Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
36 results(1 / 2)
From practice to heritage
2026Dalma Dani-Ördög · Belvedere Meridionale · Global
This paper explores the transformation of peasant work culture in contemporary educational contexts using the theoretical framework of folklorism and heritage-making. Based on qualitative fieldwork at the Gyermekliget Alternative School, it analyzes how agricultural practices are re-contextualized within the institutional setting of a school garden. The findings show that practices originally associated with subsistence farming acquire new pedagogical meanings, particularly in terms of embodied knowledge, sensory experience, and community collaboration. The school garden functions as a mediating space where past practices are reorganized through everyday action rather than being reconstructed.
Food educationCommunityHeirloom & landraceInstitut für heimische Pflanzen und Saatgut im historischen Gutshof in Rothneusiedl
2026Buse Aksu Altiparmak · reposiTUm (TU Wien) · Austria (Vienna)
This diploma thesis presents the design for an institute for native plants and seeds at the historic Zukunftshof farm in Rothneusiedl, Vienna. The project involves comprehensively renovating and reorganizing the over one-hundred-year-old, partially used, and dilapidated building stock. The aim is to establish Zukunftshof as a sustainable location for research, conservation, knowledge transfer, and communal use, adapting its spatial structure to current and future requirements.
Heirloom & landraceFood educationCommunityDecolonizing the Narrative of Indigenous Food Sovereignty: A Scoping Review
2026Ines Sebai, G. Berron Cadenas, C. Furgal, A. Argumedo, T. Delormier · Current Developments in Nutrition · Global
This scoping review explores Indigenous food sovereignty (IFS) as a decolonizing framework grounded in Indigenous cultural, spiritual, and ecological values. By synthesizing existing literature, the review identifies core IFS principles such as community governance, revitalization of traditional practices, and respectful environmental relationships. Examples like community gardens and traditional hunting illustrate how Indigenous communities adapt these principles to foster cultural renewal and sustainability. The findings emphasize the need for policy advocacy and support for Indigenous rights, including land restoration and protection of traditional knowledge.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityBiodiversityHeirloom & landraceLa zotea: saberes performados, territorios afro y experiencias ontológico-estéticas en la escuela
2024Edison Rafael Castro-Hernández, David Santiago Moreno-Castañeda, Mayeli Enríquez-Muñoz, David Alba-Sedano · Revista CS · Colombia (Bogotá)
This article explored reflections on and ways of appropriation of a critical intercultural process approaching the practices and knowledge of Afro-Colombian peoples through the virtual, narrative, and physical resignification of "zoteas" (ancestral community gardens) by Afro-Pacific populations at schools in Bogotá, Colombia. An emerging process was identified through ethnographic recording in an intensive diary and student audiovisual content production, where the articulation of ancestral practices with experimental artistic disciplines like performance shed light on other ancestral knowledge. This intervention connected the process with contemporary expressions of the Afro worldview and allowed for questioning and gradually transforming the organization of time, space, and roles in knowledge construction at school.
CommunityFood educationHeirloom & landraceMapping seeds of freedom with Red de Huerteros Medellín
2024Paula Restrepo · · Colombia (Medellín)
As part of the Red de Huerteros Medellín (RHM) collective, urban agriculture in Medellín was mapped to identify its features and problems. A main problem found was a poor or non-existent connection between urban farmers and key organizations like seed keepers. Few urban farmers had knowledge about the ecopolitical implications of the seed business, and even fewer obtained seeds from seed keepers or showed consideration for their labor.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyHeirloom & landraceState of ex situ conservation of landrace groups of 25 major crops
2022Ramirez-Villegas J., Khoury C.K., Achicanoy H.A., Diaz M.V., Mendez A.C., Sosa C.C., Kehel Z., Guarino L., Abberton M. · Nature Plants 8:491-499 · Global
A global gap analysis predicting distributions of over 70 landrace groups across 25 crops, finding a mean 63% represented in genebanks and major collecting gaps in South Asia, the Mediterranean, the Andes and Africa.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicySeeds of change? Social practices of urban community seed sharing initiatives for just transitions to sustainability
2022· Local Environment · Global
Analyzes urban community seed-sharing and seed-swap initiatives as social practices and how they contribute to just transitions to sustainability.
