Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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259 results(1 / 11)
川崎市農業振興計画（案）〔概要版〕
2026川崎市 · 川崎市 農業振興計画 · Japan
Draft outline of Kawasaki's agricultural promotion plan showing over 120,000 sqm of citizen farms, Farmers Club experiences and local-food promotion via "Kawasaki Sodachi" through municipality-JA collaboration.
PolicyCommunityFood educationEconomicsA study on the utilization characteristics of agricultural activity spaces developed in urban parks
2026Guolin XU, Shigeto YANAI · Japanese Journal of Landscape Architecture · Japan (Yokohama City)
This study investigated the utilization characteristics of agricultural activity spaces in urban parks, focusing on parks with allotment gardens in Yokohama City, Japan. Using the line transect method for behavioral observation, the study identified user characteristics and types of use. The results indicated that establishing agricultural activity spaces within urban parks promotes park use among older adults, may contribute to functional specialization by providing targeted health promotion and recreational functions for the elderly, and increases visitors’ length of stay.
CommunityElderlyHealthACTION RESEARCH ON COMMUNITY GARDENS INSTALLED ON BOTH SIDES OF A SIDEWALK
2026Kenjiro MATSUURA, Hana Yamaguchi, Maya HAIJIMA, Keibi KA, Toshiya HIROE · AIJ Journal of Technology and Design · Japan
This action research reports on the Nishi-Chiba Urban Farming (NUF) project, a community garden spanning public and private land on both sides of sidewalks. Findings suggest that considering multiple sites and starting small before gradual expansion is effective, and early relationship-building facilitated collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Local residents positively evaluated NUF, with participants valuing agricultural learning, community engagement, and social interaction.
CommunityFood educationPolicy空き地を活用したコミュニティガーデンの価値とその創出要因の解明
2025· 日本建築学会計画系論文集 90巻832号 pp.1219-1230 · Japan
A paper clarifying the value of community gardens created on vacant land and the factors that generate that value; focusing on intergenerational exchange and collaborative activity, it analyzes the effects of reusing vacant spaces in complexes and neighborhoods on local community.
CommunityPolicyBiodiversityPerceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Engagement: Organizational Identification and Corporate Volunteering Climate
2025Zuo J., Huang L., Minami C. · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · Japan
Using social identity theory and data from 226 Japanese employees, shows that perceived CSR boosts job and organizational engagement through organizational identification, moderated by the corporate volunteering climate.
WelfareCommunityEconomics都市と地域をつなぐ「BRANZ オーナーズファーム」開始
2025東急不動産株式会社, 株式会社マイファーム · 東急不動産 プレスリリース資料 · Japan
Tokyu Fudosan launches an agriculture experience project for Branz owners in Higashimatsuyama using solar-sharing farmland, an official developer-led rental-garden initiative linking resident food education, exchange, and regional revitalization.
CommunityEconomicsHealth市民農園って楽しい！
2025名古屋市 東部・緑農政課 · 名古屋市 市民農園調査・広報資料 · Japan
Nagoya outreach and survey material cataloguing municipal allotment types — Nogomi, community, partitioned and Minori farms — with plot sizes, fees and recruitment timing, showing the reality of publicly operated rental gardens.
CommunityFood educationEconomics令和7年度版さいたま市の農業
2025さいたま市 · さいたま市 農業統計・振興報告書 · Japan
Saitama's annual agricultural report summarising publicly supported urban agriculture including the urban agriculture council, land-coordinator programme and 79 public/private citizen farms with supply statistics.
PolicyCommunityFood educationEconomics市民農園開設状況調査の結果について（令和7年3月末時点）
2025農林水産省 · 農林水産省 統計調査 · Japan
MAFF nationwide survey of citizen farm counts, plots, area and operator-type trends, providing baseline statistics on publicly and institutionally supported urban gardening across Japan as of March 2025.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityContribution of natural capital to quality of life of urban-to-rural migrants in Japan
2025Takahashi Y., Yoshida T., Johnson B.A., Shigeto S., Yamagata Y. · Sustainability Science (Springer) · Japan
Uses structural equation modeling on national survey and geospatial data to demonstrate the relationship between urban-to-rural migrants' quality of life and natural capital (farmland, greenspace), providing evidence for the effectiveness of rural in-migration policy.
HealthPolicy論考_都市農地のコモン的活用促進に関する研究― JA北河内の農業体験農園を事例として ―
2025華奈 中塚, 基 小林 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan
This paper clarifies the effectiveness and challenges of JA-led agricultural experience farms, using JA Kitakawachi as a case study. It extracts elements for JA to support farmers and manage operations, aiming to revitalize local urban agriculture and maintain urban farmland by sharing it with residents as a common resource. The study suggests involving diverse stakeholders in managing experience farms for joint land use and sustainable development.
