Research & reports

Efe Can Gürcan · Latin American Perspectives · Cuba

An analysis of the restructuring of Cuban agriculture shows that food sovereignty policies in Cuba are built on a fourfold strategy emerging from a state/civil-society partnership at local, national, and regional levels. These strategies include the collectivization of land through agrarian cooperatives, the socialization of urban agriculture based on participatory methods, the guaranteeing of local access to food through free agricultural markets, and the transnationalization and solidarity of agroecological movements.

Zsuzsanna Fáczányi · YBL Journal of Built Environment · Greece (Thessaloniki)

This paper explores the potentials of urban agriculture by analyzing proposals from "The Thessaloniki Project - Red and Green" and other urban agriculture projects. It discusses a course at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where MSc students designed urban agriculture forms for a fallow area in Thessaloniki, Greece, considering the local crisis situation. The analysis emphasizes the necessity of community generation through such initiatives.

Bahagian Komunikasi Korporat · · Malaysia (Serdang)

On February 12, 2014, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) held an 'UPM – Industry Networking Night-Nurturing Partnership in Urban Agriculture' dinner in Serdang, Malaysia. The event aimed to recognize the contributions of industry and the UPM community to UPM's excellence and national development, and to strengthen collaboration between both parties.

Han Li-yin · · Global

This paper analyzes classic cases of biodiversity design in foreign urban gardens, including New York urban farming gardens and Paris flower and plant gardens. It summarizes four different types of biodiversity design methods for urban gardens. The paper proposes a biodiversity design framework for urban gardens, aiming to enhance biodiversity and improve the quality and spatial effects of urban garden landscapes.

Gilberto Javier Cabrera Trimñio · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cuba (Havana)

In Cuba, urban agriculture is viewed as a movement to produce food in available urban spaces using local resources under sustainable ecological principles. While large cities like Havana cannot achieve food self-sufficiency, implementing agricultural programs there can foster an understanding of the population-environment-development relationship, which is crucial for public policies addressing environmental vulnerability and climate change impacts.

Dwi A. Nirwana · International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis · Global

This study investigated the community role of civil society in household waste management and urban farming for achieving sustainable development, using a case study method. Data was collected through physical observation, interviews, and literature review. The results indicate that the community plays a significant role in achieving sustainable development.

Katja Rothe · Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · Global

This article examines permaculture design, developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, not only as an application of systems theory but also as a form of figurative, ecological reasoning. Permaculture challenges the division between theory and practice, or rationality and sensibility, inextricably linking these modes of knowledge in explorations of patterns. Specifically, it describes permaculture design thought through three aspects: visual thinking in patterns, the role of radical imagination and speculation, and systems theory thought drawing from the Gaia hypothesis.

Jenny Lee · · Global

This paper traces the history of kitchen gardens and their relationship to urban food provisioning, examining how domestic fruit and vegetable production was influenced by commercial production, new distribution methods, and kitchen technology. It discusses how, around 1900, kitchen gardens were viewed as solutions for food scarcity and urban moral hazards, and how gardening evolved from a necessity to a pastime. The paper also notes a recent revival of interest in home food production, highlighting its renewed moral significance in response to the modern food system.

Daniela Peña Corvillon · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · Cuba

The Palma Project in Palma Soriano, Cuba, is an experiment using cultural identity to address ecological degradation. It employs environmental, social, and urban analyses to develop a master plan for wastewater treatment, reforestation, urban agriculture, and public space utilization along the Cauto River. The project aims to improve quality of life, provide potable water, restore the riparian zone, and create new food production opportunities.

Jim Bird · Journal of Food Science Education · Global

This column aims to highlight innovative publications and websites in food science education and allied topics. An article featured discusses garden-based service-learning projects (Fairmount Community Garden, North Side Garden Survey, Como Community Garden) that aim for food justice, better undergraduate education, and strengthened campus-community ties. It also briefly mentions a qualitative case study conducted at four schools, evaluating the effects of free school meal interventions on pupils' learning over 20 weeks.

Pay Drechsel, Andrew Adam‐Bradford, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Drechsel, Pay, Adam-Bradford, A., Raschid-Sally, Liqa · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Ghana

This chapter introduces urbanization in West Africa, particularly Ghana, the general role of urban agriculture, and the common use of polluted irrigation water. It focuses on irrigated smallholder vegetable production, reflecting on the key challenges, dynamics, and resilience of this farming system.

Markus Schermer · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Austria (Innsbruck)

This paper examines an intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. It uses interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings to describe how intercultural gardens function as transnational spaces. These gardens foster new social networks and learning processes, impacting urban social cohesion and community stability by enabling interaction beyond assimilation.

