Research & reports

Jemma Hawkins, Katie Thirlaway, Karianne Backx, Deborah A. Clayton · HortTechnology · Global

This study investigated the benefits of allotment gardening for healthy aging among 94 individuals aged 50 to 88 years from various activity groups. Participants completed physiological measures and psychometric scales. Allotment gardeners reported significantly less perceived stress compared to participants in indoor exercise classes (P < 0.05). No significant differences were found in social support or physical activity levels, suggesting engagement with nature and psychological restoration may contribute to lower stress.

Jenny Cameron, Craig Manhood, Jamie Pomfrett · Local Environment · Global

This paper explores Bruno Latour's concept of "learning to be affected" as a form of bodily learning, suggesting it is suitable for understanding how people are motivated to act in response to the world. It argues that performative and collective research, focused on crafting realities, can enhance this embodied learning. A community garden research project using a collective bus trip-workshop method is presented as an example.

David Mason, Ian Knowd · Urban agriculture · Australia (Sydney)

This paper explores the history of urban agriculture (UA) in the Sydney Metropolitan Region, Australia. UA emerged as a grassroots response to global forces negatively impacting urban and farming communities, including urban sprawl, supermarket dominance, the fast food industry, and globalization in the developed world. Community-based promotion of local agriculture has led governments and organizations to recognize UA as a strategic mechanism for urban communities to address food security and other challenges.

Eun-Joo Yoon, Young-Ho Yoon · LHI Journal of Land Housing and Urban Affairs · Global

This study aimed to suggest the application of urban agriculture in permanently rental apartment complexes to build social welfare. It explained the roles and necessities of urban agriculture in response to environmental changes, estimated the land area usable for urban agriculture in existing complexes, and proposed strategies for its introduction.

Steffen Lehmann · Sustainability · Global

This paper reports on best practices in urban design principles for material flow, recovery, and adaptive reuse to implement zero waste. It notes that urban farming is a valid strategy for local food production and composting organic waste. A key finding is that embedding zero-waste requires strong industry leadership, new policies, effective education curricula, and increased awareness.

Teofilo Cuesta Borja, Ditter Horacio Mosquera Andrade · · Colombia (Quibdó)

This article presents the results of a structural and functional characterization of urban productive systems in Quibdó, Colombia. The study analyzed vegetation by growth habit and conducted a Rapid Rural Appraisal on species utilization. Residents use mixed home gardens, rooftops, and potted plants for urban agriculture, along with animal husbandry. 58 species across 51 genera and 41 botanical families were found, distributed in three strata. These species are important for food and traditional medicine, indicating that urban productive systems in Quibdó are oriented to supply food and medicinal needs.

Zeng Shu-qin · Guangdong nongye kexue · Global

This paper conducted a comparative analysis of successful urban agriculture experiences in six developed countries: the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Singapore. It examined typical cases from these countries, focusing on their development characteristics, organizational forms, production characteristics, marketing and logistics, functions, and supporting policies. The successful experiences of these nations offer reference and inspiration for the development of urban agriculture in China.

Alex Nicol · Australasian parks and leisure · Australia (Sydney)

This article describes the initial apprehension of Warringah's Parks Department in Sydney, Australia, regarding the establishment of a community garden due to budget constraints. This perspective shifted when the "Guerrilla Gardener" show initiated a project on council open space at Manly Vale, transforming an eyesore into a green oasis. The specific site, however, was already designated for a district playground.

Delene Weber, Greg Brown · · Australia (Adelaide)

A study in selected parks in the Adelaide metropolitan area revealed strong support for strategies such as improving public transport, increasing the use of water-sensitive grass, adding urban forests, and establishing community gardens. Conversely, low levels of support were associated with strategies like allowing natural water features to dry up, increasing paved areas, and seasonal closure of some parks. This project is the first step in a larger initiative to optimize the use of Adelaide's parks.

Luis Octavio Da Silva · · Global

This text presents and discusses the phenomenon of vegetable cultivation in urban environments, examining it from symbolic, utopian, and industrial era perspectives. It covers the diffusion of gardening practices, various types of urban gardens, urban self-sufficiency, and the ideology behind promotional campaigns. The article also discusses the recurring landscape practice of lawn cultivation in urban settings, including its Anglo-Saxon origins, transposition to North American urban environments, symbolism, and associated conflicts.

Craig 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.

Hillary 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.