CommunityPolicyFood educationConsumer segmentation and participation drivers in community-supported agriculture: A choice experiment and partial least squares structural equation modelling approach
2025Sota Takagi, Miki Saijo, T. Ohashi · International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science · Japan
This study identified potential Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) participants in Japan and validated existing theories on CSA participation through a quantitative analysis of 2484 Japanese consumers using choice experiments and Latent Class Analysis. Five distinct consumer segments were identified, with "Food Education and Learning Opportunities" and "Contribution to Environmental and Social Issues" being key drivers for participation across all segments. Factors related to "Variety of Ingredients" were less influential.
CSA & TeikeiFood educationCommunityClimate changeCollaborative consumption of tea tourism through community-supported agriculture
2025Lee Jolliffe, Moe Nakashima · · Japan
This chapter explores the use of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) as a model of collaborative consumption by a tea farm in Japan. The case study, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms, LLC, is a social enterprise that implements CSA principles, allowing subscribers to receive the coming year's tea harvest and symbolic ownership of a tea field section. This model is driven by socio-economic objectives and aims to build a community of tea drinkers who support the farm.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood educationCommunity Gardens as a Source of Social Capital for Earthquake Preparedness
2025Naomi Shimpo · · Japan (Kobe City)
This chapter presents two case studies of community gardens in old neighborhoods of Kobe City, Japan, to demonstrate their establishment process and the social connections formed. Community gardens serve as open spaces for evacuation and food sources after earthquakes, and daily gardening activities can build social capital crucial for mutual aid in a crisis. The cases illustrate the potential for social capital building through community gardening, particularly for foreign and elderly residents, and highlight the need for city government support for such bottom-up disaster preparedness efforts.
CommunityWelfareElderlyPolicyInformation Management and Utilization in Urban Agriculture and the Impact of Farm Diversification
2025Mitsuhito HOSAKA, Mitsuyo UEMATSU, Hironori Yagi · 農村計画学会誌 · Japan
This study identified the relationship between information management and farm diversification in urban areas using quantitative analysis from the Census of Agriculture and Forestry and a multiple case analysis of seven farmers using farm management information systems (FMIS). Regression analysis revealed that farmers who diversify their businesses, especially those selling directly to consumers or food manufacturers/services, are likely to manage their business information. Multiple case analysis indicated that diversified farmers focus on searching for pesticide information and simplify the management of scheduled and actual farm work.
EconomicsDigital agricultureCSA & TeikeiComposting behavior in Japan: an application of the theory of consumption values
2025Ana Catarina Morais, Akira Ishida · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Japan
This research investigated factors encouraging Japanese households to engage in composting, applying the theory of consumption values (TCV) and evaluating hypotheses using ordinal partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings indicate that household composting in Japan is influenced by social approval, behavior visibility, composting knowledge, convenience, interest in gardening/farming, and individual availability. Factors like emotions, gender, housing type, and household size did not significantly impact composting practice.
CompostOrganic cycleFood lossDIYAdaptive trait divergence of annual plants in response to urban habitat diversity in a megacity
2025Nakata Taichi, Naoyuki Nakahama, Nobuko Ohmido, Atushi Ushimaru · Journal of Ecology · Japan (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe)
This study investigated the effects of urban habitat diversity on plant trait diversification in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe megacity, Japan, using a common garden experiment with seeds from 23 Commelina communis populations from rural agricultural lands, urban agricultural lands, parks, and roadsides. Urban habitats generally exhibited higher soil pH and land surface temperature. Urban populations, particularly those from roadsides, showed distinct traits such as increased plant height, larger plant height/width ratio, fewer shoots and leaves, and/or larger leaves compared to rural populations. QST-FST comparisons and trait-environment relationships strongly suggest that local adaptation to hot, shaded, and/or eutrophic urban environments drove the observed trait divergence among various urban populations.
BiodiversityUrban–rural linkageClimate changeDevelopment and Prospects of Community Gardens through Temporary Use of National Land
2025Naomi Shimpo, Sakura Yamada · Toshi keikaku hokokushu/Toshi keikaku houkokushuu · Japan (Tokyo)
This paper reports on the establishment of "Harajuku Harappa Farm," a community garden initiated by local residents on approximately 1,500m² of unused national land in central Tokyo. The project overcame barriers to national land use through multi-stakeholder collaboration, featuring experimental, shared, and educational plots with an emphasis on composting and local resource circulation. This case suggests the potential for temporary use of public land for environmental education, community building, and circular resource management in urban areas from an urban planning perspective.