CommunityHeirloom & landraceBiodiversityMoveable Gardens: Itineraries and Sanctuaries of Memory ed. by Virginia D. Nazarea and Terese V. Gagnon
2022Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · Journal of Latin American geography · Global
This edited book explores how various displacements lead people to re-engage with plant life, creating meaning and sustaining biodiversity. It examines how gardening, seed saving, and cooking restore social and cultural continuity, connecting past and present. The volume, rooted in anthropology, discusses plant-human engagements in movement ("itineraries") and emplaced efforts of belonging ("sanctuaries").
CommunityHeirloom & landraceBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceDevelopment of a Tribally-led Gardening Curriculum for Indigenous Preschool Children: The FRESH Study
2021Wetherill M.S., Bourque E.E., Taniguchi T., Love C.V., Sisk M., Jernigan V.B.B. · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 53(11):991-995 · Global
Describes the development of a tribally-led garden curriculum for Indigenous preschoolers in the Osage Nation, integrating the traditional Three Sisters planting to teach Native foodways and improve children's vegetable intake and food security.
Heirloom & landraceFood educationCommunityHealthThe role of community seed banks in achieving farmers' rights
2020Vernooy R., Sthapit B., Bessette G. · Development in Practice · Global
Drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, India, and Zimbabwe, examines how community seed banks operationalize farmers' rights through conservation, access, and seed sovereignty at the local level.
Heirloom & landraceCommunityPolicyBiodiversityCollections of botanical gardens - a modern practice of conserving and studying the diversity of the plant world
2019К. Г. Ткаченко · HORTUS BOTANICUS · Global
Botanical institutions should create and maintain diverse plant collections, including local flora, ethnobotanical knowledge, and carpological collections, for research and education. These collections can inform urban gardening and floristics, but it is crucial to evaluate the invasive potential of introduced species to prevent their spread in the region's flora.
Food educationBiodiversityHeirloom & landraceA chemical genetic roadmap to improved tomato flavor
2017Tieman D., Zhu G., Resende M.F.R., Lin T., Nguyen C., Bies D., Rambla J.L., Beltran K.S.O., Taylor M., Zhang B., Ikeda H., Liu Z., Fisher J., Zemach I., Monforte A., Zamir D., Granell A., Kirst M., Huang S., Klee H. · Science 355(6323):391-394 · Global
Quantified flavor chemicals across 398 modern, heirloom, and wild tomato accessions and linked them to consumer liking. Shows modern cultivars lost allelic diversity governing sugars, acids, and volatiles, explaining reduced flavor versus heirlooms.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthGlobal conservation priorities for crop wild relatives
2016Castaneda-Alvarez N.P., Khoury C.K., Achicanoy H.A., Jarvis D.I., Maxted N., Toll J. · Nature Plants · Global
Models the distribution of 1,076 taxa related to 81 crops, finding over 70% are high priority for further collection because they are poorly represented in genebanks relative to their native ranges.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicyMaize Germplasm Conservation in Southern California's Urban Gardens: Introduced Diversity Beyond ex situ and in situ Management
2016Heraty J.M., Ellstrand N.C. · Economic Botany 70(1):37-48 · Global
Measures maize genetic diversity in home and community gardens kept by immigrant farmers in Southern California, showing transnational seed dispersal sustains landrace diversity beyond recognized centers of diversity.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityThe productive landscape in Persian Gardens; Foundations and features
2016Khalilnezhad Seyyed Mohammad Reza, Tobias Kai · · Iran
This study explored the dimensions and attributes of productive and agricultural landscapes in six Persian Gardens (Akbariyeh, Rahim Abad, Amir Abad, Bahlgerd, Pahlavanpur, and Shahzadeh) in Iran. Using descriptive-analytical methodology, library research, interviews, and field studies, it showed that fruitful greenery is significantly present, even in governmental gardens, due to the need to provide recreational services for owners and guests. The combination of ornamental and fruit species enhances garden beauty, aims for efficiency, profitability, and self-sufficiency, and medicinal properties are also noted.
