Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
3701 results(80 / 149)
PENENTU SOSIAL PENGLIBATAN KOMUNITI DALAM PROJEK KEBUN KOMUNITI BANDAR: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN URBAN COMMUNITY GARDEN PROJECTS
2019Zaidi Tajuddin, Sarmila Md Sum, Rosmiza Mohd Zainol, Hamzah Jusoh · · Malaysia
This article reviews the issue of community involvement in urban community garden projects, focusing on social determinants that influence project sustainability. Analysis of past studies contributed to a better understanding of significant factors affecting the community in the People’s Housing Program area. It concludes that future research is needed to study the community gardening experience in Malaysia and the factors affecting community involvement.
CommunityPolicyHealthOpuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. growing in soil and containers for urban agriculture in developing areas
2019A. Pardini, Furio Massolino, Chiara Grassi · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
In urban agriculture in developing areas, Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. is a promising strategic species due to its low water and soil fertility requirements and its edible entirety. This study conducted a trial comparing the initial productivity of cladodes multiplied in pots, car tires, and open fields. Results suggest that the prickly pear can be cropped better in large exhausted tires than in small plots, also saving money on materials.
DIYFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeAgricultura urbana: ¿Nuevo mercado multifuncional?
2019Julián Briz Escribano, Isabel de Felipe Boente · Mundo del agrónomo: la revista del Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Centro y Canarias · Global
Urban naturalization, as the incorporation of nature into our environment, can occur spontaneously and invasively through what are called "weeds" with native flora and fauna, or in a controlled manner through agriculture, both in orchards and gardens.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityImpacts of Urban waste use on Soil Microbial activities in Urban Agriculture
2019Rayim Wendé Alice Nare, Stephania Boua, Rockia Marie Nadege Zerbo, Richard Madege · Research Journal of Science and Technology · Burkina Faso
This study assessed the impact of urban waste application on soil microbial activities in Burkina Faso. Soil amended with urban waste showed significantly higher Soil Induced Respiration (SIR) (0.049 mg C g−1 soil h−1) compared to manure-amended (0.0212 mg C g−1 soil h−1) and control soils (0.0114 mg C g−1 soil h−1). Urban waste amendment also significantly decreased lag time by 50% and maximal response time (Tmax) by 53%, indicating increased microbial biomass and rapid growth of soil microorganisms. The results suggest that adding urban waste to soils is likely to result in carbon sequestration.
Organic cycleCompostBiodiversityFuturistic Urbanism- Integrating Farming into Urban Landscape for Sustainable Development
2019· International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) · Global
Unplanned urban expansion leads to the conversion of farmland, causing urban environmental degradation and food security concerns. This paper analyzes the correlation between urban farming and supporting food demands in urban areas. It further discusses critical challenges and opportunities for promoting urban farming as a significant tool for encouraging balanced sustenance in urban areas.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyFood system lessons from the SDGs
2019Alison Blay‐Palmer, Laine Young · · Global
This abstract discusses how initiatives like the Habitat III New Urban Agenda and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact can complement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at municipal and regional scales. It explores the complexities of SDG 2 (food and hunger) when considering SDG 5 (gender equality), suggesting that urban agriculture and agroecology offer potential for transformative opportunities and policy coherence.
PolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityDirect and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality
2019Simon Tresch, David Frey, Renée‐Claire Le Bayon, Paul Mäder, Bernhard Stehle, Andreas Fließbach, Marco Moretti · Scientific Reports · Switzerland (Zurich)
A study in 85 urban gardens across Zurich, Switzerland, investigated the impact of gardening on five soil functions and the relationship between plant (600 spp.) and soil fauna (18 earthworm spp., 39 springtail spp.). High plant diversity positively affected soil fauna and multifunctionality, but intense garden management decreased plant diversity. This indicates a trade-off where intensive gardening, while potentially beneficial for some aspects, can negatively impact overall plant diversity.
Environmental trade-offsBiodiversityOrganic cycleCommunityDiagnostic Agronomique de la Riziculture Périurbaine dans la Commune de Ziguinchor au Sénégal
2019Maurice Dasylva, Ngor Ndour, Bienvenu Sambou, Sara Danielle Dieng · European Scientific Journal ESJ · Senegal (Ziguinchor)
In Ziguinchor, Senegal, the peri-urban rice farming system contributes to food security but is ignored by decision-makers and suffers from urbanization and physicochemical changes in rice field soils. An agronomic diagnosis, based on 180 yield squares (1/4m side) installed in 4 peri-urban valleys, showed average yields of 4.79 ± 0.35 t.ha-1. However, urbanization, silting, acidification, and progressive salinization of soils are the main limiting factors for this production system.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyPollutants in Urban Agriculture
2019Camille Dumat, Antoine Pierart, Muhammad Shahid, Sana Khalid · · Global
Urban agriculture, while a strategy for sustainable food production, faces a serious threat from natural and anthropogenic pollution sources in urban and peri-urban environments. These sources release hazardous organic and inorganic contaminants, leading to a high likelihood of human exposure. Consumption of vegetables grown on polluted urban soils or those that have intercepted metal-rich atmospheric particles represents a potential route of pollutant exposure and human health hazard.
