Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3241 results(88 / 130)
Introduction: Urban Agriculture and the Built Environment
2016Gundula Proksch · · Global
"Creating Urban Agricultural Systems: An Integrated Approach to Design" is a resource that documents environmental, systemic, technical, and operational considerations in urban agriculture. It compiles emerging strategies, current practices, and working case studies. This research synthesizes information on inputs and outputs, resource efficiencies, environmental benefits, and operational achievements, based on numerous site visits, examinations of outstanding case studies, and interviews with stakeholders behind innovative farm operations.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsClimate changeANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING FOOD SECURITY IN RURAL AND URBAN FARMING HOUSEHOLDS OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA
2016G. A. Abu, A. Soom, Abu, Godwin Anjeinu, Soom, Aondonenge · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Nigeria
This study examined factors affecting food security in 180 rural and urban farming households in Benue State, Nigeria, using structured questionnaires. It found that 53.3% of rural and 62.2% of urban households were food secure based on calorie intake. Key constraints to food security included lack of access to credit, inadequate land, poverty, soil infertility, and storage/processing problems.
Economic viabilityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsUrban–rural linkageResiliencia y organización comunitaria: el caso de la red de huertas en los Altos de la Estancia, en la localidad de Ciudad Bolívar en Bogotá / Resilience and community organization: the case of the network of orchards in the “Altos de la Estancia”, in “C
2016Diana Paola Vargas Huertas, Juan–Carlos Ruiz · Ciudad Paz-ando · Colombia (Bogotá)
This case study analyzed the creation process of an agricultural-based socio-economic network (orchards) in the Altos de la Estancia sector of Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá, from the perspective of social resilience. Using participatory design accompaniment methodologies, the study examined resilience variables, vulnerability, and alternative economies within urban agriculture, and analyzed the social actors involved in the network's formation. The research revealed diverse capacities to face environmental adversity within risk management and community building processes, supported by district institutions, academia, and popular collectives.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceSoilless Urban Temporary Agriculture as a Strategy for Brownfield Site Renewal
2016Leonardo Boganini, Chiara Casazza · · Italy
The ongoing Ur.C.A. research project in Italy's Tuscany region aims to identify the possibilities of integrating agriculture into urban settlements, especially brownfield sites and marginal areas, utilizing hydroponic technologies. The project analyzes the potential for requalification of these urban contexts through urban agriculture, focusing on legislative and technological feasibility. It seeks to develop an innovative hydroponic growth cell system suitable for urban unused areas, integrating renewable energy and rainwater collection.
Climate changeEconomicsPolicyReappearance of the Public: Placemaking, Minoritization and Resistance in Detroit
2016Alesia Montgomery · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States (Detroit)
A case study of downtown Detroit theorizes that the history of clashes between racial capitalism and social movements in public space reappears in the contradictory design of market-driven placemaking. This placemaking subordinates the black urban poor, even while incorporating black entrepreneurs and culture. Consequently, it suppresses the ability of African Americans to shape public space, despite the return of the white middle class to central cities.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsInventing Eco-Cycle
2016Sandy Smith‐Nonini · Anthropology in Action · United States
This article discusses lessons learned from Eco-Cycle, a social enterprise supporting sustainability education in central North Carolina, U.S.A., since 2011. Eco-Cycle faced the challenge that many social justice-oriented green initiatives emulating urban agriculture models are grant-dependent in early years and achieve economic sustainability with difficulty. However, this non-profit co-op of upcycler crafters and vintage vendors grew from the production and marketing of upcycled rain barrels, pursuing economic sustainability through a social enterprise approach.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityPolicyUrban Cultivation and Its Contributions to Sustainability: Nibbles of Food but Oodles of Social Capital
2016George Martin, Roland Clift, Ian Christie · Sustainability · Global
This exploratory study examined three urban cultivation sites in New York, London, and San Francisco to assess their nutritional, ecological, and social sustainability contributions. Field analysis revealed very low food outputs relative to the populations of their catchment areas, indicating that most urban food will continue to come from outside urban peripheries. The study concluded that urban food growing's sustainability benefits are more social than agronomic or ecological.
Limited or null effectCommunityEconomicsHealthClimate changeFood Justice and Sustainability: A New Revolution
2016Patrizia Longo · Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia · United States (Lafayette, California)
This paper documents the history of Urban Farmers, a grassroots organization in Lafayette, California, that addresses poverty and sustainability through a community-development approach to food security. The organization's project focuses on localizing the food system and fostering community development.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityWelfareEconomics东西湖区“三品一标”农产品发展成效、问题及建议
2016戴婧, 丁国平 · Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni · China
The development status of "Sanpin Yibiao" agricultural products, a government-led public brand for safe and high-quality agricultural products, was evaluated in Dongxihu District. While certain achievements were noted, challenges and recommendations were identified, including comprehensive planning, strengthening team building, improving management, increasing policy support, enhancing supervision, and strengthening brand building. These measures were deemed important for promoting the development of modern urban agriculture.
PolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageAgricultura urbana y sistema agroalimentario . Análisis comparado en las áreas metropolitanas de Barcelona y Sevilla
2016Xavier Recasens Gracia, María José Prados Velasco, Óscar Alfranca · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain
This study comparatively analyzed the relationships between the economic activity of urban farms and agricultural protection systems in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Seville. It investigated the business management and commercial aspects of urban agriculture, and how it is conditioned by urban planning and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) decisions. Based on the CANVAS Business Model and quantification of benefits, the results demonstrated that urban agriculture is multifunctional and can contribute to business profits.
EconomicsPolicyPeri-urban agricultureFactores que influyen en la práctica de la horticultura periurbana: caso de una ciudad en el estado de Veracruz, México Factors influencing the practice of peri-urban horticulture: study case of a city in the state of Veracruz, México
2016Marco Antonio Toral Juárez, Catalino Jorge López Collado, Felipe Gallardo-López · · Mexico (Veracruz)
This study identified cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors influencing women's disposition to practice home horticulture and the financial profits of container vegetable production. Using non-probabilistic sampling, 114 women were selected in the peri-urban zone of Cardel City, Veracruz, Mexico, and interviewed with a Likert scale survey. The disposition to practice peri-urban horticulture was favorable, and four out of six containers had a positive cost/benefit ratio. Multiple factors affect this disposition, while the environmental factor determines which vegetables can grow.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityDIYThe Black Bear Food Guild: Student-Run Community Supported Agriculture From Roots to Fruition
2016Sara L. Lyons · DigitalCommons (California Polytechnic State University) · United States
The University of Maine Black Bear Food Guild is an entirely student-run Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation that offers student learning and work opportunities. Despite providing various benefits, the Black Bear Food Guild requires financial support to expand its program and ensure its sustained success, indicating a critical need for funding to maintain its future viability.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiCommunityFood educationEconomics‘Alternative’ This, ‘Alternative’ That ... : Interrogating Alterity and Diversity
2016Andrew E. G. Jonas · · United Kingdom
This chapter explores the notion of "the alternative" as relatively unexamined. Empirical work over three years involved six food businesses and initiatives facilitating direct contact between producers and consumers. Earth Share Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Nairn, North East Scotland, provides vegetables to approximately 200 households weekly. The chapter suggests that diversity within the "alternative" food sector is not necessarily problematic, and consumers' contingent, accidental, and partial commitment has not undermined the success of these schemes.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban farming in the North American metropolis: Rethinking work and distance in alternative food networks
2016Diana Mincytė, Karin Dobernig · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · North America
This article examines manual work in urban farming within alternative food networks in the Northeastern United States, based on ethnographic fieldwork and 40 interviews. The analysis reveals that while manual work counters alienation, it also reproduces consumer society institutions and reinforces neoliberal values like productivity and self-improvement. Urban farms function as "experiential production" sites, where the farming experience is continuously commodified despite re-embedding in community and environment.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceEl desafío de la alimentación en un mundo cada vez más urbano
2016A. Sempere · Americanae (AECID Library) · Global
This paper argues that the concentration of people in urban areas poses significant ecological and social challenges, such as how to supply food to large population centers that grow at the expense of surrounding agricultural land. According to the United Nations, over half of the world's population currently lives in cities, projected to reach 66% by 2050. Current cities rely on food imported from increasingly distant places rather than food produced in their geographical environment, resulting in cities and citizens disconnected from their ecological and sociocultural context.