Howard Frumkin, Jared Fox · Island Press/Center for Resource Economics eBooks · Global

Contact with nature may benefit health, a relationship supported by both theoretical and empirical considerations. Nature contact can take many forms in the built environment, including plantings in buildings, views from windows, biophilic building design, community gardens, and parks. Evidence supports various benefits of such nature contact, ranging from stress reduction to improved recovery from illness and surgery.

Maria 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.

Consuelo 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.

Masao Makiyama, Mami Inoue · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Global

This study examined kleingartens (stay-type allotment gardens) established by private organizations, finding an increasing number of such gardens. Case studies revealed that privately established kleingartens tend to have higher use fees compared to government-established ones. Furthermore, problems identified include the reduction of administrative and maintenance expenses, location conditions, and the succession of managers.

Sinan 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).

Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba

This chapter describes how Cuba's 1980s economic reforms ("perfeccionamiento empresarial") sought to link urban agriculture workers' incomes more closely to their production output, noting that Cuba's urban agriculture price-formation and supply-demand mechanisms provide relatively high incomes for the workforce, and that non-monetary "moral" incentives—awards such as "de referencia" and "de excelencia" status given to individuals, collectives and provinces, plus an annual December 27 meeting between the President and outstanding urban agriculturalists—operate alongside material incentives to raise workers' self-esteem and social standing.

CONSUELO 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.

Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba

An assessment of Cuban urban agriculture's production and distribution outcomes finds that the most successful subprogram is fresh vegetable production, which has grown rapidly island-wide, while other subprograms remain active but less developed. Distribution occurs through thousands of points-of-sale, MALs, self-provisioning, and MAEs, with social consumption at workplaces, hospitals, and schools. Urban agriculture plays a significant role in improving Cuban diets but has not led to food sovereignty; other outcomes cited include employment generation, environmental benefits, and community building.

Ruth Beilin, Ashlea Hunter · Local Environment · Australia

In Australia, a 2011 study developed a set of social and ecological indicators aligned with local government policy areas and accountability frameworks through a participatory process involving local government officers, community garden (CG) members and industry experts. Since Agenda 21, local governments have sought ways to engage urban citizens in building more sustainable cities, and community garden activities are frequently described as contributing to socially and environmentally sustainable local communities, yet a suitable set of indicators for valuing these benefits had not previously been established. The indicators were designed so individuals could use and learn from them, contributing to policy decisions and being meaningful to urban planners and local gardeners. The study demonstrates the practical necessity of devising indicators that CG participants can realistically monitor and that hold political and ideological value for local governments and wider community stakeholders.

Gerald Forkuor, Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Ghana

With land zoning for urban farming remaining a major obstacle to urban and peri-urban agriculture in most developing countries, a study used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis to demonstrate how city authorities can integrate farming into their planning. The study was conducted in five districts in and around Ghana's capital city, creating spatial layers representing six influencing factors. Results show that, of the five districts, Tema municipality has the highest percentage of land suitable for agriculture, while Akuapim South has the lowest.

Sinan Koont · University Press of Florida eBooks · Cuba

This book chapter opens with a review of various perspectives on urban agriculture in Cuba, gathered by the author through many interviews. It then reports on the author's own urban-agriculture site visits: the Municipality of San Cristóbal (including the IPA Batalla de Rubi hydroponic unit and UBPC El Mango); the Municipality of Matanzas (including Organopónico Triangulo and an Organipónico at the Empresa Forestal); Santiago de Cuba (Organopónicos Luis M. Poz and Roberto Alegre Capriles); and the City of Havana (UBPC Organopónico Vivero Alamar, CCS Antero Regalades Falcón, CCSF Arides Estevez Sánchez, parcela de Falcón, and the patio La Hierba Buena, which holds national-reference status). The chapter is descriptive, presenting site accounts rather than quantitative findings.

James Krohe · Planning · Global

This planning article argues that cities facing steady population decline, which often leads to blight, can treat the situation as an opportunity to create more desirable urban spaces through deliberate planning. It describes comprehensive land recategorization based on ecological criteria, land banks that buy up vacant or abandoned properties for later redevelopment, urban agriculture and green space, and improvements to walkability and transportation infrastructure as elements of strategic planning for shrinking cities.

Ben Amsden, Jesse McEntee · Leisure/Loisir · Global

This paper introduces "Agrileisure," a conceptual framework addressing both supply and demand sides of agriculture engaged for leisure and recreation purposes — such as farm-based agritourism, hobby farming, farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture — arguing that existing leisure-studies scholarship on agriculture has largely stopped at farm tourism. The framework draws on theoretical roots in leisure studies, ecology, sociology, psychology, social justice and geography.