CommunityPolicyFood educationOrganic cycleProcesos de diseño y construcción para la reapropiación ciudadana de los vacíos urbanos. El Proyecto Machi Hata en Nagano, Japón
2025Kosuke Sakura, Ignacio Grávalos Lacambra, Manuel Alejandro Rufasto Ñañez, Patrizia Di Monte · Dearq · Japan (Nagano)
This article presents an active service-learning methodology as a pedagogical approach in architecture schools, focusing on community-led appropriation of public space. This methodology was implemented through the Machi Hata Project, which aimed to transform three abandoned areas near Zenkoji Temple in Nagano—Sukeroku Garden, La Rencontre Backyard, and A Goat Garden—into "civic gardens." The study documents the sequential processes of analysis, design, and community-led construction of these community gardens, highlighting their potential as both educational tools and catalysts for urban regeneration.
CommunityFood educationPolicyThe Application of Leisure Constraints to Community Garden Activities Having Different Themes in Japan
2025Ryotaro HAYASHI, Yasushi Kyutoku, Atsuya SHIMAZAKI, Yoshiki HARADA · Transactions of Japan Society of Kansei Engineering · Japan
This study investigated the applicability of the leisure constraint model to community garden programs in Japan, using an online questionnaire (n=732) on participation constraints across four activity scenarios. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the model can be applied to Japanese community garden practices. However, exploratory factor analyses revealed many extracted factors had vague or inconsistent question combinations, suggesting a need for future research to construct a community garden-specific leisure constraint model.
CommunityHealthFood educationBiodiversityAn Inventory of Vascular Plants in the Elementary School Garden on Okinoerabujima Island.
2025基博 川西, 143997, Motohiro Kawanishi · Kagoshima University Repository · Japan (Okinoerabujima Island)
A survey of flora in seven elementary school gardens on Okinoerabujima Island, Japan, clarified the distribution of vascular plants and compiled a list for educational use. The survey identified a total of 480 species, comprising 211 native, 100 exotic, and 157 cultivated plants. The school gardens were characterized by a large number of native species, including rare and endangered herbaceous plants, indicating their high potential for nature education.
Food educationBiodiversityCLARIFYING THE VALUE OF COMMUNITY GARDENS UTILIZING VACANT LOT AND THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE THEIR CREATION
2025Hayato SHIGEYAMA, Godai Mori, Yusuke Yabutani, Gen TANABE · Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ) · Japan
This study in Japan used interviews and Strategic Experiential Modules to identify the value created by the 'Yoshihisaen' community garden, which utilizes a vacant lot, and the factors contributing to this value. Five findings were obtained: creating opportunities for collaboration and interaction is important; working with students promotes residents' personal growth; hosting events provides value such as fun and improved relationships; balancing diverse participant roles helps sustain the garden; and community gardens foster student attachment to a place.
CommunityFood education縮減都市北九州市民の都市農業活動に関するアンケート調査
2025李 錦東 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Kitakyushu)
Kitakyushu City has faced challenges due to continuous population decline and aging since the 1980s, while some shrinking cities abroad have used urban agriculture to solve local issues. This study conducted a questionnaire survey targeting Kitakyushu citizens to clarify the current status and needs regarding their urban agricultural activities. The research aims to provide considerations for promoting urban agricultural activities in Kitakyushu.
CommunityElderlyPolicyUrban–rural linkageCurbing household food waste and associated climate change impacts in an ageing society
2024Shigetomi Y., Ishigami A., Long Y., Chapman A. · Nature Communications, 15:8987 · Japan
Demonstrates that per-capita household food waste in Japan rises with the age of the household head, reaching roughly three times higher for those 70+ than for those under 30, with correspondingly large differences in food-waste-related greenhouse gas emissions. It highlights the need for age-targeted food-loss reduction strategies in an ageing society.
Food lossOrganic cyclePolicyEconomicsCommunity garden management for resilient cities: A case study in suburban Tokyo during the COVID-19 pandemic
2024Shimpo N. · Landscape and Urban Planning, 251:105148 · Japan
Analyses how a suburban-Tokyo community garden (Seseragi Garden, Hino City) was managed for resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gardeners proactively set rules through discussion and sustained activity, helping maintain food security, physical and mental health, ikigai and social networks, thereby contributing to community resilience.
CommunityHealthWelfarePolicy