Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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7626 results(89 / 306)
Integration of the Livelihood and Ecosystem Services Frameworks—A Case Study on Urban Agriculture in Mexico City
2023Mayra I. Rodríguez González, Christian Kelly Scott, Tatiana Marquina, Demeke B. Mewa, Jorge García Polo, Binbin Peng · Earth Interactions · Mexico
This mixed-method study in Mexico City, Mexico, explored urban agriculture's (UA) role as an alleviation and land management strategy, integrating ecosystem services and livelihoods frameworks. It quantified food production, crop diversity, six ecological processes, cultural benefits, and contributions to livelihood capitals. UA supported ecological processes, connected humans to nature, and provided supplemental income, but also showed trade-offs between ecological processes, limits in promoting formal education beyond agroecological knowledge, and an inability to fully lift families out of poverty.
CommunityBiodiversityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe Role of Institutional Factors in the Sustainable Development of Farming Businesses in Subak, Denpasar City
2023Putu Riska Wulandari, Ida Ayu Nyoman Saskara, I Gusti Wayan Murjana Yasa, A.A.I.N. Marhaeni · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Indonesia (Denpasar)
This study investigated the institutional aspects of subak agricultural sustainability in Denpasar City, Bali, using a literature review method. It found that institutional factors are crucial for preserving subak's viability and fostering subak farming in urban settings. Social capital was identified as the factor contributing most to the sustainability of urban farming in Denpasar City, fostering high community involvement in conjunction with Tri Hita Karana.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePendampingan Santri Berkebun Pada Kegiatan Urban Farming
2023Inanpi Hidayati Sumiasih · Jurdimas (Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat) Royal · Indonesia (Jakarta)
In Jatinegara Baru Housing, East Jakarta, Indonesia, an urban farming program was conducted from March to December 2022 for residents and santri of the Al Jabar community. The program included cultivating vegetables in narrow yards, utilizing green spaces, and training in compost and POC production. Evaluation showed that participant understanding increased from an initial 10% to 100%, the activity was rated "very beneficial," and the combined theory and practice method was considered highly suitable for participants.
CommunityFood educationDIYOrganic cycleStudy on Participatory Community Vegetable Garden Landscape Design from a Micro-Renewal Perspective
2023Yichen Ma · International Journal of Environmental Sustainability and Protection · Global
This article explores participatory community gardening theory and practices, using an old community as an example, to find ways to establish and grow community gardens for residents. It aims to provide a reference for establishing community gardens and exploring sustainable methods within urban micro-renewal, especially in response to challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic affecting residents' access to necessities.
CommunityDIYFood educationWork in progress: power in transformation to postcapitalist work relations in community–supported agriculture
2023Guilherme Raj, Giuseppe Feola, Hens Runhaar · Agriculture and Human Values · Portugal
This comparative case study of three Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives in Portugal analyzed how power shapes transformations to postcapitalist work relations. Results showed that while CSA creates non-alienated, non-monetized, and care-filled postcapitalist work relations, they insufficiently unmake unbalanced power relations established in capitalist work relations. The selected CSA initiatives could benefit from actively deconstructing internal hierarchies, decentralizing decision-making power from farm owners, and addressing oppressive power relations ossified in their local and cultural context when establishing postcapitalist work relations.
Equity & displacementCSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceNature-based solutions in informal settlements: A systematic review of projects in Southeast Asian and Pacific countries
2023Erich Wolff, Hanna A. Rauf, Perrine Hamel · Environmental Science & Policy · Global
This study analyzed past Nature-based Solutions (NbS) projects in informal settlements across Southeast Asian and Pacific countries, utilizing both grey and academic sources. Six main types of NbS were identified, used to address various social, ecological, and cultural challenges in these settlements, including traditional community gardens and constructed wetlands, some differing from those in the Global North. NbS are often framed as grassroots initiatives led by local communities or as technical systems implemented within "upgrading programs."
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyImplementation, Benefits, And Challenges of The Gulayan Sa Paaralan Program in Lila District, Bohol
2023Imelda Cahiles, Ricardo Bullecer · ACADEME University of Bohol Graduate School and Professional Studies · Asia
A study assessing the implementation of the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) in schools in Lila District, Bohol, Philippines, revealed that the overall program implementation was less implemented. While roles and responsibilities at the school level and the establishment and maintenance of school gardens were implemented to a moderate extent, capability building, program monitoring, sustainability mechanisms, and program evaluation were less implemented. Respondents generally perceived the program as moderately beneficial and reported that implementation-related problems were less serious.
