Research & reports

Aleksandra Nowysz, Łukasz Szczepanowicz · Sustainability · Poland

This paper examines the effectiveness of urban farming microinterventions through three design-led case studies in Poland. The cases include "Blooming Structure" (2018, Warsaw), a temporary hydroponic installation; "Micro-cultivation" (2018, Warsaw), a shopfront vertical demonstration farm; and "Micro-cultivation 2" (2019), modular cultivation furniture. The analysis combined project documentation with practice-based observations, applying five interpretive dimensions: spatial fit, technical feasibility, communicative legibility, replicability, and social programming. Findings indicate that successful microinterventions align legible cultivation infrastructure with high visibility, accessibility, and participatory formats that support skills transfer and copying-based scaling. Limitations of this study include the small sample size and its concentration on projects from Poland.

Nicolás Carrasco-Astudillo, Juan José Medina-Musellas, Kàtia Gaspar, Marta Gangolells, Miquel Casals · Building and Environment · Spain (Catalonia)

This paper evaluates rooftop agrivoltaic systems integrating urban agriculture, photovoltaic generation, and rainwater collection for building resilience and water-energy-food synergies. Tested via EnergyPlus simulations in a reference residential building across nine climate zones in Catalonia, Spain, the strategy showed climate-dependent benefits. The most consistent performance was in the Csa climate (Barcelona), demonstrating robust reductions in energy demand, emissions, and discomfort hours under current and future climate scenarios.

· Wikipedia · Netherlands

This Wikipedia article on Wageningen University & Research states it was founded in 1876 as the Rijkslandbouwschool (National Agricultural School), renamed the Agricultural and Forestry College in 1896 and the National Agricultural, Horticulture and Forestry College in 1904, before becoming a degree-awarding institution named 'Rijks Landbouw Hoogeschool' under the Academic Education Act on 9 March 1918 — a date now celebrated as the university's dies natalis. The article states the university is highly ranked globally in agriculture, ranking 1st worldwide in Agriculture and Forestry in the QS World University Rankings 2022, 19th in Life Sciences in Times Higher Education 2022, and 1st in Food Science & Technology in the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017. It states the university has about 13,564 students.

Grassl, Philipp · reposiTUm (TU Wien) · Europe

The diploma thesis "hydro ponos" at the Vienna University of Technology addresses a new type of agriculture in Vienna's urban context. The project proposes a hydroponic system in a vertical farm, choosing the vacant Flakturm (anti-aircraft tower) in Augarten as the construction site. The study suggests a solution for the city by utilizing the existing Flakturm as a storage and supply element and adding a new timber skeleton structure as an extension.

Francesca Gotti, Yona Catrina Schreyer · field · Italy (Bergamo)

This essay describes two alternative spatial practices implemented in Bergamo, Italy: "Software-ing Spaces," a living-designing-building residency in a former monastery, and "Seeds Under the Snow," an experimental laboratory for knowledge exchange and innovative methods within Bergamo's social gardens. Both projects aim to challenge systemic procedures in the construction sector and develop spatial ideas based on empathy, synchronizing place, resources, users, and builders.

Storey, Benjamin · TIB Repositorium · Germany

The PflanzMit! project is an innovative initiative aiming to involve urban populations in the care and design of their green environment. The app enables users to organize and collaboratively work on planting and maintaining urban green spaces, strengthening social fabric and fostering a sense of community. The app offers organizational tools for group formation and task distribution, as well as practical aids like care tips, plant identification by photos, and AI-supported plant recommendations based on local conditions.

Christos Ioannides, Alexandra Tsatsou, Daniel Mamais, Simos Malamis, Georgios Tsimiklis, Dimitra Tsiakou, Z. Tsiropoulos, Mariarina Michailidou, Apostolos Tzourtziotis, Christina Karaberi, Orestis Raptis, Constantinos Noutsopoulos · Urban Water Journal · Europe

This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a city-wide pilot of circular urban agriculture across 31 locations in Trikala, Greece. The pilots included rainwater harvesting, precision irrigation, composting, and an online monitoring platform. Assessed through a mixed-methods approach using 20 environmental, economic, and social indicators, the system showed stable technical performance and effectiveness in reducing resource consumption.

Alejandro Carlos Campina López, Antonio Alejandro Lorca Marín, María Ángeles de las Heras Pérez, Emilio José Delgado Algarra · Advances in linguistics and communication studies · Spain

This chapter provides a comprehensive guide for setting up and programming sensors to monitor a school garden using Micro Bit boards. The project aims to meet the digital competence and computational thinking requirements specified in the Spanish curriculum (LOMLOE). By systematically monitoring parameters such as soil moisture, temperature, humidity, light intensity, and soil pH, students can make informed decisions about garden management.

