Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
7626 results(94 / 306)
Nada El Habibi, Hesham El-Barmelgy · Journal of Urban Research /Journal of Urban Research · Africa
This paper addresses urbanization pressures and food security challenges in Egypt, along with the negative impact of a shortage of green space on public health and productivity, by examining the concept of urban agriculture and how to activate it. Using an analytical review of literature and international experiences, the study identifies the main patterns and types of urban agriculture, analyzes global cases to understand the potential contributions and challenges facing different urban agriculture types, and, through a deductive approach, proposes a framework for activating the urban agriculture concept as a pathway toward sustainable urban development in Egypt; the paper presents no empirical survey data.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceVeronica Sebald, Julia M. Schmack, Monika Egerer · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Germany
This study surveyed the occurrence of poisonous plant species in 30 urban community gardens across two German cities, Berlin and Munich, and examined concerns around poisonous and highly poisonous plants in urban garden settings. It found that plants producing substances toxic to humans occur in these gardens while also potentially holding ecosystem-functioning and biodiversity-conservation value, creating a trade-off with the ecosystem service of human health promotion, and concludes that poisonous plants should be carefully monitored and managed—depending on garden participants and the goals of the garden organization—to mitigate health risks while still supporting biodiversity conservation.
Environmental trade-offsCommunityBiodiversityHealthAna Carla Alves Gomes de Almeida, Maria Lúcia Brito da Cruz · Revista Geonorte · Brazil
A study of Fortaleza, Brazil, examined urban agriculture initiatives in risk areas — including the municipal Hortas Sociais (Social Gardens) project — through literature review and field visits to project sites and relevant agencies. It found that introducing urban agriculture on vacant land in risk areas can help deter irregular occupation and, when incorporated into municipal policy, can provide income and food to the urban poor.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareLeonor Ángeles Hernández, Mónica Leticia Acosta Miranda, Julio Pérez Machorro, Daniel Domínguez Estudillo, Leidys Fernández Arias · IPSUMTEC. · Mexico
A project in the eastern Morelos region of Mexico designs and builds urban/family gardens supported by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, primarily targeting small-scale farmers, homemakers, families, and older adults, aiming to let users remotely monitor gardens via mobile device or computer and reduce the time spent on routine care. The project is still under development, building prototype gardens of varying sizes and crops equipped with organic nutrients and an automated irrigation and monitoring system.
Digital agricultureCommunityFood educationAndré Augusto Manoel, Carolina Andion · Cadernos Metrópole · Brazil
A qualitative intrinsic case study of Florianópolis, Brazil, examines the processes of social innovation generated by urban agriculture practices, using a pragmatist perspective and the analytical framework of ethnography of public arenas. Through a mapping of the city's urban agriculture practices, the study identifies three dynamics of social innovation situated in three distinct public arenas: solid organic waste, the human right to adequate food, and production-consumption cycles. These findings are presented as contributing to understanding the complexity of social innovation processes and their implications for governance in the city.
CommunityPolicyLaura Ospina, Paula Parra · Pensamiento udecino · Colombia
A documentary literature review examines the importance of urban agriculture, urbanization and community participation in the context of community gardens in Colombia. It draws on high-quality scientific texts from portals including Scielo, Publindex and Scopus, plus undergraduate, master's and doctoral theses, along with a review of statistical data for each variable studied. The results point to social, economic and environmental implications and the importance of participation in these spaces. The review concludes that urban gardens are a strategy that can offset negative externalities of the current capitalist urban model -- environmental degradation, pollution, poverty, inequality -- and can positively affect residents' quality of life, becoming consolidated as spaces linking social and environmental concerns and enabling new territorial configurations.
CommunityPolicyClimate changeEconomicsIlieva R.T., Cohen N., Israel M., Specht K., Fox-Kämper R., Fargue-Lelièvre A., Poniży L., Schoen V., Caputo S., Kirby C.K., Goldstein B., Newell J.P., Blythe C. · Land (MDPI), 11(5):622 · Global
A systematic review of 272 peer-reviewed publications drawing on urban-agriculture sites in 57 countries, organizing socio-cultural benefits into four domains: cohesive communities, health and well-being, economic opportunities, and education. Community connection and learning emerged as the most frequently reported benefits.
CommunityHealthFood educationEconomicsHume C., Grieger J.A., Kalamkarian A., D'Onise K., Smithers L.G. · BMC Public Health, 22:1247 · Global
A systematic review synthesizing 53 eligible studies. Community garden participation was positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake and several psychosocial and community outcomes, though effects on physical health indicators were mixed.
CommunityHealthFood educationGray T., Tracey D., Truong S., Ward K. · Local Environment, 27(5):570-585 · Australia
A mixed-methods study of 42 social-housing residents across six new community garden sites in Sydney. Participants reported greater health and wellbeing awareness, new interest in growing fresh food, shared produce and recipes, happiness, and frequent socialization and community connectedness.
CommunityWelfareHealthFood educationEugenio-Gozalbo M., Ramos-Truchero G., Suárez-López R., Romanillos M.S.A., Rees S. · Education Sciences (MDPI), 12(3):168 · Europe
A study assessing a garden-based teaching unit on 'Food and Nutrition' against a traditional textbook-based unit. The garden-based sequence produced more comprehensive student understanding and better preparation for real-life dietary decisions, representing an educational improvement over traditional teaching.
