Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
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An Experimental Portuguese Social-Enterprise Project in Urban Agriculture: A Case Study on the Influence of the Interaction of Stakeholder Roles on Sustainable Governance
2023Michael G. Parkes, Rebekah O’Rourke, Tiago Domingos, Ricardo F. M. Teixeira · Sustainability · Europe
An experimental indoor vertical farm urban-agriculture project involving 27 stakeholder groups was set up in a university building in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018 and closed in 2022; this study analyzed the governance dimension of the project's sustainability using role-constellation mapping of the stakeholder groups and force-field analysis across seven governance factors to understand why the project did not continue. It found that despite early positive outcomes across environmental, social and economic dimensions, the project failed to establish a network of stakeholders consistently engaged in governance from the outset, and that inadequate project culture and a lack of critical governance factors led to a failure to convey a sense of ownership to stakeholders, contributing to the project's closure.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsDevelopment Of Social Capital In Urban Farming-Based Farmer Groups In Rw 03, Cempaka Putih Timur Village, Central Jakarta
2023Kamelia Sambas, Robert Markus Zaka Lawang · Journal of Social Science (JoSS) · Indonesia
A 2023 study examines the process of building social capital among urban-farming-based farmer groups in RW 03, Cempaka Putih Timur Village, Central Jakarta, Indonesia, using a qualitative descriptive approach combining observation and in-depth interviews with 25 informants selected through purposive sampling. It finds that bonding social capital was expressed as relations among farmer group members centered on shared goals and emotional closeness; bridging social capital as relations between the farmer group and the RW 03 community, non-members, visiting guests, assisted groups, and consumers; and linking social capital as relations with local government, environmental and other municipal sub-departments, companies, districts, and villages. Networks arising from trust strengthen the exchange of needed resources, obligations and norms support bonding capital, and positive sanctions (rewards) support linking capital while increasing members' motivation and commitment.
CommunityWelfareModerate use of pesticides in allotment gardens as indicated by their residues in larval food provisions of Osmia solitary bees
2023Martin Šlachta, Tomáš Erban, Alena Votavová, Daniela Tomešová, Marta Václavíková, Taťána Halešová, Elena Shcherbachenko, Tomáš Bešta, Magda Edwards‐Jonášová, Renata Včeláková, Vladana Procházková, Pavel Cudlín · Journal of Apicultural Research · Europe
This study investigated pesticide contamination using larval food provisions (a mix of pollen and nectar) of mason bees (Osmia spp.) nesting in artificial shelters at twelve allotment garden sites in Prague and Brno, with seven commercial croplands (fruit orchards, oilseed rape fields) selected for comparison. In total, 79 samples of larval provisions were analyzed using a validated UPLC-MS/MS method covering 262 pesticides and related metabolites. Fifty-six pesticide residues were detected in the allotments and 74 in cropland sites, with 50 compounds common to both; fewer residues were found in allotments (mean 14.3±0.9) than in croplands (21.5±1.1; df=17.4, t=-2.9), though some residues exceeded 10 ppb. The highest levels were observed for the fungicide pyrimethanil (mean 1,989 ppb, maximum 3,983 ppb) and, among insecticides, thiacloprid (mean 136 ppb, maximum 170 ppb). The results supported the view of a lower risk of pesticide exposure in urban allotment gardens than in croplands, though given limited knowledge of sublethal effects of pesticides, and especially pesticide mixtures, on solitary bee development, the study recommends regulation or control of pesticide use in allotment gardens.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityExploration of Informal Space Production and Its Potential for Sustainable Urban Planning: A Case Study of Community Gardens in Piura, Peru
2023Stella Schroeder · ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities · Peru
A mixed-methods case study in Piura, Peru, combined a questionnaire, participant observation, plot mapping and photography to examine informal community gardens occupying appropriated urban space. The study documents residents' motivations for cultivating these spaces, their use patterns, and maintenance needs, and discusses how such informal gardening could inform urban planning aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Community“I walk, I see, I do”: A more-than human perspective on urban gardening
2023Anni Müüripeal, Bianka Plüschke-Altof, Anton Küünal · Cities · Europe
Drawing on the practitioner memoirs of Tallinn gardener Anton and in-depth interviews with city officials and gardening activists, this case study traces how Anton moved from community gardening to guerrilla gardening. It applies a more-than-human theoretical lens to show that the strong emotions driving early community gardening experiments led to a more controlled, institutionalized governance model, which alienated first-generation activists like Anton and pushed him toward guerrilla gardening instead.