Contamination & food safetyHealthPeri-urban agricultureThe Role of Urban Agriculture in Alleviating Poverty Facing Women in Tanzania: A Review
2019Emmanuel Patroba Mhache, Elna Lyamuya · Huria Journal of the Open University of Tanzania · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
This review paper examined the role of urban agriculture in alleviating poverty for women in the Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It found that women's participation in urban agriculture contributes to food security, increases household income (average net income Tshs 58,356.2 per month), offers employment, and reduces poverty. However, numerous bottlenecks hinder women's involvement in urban agriculture, including poor markets, water shortage, land shortage, seed unavailability, lack of capital, lack of government support, crude working tools, lack of water pumping machines for irrigation, poor storage facilities, and lack of agricultural extension services.
Equity & displacementWelfareEconomicsBiodiversityClimate changePolicyVicar Ioan Marian, Edifier of Pedagogical Education in Năsăud (Romania)
2019Horațiu Catalano · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Romania
This survey aimed to highlight the complex personality of curate-educator Ioan Marian and his contributions to the social, educational, and cultural life in Năsăud County, Romania. His name is connected to the establishment of the first preparatory course for teacher training on November 1, 1837, in addition to the Năsăud Normal School. He also founded a school for girls, ordered the construction of schools in frontier villages, increased teachers' salaries, set up school gardens for pomiculture, and contributed to the education of people with hearing impairments.
Food educationCommunityAgroecology, the Interaction between Agriculture and Environment: An Example from Cuba
2019Ana Cristina Teixeira Alves, Miguel Nenevé · International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science · Cuba
This study addresses the benefits of agroecology, using Havana, Cuba as an example. Following the 1989 socialist crisis and economic blockade, urban agriculture emerged as a social movement in Havana. Through sustainable practices, this movement demonstrates success in generating jobs and income, as well as enhancing food security and sovereignty. Production, technical assistance, and sales outlets are steadily growing, supported by the government through an ecological and efficient low-cost agricultural policy that combines traditional knowledge with cutting-edge technology.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsClimate changeCommunityUrban Allotment Gardens for the Biomonitoring of Atmospheric Trace Element Pollution
2019Miguel Izquierdo‐Díaz, Peter E. Holm, Fernando Barrio‐Parra, Eduardo De Miguel, Jonas Duus Stevens Lekfeldt, Jakob Magid · Journal of Environmental Quality · Global
This study evaluated air pollution in urban green areas using edible plants. Analysis of 36 unwashed leaf samples showed that plants exposed next to roads had higher contents of traffic-related elements, and outdoor samples were enriched in marine aerosol ions. Cadmium and lead concentrations did not exceed European legal maximum levels for vegetables, indicating their consumption would be safe.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityPropuesta metodológica simple para el cultivo agrícola urbano (basada en la experiencia de una familia venezolana en Viena)
2019Debbie Méndez, Julio Quintini · · Austria (Vienna)
This project proposes a simple 7-step methodology for urban agriculture, based on the experience of a Venezuelan family participating in a community garden in Vienna, Austria, for two years. The methodology aims to enable urban residents to create sustainable communities, improve nutrition with fresh produce, and generate economic gains and better quality of life. It draws on successful urban agriculture experiences globally and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals 2, 11, and 13.
CommunityDIYFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeCentro Socio Cultural Energético Awarala - Albania La Guajira
2019Llanos Roa, Juan Sebastián · · Colombia (La Guajira)
The Awarala Project in Albania, La Guajira, Colombia, aims to create a resilient region by reducing dependence on mining and gasoline smuggling. It seeks to benefit indigenous communities, urban populations, farmers, and Venezuelan immigrants by improving living conditions through eco-rancherias with community gardens and providing spaces for tourism and alternative energy production. The project includes 15 hectares of solar panels, 30 wind turbines, and biodigesters for organic waste.
CommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeGardening with children and pre-service teachers
2019Janice Kroeger, Terri Cardy, Abigail E. Recker, Lynn Gregor, Aubrey Ryan, Anna Beckwith, Jacob Dunwiddie · · Global
This study aimed to enhance pre-service teachers' abilities to engage in hands-on work in school gardens with primary and preschool children. A professor and her students worked to build reciprocity and social connections globally. This initiative involved North American and Ghanaian Elders collaborating to nurture children's understanding of growing spaces and address the common notion of caring for the Earth.
