Research & reports

Styo Budi Utomo, Dean, Syifa, Nurul · Jurnal ABDIMAS Tri Dharma Manajemen · Indonesia

This research aimed to formulate an effective strategy for building the economic independence of the community in Pamulang Timur Village, Indonesia. A participatory method and SWOT analysis were used to identify local potential, problems, and solutions. The results showed that Pamulang Timur Village has several economic potentials, including the trade sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and urban agriculture.

Dennis Raphael · Policy Press eBooks · Global

This chapter documents the growth of charitable non-governmental responses to food insecurity in Canada and the UK, including food banks and community gardens. It argues that these responses are problematic because they fail to address the economic and political causes of food insecurity. Further failures include the stigma experienced by food bank users and the false belief that food insecurity is being resolved.

Lídia Cabral, Ronald Ranta, Suleyman M. Demi, Ísis Domingues, Julian May, Claire Néel, Grace Nkomo, Luciana Marques Vieira, Marie Walser · · Global

An international research collaboration examined grass-roots food provisioning innovations in five urban locations across the UK, Canada, France, Brazil, and South Africa. These initiatives, which include social supermarkets and school gardens, faced challenges such as dependence on surplus food, logistical problems, funding limitations, and the need for ongoing volunteer support. The study found that these innovations struggle with economic viability due to funding and volunteer reliance.

Rebecca Lindberg, Stephanie Godrich · · Australia

This chapter proposes a typology of Australian food charity, describing seven types of food aid provision in Australia. The typology includes large warehousing foodbanks, community food charity, emergency and disaster responses, networks, social enterprises, community gardens and farms, and school food charity programmes. These food assistance agencies play a vital role in Australia's food space and are involved in addressing hunger and food insecurity.

Kurt Ackermann, Tamsin Faragher · CABI climate change series. · South Africa (Cape Town)

A three-year case study of the Langa Agrihub in Cape Town, South Africa, supports a network of over 250 urban farmers comprising more than 30 food gardens. The Agrihub provides inputs, infrastructure, knowledge exchange, and market connections, serving as a platform for civic participation, social cohesion, and local agency. This chapter states that the primary value of community food gardens lies in enabling communities to mitigate and adapt to intersecting stresses, including economic marginalisation, environmental degradation, and infrastructure shortcomings like water scarcity.

Nina Madrigal Zuluaga, Sebastián Ardila Osorio, Diana Carolina Perez Torres · Revista de la Facultad de Trabajo Social · Colombia (Santander de Quilichao)

This article describes a 2020 research project in Santander de Quilichao, Colombia, focused on food security and community strengthening for families with children with disabilities. The project implemented community gardens and provided training to parents, benefiting 45 families and 150 individuals with 30 urban gardens and 2 home gardens. The research demonstrated positive results, showing how community development can be approached integrally by incorporating community elements to facilitate access and participation for people with disabilities.

Sheila Uside Alumasa, Dina Cartagena Magnaye · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science · Philippines (Metro Manila)

A case study evaluated a nearly decade-old urban farming program in a highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. The study revealed that vulnerable families depend on urban farming for daily food and alternative employment opportunities. However, a lack of land ownership or tenure rights for urban farming exacerbates food insecurity, hinders access to affordable food, and impedes innovation within the urban farming system.

Kejela Gnamura, Michael Akwasi Antwi, A Belete · Land · Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)

This mixed-methods study investigated the effects of urbanization-induced displacement on economic capital security by comparing 223 evicted and 223 non-evicted peri-urban farming households in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Logistic regression and thematic content analysis revealed that evicted households are approximately 72.7% less likely to achieve economic security compared to non-evicted households. The study concluded significant differences in household economic capital security between the two groups.

Bree Bode, Sarah L. Mott, Jacob M. Cutler, Nicole Jess, Sarah Panken, Marci Scott · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · United States (Michigan)

Nutrition education was provided to SNAP-eligible shoppers at Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) sites in Michigan. This multi-phase, mixed-methods study evaluated the delivery of nutrition education, shopper needs, and behavioral outcomes through outcome surveys, staff feedback, educator activity logs, and focus groups with shoppers and educators. Results indicated significantly higher fruit and vegetable consumption among shoppers compared to national SNAP incentive participants, and qualitative themes included relating over transacting and personalized experiential education.