CommunityPolicyeyond Sprouts: The Nutritional Profile and Therapeutic Potential of Vegetable Microgreens
2023Santosh Kumar · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global
This review describes microgreens — tiny edible greens harvested from grains, herbs and vegetables shortly after cotyledons form, typically 1–3 inches tall and ready 7–14 days after sowing — as a category that gained popularity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic for its flavor, color and nutrient content. It characterizes microgreens as typically grown hydroponically and well suited to urban gardeners and small-space growers, without presenting new experimental or nutritional data of its own.
CommunityHealthPrototipe Taman sebagai Media Edukasi Meningkatkan Ruang Terbuka Hijau di Desa Wisata Wayang Sidowarno
2023Rhisa Aidilla Suprapto, Seftina Kuswardini · Diklus Jurnal Pendidikan Luar Sekolah · Indonesia
A community service project in Wayang Sidowarno Tourism Village, Indonesia, used observation and Focus Group Discussion methods to develop a garden prototype designed as urban farming educational media, built collaboratively by local residents through gotong-royong (mutual community labor). The prototype aims to introduce urban farming as an activity with both economic value — selling or directly consuming produce — and green open space value, continuing a partnership between Amikom University's Architecture Program and the village since it was designated a tourism village in 2020.
CommunityFood educationPEMBERDAYAAN EKONOMI IBU PKK MELALUI GALERI BANK SAMPAH DAN URBAN FARMING MENUJU PEMBANGUNAN LINGKUNGAN BERKELANJUTAN DI KAMPUNG MERGOSONO
2023Muhammad Fawwaz, Muhammad Fikri Akbar, Madziatul Churiyah, Sholikhan · PRIMA PORTAL RISET DAN INOVASI PENGABDIAN MASYARAKAT · Indonesia
A community-engagement report on establishing a "Waste Bank Gallery" in Kampung Mergosono, led by PKK (Family Welfare Movement) mothers, to address urban waste management. The program provided counseling on waste issues, management solutions, the Waste Bank Gallery scheme, handling procedures, task delegation, schedules, and stakeholders, and taught practical recycling of valuable waste plus using organic waste as fertilizer for urban farming. The outcome was described as effective dissemination of the Waste Bank Gallery program, contributing to improved waste management in the area.
CommunityOrganic cyclePolicy¿Qué es la agricultura urbana?
2023Alicia Papanek, Catherine Campbell, Hannah Wooten, John Diaz, Valeria Caicedo Zapata · EDIS · Spain
A Spanish extension publication aimed at urban residents, students, community members, extension agents, and local government officials interested in developing, supporting, or participating in urban agriculture. It covers the definition of urban agriculture, common characteristics, types of food produced, commonly used production methods, and the goals of different types of operations, closing with a list of additional resources on urban agriculture and gardening techniques for beginning and experienced growers.
Food educationCommunityPENGEMBANGAN SECARA VEGETATIF LEMON CUI UNTUK PEMBERDAYAAN MASYARAKAT DI DESA BANGKO
2023Natal Basuki, Sartika Syafi, Haris Mahmud · Jurnal Pengabdian Teratai · Indonesia
A community economic-empowerment report from Bangko Village, West Halmahera Regency, Indonesia, addressing residents' inability to propagate and use local agricultural potential such as lemon cui (a lime variety). The intervention offered training in vegetative propagation (grafting) techniques and urban farming, following a process of socialization/FGD, facilitation and mentoring, community economic empowerment, and monitoring and evaluation. Outcomes reported were increased productivity of community economic activity (as a measure against unemployment and poverty) and development of economic activity integrated with agricultural potential, with productivity/income growth and partners' mastery of business management and marketing technology set as key performance indicators.