Food educationCommunityEvaluación de la gestión de proyectos de inversión en la agricultura urbana
2019Milagros de la Caridad Mata Varela, Johana Meza Salvatierra, Ana Yilian Santana Mata · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This research evaluated investment project management in urban agriculture through its life cycle, applying eighteen indicators and a management index. The study concluded that an agroecological farm development project exhibited economic inefficiency during its first two years of operation due to an imbalance between income and expenses, preventing high management values.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyThe foreseen future of urban gardening
2019Efrat Eizenberg · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global
This concluding chapter reviews the literature on urban gardening, outlining both enthusiastic approaches that focus on its transformative potential and critical approaches that analyze it as greenwash or a strategy of neoliberal development. The chapter discusses how the book's chapters address this gap in understanding urban gardening and the resolutions and new directions they offer. It states that urban gardening is sometimes analyzed as a form of greenwash and a strategy of neoliberal development.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceTranslating Urban Walkability Initiatives for Older Adults in Rural and Under-Resourced Communities
2019Alexandra Klann, Linh Gia Vu, Mollie Ewing, Mark Fenton, Rachele Pojednic · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global
This review examines best practices from urban initiatives to increase walkability for older adults, focusing on their implementation in rural, resource-limited communities. The literature review revealed that simple, built environment approaches such as microscale and pop-up infrastructure, municipal parks, and community gardens can increase physical activity in urban neighborhoods for older adults. These strategies suggest great potential for rural communities.
CommunityHealthElderlyProgramas de agricultura urbana como estrategia para la generación de modelos de negocios inclusivos
2019Juan Sebastián Hernandez, Diego Cardona Arbeláez, Clara Judith Brito Carrillo · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Colombia
This paper presents a qualitative case study of an urban agriculture program implemented by an NGO in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from July 2017 to June 2018. The program targeted low-income populations, aiming to improve their food, environmental, and economic conditions. The study details the program's success factors, challenges, benefits for beneficiaries, and describes an inclusive business model derived from the NGO's strategy.
CommunityEconomicsWelfareUrban Agriculture, Production and Marketing: The Tanzania Experience
2019M. R. S. Mlozi · · Tanzania
This chapter presents research findings from an urban agriculture project conducted in several towns in Tanzania. It discusses the market flow of agricultural products in Tanzanian towns, explaining that products come from two sources: household compounds and gardens, plots, and various open spaces not part of urban dwellers' household compounds. Several factors are involved in production and marketing operations, and their complexity tends to intensify and exacerbate problems.
EconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceSituated agroecology: massification and reclaiming university programs in Venezuela
2019Olga Domené-Painenao, Francisco Herrera · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Venezuela
The Bolivarian University of Venezuela established the Program Degree in Agroecology (PDA) in 2004 to expand agroecological practices and knowledge. Over a decade, more than a thousand PDA graduates have contributed to agroecological scaling in urban and rural areas, playing a key role in urban agriculture amidst economic crisis. The PDA has created human talent for territorializing agroecology and institutionalizing pro-peasant policy in Venezuela.
Food sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsFood educationUrban–rural linkageMeasuring the Fate of Compost-Derived Phosphorus in Native Soil below Urban Gardens
2019Gaston E. Small, Sara Osborne, Paliza Shrestha, Adam D. Kay · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ·
This study measured phosphorus (P) concentrations in native soil below four- and six-year-old urban garden plots, collecting soil cores from five plots of each age. It found that inorganic weakly exchangeable P was significantly elevated in native soil below garden plots (>35 cm deep) compared to reference profiles, indicating accumulation of excess P from compost. This suggests that while urban agriculture can recycle P, over-application of compost may contribute to soil and water pollution.
Environmental trade-offsCompostOrganic cycleTemperature Variability Differs in Urban Agroecosystems across Two Metropolitan Regions
2019Monika Egerer, Brenda B. Lin, Dave Kendal · Climate · Global
Habitat-scale temperatures were investigated in urban community gardens across the California Central Coast metropolitan region, USA, and the Melbourne metropolitan region, Australia. Despite very similar annual means, strong interregional differences in temperature variability were shown, likely due to differences in the scale and scope of temperature measurements and regional topography. The plants growing within these systems were largely the same, which may be due to gardeners' capacities to adapt their gardening behaviors to reduce adverse effects of local temperature variability.
CommunityClimate changeUrban–rural linkagePower-shifts in the organizational landscapes of transport provision
2019Nadine Appelhans, Sabine Baumgart · · Morocco
An analysis of documents related to planning and agriculture and interviews with experts in Morocco indicated that urban and rural issues were treated as separate areas. Urban development affects daily travel distances as urban expansion changes distances between cultivated land and dwelling places. Data from Morocco show a lack of serious support for urban agriculture and animal husbandry in expanding urban agglomerations.
Governance failureEconomicsUrban–rural linkagePolicyCommunity