Matteo Clementi, Valentina Dessì, Giulio Maria Podestà, Szu-Cheng Chien, Barbara Ang Ting Wei, Elena Lucchi · Sustainability · Italy (Milan)

This study proposes an open-source Digital Twin model based on a geographical information system (GIS) for optimizing solar radiation mapping in urban agriculture design. The model considers complex microclimatic variables in urban environments and integrates available open data with in-situ measurements to develop a set of maps for urban farmers and designers. Initially tested on a neighborhood in Milan, Italy, the model's replicability and effectiveness were verified.

Janie Bickersteth, J. F. S. Ferro, Marjorie Landels, Stephanie Robson · · United Kingdom

Incredible Edible Lambeth (IEL) is undertaking two mapping projects in Lambeth, UK, to identify and make available hidden food production niches. Six walking trails highlight existing food growing in community gardens and green spaces, distributed to pharmacies, GP surgeries, and schools. The 'Lambeth plots' project, in collaboration with Arup, combines GIS analysis with citizen-led mapping to reveal food growing potential across the entire borough.

Giovanbattista Califano, Anders Crichton-Fock, Charles Spence · Future Foods · United Kingdom

Consumer attitudes toward novel fresh herb cultivation methods, including urban farming, hydroponics, and robotic cultivation, were explored among 148 participants in the UK. Urban farming was the preferred method, followed by hydroponics, with robotic cultivation being the least favored. High consumer environmental concern positively influenced acceptance of parsley from urban farming, while food technology neophobia negatively impacted consumer acceptance of hydroponic and robotic cultivation methods. The exploratory nature of this study may limit the generalizability of its results.

Francesca Monticone, Antonella Samoggia, Elena Viti · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · Italy

This mixed-methods study investigated Italian consumers' perceptions, barriers, and drivers for urban food purchasing and consumption apps, and analyzed the features of existing apps. The desire to eat fresh and seasonal food was identified as the main driver for buying from (peri)urban agriculture initiatives, and a mismatch emerged between consumer needs and app features. Sustainability food profiles and information on seasonal food are preferred by consumers but are present in a limited number of apps.

Lara Houston, Sara Heitlinger, Ruth Catlow, Alex Taylor · Policy Press eBooks · United Kingdom (London)

Workshops critically experimented with the possibilities and challenges of blockchain as an infrastructure for food abundance and reparative work, using fictional scenarios set in a London transformed into a city farm by 2025. This experimentation suggested that blockchain presents challenges to such restorative and sustainable work. For participants, reparation involved working in the aftermath of social and environmental collapse to bring into being more-than-human-value systems that radically decentered human knowledge and experience.

Michele D’Ostuni, C. Stanghellini, A. Boedijn, Leonardo Zaffi, Giuseppina Pennisi, Francesco Orsini · Sustainable Cities and Society · Netherlands (Amsterdam)

The feasibility of using urine and greywater streams as nutrient solutions in a theoretical model of Building-Integrated Agriculture in Amsterdam was evaluated. Results showed it is feasible to use urine and greywater as nutrient solutions; however, treated urine had higher macronutrient concentrations than literature fertilizer recipes, requiring dilution with increasing amounts of greywater to match N or P concentrations. Consequently, P deficiencies in plants or excessive N concentration were found in the final wastewater-based nutrient solution.

Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto · · Europe

This article introduces the Urban Algae Canopy, an innovative architectural system that redefines farming and horticulture within urbanism. It proposes agriculture as a tool for reprogramming Milan's public realm and challenges the separation between urban and rural conditions. The Urban Algae Folly aims to integrate technical and scientific research with societal needs through architectural design.

Lara Houston, Sara Heitlinger, Ruth Catlow, Alex Taylor · Bristol University Press eBooks · United Kingdom

This piece asks under what technoscientific conditions food scarcity might be understood as contingent on heterogeneous actors, and how the possibility of food abundance might be approached as a reparative project revaluing those manifold relations, framing blockchain as an infrastructure offering both productive imaginaries and challenges to such work. A series of workshops critically experimented with these possibilities and challenges, working with diverse participants — community growers, organizers, artists and technologists — who used playful methods to act out fictional scenarios set in 2025, a speculative future in which all of London had been transformed into a city farm. For the organizations and participants involved, reparation meant working in the aftermath of social and environmental collapse to bring into being more-than-human value systems that radically decentered human knowledge and experience.

SUEDANUR ÖZDEN, ESRA ARSLANTÜRK, MEHMET SENEM, İmdat As · Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ) · Europe

Focused on a planned future city for 50,000 residents on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, this study (2023, Europe) explores a virtual reality (VR) gaming environment that lets citizens experience smart-city topics including innovative mobility approaches, drone delivery, and urban farming. It frames VR as offering a testing ground for ideas, performance simulation, and crowdsourcing input before a city is physically built, with gamification intended to incentivize citizen participation in the design process and generate a feedback loop for shaping the future city. Citizens can experience the city design through four circulation modes — walking, biking, driving, and flying — within the VR environment, and earn points by engaging with smart-city topics such as urban farming, solar energy use, and carbon neutrality. The project comprises three phases — an immersive head-mounted-display VR version of the city, edutainment/gamification, and integration into Meta's multi-user space — and the paper presents early findings, the methods and tools explored, and a discussion of VR's utility in architecture and urban planning design processes.