Rohaiza Rokis · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science · Malaysia

This qualitative study in Kampung Kerdas, Malaysia, investigated a community-synergised academic activities programme initiated by AHAS KIRKHS at the International Islamic University Malaysia, integrating a Sociology and Anthropology course with the Kampung Kerdas community's needs. Through narrative analysis, in-depth interviews, and participatory observation, the project was shown to promote environmental sustainability, economic empowerment, and social cohesion among community members via community-driven initiatives and educational workshops. It also provided practical training for SOCA students and academics, creating a sustainable model for urban poverty eradication and holistic community development.

Susanne Berliner · · Global

This narration observes a community garden as a space of social diversity, functioning as a "cosmopolitan canopy" where people from different backgrounds interact. While a cosmopolitan spirit exists, the garden is not neutral; its permeable boundaries and internal segregation indicate it is permeated by power dynamics and control.

Sara Mahdizadeh, Yun Gao · Local Environment · United Kingdom

This qualitative study, based on 16 semi-structured interviews, examined motivations and barriers to participation in community gardens in Huddersfield, UK. Key motivations included social interaction, mental well-being, and skill development. Reported barriers were declining volunteer numbers, physical workload, limited institutional support, and accessibility challenges.

Lara Fernanda Carlos Lima, Cláudio Fernando Gomes Gonçalves, Diego Santos, Ingrid de Oliveira Carvalho, Marília Victória Nunes Garcez, Wállyson Alves e Silva, Vítor Souza da Costa, Júlio César Paiva e Silva, Samira Rêgo Martins de Deus Leal · Revista Multidisciplinar do Nordeste Mineiro · Brazil (Teresina)

This qualitative and descriptive study reports on the "Cultivating Health" project, conducted from April to October 2025 in Teresina, Brazil, with 8 to 14 community garden horticulturists. The project, led by a multidisciplinary team, used active methodologies to address health topics. Findings showed the group fostered knowledge exchange, socialization, and well-being, strengthening ties between professionals and the community.

Francisco García, Francisco Vergara‐Perucich · Urban Planning · Chile (Santiago)

This article examines how "ollas comunes" (community-led survival kitchens) in Santiago, Chile, contest the dominant logic of neoliberal governance and ownership within public space. Emerging during the 2019 social revolt and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic to address food insecurity, these initiatives reclaim streets as arenas of collective care, mobility, and embodied everyday democracy by providing free communal meals. Based on qualitative data from interviews, focus groups, and participant observations, findings demonstrate that cooking and eating in the street transform physical streetscapes and mobility patterns, producing emergent publics, meanings, and solidarities.

Sabounchi, Saina, Saheb, Anahita Javanmardi, Adhami, Sadaf, Minouei, Alan · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · United States (Cambridge)

A study using 2020 U.S. Census data across 87 block groups in Cambridge, Massachusetts, found that higher social vulnerability was positively associated with greater sidewalk presence. However, social vulnerability showed no significant associations with open space acreage, pedestrian ramps, community gardens, or public art landmarks.

Sawsan Salah, Lori A. Francis · Journal of Clinical and Translational Science · United States

This project developed a community garden at a childcare center in Harrisburg, PA, serving a low-income community where 74.6% of residents identified as Black or Hispanic/Latino. A listening session with six community members provided positive feedback and ideas for the garden, which was then installed with four beds. Weekly gardening activities engaged 20-50 children (n=50 total in summer program) for nine weeks, resulting in positive responses from children and staff, demonstrating the feasibility of such an initiative.

Moses Wanyakha, Nancy Grudens‐Schuck · International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development · United States

This qualitative study reviewed data from 32 counties in Iowa over five years to assess stakeholder participation in Master Gardener community garden donation programs. The analysis found that while these programs engage many stakeholders, the involvement of food pantry patrons in the planning process was low. This low patron involvement limits the programs' ability to effectively serve the community and achieve sustainability and efficacy in providing fresh produce.

Pinder, Elizabeth · CSUSB ScholarWorks (California State University, San Bernardino) · United States (California)

This study evaluated the impact of the Caramel Connections Foundation (CCF) Seeds of Joy Community Garden in Ontario, California, on social equity, public health, and community engagement. Using a mixed-methods design, secondary data from program records, surveys, and focus groups were analyzed. The findings suggest that the garden enhances social cohesion and contributes to health equity by addressing food insecurity and increasing access to nutritious food, green space, and educational programs.

