Research & reports

Irmane Mze Ali, Mohd Wajdi Mohd Feham, Yahia Siddique, Abdul Rahman Ahmad Dahlan · · Malaysia

As part of Malaysia's "University-of-the-Future" (UotF) concept, this paper designs an approach to improving the wellbeing of low-income (B40) youth by normalizing an urban farming programme and expanding economic opportunity through digital entrepreneurship, using a literature review together with a Business Model Canvas (BMC), a Value Proposition Design Canvas (VPC), and surveys of participants for feedback. It reports using these tools to formulate both an initial and a validated version of the BMC and VPC.

Celina Gómez, Christopher J. Currey, Ryan W. Dickson, Hye‐Ji Kim, Ricardo Hernández, Nadia Sabeh, Rosa E. Raudales, Robin G. Brumfield, Angela Shaw, Adam K. Wilke, Roberto G. López, Stephanie E. Burnett · HortScience · Global

This review discusses the application of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) techniques to urban agriculture (UA), driven by increased market demand for local produce. While CEA offers opportunities for year-round production and resource-use efficiency, significant challenges remain due to the high costs of production in urban settings. The review emphasizes that for urban growers to benefit, studies evaluating CEA for commercial food production must consider economic viability.

Kathrin Specht, Felix Zoll, Henrike Schümann, Julia Bela, Julia Kachel, Marcel Robischon · Sustainability · Global

Nineteen qualitative expert interviews were conducted to identify perceptions of sustainability, social acceptability, and ethical aspects of new urban food production approaches. While major perceived benefits included educational effects and efficient resource use, significant conflicts involved negative side-effects, legal constraints, and high investment costs. Acceptance barriers were largely tied to the "unknown," encompassing a lack of understanding of new approaches, uncertainty about benefits, health risk concerns, unfamiliarity with products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare. The study concluded that adapting the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is a crucial first step to foster dissemination of urban food production approaches.

Johanna Lochner, Marco Rieckmann, Marcel Robischon · Journal of Education for Sustainable Development · Global

This systematic literature review analyzed 158 peer-reviewed articles on school gardening, with a focus on Virtual School Garden Exchanges (VSGEs) and their connection to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The study examined the global perspective of ESD, the use of digital media, and international exchanges in school gardens. Only 14 articles directly incorporated these three perspectives, leading to the identification of possible directions for future research on VSGE.

Michael Martin, Sofia Poulikidou, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Global

This study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental performance of using urban residual material flows in vertical hydroponic farming. It assessed replacing conventional growing media with paper, compost, and brewers’ spent grains, and conventional fertilizers with biogas digestate. The results indicate significant environmental performance benefits when conventional growing media are replaced, and substantial potential benefits, though less significant, when fertilizers from residual urban streams are used, suggesting potential for more circular hydroponic systems.

Wang, Jiaxin · DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) · Singapore

This project focuses on developing novel sensing and monitoring techniques for urban farming environments, particularly in land-scarce areas like Singapore, to enhance food security. It introduces various IoT platforms and elements, illustrates radio frequency and Bluetooth low energy communication principles, and explains data transmission using IDE programming. The project aims to design a system capable of temperature measurement and TDS value detection in water, combining different sensors with Arduino design.

Florijn de Graaf, Simon Goddek · · Global

This research proposes integrating a neighborhood microgrid with a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics facility to enhance self-sufficiency and flexibility. This "Smarthood" concept, connecting Food–Water–Energy flows, significantly improves microgrid performance. The integration achieved 95.38% power and 100% heat self-sufficiency due to the flexibility of thermal mass, pumps, and lighting systems.

Gabriel Wei En Wee, Haritharan Devanthran · TEST Engineering & Management · Malaysia

This paper explored the development and adoption of smart farming technologies in Malaysia through a meta-analysis of worldwide scientific literature and perspectives from experienced farmers. Research on smart farming in Malaysia began in 1999, with "Internet of Things" identified as the most researched technology. The development trend points towards urban farming solutions and sustainable agriculture.