Heirloom & landraceFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban home gardens in the Global North: A mixed methods study of ethnic and migrant home gardens in Chicago, IL
2015Taylor J.R., Lovell S.T. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):22-32 · Global
Studies African American, Chinese, and Mexican-origin home gardens in Chicago, finding that ethnic gardeners saving open-pollinated traditional crop seeds preserve agrobiodiversity while reproducing cultural identity and supporting community food systems.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunityAgricultura urbana en el marc d'un urbanisme sostenible
2015Nadal, Ana, Cerón, Ileana, Cuerva Contreras, Eva, Gabarrell Durany, Xavier, Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro, Pons Valladares, Oriol, Rieradevall Pons, Joan, Sanyé-Mengual, E. · UPCommons institutional repository (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) · Global
This paper discusses the historical relationship between cities and agriculture, noting that agriculture was essential in ancient civilizations. However, in 20th-century modern urban planning, such as Le Corbusier's Chandigarh and Lucio Costa's Brasília, agriculture was largely excluded from major cities.
CommunityPolicyHeirloom & landraceFortalecimiento cultural desde la agricultura en el cabildo indigena Ambiká -Pijao, a través de la casa de pensamiento semillas Ambiká
2015Jenny Morales Sánchez, Paola Aguilera Rocha · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Colombia (Bogotá)
In Usme locality, Bogotá, Colombia, the Ambiká-Pijao indigenous community, displaced from Tolima, undertook an initiative through the "Ambiká Seeds House of Thought" to recognize ancestral agricultural traditions. This non-conventional education facility hosts children aged 2 months to 5 years to maintain and strengthen their customs and ancestral knowledge. Maize, a native and sacred plant, was planted in soda bottles as an urban agriculture strategy for limited spaces, allowing children to connect with their customs and understand planting as a sacred act in their worldview.
CommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceHeirloom & landraceA methodology for the sustainability assessment of agri-food systems: an application to the Slow Food Presidia project
2014Peano C., Migliorini P., Sottile F. · Ecology and Society · Global
Develops an indicator-based sustainability assessment tool translating Slow Food's 'good, clean, fair' principles into criteria spanning economic, ecological, social, cultural, and quality dimensions, applied to the Slow Food Presidia project.
Heirloom & landracePolicyEconomicsBiodiversityRe-purposing the master's tools: the open source seed initiative and the struggle for seed sovereignty
2014Kloppenburg J. · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Global
Argues that food sovereignty requires seed sovereignty, examining the Open Source Seed Initiative's attempt to apply open-source legal tools against corporate enclosure and intellectual property rights over plant genetic resources.
Heirloom & landracePolicyBiodiversityCommunityIncreasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security
2014Khoury C.K., Bjorkman A.D., Dempewolf H., Ramirez-Villegas J., Guarino L., Struik P.C. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) · Global
Shows national diets grew about 36% more similar over five decades, increasingly reliant on a few major crops, with implications for food security, nutrition, and the value of conserving crop diversity.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityHealthFood educationGenebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
2014Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture · Global
FAO's revised international technical standards guiding genebank management of plant genetic resources, covering orthodox seed, field, in vitro, and cryopreservation collections to ensure secure long-term conservation.
Heirloom & landracePolicyBiodiversityThe Multiple Functions and Services of Community Seedbanks
2014· Resources · Global
Reviews community seedbanks worldwide and classifies their multiple functions and services, including conservation, exchange, and sharing of seeds.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityCommunitySeed exchange networks for agrobiodiversity conservation. A review
2013Pautasso M., Aistara G., Barnaud A., Caillon S., Clouvel P., Coomes O.T. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global
Reviews concepts, methods, and challenges for understanding farmer seed exchange networks, central to conserving landraces and sustaining agrobiodiversity through informal social and ecological seed systems worldwide.
Heirloom & landraceCommunityBiodiversityGlobal ex-situ crop diversity conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: assessing the current status
2013Westengen O.T., Jeppson S., Guarino L. · PLOS ONE · Global
Assesses the completeness of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault's safety-duplication collection against the world's ex-situ holdings, quantifying global backup of crop genetic diversity across 156 crop genera.
Heirloom & landraceBiodiversityPolicy