Kathryn Chang, Samantha Brink, Annette B. Gadegbeku · Transformative Medicine · United States

A pilot study on implementing an indoor urban gardening cart at Drexel University in the United States. Noting that "food deserts" - areas lacking affordable full-service grocery stores and with a high density of fast-food options - exist not only in communities like Philadelphia but also on college campuses, the student group Microgreens Health Outreach Project (HOP) built and implemented a small, free-standing indoor community garden cart intended for use by Drexel University College of Medicine (DUCOM) students, after consulting DUCOM's Office of Student Affairs and the owners of the Health Sciences Building (HSB) on funding, responsibility, space, and permanence. The cart was installed on the ninth floor of HSB in September 2024. The project found little existing literature on indoor urban gardening and so was unable to effectively compare its construction costs against prior work, instead designing a custom-built cart through internet research and price comparisons; communication, funding, and a supportive DUCOM community were identified as crucial to its success. The study recommends future research into microgreen taste preferences and the effectiveness of shared harvesting and community garden rules.

Nurul Chairiyah, Nur Indah Mansyur, Eko Harry Pudjiwati, Nurjannah Nurjannah, Arbain Arbain · ABDINE Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat · Indonesia

This report describes a community service program conducted in Tarakan City, Indonesia, in January 2025, that trained women in hydroponic cultivation (Nutrient Film Technique) of lettuce and mustard greens (sawi) to address food-land loss from urbanization and population growth. Twenty women from the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) group participated, and their average technical-skill score rose by 38 points. Harvested produce was used 50% for household consumption, 30% sold, and 20% shared with neighbors, with economic effects of roughly Rp300,000 per month in household expenditure savings and Rp200,000 per month in additional income.

Aline Oliveira Zoia do Amaral, Regina Yoshie Matsue, Luciana Yuki Tomita · Ambiente & sociedade · Brazil (São Paulo)

This engaged, reflexive case study analyzed the implementation of a community garden in a condominium in Heliópolis, a high social-vulnerability neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil, and the participants' motivations, drawing on participant observation, a field diary, and semi-structured interviews. The garden was established through crowdfunding (a "vaquinha virtual"). It contributed to the household budget, expanded the variety of vegetables consumed to include unconventional food plants, and improved diet. It also became a space for recovering affective memories, socializing, an activity for elderly women, and bringing the condominium's children closer to the practice of growing food.

Human Sciences Research Council · Figshare · South Africa

A 2025 study from South Africa's Western Cape used propensity score matching on data from 220 households — those participating in Department of Agriculture-funded backyard garden projects plus a control group — to assess urban agriculture's contribution to household food security. Households engaged in urban agriculture benefited from greater dietary diversity and income from selling produce, but the study found no significant positive contribution of urban agriculture to food security.

Samuel Ikendi, Michael S. Retallick, Gail R. Nonnecke, Theressa N. Cooper, Francis Owusu · Journal of Agricultural Education · Global

A 2025 comparative study of alumni from Iowa State University (ISU) and Makerere University (MAK) who participated in a summer school garden service-learning program run through the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Uganda between 2006 and 2019. Grounded in intergroup contact theory, a self-administered questionnaire was sent to 274 alumni via Qualtrics with a 94.2% response rate, measuring change in self-perceived appreciation of differences (SAD) and awareness of structural inequalities (ASI). ISU alumni showed greater changes in knowledge, attitudes, and awareness than MAK alumni; race, ethnicity, and gender accounted for differences, with white and female ISU alumni showing greater changes than alumni of color and male alumni respectively, and binational housing arrangements also influenced the differences.

N H Alias, Nor Hafizah Mohamed Harith, Thenmolli Vadeveloo · Journal of Administrative Science · Malaysia

This qualitative study used thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 10 residents of low-income neighborhoods in Selangor, Malaysia, to examine food access and the sustainability of food security. Five themes emerged: economic constraints, geographical and infrastructure barriers, food price and market fluctuation, limited involvement in urban agriculture, and coping strategies for food insecurity. Financial difficulty was found to be the most significant barrier to food access, forcing households toward less healthy but more affordable food, and while households' coping strategies were resourceful, they were unsustainable, underscoring the need for long-term policy intervention.

CiAuna Heard · Environmental Education Research · Global

Using the author's own course, "Race, Gender, and Environmental Justice," as a case study, this article argues that justice-oriented climate education is strengthened when rooted in Black ecofeminist pedagogy. Set against the context of Jesuit educational institutions' commitments to sustainability since Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical Laudato Si', it examines how Black ecofeminist pedagogy contributes to interrogating epistemological authority, developing structural analytical frameworks and embodied engagement with the lived world, arguing that it challenges Western Christian epistemological, methodological and political norms and pushes Jesuit environmental education toward a more critical stance on racial and gender justice.