Dian Triastari Armanda, Jeroen B. Guinée, Arnold Tukker · Global Food Security · Global

This review examined emerging innovative urban agriculture (IUA) practices, revitalized since 2010 by scientific knowledge and agricultural technology. It assessed IUA's potential contribution to food security and environmental sustainability by comparing scientific literature and actual data from eighteen practitioners worldwide. The most productive IUA practice can yield up to 140 kg of vegetables per m2/year, indicating IUA's potential to support local food supply, strengthen the food value chain, and apply more sustainable practices for global food security.

Munirah Hayati Hamidon, Samsuzana Abd Aziz, Tofael Ahamed, MUHAMMAD RAZIF MAHADI · Jurnal Teknologi · Malaysia

This research designed a compact smart vertical garden system for urban agriculture in Malaysia and analyzed the growth performance of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) within it, comparing it to a commercial conventional hydroponic system. The bottom stack of lettuce in the vertical garden showed maximum height, highest leaf count, and width, though only height had a significant difference across stacks (P < 0.0001). No significant difference was found between the smart vertical garden system and the conventional hydroponic system for lettuce height, number of leaves, or leaf width.

Angelo Figliola · IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) · Global

This paper explores post-industrial robotics through prototypes developed with industrial partners, showcasing transdisciplinary experiments where environmental, structural, and material performances guide computational and robotic manufacturing processes. "Fusta Robotica" demonstrates tectonic exploration with non-engineered materials, while "Digital Urban Orchard" expresses a complex functional program based on form, function, and context. The analysis defines the limits and potential of this design approach, opening a debate on technological experimentation in the post-digital era.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.

Joana Castellar, Carlos Alberto Arias, Pedro N. Carvalho, Martina Rysulová, Joan Canals, Gabriel Pérez, Montserrat Bosch González, Jordi Farreras Morató · Desalination and Water Treatment · Global

The WETWALL design concept proposes a unique ecotechnology for secondary wastewater treatment at an urban scale, integrating constructed wetlands and modular living walls into a modular living wall hybrid flow. This article reviews existing living walls treating wastewater, focusing on nitrate and phosphate removal, and presents the WETWALL concept, including component selection (plants, substrate) and operational strategies. It also discusses potential interactions with the urban environment, aiming to substantiate WETWALL's potential as an innovative urban wastewater treatment.

Agatino Rizzo, Marcus Sandberg, Tim Johansson, Johan Wenngren · Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) · Global

This project aimed to explore the smart integration of food production in cold urban environments and to sketch an intelligent platform to guide a comprehensive, city-wide approach to urban farming in winter cities. The challenge involved integrating large databases related to energy consumption, building performance and size, and solar radiation, to visualize data in an easily understandable manner for city stakeholders.

Peio López-Iturri, Mikel Celaya-Echarri, Leyre Azpilicueta, Erik Aguirre, José Javier Astráin, Jesús Villadangos, Francisco Falcone · Sensors · Global

An autonomous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) system combined with MySchoolGardenApp was deployed in an orchard in a primary schoolyard for integration into educational activities. Built with EnOcean's energy harvesting modules, the system provides students with parameter observation, data analysis, and processing capabilities. Preliminary trials demonstrated the platform's feasibility as an educational resource in schools, applicable to natural science course content, technological skill development, and extending monitoring capabilities.

Amit Salunke, Ms. Shradha Shinde, Ms. Aishwarya Tone · International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology · Global

A web and Android e-Community Supported Agriculture (e-CSA) system was developed using the software development life cycle. A survey on the impact of local agricultural products through this application indicated benefits for both customers and farmers. Customers gain fair prices, fresh organic products, and access to rare items, while farmers can increase sales, minimize loss, and improve transportation control, contributing to local economic growth.