Markus Schermer · Hábitat y Sociedad · Austria (Innsbruck)

This paper examines the importance of social stability and cohesion for urban sustainability amidst changing relations between diverse cultural groups due to global migration. It analyzes the role of intercultural gardens, which are gaining attention for migrant integration, using the intercultural community garden in Innsbruck, Austria, as a case study. The empirical material is based on interviews, observations, and newspaper clippings.

Michael Classens · UnderCurrents Journal of Critical Environmental Studies · Global

This is a review of Lorraine Johnson's book "City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing" by Michael Classens. Johnson argues that small-scale 'city farmers' are the vanguard of an emerging transformation of the contemporary food system, despite urban farming being more prefigurative than productive in aggregate. The book reveals the potential in interstitial urban spaces for food production and urges a reimagining of our relationship to cities as farms.

Ophélie Robineau, Julia Tichit, Thomas Maillard · Espaces et sociétés · Global

This study examines the socio-spatial integration of urban agriculture in three Southern cities, despite its limited consideration in urban planning policies. In Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), farmers secure access to productive resources through social relations. In Metro Manila (Philippines), local actor networks ensure the sustainability of practices. In Saint-Louis (Senegal), farmers' self-initiated organizations enable them to assert their interests with urban authorities, highlighting the challenge of urban agriculture not being adequately integrated into planning policies.

Luke Drake · Urban Geography · Global

This study analyzed six case studies of community gardens, categorized by grassroots, externally-organized, and active nonprofit management, to examine how "community" definitions influence participation or resistance in urban food production. The analysis highlights specific organizational and management moments that affect engagement, scrutinizing community gardens as sites of governmentality that produce neoliberal subjects.

Julia Laidlaw, Liam Magee · Local Environment · Global

This paper explores stakeholder experiences of community-based urban aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne using a comparative case study methodology and in-depth interviews. It aims to understand the internal and external factors impacting their success or failure. The study highlights challenges in establishing these enterprises.

Hannah Pitt · Area · Global

This paper proposes a methodology for more-than-human geography, focusing on understanding plants as agents through a "showing and being shown" approach. Drawing on ethnographic research in community gardens, the author demonstrates techniques like walking, talking, doing, and picturing to engage with human and nonhuman guides. The study identifies limits to understanding plants without specialist botanical training.

Ma Isabel Soler Ruiz, Pilar Soto Sánchez · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global

This paper reviews the evolution of ecological movements from the late 19th century to the mid-1960s, focusing on the defense of natural spaces and urban sustainability actions. It examines collective initiatives like the reforestation of abandoned industrial areas and the creation of urban gardens, as well as individual artistic actions that aim to reconnect viewers with the earth.

Dilip Ghosh, Debasis Bagchi, Tetsuya Konishi · · Global

This study highlights the importance of local food movements and urban agriculture, citing Havana, Cuba, as an example of self-reliance achieved through food growing in urban spaces. In 1999, allotment gardens in London produced 232,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, supplying 18% of the population's daily intake. Urban food growing spaces encompass diverse typologies, varying in their production potential and health contributions.

Janice Argaillot · Espaces et sociétés · Cuba

This article analyzes the development of urban agriculture in Cuba. Driven by crises from the USSR collapse and US blockade, Cuba developed an internationally recognized agricultural model. The study explores the causes of urban agriculture's emergence in Cuba, its various forms, and its repercussions on citizens' social and cultural life.

Maurizio Bergamaschi, Marco Castrignanò, Alessandra Landi · Journal of Nutritional Ecology and Food Research · Global

This paper examines community vegetable gardens and Transition Towns initiatives. It finds that these experiences contribute to sustainable urban development, improve environmental health and quality of life, reshape urban image and morphology, and enhance cities as forms of social cohesion.

Anna Eugenia Alsobrook · · Senegal

This in-progress assessment investigates the Great Green Wall (GGW) reafforestation project in north-central Senegal, which aims to restore degraded land and improve local lives. Using field experiences, interviews, and observations, the study found that young GGW trees decreased land-surface temperatures and solar radiation, improving environmental conditions. While gardening and economic components showed positive village-level impacts, problems with water and grazing areas led to negative perspectives from stakeholders.

Claire McDonnell · · Ireland (Dublin)

This case study examined community-based learning and research projects at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), including soil analysis in a community garden, from 2007 onwards. Analyzing student reflective accounts, questionnaires, and assessment grades, the study found improvements in learner engagement, confidence, and appreciation for real-world subject application. However, issues were identified regarding the level of critical thinking and self-awareness in some students' reflective writing, leading to the introduction of a framework to support reflective practice.

Benjamin Davy · International Journal of the Commons · Global

This theoretical paper argues that effective land policy should accommodate diverse land uses with plural property relations, as no single property rule fits all land use types. It observes that while everyday practice often manages varied demands, many existing theories of property and land policy do not recognize this plurality. The paper proposes a "polyrational theory" that identifies eight distinct types of land uses, each requiring its own appropriate property rules, to ensure desirable land uses are supported by suitable property relations.