CommunityFood educationDoing research with busy people: Enacting rapid walking methodologies with teachers in a primary school
2023Rachael Walshe, Lisa Law · Cities · Global
This paper presents a novel research method combining the "walking interview" method with a "free listing technique," applied with teachers at a north Queensland primary school in a rapidly urbanising neighbourhood, as part of a larger project exploring the barriers and opportunities of incorporating community gardens -- as important green spaces -- into schools. It reflectively analyses how simple factors such as weather, noise and interruptions shaped 20 minutes of a teacher's day, and considers how conditioned and situational temporalities and more-than-human influences affect the knowledge produced in such rapid walking interviews.
CommunityFood educationPolicyADENSAMENTO VEGETATIVO E SUA INTERFERÊNCIA NOS ELEMENTOS CLIMÁTICOS
2023William Miyakava, Margarete Cristiane de Costa Trindade Amorim · Revista Geonorte · Brazil
This study examined the effects of urban agroforestry on climate elements in Presidente Prudente, Brazil, hypothesising that vegetation cover combined with urban agriculture positively influences urban climate dynamics. Automatic sensors recorded temperature and relative humidity at three points with distinct land cover -- a densely built urban area, an urban area with vegetation/agroforestry, and a rural point -- during representative wet (February) and dry (July) months of 2021, with space-time panels and rhythmic analysis graphs used to identify urban heat island (UHI) occurrence day and night. It found that low rainfall combined with high wind-direction variability and speed in February produced greater UHI intensity and magnitude both day and night, while July's low wind speed, low directional variation, near-zero rainfall and stable atmospheric conditions produced more homogeneous daytime UHI but heterogeneous, high-intensity nighttime UHI.
CommunityClimate changePeri-urban agricultureA Systems Approach for the Future Master Planning of Punggol District, Singapore
2023Madhvi Chulet, Sahil Fadia, Shweta Suhane · · Singapore
A paper on future master planning for the Punggol District in Singapore, revisited every 25 years, structured around five systems: green, water, public spaces, energy, and food. Set against Singapore's sustainable-architecture policies for climate mitigation and the way COVID-19 reshaped design at the urban and building scale, the paper argues that a systems-thinking approach produces positive outcomes for architectural form and site planning, and it synthesizes guidelines for blue-green infrastructure in the Punggol District.
CommunityPolicyClimate changeChallenges to Promote Sustainability in Urban Agriculture Models: A Review
2023Luiza Vigne Bennedetti, Paulo Antônio de Almeida Sinisgalli, Maurício Lamano Ferreira, Fabiano Lemes de Oliveira · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global
Following the PRISMA protocol, a 2023 systematic review evaluated 26 studies on the interplay between urban agriculture (UA) and sustainability surveyed on Web of Science. While UA is increasingly recognized as an action to promote urban sustainability and inform public health policy for urban populations, the review confirms that its implementation still presents challenges in countries across both the Global North and Global South. The review identified numerous key challenges to UA adoption, including air and soil contamination, availability of green areas, layout of urban infrastructure, and food distribution, among others. Given the many socio-economic and environmental contextual factors involved — especially when comparing Global North and Global South realities — the review concludes there is a need to develop a model adaptable to these different contexts. It further concludes that the concept of sustainability lacks a universal understanding, and that one of the most important remaining gaps is addressing social issues in relation to environmental ones.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changeA agricultura urbana e perirubana do município de São Paulo diante da pandemia de Covid-19
2023Vitória Oliveira Pereira de Souza Leão, Roberta Moraes Curan, Paulo Eduardo Moruzzi Marques · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · Brazil (São Paulo)
Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on the world's population, and concerns about food supply — particularly for the most vulnerable populations — gained prominence among international bodies, Brazilian public institutions, researchers and civil society (2023). Difficulty responding to the crisis, especially misalignment of buffering measures across levels of Brazilian government and compounded by threats to democracy, produced a picture of absent effective public planning for food and nutrition security. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUP), combined with food solidarity initiatives, emerged as a strategic means of food access in the most vulnerable urbanized regions, while allowing farmers to maintain their income. This article examines different food supply actions in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil, at the peak of the pandemic, focusing especially on new dynamics among seven urban and peri-urban farmers representative of the situation in São Paulo's main production regions. Beyond social coordination among different solidarity groups in the municipality, the article highlights the role of short, proximity-based distribution circuits in sustaining local production and ensuring food consumption for food-insecure populations, amid a marked shortage of emergency food and nutrition security policies.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyUrban farming for urban families
2023Emmanuel Roux, David Himmelgreen · Futurum Careers · United States (Florida)
Well-being is closely tied to the food we eat and the places where it is grown; healthy soils produce nutrient-dense food that supports physical and mental health. For city residents, finding fresh, good-quality local food can be difficult. At 15th Street Farm in Florida, United States, Emmanuel Roux and Professor David Himmelgreen run an education project helping local families learn about their local food systems and make healthier food choices (2023).