Governance failureFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityPolicyApplication of Human Urine in Vegetable Production in a School Garden: A Participatory Action Research
2023Govinda Prasad Devkota · Pragyaratna प्रज्ञारत्न · Nepal
This participatory action research in a public high school in Nepal explored the applicability of urine diversion toilets for organic vegetable production and sanitation improvement. It found that urine diversion toilets prevent surface water pollution and improve students' hygiene. Additionally, using human urine as fertilizer increased vegetable production by 40% compared to animal fertilizer in plots of the same area.
Organic cycleFood educationCommunityInvestigação Parasitológica de Hortaliças e Microbiológica de Água de Irrigação Oriundas de Hortas Comunitárias em Londrina, Paraná
2023Nathália Miasato Pimont, Rafael Alves Santomauro, Carolina De Abreu Pianta, Pablo Menegon Castilho, João Gabriel Neves Viana, Giovanna Carolina Silva Boscolo, Letícia Santos Balbino, Juliana Izidoro Lucas, Aline Ticiani Pereira Paschoal, Italmar Teodorico Navarro, Regina Mitsuka‐Breganó, Fernanda Pinto Ferreira · Ensaios e Ciência C Biológicas Agrárias e da Saúde · Brazil (Londrina)
This study, conducted in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil, between 2019 and 2020, analyzed community garden vegetables for parasites and irrigation water for *Escherichia coli*. *Escherichia coli* and total coliforms were detected in 66.7% (6/9) of water samples. Parasites of *Ascaris*, *Ancylostoma*, and *Entamoeba* genera were identified in vegetable samples, demonstrating contamination of both community garden vegetables and irrigation water.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityBrazil’s Return to the Hunger Map: An Analysis of Public Policies and Effective Measures for Food Security
2023Ana Tereza Souza Domingos, Carolina Oliveira Mesquita, Emiliano Lôbo de Godoi, Thiago Augusto Mendes · Laws · Brazil
This bibliographical and documentary research analyzed the effectiveness of public food security policies in Brazil between 2012 and 2022, also considering urban agriculture as an alternative. It concluded that public policies were gradually weakened, and from 2019 to 2022, the Brazilian government discouraged food policy implementation. Consequently, Brazil faces food insecurity and hunger due to disjointed policies, the pandemic, and an economic crisis.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityToward Evidence-Based Local Food Policy: An Agroecological Assessment of Urban Agriculture in Rome
2023Davide Marino, Francesca Curcio, Francesca Benedetta Felici, Giampiero Mazzocchi · Land · Italy (Rome)
This paper proposes agroecological assessment as a tool for formulating evidence-based local food policies, adapting the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) model on a sample of 20 farms in the city-region food system of Rome, Italy. Data analysis showed that agroecological principles are not fully adopted by the majority of farms considered in Rome. Additionally, farms with the highest agroecological level are mainly driven by social factors and have a lower propensity for innovation, which could hinder the transformation process of food systems.
Limited or null effectPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomics2023-May-19-No yard? No problem. Enjoy this community garden.
2023East Tennessee State University University Marketing and Communication · Digital Commons - East Tennessee State University (East Tennessee State University) · United States
ETSU Health's Johnson City Community Health Center in Johnson City, USA, has relaunched its community garden. Volunteers are active on the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and are also encouraged to harvest and tend the garden outside these hours. The garden provides access to fresh, healthy, and free produce, and was relaunched with community support.
CommunityHealthFood educationWelfarePeriurbano/agricultura periurbana: tres perspectivas: ecológica, social y territorial
2023Juan Camilo Ochoa Céspedes · Entorno Geográfico · Colombia (Medellín)
This paper critically analyzes peri-urban and peri-urban agriculture, addressing problems of territorial tension resulting from the accelerated expansion of real estate into peri-urban areas due to low urban land availability. The discussion questions the economic, environmental, and social risks of this expansion, highlighting tensions and resistance. The paper illustrates these issues with examples from the peri-urban area of Medellín and its metropolitan area.