Food educationCommunityOrganic cycleFAO, Rikolto, RUAF · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rikolto & RUAF · Global
A comprehensive guide co-published by FAO, Rikolto and RUAF for local decision-makers, urban planners and practitioners. It frames urban and peri-urban agriculture from production through to urban food systems and policy, promoting reduced food loss via short supply chains, biodiversity protection, social inclusion, and urban-rural linkages.
PolicyCommunityOrganic cycleFood lossEconomicsBiodiversityKiminami L., Furuzawa S., Kiminami A. · Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science (Springer), 6(2):541-569 · Japan
Uses a mixed-methods approach to clarify how shared value is created in Japan's urban agriculture, focusing on the cognitive innovation of social entrepreneurs and urban residents' perceptions and behaviors. It argues that multifunctional urban farming can generate combined social, economic, and environmental co-benefits.
EconomicsCommunityPolicyChan C.L., Tan P.Y., Gong Y.Y. · BMC Public Health, 22:1251 · Global
A systematic review of how school garden-based programmes affect children's diet- and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Synthesizing studies from multiple databases, it concludes that such programmes are a promising and cost-effective intervention for improving healthy eating among schoolchildren.
Food educationHealthCommunityWood C. J., Barton J. L., Wicks C. L. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(20):13166 · United Kingdom
A longitudinal study tracking 53 people with mental illness referred to the therapeutic community garden 'Growing Together' in Essex, UK, showing that participation improved wellbeing, reduced loneliness and raised life satisfaction. Benefits held even across the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the value of green social prescribing.
HealthWelfareCommunityShimpo N. · 学芸出版社 (Gakugei Shuppan), ISBN 978-4-7615-2821-8, 208pp · Global
Shimpo's single-authored book on 'urban-type gardens' that activate underused spaces scattered through cities—suburban abandoned farmland, corners of urban parks, commercial-building rooftops, housing-estate grounds. Drawing on advanced cases and practitioner interviews from Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Japan, it shows how such gardens address vacant-land use, community revitalisation, greening and food/environmental education.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cyclePolicy· 日本地理学会発表要旨集（J-STAGE） · Japan
Academic study surveying productive-greenland owners in Yawata City, Kyoto, on their intentions toward post-2022 urban-farmland policies such as the Special Productive Greenland system and the lease facilitation law.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityZheng H., Akita N., Araki S., Fukuda M. · Land 11(3):333 · Japan
Using 313 allotment gardens drawn from governmental open data, the study classified them by cluster analysis based on number of plots, plot size, contract price and duration, and facilities. It found that allotment-garden provision in Tokyo is differentiated from city center to suburbs by the share of agricultural land and residents' socio-demographic characteristics including population, share of young people, and income levels.
CommunityPolicyEconomics三牧 浩也（柏の葉アーバンデザインセンター 副センター長） · 国土交通省 スマートシティ官民連携プラットフォーム 講演資料 · Japan
A presentation by the deputy director of Urban Design Center Kashiwanoha (UDCK) explaining the public-private-academia town-building of Kashiwanoha Smart City, in which Mitsui Fudosan participates. It outlines the collaboration framework among citizens, companies and universities and the resident-participatory approach centered on health and community.
CommunityPolicyHealthEvans D.L., Falagán N., Hardman C.A., Kourmpetli S., Liu L., Mead B.R., Davies J.A.C. · Ecosystem Services, 54, 101405 · Global
A systematic review synthesizing 157 peer-reviewed articles that compares which ecosystem services are delivered by different types of urban agriculture and green infrastructure. It finds that community gardens, green spaces and parks deliver the most diverse services, that local climate and air-quality regulation are best provided by green infrastructure alone, and that biological control and genetic-diversity maintenance peak when green infrastructure is combined with urban agriculture.
BiodiversityCommunityHealthEconomicsGreater London Authority, Arup · Greater London Authority (GLA) · Global
A GLA report institutionalising 'meanwhile use' of vacant land/units awaiting development, presenting support via competitions, guidance, land provision and time-limited change-of-use permissions for interim community uses including gardens.
PolicyCommunityEconomics· Systemic Practice and Action Research · Portugal (Lisbon)
A study examining, through a systemic urbanism lens, how COVID-19 brought new attention to urban agriculture in Lisbon, exploring how participatory urban farming can be co-created and embedded in sustainable city-making.
CommunityPolicyDilebo T., Feyissa T., Asfaw Z., Zewdu A. · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 18:74 · Ethiopia
An ethnobotanical survey of 240 households across four zones of southern Ethiopia documenting on-farm landrace diversity, use patterns and farmer conservation of the staple crop enset.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityFood educationCommunityJoyner L., Yagüe B., Cachelin A., Rose J. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 11(2):67-88 · United States
Community-engaged study partnering with a CSA farm in Salt Lake City's Westside, examining how political-economic practices produced food apartheid and the limits of urban agriculture in advancing food justice in marginalized neighborhoods.
WelfareCommunityPolicyColson-Fearon B., Versey H. S. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(19):12752 · United States
Case study examining urban agriculture as a sustainable strategy against food insecurity in Baltimore, finding it builds social capital, educates residents on healthy eating, and facilitates distribution of affordable food toward food sovereignty.
CommunityWelfareHealthHawes J. K., Gounaridis D., Newell J. P. · Landscape and Urban Planning 225:104447 · United States
Analyzes the link between urban gardens and gentrification in Detroit, finding no clear association but showing gardens cluster in younger, affluent, educated, less-Black neighborhoods—gardening remains unequal.
PolicyCommunityWelfare