Joseph González, Itza Morales, Alain Cuenca García, Vladimir Villarreal · Revista de Iniciación Científica · Global

An electronic system was developed to create a controlled environment for urban garden seedbeds within a small greenhouse. This system uses humidity and temperature sensors connected to an Arduino UNO microcontroller, managed by the FreeRTOS real-time operating system. It generates the necessary environmental conditions, including irrigation, heating, and ventilation, to ensure proper seed germination and seedling growth, thereby preventing losses and production delays.

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, Karima Kourtit, Peter Nijkamp · Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) · Global

This study uses a dynamic model to analyze the growth effects of new agricultural technology adoption in rural-urban settings. It determines the steady-state growth rate of agricultural output per worker in rural regions and defines an urban-to-rural agricultural technology knowledge ratio to compute the urban region's growth rate. The analysis also examines the ratio of agricultural output per worker between urban and rural regions at balanced growth and discusses policy implications.

Peter Lyle, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Marcus Foth · Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · Australia

A design and pilot study (Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2018) presents QuickTales, a mobile storytelling platform built from design patterns derived from prior studies with residential gardeners and gardening communities in a large Australian city, intended to let urban gardeners share gardening experiences. The pilot evaluation is reported to provide initial insights into using storytelling in this context; the paper does not state quantitative outcomes and instead proposes directions for further design-pattern development.

Georgia Pollard, James Ward, Barbara A Koth · Horticulturae · Australia (Adelaide)

A study in Adelaide, Australia, investigated the social acceptance of aquaponics and its role in urban food planning through focus groups and interviews with urban food opinion leaders and local government officials. Most participants were unfamiliar with aquaponics, and perceived negatives received more attention than benefits. Urban growers' views on overcomplicated urban food planning aligned with mixed policy responses from local government areas towards urban agriculture, indicating a lack of consistent governance.

Consolata Angello · Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · Tanzania

This literature review summarizes research on urban agriculture and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for accessing and disseminating livestock husbandry information in urban Tanzania. It examines urban agricultural practices, challenges of urban livestock keeping, and solutions, discussing ICT integration in agriculture globally, in Africa, and specifically in Tanzania. The review identifies gaps in the literature regarding urban livestock keepers' information needs and ICT use challenges.

Kharen Viviana Pinilla Guerrero · Revista de Geografia · Colombia (Bogotá)

This paper presents the origin, background, theoretical bases, operational tools, and projection possibilities of the real-time mapping platform "agroecobogota.crowdmap.com" for urban agriculture experiences in Bogotá and its surroundings, Colombia. The initiative, active from 2014 to 2016, was driven by university students and sustained by citizen participation, but has not received direct institutional support.

Alastair Fuad‐Luke · Estudos em Comunicação · Global

This theoretical essay spans agriculture, art, digital media, design and philosophy to reframe Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) as part of an "expanded field" of agri-culture. Tracing experimentation in alternative production systems from medieval times through the rise of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) from the 1980s onward, it applies Felix Guattari's concept of ecosophy to ask how AFNs mediate their activities online and how they might construct new producer-consumer relations. It is an exploratory conceptual paper examining design's potential contribution to scaling AFNs, and presents no empirical data.

Isbat Uzzin Nadhori, Ahmad Ahsan · JAICT · Global

This paper proposes an information technology system to manage the supply chain of perishable products in urban farming. The system aims to increase the availability of fruits and vegetables for urban residents by shortening the distance between farmers and consumers. It enables all supply chain members, including producers, distribution centers, administrators, retailers, and consumers, to access and manage relevant information, thereby facilitating easier and faster planning of planting schedules, product selection, harvest schedules, and request fulfillment.

Greg Keeffe · Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) · Global

This paper proposes a "Hardware-Software-Interface" model to understand urban agriculture, which differs from conventional agriculture in technology, crop choice, and market approach. "Hardware" refers to the technological components, including aquaponics or soil-based methods, adapted for small scales and potentially polluted soils. "Software" represents the ecological elements that produce crops, influenced by factors like permaculture or local market demands.