CommunityFood educationHealthANALISIS MEDIA KOMIK DALAM MENGAJARKAN ANAK-ANAK KELAS 4-6 SD MENGENAI MANFAAT URBAN FARMING
2023Dhea Ivana Hidayat · TUTURRUPA · Indonesia
A study at SD Marsudirini Cor Jesu in Semarang, Indonesia, examining whether the comic "Komik Kota Kita," developed from urban farming research, could teach urban farming to fourth-to-sixth-grade students at a school with green open space but limited student understanding of urban farming. Observation, interviews, and questionnaires assessed comprehension, while interviews with teachers and parents tracked changes in environmentally caring behavior. Most students understood the comic because its visuals matched their age-group preferences, and they became more concerned about the environment.
CommunityFood educationA Study on How Urban Gardening Affect Citizens’ Quality of Life and Social Capital in Deteriorated Neighborhood – Focus on the Residential Complex in Gojan 1-Dong, An San City –
2023Ji-eun Park, Jong-Sang Sung, Yong-Hoon Son · Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture · South Korea
In an aging row-housing complex in Gojan 1-dong, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, this study quantitatively examined the effects of gardening on residents' life satisfaction and community. After a field survey of the garden conditions in the area, a questionnaire assessed the relationship between gardening participation and life satisfaction and community ties, analyzed with t-tests and ANOVA. Residents engaged in gardening were more active in "neighborhood exchange" and "resident participation" than those who were not. Residents who voluntarily created their own gardens reported higher "life satisfaction" than those using gardens built by the government, and residents gardening within the complex reported higher life satisfaction than those gardening outside it.
CommunityWelfareHealthUnderstanding urban agriculture in context: environmental, social, and psychological benefits of agriculture in Singapore
2023Sean Olivia Nicholas, Shiloh Groot, Niki Harré · Local Environment · Singapore
A study of a single urban agricultural initiative (UAI) in Singapore conducted in-depth interviews with 13 employees and volunteers, followed by a Q-sort of 36 statements drawn from those interviews with the same participants. Results identified environmental, social and psychological benefits including a genuine connection with nature and spillover into pro-environmental behavior, friendships and communication across diverse people, and increased self-awareness and gratitude. However, the UAI's economic impact in terms of employment and food production was impeded by its financial difficulties, and while both volunteers and employees perceived the psychosocial benefits, it was the employees who emphasized the financial difficulties.
CommunityHealthPENGENALAN TEKNOLOGI URBAN FARMING DENGAN METODE BUDIDAYA MICROGREEN DI SMP BAITURROSYID SCHOOL KECAMATAN KOTO TANGAH, KOTA PADANG
2023Roza Yunita, Jamsari Jamsari, Winda Purnama Sari, Meisilva Erona, Lily Syukriani, Firsta Ninda Rosadi, Jeanne Venora, Hasbi Al Huda · Jurnal Hilirisasi IPTEKS · Indonesia
A community outreach report describes introducing and practicing container-based microgreen cultivation technology at SMP Baiturrosyid School and its surrounding community in Koto Tangah district, Padang city, Indonesia. Methods included socialization, counseling, demonstration planting of microgreens in containers, and discussion of cultivation techniques. The report concludes that students' understanding of agriculture increased and that students were able to cultivate microgreens following the taught procedure.