Ana M. Bartolome, Deiyalí Carpio, Beatriz Urbano · Amfiteatru Economic · Europe

This study used the digital agricultural geographic information system AGRO-GIS to calculate and predict potential urban agriculture from abandoned horticultural lands and greenhouses in urban areas, applying binary logistic regression to identify determinants of abandoned horticultural land and greenhouses and ANOVA to test differences in agrarian land variation among urban areas. Results showed an average of 97.85 ha of abandoned horticultural land and greenhouses providing potential urban cultivable land per city; a one-hectare decrease in non-irrigated land was associated with an 87.98% increase in the odds of potential urban agriculture, and a one-hectare increase in grassland-shrubland was associated with a 67.59% increase in the likelihood of potential urban agriculture.

Per-Anders Langendahl, Maria Tunberg, Suvi Kokko · · Europe

Smart urban agriculture — food produced in closed, controlled and digitally augmented environments such as vertical farms, plant factories and aquaponics systems — is found in cities worldwide and is said to produce fresh food year-round using fewer chemicals and fewer food miles. However, critiques of smart urban agriculture note it is a marginal activity that often produces food with low nutritional value and requires energy-intensive artificial lighting. Using qualitative research methods, this report examines the development of smart urban agriculture in Sweden, identifying experimental and entrepreneurial initiatives and analyzing them in relation to high-level policy agendas such as food policy, smart cities and digitalisation. The findings show Swedish smart urban agriculture broadly consists of technology-oriented entrepreneurial start-ups and experimental initiatives split into production-oriented (mainly herbs and leafy greens), community-oriented (prioritizing social benefits), and technology-oriented (developing and supplying digital solutions and services) types. However, product output was limited to a small variety of financially high-margin crops sold at premium prices. In relation to high-level strategic agendas, smart (urban) agriculture is recognized for environmental and social benefits such as mitigating flooding.

Paweł Matacz, L. Świątek · Sustainability · Poland (Szczecin)

This article addresses the problematic heritage of Nazi German underground air raid shelters in Szczecin, Poland, by exploring their revitalization for urban agriculture. Through inventory and analysis, a modular hydroponic plant-growing system adapted to these prefabricated spaces was proposed. This solution aims to overcome negative associations, strengthen food sovereignty, initiate bottom-up community activity, and build social ties in residential neighborhoods.

Sandra Schwindenhammer, Denise Gonglach · Politics and Governance · Germany

This qualitative and participatory case study in Germany examined the governance implications of an emerging technology in urban agriculture that connects wastewater treatment and agricultural production for urban hydroponics. The analysis found that while this technology has the potential to facilitate SDG implementation, it simultaneously creates new sector interlinkages between water and food, leading to policy demands that necessitate more integrated policymaking.

Juan-Francisco Álvarez-Herrero, María Encarnación Urrea Solano, Rosabel Martínez-Roig · IJERI International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation · Spain

This study examined the presence and visibility of school gardens on social media in Spain by analyzing the last 100 posts with #huertoescolar on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Educational centers primarily documented school garden activities on Twitter, followed by Facebook and Instagram. School gardens were mainly used for practical application of academic content and fostering environmental awareness, but greater integration with Sustainable Development Goals is still needed.

Mosen Farhangi, Margherita Turvani, Arnold van der Valk, G.J. Carsjens · Sustainability · Netherlands (Amsterdam)

An ethnographic study in Amsterdam, Netherlands, analyzed barriers to the integration of high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA) into urban planning processes. The research revealed a lacking connection between planning actors and HTUA technology developers.

Rosalia Filippini, Sylvie Lardon, Stefano Corsi · · Italy

This chapter designs an inter- and transdisciplinary, multiscale, and mixed-method framework for analyzing Smart Agriculture (SA) in urban-rural relationships across Italian case studies. It proposes SA as an experimental field for cooperation among decision-makers, civil society, and academia to improve urban-rural links in metropolitan regions. The promotion of peri-urban agriculture and rural-urban links is central to this approach.

Andy Lockhart, Simon Marvin · Antipode · United Kingdom (Sheffield)

This article explored the phenomenon of automated environmental control, using three sites in Sheffield, UK: a botanical glasshouse, a luxury hotel, and a university plant growth research lab. The study identified technical and ecological tensions and limits of indoor environmental control at each site, which restrict the scope of automation. It also showed that maintaining desired conditions required considerable hidden labor and energy.