Governance failurePeri-urban agricultureEconomicsClimate changeCommunityANALISIS POTENSI MASYARAKAT TERHADAP RENCANA KEGIATAN PERTANIAN PERKOTAAN DI KOTA MAGELANG Studi Kasus: Kecamatan Magelang Utara
2023Sri Purwanti · Jurnal Jendela Inovasi Daerah · Indonesia (Magelang)
This study used quantitative methods to assess the community's potential and competence for urban agricultural activities in Magelang Utara District, Magelang City, Indonesia. Field findings indicated that the community is capable and competent, evidenced by their participation in yard planting and waste management to support economical and accessible plant cultivation.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsFlorecer la mente en la ciudad: Cómo la agricultura urbana apoya la salud mental
2023Katia Hernández Moreno · Milenaria Ciencia y arte · Mexico (Morelia)
This study analyzes the contributions of agricultural practice in the city of Morelia, Mexico, to the mental health of participants. The results presented are part of a broader investigation addressing the various components of urban agriculture on health and the urban environment, with this paper focusing solely on the mental health aspect.
HealthCommunityFungal-bacterial associations in urban allotment garden soils
2023Maraike Probst, María Gómez‐Brandón, Cecilia Herbón, María Teresa Barral, Remigio Paradelo · Applied Soil Ecology · Spain
This study evaluated fungal and bacterial communities in 40 soil samples from 10 urban allotment gardens in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, using DNA sequencing. While microbial richness was comparable to less anthropogenically influenced urban soils, the deterministic effect of soil properties and geographical distances was negligible. Fungal and bacterial communities followed a random distribution and formed very small, often unconnected, microbial association modules, suggesting potential implications of anthropogenic activity for soil health and ecosystem functionality.
CommunityBiodiversityOrganic cycleEdukasi Pertanian Urban Farming with Fun Learning Pada Anak Usia Dini di Tingkat Sekolah Dasar
2023Eka Pranajaya, Dwinanto Priyo Susetyo, Neneng Yanti Andriani · Journal of Community Service and Society Empowerment · Indonesia
A community-service report on an agricultural education programme for early-childhood pupils at an elementary school in Indonesia, delivered through a "fun learning" hydroponics approach. The activity followed observation and outreach, hydroponic cultivation practice, library revitalisation, and outcome evaluation; it reported increased children's understanding of agriculture, with potential to foster later interest in the agricultural sector, and noted that the library activities also helped increase pupils' reading interest.
Food educationCommunityFences, seeds and bees: The more-than-human politics of community gardening in Rotterdam
2023Shivant Jhagroe · Urban Studies · Netherlands
A study of the Gandhi-garden, a community garden in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that is part of the global Transition Towns movement, drawing on participatory ethnography, interviews, and online documents. Challenging the anthropocentrism common in research on urban sustainability and resilience, the paper analyses everyday acts such as weeding and permacultural planting as "more-than-human assemblage" place-making practices involving insects, plants, soil, and fences that challenge urban neoliberalism. It also examines expressions of solidarity with Palestine through olive trees and non-violence thinking, alongside tensions between humans and non-humans over dog waste and birds that take harvested produce.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsPolicyHuerto escolar: una práctica educativa interdisciplinaria en el Colégio de Aplicação de la Universidade Federal de Sergipe
2023Robson Andrade de Jesus, Maria José Nascimento Soares, Jailton de Jesus Costa, André Vinícius Bezerra de Andrade Silva · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil
A study analysing the interdisciplinary educational practice of the "Organic Garden" project at the Colégio de Aplicação of the Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil, implemented between 2015 and 2019. Using a qualitative approach based on Bardin's (2011) method, the study drew on testimonials from basic-education students, higher-education students, teachers, and administrative technicians. The results showed that while the project achieved integration across disciplines, more attention is needed to fostering appreciation of nature and encouraging biodiversity conservation within its limits.
Food educationCommunityDesign of a serious game for participatory planning of nature-based solutions: The experience of the Edible City Game
2023Josep Pueyo‐Ros, Joaquím Comas, Ina Säumel, Joana Castellar, Lucía Alexandra Popartan, Vicenç Acuña, Lluís Corominas · Nature-Based Solutions · Global
A paper addressing the problem that serious games proposed as a tool to foster civic participatory processes often fail due to lack of funding or design skills, presenting a new framework for designing serious games for participatory planning of nature-based solutions, with guidance on definition, content, and evaluation steps. The framework's usefulness is illustrated through the design of the Edible City Game (ECG), a digital serious game for participatory planning of edible city solutions (urban nature-based solutions with a food component), which was implemented on Tygron, a platform providing a graphical interface for urban-planning serious games. The paper argues that while Tygron provides user-friendly software for designing serious games, the final product still requires a proper design-oriented process to fulfil its purpose.