Food educationCommunityFloral richness and seasonality influences bee and non-bee flower interactions in urban community gardens
2023Julia M. Schmack, Monika Egerer · Urban Ecosystems · Germany
A study in 30 urban community gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany, observed 20 focal plant species and 13 common bee and non-bee flower visitor groups, examining how landscape urbanization and the availability of floral and nesting resources within gardens affected the complexity (nestedness, linkage density, connectance) of pollinator interaction networks. Dominant flower visitors changed over the growing season, with non-bee visitors such as ants and flies dominant early in the season and bees becoming important later. Nestedness of the flower visitor network increased with floral richness within gardens, while floral abundance, the impervious surface surrounding gardens, garden size, and nesting resource availability did not strongly influence the networks. The findings indicate that high floral richness in community gardens can ensure the complexity and stability of flower visitor networks, that non-bee visitors play an important role especially in the shoulder seasons, and that urban gardeners play a key role in mediating flower visitor interactions through their gardening practices.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityMaking Urban Environments: Infrastructures of Power, Resistance and Negotiation
2023The Urban More-than-Human Collective, Sonja Dümpelmann, Robert Gioielli, Stephan Pauleit, Anindya Sinha, Kate Wright, Amy Zhang · Global Environment · Global
Scholars from history, anthropology, animal studies, and landscape planning and management discuss various forms of urban and urbanizing infrastructure and their political entanglements. The volume addresses topics ranging from the black soldier fly — used as biotechnological infrastructure for waste management — to other nonhumans such as macaques developing and negotiating their own urbanisms, to plants and community gardens used as green infrastructure providing shade and food and as social infrastructure for endurance and resistance, to transportation infrastructure that both divides and unites people. Through case studies from across the world, it presents different conceptualizations of infrastructure as complex human-nonhuman co-productions that shape the modern city.
CommunityPolicyEconomic, institutional and political advocacy tensions in the field of solidarity economy and commons
2023Jesús Sanz Abad, Sara Sama Acedo, Gaël Carrero Gros · · Spain
Case studies of two cooperative enterprises (in finance and forestry) and one new urban commons — community gardens in Madrid — all located in Spain, were analyzed using ethnographic methods within the field of solidarity economy and commons. The analysis found tensions between the initiatives' economically and politically "transformative" aspirations and the reality of operating in a market-driven capitalist environment, alliances and tensions arising from interactions with established institutions, and dilemmas or conflicts between maintaining ideological coherence and extending the initiatives' social base.
Governance failureEconomicsPolicyCommunityDynamic Volunteer Engagement and Impactful Educational Outreach Taking Us into the Next 50 Years of the Extension Master Gardener Program
2023Heather Kirk-Ballard, Kristine M. Lang, Esther McGinnis, Kerry Smith, Lucy Bradley · HortTechnology · United States
The 2021 Extension Master Gardener (EMG) National Summary reported an estimated 84,700 volunteers across the United States, who helped communities grow food, supported physical and mental health activities, worked on environmental projects, and together contributed 3.1 million hours of education worth $88 million to the public. The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for the program, prompting many states to reduce requirements and increase flexibility for volunteers; a 2022 ASHS conference workshop shared strategies from three Extension educators and EMG coordinators on engaging volunteers in local food systems and community gardens despite limited in-person contact.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceCultivation practices of leafy vegetable production during the wet season in Ambon, Indonesia
2023Reginawanti Hindersah, A. Marthin Kalay, Rion Suaib Salman, Wilhelmina Paays, Saon Banerjee · Current Research in Agricultural Sciences · Indonesia
A study of leafy vegetable cultivation (cabbage, water spinach, spinach) in urban farming areas along Ambon Bay in Ambon City, Indonesia, used 11 years of weather data verification combined with qualitative interviews with farmers to examine adaptation to disease and yield loss caused by excess wet-season rainfall. Annual rainfall varied, ranging from 3,950-5,264 mm in 2010-2013 and 2017-2020 versus 2,017-2,995 mm in 2014-2016; farmers adapted by installing plastic rain shelters, shortening planting distance from 20 cm to 10 cm, and changing their planting calendar.
CommunityOrganic cycle