Urban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsExamining a New “Pay-as-You-Go” Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) Model: A Case Study
2016Marjorie Freedman, Juliana K. King · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · Global
This research surveyed 536 current and former J&P Organics farm CSA subscribers, categorizing them into four groups based on ordering frequency. Findings strongly indicate that a flexible pay-as-you-go CSA subscription model could increase subscriber membership and possibly ordering frequency, especially for those likely to order less frequently than weekly but who are otherwise similar to traditional pay-up-front subscribers in demographics, motivations, satisfaction, and subscription length.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityHORTAS URBANAS DE MARINGÁ (PR): ESTUDO SOCIOECONÔMICO DOS PRODUTORES E PERCEPTIVO DOS TRANSEUNTES
2016Ricardo Massulo Albertín, Daniel Augusto, Boaventura Almeida Mubai, Bruno Luiz Domingos De Angelis, Márcia da Silva, Frederico Fonseca da Silva, Fábio Angeoletto · Boletim de Geografia · Brazil (Maringá)
This study aimed to diagnose the socioeconomic aspects of vegetable producers and identify the perception of passersby around urban gardens (community gardens) in Maringá (PR), as a means to mitigate negative social impacts like food insecurity caused by urbanization. A case study was conducted in five community gardens in the northern zone of Maringá, Paraná State. Results showed that the activities within these gardens and public sector involvement characterized them as public policies for promoting quality of life, rather than mere government policies. Questionnaire responses from passersby evidenced that the public policy for creating and consolidating urban gardens in Maringá promoted quality of life. The community garden project was found to have significant socioeconomic, landscape, and sentimental value for both producers and passersby, with producers opting for diverse production, self-consumption, and vegetable sales.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAppropriating a People’s Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens and Gentrification in New York City | Appropriating a People’s Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens and Gentrification in New York City
2016Lal, Prita · Academic Commons (Stony Brook University) · United States (New York City)
This dissertation studies the relationship between community gardens and gentrification in New York City. It argues that low-income people's efforts in revitalizing their blighted neighborhoods by building community gardens in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to gentrification in the 1990s and beyond. The research points out that real estate developers preyed on people's efforts, and the people subsidized the city's revitalization. It concludes that while gardeners did not cause gentrification, their efforts played a significant role in the process, and stronger policy protections for gardens are needed as city policies permitted gentrification.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceLocal food security initiatives: systemic limitations in Vancouver, Canada
2016Alfred Wong, Alan Hallsworth · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · Canada (Vancouver)
This paper examines urban/community gardening in Vancouver, Canada, from the perspective of basic farming realities such as growing season and land availability. It was found that securing low-cost land within dense urban limits, insufficient ambient temperature and water supply during the growing season, and contemporary societal structures pose significant obstacles to community gardening producing affordable food. Overcoming these fundamental hurdles carries significant negative environmental and economic consequences.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeUrban agriculture up-scaled: economically and socially productive public green space
2016Joshua Zeunert · UNSWorks (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) · Australia
Urban public green spaces typically require external budgets for maintenance, with most projects costing municipal authorities more money than they generate, making them economically unproductive. For instance, the Adelaide Parklands annually costs AU$9 million for maintenance while generating less than AU$1 million in income. Maintenance spending on public green spaces in the USA, UK, and Australia has been declining, a trend accelerated since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityPolicyStrategically Siting Urban Agriculture: A Socioeconomic Analysis of Roanoke, Virginia
2016Tammy E. Parece, Elena Serrano, James B. Campbell · The Professional Geographer · United States (Roanoke)
A socioeconomic evaluation in Roanoke, Virginia, analyzed ten variables, including food options, across census block groups to identify neighborhoods that would benefit from urban agriculture. The study found that one block group qualified in all ten variables, and two-thirds showed need in at least half, with most of these areas located in the city's middle. This analysis produced a hierarchy of locations based on socioeconomic need for new urban agriculture sites.
EconomicsCommunityBiodiversityAtelier 1 Agriculture urbaine et nouveaux marchés la vente de bacs prévégétalisés aux particuliers
2016Marie-Dominique Pivetaud et Jean-Claude Legendre, Entrepreneurs chez Nature et potager en ville · · Global
This workshop focuses on the sale of pre-vegetated planters to individuals and businesses as a new market within the urban agriculture sector.
DIYEconomicsDriving Force Filtering and Driving Mechanism Analysis of Urban Agricultural Development in Weifang County, China
2016Sui Fei-fe · Nongye ziyuan yu huanjing xuebao · China (Weifang)
This study analyzed the driving forces and internal drive mechanisms of urban agricultural development in Weifang County, China. An evaluation index system was built using urban agricultural production and socio-economic data, and 15 driving forces were selected via correlation and principal component analysis, with a model constructed using partial least squares. Results showed that per capita net income of rural residents, agricultural machinery total power, effective irrigation area, and centralized treatment rate of urban sewage greatly influenced urban agricultural output value increase, while the use amount of agricultural plastic film was a negative influence factor.
EconomicsPolicyUrban–rural linkageA Study on the Prefab Greenhouse on the Rooftop for the Neighborhood Regeneration in Seoul, South Korea
2016Hae-Yeon Yoo · International Journal of Smart Home · South Korea (Seoul)
This study evaluated the purpose and method of new facilities for urban farming in neighborhood regeneration during the establishment of the castle village regeneration plan in Seoul's Haengchon District. It examined a method to reduce residents' economic burden and generate profits with neighbors by utilizing unused rooftop spaces of multi-family houses. A prefabricated greenhouse designed for lightness and miniaturization was selected for the rooftop of "Haengchon Lot," the revitalization center of Haengchon-dong.
CommunityEconomicsDIYEfficient City Farming
2016Stefan Hebold, Andrea Frömel · edoc Publication server (Humboldt University of Berlin) · Global
This study aimed to address the lack of scientific documentation on the forms and effects of urban agriculture by investigating the health of urban-produced plant-based foods. Raised beds were established at urban, peri-urban, and rural locations, planted with identical species, and compared with the yields from an ECF container farm hydroponic system. Yields were compared between the hydroponic system and raised beds, while raised beds were compared among themselves based on heavy metal accumulation.
EconomicsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommunity