Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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2539 results(92 / 102)
Current and Emerging Issues in the New Urban Agriculture: A Case Study
2011Kathryn A. Peters · Journal of Food Law & Policy · United States
Urban agriculture in the United States takes various forms, including individual gardens on private land, public property, and church and school grounds. Key factors for success include land acquisition, zoning ordinances, access to affordable water, infrastructure, and support services like education and outreach. Major U.S. cities, such as Seattle (declared 2010 the Year of Urban Agriculture) and Cleveland (declared 2012 the Year of Local Food), recognize urban agriculture's important role in sustainable cities and local food supply systems.
CommunityPolicyFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceThe Honeybee Man by L. Nargi
2011Sarah Mead-Willis · The Deakin Review of Children s Literature · United States (Brooklyn)
"The Honeybee Man" by L. Nargi is a 2011 picture book about Fred, a Brooklyn resident who keeps three honeybee colonies on his townhouse roof. The book illustrates Fred's urban beekeeping, showing how his bees collect nectar across the borough and how he harvests and distributes honey to neighbors. It aims to educate young families about local ecology and human community, explaining bee behavior and the processes of beekeeping and honeymaking.
DIYCommunityPollinatorsFood education(" \. \ ··_ ..
2011Craig Pearson · Urban agriculture · Sri Lanka
Each community in Sri Lanka developed its own Green Plan and decided what vegetables or plants it would grow. Home garden plots and community gardens were created with seed and plant donations from a university, with planting occurring in April and May 2004. Community residents assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the plants, while Sevanatha and university staff visited the sites regularly to monitor and provide consultation.
CommunityDIYFood educationUSING SCHOOL GARDENS AS A VEHICLE FOR HEALTH PROMOTION FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YOUTH: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
2011Hillary Anne Doerfler · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · Global
A literature review examined the use of school garden programs for health promotion among elementary school youth. The review found that school gardens successfully improved academic achievement, increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and enhanced social skills. However, significant barriers to implementation were identified, particularly in low socioeconomic status schools, including a lack of funding, insufficient gardening knowledge among teachers, and limited community and parent involvement.
Governance failureFood educationHealthCommunityWelfareAn evaluation of the California Instructional School Garden Program
2011Eric L. Hazzard, Elizabeth Moreno, Deborah Lane Beall, Sheri Zidenberg‐Cherr · Public Health Nutrition · United States (California)
A mid-term evaluation was conducted on 3103 California public schools (80.6% of applicants) to assess the effectiveness of the California Instructional School Garden Program (CISGP). Many schools reported not achieving their predicted goals related to the CISGP grant, with only 39.4% of schools accomplishing all their garden-related goals. Additionally, 37.8% of schools reported that their school gardens were negatively affected by the California budget deficit, suggesting that the discrepancy between predicted and actual grant utilization may be due to a combination of budget shortfall and insufficient grant award amounts.
Limited or null effectFood educationPolicyEconomicsPlant a Seed! Using the Garden for Language Acquisition
2011Maria Lundgren · School for International Training Digital Collections (School for International Training) · Global
This workshop explores how school gardens can be integrated into the curriculum and used for learning. Participants will engage in experiential activities demonstrating the garden's utility in elementary classrooms as a setting for content-based language acquisition.
Food educationCommunity연구논문 : 도시농업활동 프로그램 개발을 위한 요구 분석
2011장보경, 최윤지, 황정임 · 농촌지도와 개발 · South Korea
This study aimed to identify the needs assessment for urban agricultural programs. Urban citizens expressed a need for educational programs addressing "shortage of farming technology education" and desired "farming technology" education more than other areas. They requested urban agricultural programs with both theory and practice, preferring an 80:20 ratio of practice to theory for "farming technology" based programs. Citizens most preferred a 3 to 6-month education period, with over 95% indicating a desire to join such a program if developed.
Food educationCommunityValoración de la cidra papa (sechium edule) como alternativa de alimentación y recuperación de vínculos con el campo
2011Consuelo Montes Rojas, Astrid Alejandra Gomez · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Colombia (Popayán)
This participatory research in three communes and four urban-marginal settlements of Popayán, Colombia, surveyed 116 displaced families to evaluate chayote (Sechium edule) as a food alternative. The study found that chayote adapts well to settlement conditions and serves as an alternative food source, promoting the consumption of underutilized species and encouraging urban agriculture practices.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationCampus landscape design and function:Take Agricultural University of Hebei as an example
2011MA Cui-hua · Hebei Nongye Daxue xuebao · China
This paper introduces and explains typical landscape design using Hebei Agricultural University as an example, focusing on school buildings, school gardens, and campus comedy. It explores the role of campus landscape in beautifying the campus environment, establishing the college image, inheriting university spirit, and fulfilling an educational function.
Food educationCommunityFoundations in Education, Research, and Development
2011Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba
This chapter discusses the expansion of Cuba's higher-education system after 1959 and the establishment of institutions such as BTJ, ANIR, FCT, and SCIT to encourage technological innovation. Science education was emphasized down to the primary-school level, and Cuba devoted considerable resources to research and development and to building R&D capacity — including founding CIGB for biotechnology, establishing scientific hubs, and developing in vitro propagation technologies. In agricultural research and education, many universities established sustainable agriculture programs, and phyto-sanitary institutions were created to ensure plant health. The chapter ends with a discussion of two examples of urban agriculture outcomes: banana production and nematode control (Hebernem).
CommunityPolicyFood education도시 내 주민참여형 커뮤니티 가든 계획의 초기단계에 관한 연구
2011박은지, 이연숙 · 한국주거학회 학술발표대회 논문집 · South Korea
A study on the initial planning stage of resident-participation community gardens, using a case in Jeonju City, South Korea. Based on a literature and theoretical review together with case studies, it identifies five modes of resident participation in community garden planning and applies them to a community garden construction project in a deteriorated area of Jeonju. The study provides improvement guidelines for the initial planning stage of resident-participation community gardens.
CommunityPolicyWelfareFood educationVALORACIÓN DE LA CIDRA PAPA (Sechium edule) COMO ALTERNATIVA DE ALIMENTACIÓN Y RECUPERACIÓN DE VÍNCULOS CON EL CAMPO VALORAÇÃO DA Sechium edule COMO ALTERNATIVA DE ALIMENTAÇÃO E RECUPERAÇÃO DOS VINCULOS COM O CAMPO VALUATION OF Sechium edule AS AN ALIMENTARY ALTERNATIVE AND RECUPERATION OF BONDS TO THE COUNTRY
2011CONSUELO MONTES R, ASTRID ALEJANDRA GÓMEZ G · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Colombia
This participatory study evaluated Sechium edule (chayote, locally "cidra papa") as an alternative food source for displaced families living in marginal urban settlements of Popayan, Colombia, aiming to recover traditional knowledge of its use and management, identify ecotypes, capture its sociocultural significance as a means of maintaining ties to the countryside, and assess its productivity and management potential in marginal urban spaces. Using participatory methods including recreational activities, awareness workshops, and knowledge- and seed-exchange tours, the study covered three communes in Popayan, applied 116 surveys across four selected settlements, and conducted monthly visits with informal dialogue with participating families. It confirmed that plants such as chayote adapt to conditions in the settlements and can serve as an alternative food source for these populations, and the activities encouraged consumption of underutilized species, knowledge exchange, and conservation of ecotypes and plant species able to withstand marginal conditions.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationCultivating Youth Earth Connections Summer Internship Program (YEC): A Hands-on Environmental Justice Focused Farming Program at the High School Level
2011Samuel W. Lewis · Scholarship @ Claremont (The Claremont Colleges) · United States (California)
In summer 2010, 11 high school students from under-resourced communities in Pomona, Montclair, La Puente, and Chino Hills, California, were paid to participate for six weeks (five days a week, 30 hours a week) in the Youth Earth Connections (YEC) summer internship program, funded by the 2010 Davis Projects for Peace and a Pomona College Summer Undergraduate Research Project Award. The program was designed to connect movements for food and environmental justice with farming work, and weekly survey responses from interns suggest that experiential urban farming programs at the high school level can connect students with issues of environmentalism and social justice and motivate action against the industrial food system and the environmental injustices they experience.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceNEBLINE, May 2011
2011· Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · United States
The May 2011 issue table of contents for NEBLINE, a newsletter published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. It lists a feature on nature, gardening and science in a butterfly garden, alongside sections on urban agriculture, 4-H and youth programs, nutrition education, and Family and Community Education (FCE) club news.
Food educationCommunity12057 - Agricultura ecológica urbana: diálogo e valorização dos saberes e práticas agroecológicas no Alto Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais
2011Bruna Lara Alvarenga Barros, Jackeline Canuto Mendes, Vinicius Moreno Nolasco, Marivaldo Aparecido de Carvalho, Rosana Passos Cambraia · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil
A project in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil paired students from the Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri with youth and educators at AJIR, a philanthropic institution housing ten at-risk young men. Activities centered on cultivating vegetables, fruit trees and medicinal plants and raising small animals as part of residents' diet, guided by an ecological diagnostic of the local environment-agriculture relationship. The work aimed to valorize popular and endogenous knowledge alongside scientific knowledge and to build agroecological learning practices.
Food educationCommunityOrganic cycleA Garden for All: Refugee Participation in Community Gardens
2011Marianne Sarkis, Amelia Angevine, Samuel Morrison, Caitlin Raph, Andrea Siemaszko · Clark Digital Commons (Clark University) · United States
A student research project in the United States investigating what factors influence refugees' participation in community gardens. Students conducted observations, informal interviews and focus groups with local refugees, examining location, education, community, economics and access to supplies as candidate factors. The project concluded that a lack of economic and structural flexibility is a significant reason for the low participation observed.
CommunityFood educationExpanding Technical Assistance for Urban Agriculture: Best Practices for Extension Services in California and Beyond
2011Kristin Reynolds · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
In Alameda County, California, the University of California Small Farm Program collected data from 2006 to 2009 through on-site interviews with 52 urban farmers and gardeners, surveys of Extension staff, and participant observation. The study examined characteristics of urban agriculture in the county, operators' challenges and assistance needs, and Extension staff members' interest in expanding programming for urban agriculture.
PolicyFood educationCommunityThe design and land usage of the primary school gardens in Trabzon
2011Özge Volkan Aksu, Öner Demirel · DergiPark (Istanbul University) · Europe (Turkey)
A study of 35 primary school yards in the city center of Trabzon, Turkey, conducted to determine their existing physical condition. It examined outdoor space qualities including use of the surrounding school area, adequacy of open and green space, appropriateness of land use for functional and aesthetic purposes, and outdoor furnishing elements, through observation. The study is framed against a broader pattern in Turkey of school outdoor spaces planned with inadequate green area and hard concrete surfaces that fall short of children's developmental needs, but the abstract does not report specific numeric findings from the 35-school survey itself.
Food educationCommunityResearch and Practice of the Training of Urban Modern Agriculture Horticulture Talent
2011Zai Xue-ming · Ningxia Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Science and Technology · China
A Chinese agricultural college describes building a horticulture curriculum combining higher education with vocational training to prepare "double-certificate" talent for urban modern agriculture, including on- and off-campus practice bases linked to teacher research projects, agricultural services, and student innovation training programs. The report states that students' innovation and entrepreneurship abilities improved significantly, without giving measured data or a comparison group.
Food education공동체정원과 사회통합기능이 있는 Green Community Rediscovery Center의 설계
2011이응직, 이형숙, 윤은주, 칼루 엑페게어, 고성철 · · South Korea
A South Korean study examined the functions and roles of a Green Community Rediscovery Center (GCRC) in terms of community integration, designed a GCRC incorporating various green roof types, and investigated applying a renewable energy system (e.g., PV) to building greenery. Four functional modules were proposed: an ecopark and community gardens with environmental education programs, a green housing model with education programs, a Discover Science Center, and a green business model with education programs. In design terms, three main functions were presented: community garden functions; establishment of a green business model, community composting system, and urban farming system; and the role of community gardens in social interaction within the GCRC. Air temperature on the green roof (using Sedum sarmentosum as cover) was about 3°C lower than on a non-green roof, indicating potential efficiency gains for PV systems. The study concludes that the proposed GCRC would raise neighborhood satisfaction and quality of life and contribute to social integration and community regeneration.
CommunityFood educationCompostPolicyUrban Community Gardening the Impact on Fruit and Vegetable Intake
2011Christina Purcell · Arrow - TU Dublin (Technological University Dublin) · United Kingdom
Background material from a paper on urban community gardens in Dublin, Ireland (2011, UK-based repository) describes Dublin's community gardens as ranging in scale from small disused residential plots (Cabra Park) to a four-acre site in Santry, taking forms from individually worked plots to communal gardens, with some space allocated to charities such as soup kitchens or to college plots. Citing prior literature, it notes an estimated 18,000 community gardens in the United States and Canada and reports that such gardens have been associated with improved nutrition, increased physical activity, greater social engagement, and better mental health, but this excerpt itself presents no original data or results measuring fruit and vegetable intake in Dublin.
CommunityHealthFood educationReview and Analysis of the Benefits, Purposes, and Motivations Associated with Community Gardening in the United States
2010Draper C., Freedman D. · Journal of Community Practice 18(4):458-492 · United States
Reviews 1999-2010 literature, organizing community gardening purposes, benefits and motivations into eleven themes. Finds rigorous quantitative studies sparse but a substantial body of qualitative evidence.
CommunityWelfareFood educationThe impact of nutrition education with and without a school garden on knowledge, vegetable intake and preferences and quality of school life among primary-school students
2010Morgan · Public Health Nutrition · Australia
Among primary-school students, the study compared nutrition education with and without a school garden, examining effects on knowledge, vegetable intake and preferences, and quality of school life.
Food educationHealthUrban agriculture and ecological citizenship in Philadelphia
2010Katharine Antonia Travaline, Christian Hunold · Local Environment · United States (Philadelphia)
This study explored urban agriculture's contribution to ecological citizenship in Philadelphia, United States. The analysis was based on participant-observation and open-ended interviews with leaders and community participants from seven urban agricultural organizations. The findings indicate that urban agriculture promotes public participation and social learning about environmental decisions.
CommunityFood educationPolicyDoes Socio/Economic Status Affect Environmental Awareness in Elementary School Children Interacting with School Gardens?
2010Grady C Erickson · Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · United States (Lincoln, Nebraska)
This case study in three elementary schools in Lincoln, Nebraska, examined whether socio-economic background affects environmental awareness in children interacting with no-till, raised-bed school gardens. Surveys were used to measure environmental awareness. The hypothesis that lower socio-economic background would result in lower environmental awareness was inversely related to the findings. The school with the most impoverished background (Saratoga) showed the highest percentage of correct answers on environmental awareness surveys, while the school with the highest socio-economic scale (Norris) showed the lowest.
Food educationCommunity