CommunityPolicyDigital agricultureGrowth in Kinder"Garden" - The Integration of Outdoor Education into the Ontario Kindergarten Program
2023Catherine Hughes · · Canada
This article reports on integrating outdoor education, including school gardens, into the Ontario kindergarten program in Canada. Written by a practicing kindergarten teacher based on a year of taking students outside daily, it describes the process of establishing nine gardens and activities such as composting and tree planting. The initiative is reported to have led to attainment of platinum eco-school certification, and the article advocates a return to Friedrich Froebel's concept of the "children's garden."
Food educationCommunityHealthScalable agritech growbox architecture
2023Ryan Fraser Kirwan, Farhat Abbas, Indriyati Atmosukarto, A. W. Y. Loo, Jong‐Hwan Lim, Sang-Soo Yeo · Frontiers in the Internet of Things · Global
This study, conducted with a Singaporean urban farming company, presents an IoT-based automated farming system consisting of an agnostic growbox and a web dashboard for monitoring crop growth. Using an image analytics approach to classify crop disease phenotypes — specifically chlorosis and tip burn — in lettuce, the researchers compared it against a machine learning approach on the same dataset. The image analytics approach showed scalability, time efficiency, and accuracy in disease detection, with advantages over the machine learning approach in time and cost efficiency.
Digital agricultureCommunitySoil respiration under different N fertilization and irrigation regimes in Bengaluru, S-India
2023Suman Kumar Sourav, C. T. Subbarayappa, D. C. Hanumanthappa, Mudalagiriyappa, Prem José Vazhacharickal, Andrea Mock, Mariko Ingold, Andreas Buerkert · Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems · India
This study investigated how three rates of mineral nitrogen addition combined with rainfed versus irrigated conditions affected CO2 emissions from typical crops during the wet (Kharif) and dry (Rabi) seasons on a Nitisol in Bengaluru, South India. Two two-factorial split-plot experiments were conducted under rainfed and irrigated conditions from 2017 to 2021, using maize, finger millet, and lablab, and the vegetables cabbage, eggplant, and tomato or chili. CO2 emissions were measured with a Los Gatos Research multi-gas analyzer from 7:00-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-6:00 p.m., with CH4, NH3, and N2O found negligible. Regardless of irrigation, season, crop, or nitrogen level, afternoon CO2 emission rates were 2-128% higher than morning rates. Diurnal differences ranged from 0.04-1.61 kg CO2-C/ha/h in the irrigated field and 0.20-1.78 kg CO2-C/ha/h in the rainfed field. In the rainfed field, high-nitrogen plots emitted 56.4% more CO2 than low-nitrogen plots, versus only 12.1% more in the irrigated field. A linear mixed model showed nitrogen fertilization enhanced CO2 emissions, most strongly in rainfed crops; soil moisture enhanced emissions in rainfed crops but decreased them under irrigation, while soil temperature at 5 cm depth enhanced emissions in both fields.
CommunityOrganic cycleClimate changeFood access in Kalamazoo, Michigan: A spatial analysis
2023Natalie Call, Elizabeth Silber, E. Binney Girdler · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
This GIS-based study of Kalamazoo, Michigan, analyzed how accessibility to different types of food access points — full-service grocery stores, farmers markets, community gardens, food pantries, and convenience stores — differed between low-income and higher-income census tracts. All full-service grocery stores were accessible via bus routes, but 11% of residents in low-income areas lacked adequate access, living beyond the 0.25-mile walkable distance to bus routes. "Positive" access points such as community gardens, food pantries, and farmers markets were found to be concentrated in areas that already had grocery store access, whereas "negative" access points — convenience and dollar stores, which provide lower-quality, highly processed food — filled the access gap in lower-income areas instead. More than twice as many low-income residents had walkable access to convenience stores as higher-income residents, with 81% of those convenience stores located within low-income tracts.
Equity & displacementCommunityHealthWelfareEconomicsThe factors that influence the growth and performance of micro and small-scale enterprises in Dessie Town administration
2023Endris Assen Ebrahim, Ahmet Toy, Yissa Hassen Kassim · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Ethiopia
A survey of 218 randomly sampled micro and small-scale enterprise (MSSE) managers/owners across manufacturing, trade, construction, service, and urban agriculture sectors in Dessie Town, Ethiopia, used self-administered questionnaires and stratified random sampling to identify determinants of enterprise growth. Of nine candidate factors, statistically significant associations with MSSE growth and performance (at the 5% level) were found for political/legal factors, management, market conditions, technology, infrastructure, entrepreneur-related factors, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
EconomicsPolicyCommunity