyards for micro-farming, with geospatial estimates identifying 75.65 hectares of available residential area across the settlements, equivalent to approximately 0.03 ha per plot (about 23% of an average 0.13 ha plot). These findings suggest the potential of backyard micro-farming as a strategy for sustaining urban agriculture.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureCommunityAgricultura urbana e periurbana : conceitos, experiências brasileiras e internacionais e o Programa Nacional de AUP
2025César Nunes de Castro · Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Ipea) eBooks · Brazil
This chapter aims to provide an overview of urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUP) in Brazil and evaluate the inherent challenges of the activity, including the potential role of the National AUP Program (PNAUP) in promoting its development.
PolicyPeri-urban agricultureAGRICULTURA URBANA: CONSUMO E PRODUÇÃO RESPONSÁVEIS, ODS 12/AGENDA 2030
2025Maria de Nazareth Oliveira Maciel, Luann Yago Oliveira Maciel · Aracê. · Global
This descriptive review study examined whether urban agriculture aligns with SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) of Agenda 2030 and generates social benefits for producers, analyzing articles published from 2019 to 2022 from Scielo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The results showed that urban agriculture aligns with SDG 12, generating ten main social benefits, including improved quality of life, social inclusion, food security, and promotion of mental and physical health.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceA case study of community-led edible landscape revitalization in post-industrial Shenyang, China
2025Hang Yu, Mohd Yazid Mohd Yunos, Mohd Nazri Saidon, Mohd Amirul Hussain · Landscape Research · China (Shenyang)
This study critically examined how community-led edible landscapes intersect with tensions of urban redevelopment, memory politics, and governance ambiguity in post-industrial Shenyang, China. Using a qualitative case study approach, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and spatial documentation, findings showed that while edible landscapes can revitalize neglected spaces and evoke industrial memory, they also face instability, informal governance, and socio-environmental risks.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeUrban Agriculture: The Food Movement Moves On
2025Paul Β. Thompson · · Global
This article discusses urban agriculture, noting that the decline of grocery stores in inner cities and projected vulnerabilities in megacities outside the global West suggest distinct moral imperatives. It contrasts urban agriculture with rural resilience and sustainable intensification, highlighting its focus on consumption and present needs. The article describes two urban agriculture archetypes: one embracing high-tech solutions and another emphasizing local solidarities and urban-based control over the food system.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justicePolicyDigital agriculture