Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
19 results
Perceived 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.
WelfareCommunityEconomicsCommunity 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.
CommunityWelfareElderlyPolicyCommunity 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農福連携等推進ビジョン（2024改訂版）
2024· 農福連携等推進会議（内閣官房） · Japan
Government vision (2019, revised 2024) promoting noufuku—agriculture-welfare collaboration enabling people with disabilities to participate in society through farming—as national policy, covering awareness, training, facility support, and market expansion via certification.
WelfarePolicyHealthCommunityEconomics農と親しみ江東区の共生社会を考える協議会 活用事例
2023農と親しみ江東区の共生社会を考える協議会, 農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例 · Japan
Grant case study creating a children's farm-contact space in Toyosu, Koto Ward, using urban farmland creation support — a report on ward-council-business collaboration for vacant-land farming, food education and an inclusive community.
Food educationCommunityPolicyWelfareみんなのうえんPARK湊川にPARK BARが完成しました
2023独立行政法人都市再生機構（UR都市機構） · UR都市機構 西日本支社 ニュースリリース · Japan
A news release from UR (Urban Renaissance Agency) reporting the completion of the PARK BAR facility at 'Minna no Uen PARK Minatogawa' on UR land in Kobe, introducing the farm-plus-park social experiment for community exchange, childcare and welfare.
CommunityWelfare農を通じた都市公園と地域コミュニティの再生——兵庫県神戸市の平野コープ農園の事例から
2022新保奈穂美 · 都市計画報告集（日本都市計画学会）20(1), 154 · Japan (Kobe)
Demonstrates the community-revitalization effect of urban agriculture in a shrinking city through the case of Hirano Co-op Farm in Kobe, suggesting that an open-to-all farm and learning opportunities are essential to community formation.
CommunityWelfareWhat the welfare‐agriculture cooperation can inherit from the farmer‐consumer partnership movement for exchanges of organic produce: on‐site implementation and international sharing of its outcome
2022Hiroyuki Tsunashima · Impact · Japan
Dr. Hiroyuki Tsunashima of Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan, leads a project linking agriculture and social welfare to provide job opportunities for socially disadvantaged individuals. The project involves clients working on farms under the supervision of social welfare staff, emphasizing autonomous skill acquisition and holistic practices. This initiative draws from the Teikei movement, a community-supported agriculture system in Japan, to facilitate the process through food and farmer-consumer partnership experiences.
WelfareCommunityFood educationHow Does Urban Farming Benefit Participants' Health? A Case Study of Allotments and Experience Farms in Tokyo
2021Harada K., Hino K., Iida A., Yamazaki T., Usui H., Asami Y., Yokohari M. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), 18(2):542 · Japan
A cross-sectional study comparing 783 urban-farming participants with 1,254 non-participants in Tokyo. Participants in both allotment and experience-farm programs reported significantly better self-rated and mental health, highlighting the health value of regular social interaction in urban farming.
WelfareHealthCommunityThe governance of a community garden with a food cycle in suburban Tokyo
2021Shimpo N. · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems (Wiley), 6:e20015 · Japan
A case study of a suburban-Tokyo community garden that collects neighborhood kitchen waste and returns it to the soil as compost, forming a local food cycle. It documents how the bottom-up founder sustained the garden, provided work opportunities for people with disabilities and food-education for children, and built links with welfare facilities, kindergartens, and schools.
CommunityCompostOrganic cycleWelfareFood education農地保全等にかかる検討報告書
2021世田谷区 · 世田谷区 検討報告書 · Japan
Setagaya's review report from its urban-agriculture and farmland-conservation PT after the 2022 productive-green-area issue, outlining the current state and future direction of publicly supported urban farmland use including buy-out conservation, agriculture-welfare collaboration, ward allotments and community farms such as Tamaribatake.
PolicyCommunityWelfareFood educationPotential of a Small Indoor Plant on the Desk for Reducing Office Workers' Stress
2020Toyoda M., Yokota Y., Barnes M., Kaneko M. · HortTechnology · Japan
Real-office study in Japan showing that intentional contact with a small desk plant reduces office workers' psychological and physiological stress, supporting planting and gardening interventions in the workplace.
HealthWelfareRelationship between Community or Home Gardening and Health of the Elderly: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey in Japan
2019Machida D. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(8):1389 · Japan
A web-based cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling older adults in Japan examined links between community or home gardening and health-related indicators. Gardening with others was significantly associated with exercise habits, physical activity, vegetable intake and neighborly connections, and with higher subjective happiness and sense of purpose, supporting gardens as a means to counter isolation among the elderly.
HealthWelfareCommunityFood educationノウフクJAS（障害者が生産行程に携わった食品の日本農林規格）
2019· 農林水産省 · Japan
Materials on the 2019 Noufuku JAS standard certifying foods and ornamental plants produced with the involvement of people with disabilities, raising trust and brand value for agriculture-welfare products via third-party certification; first certifications issued November 2019.
WelfarePolicyOrganic cycleEconomicsHealthHealth Benefits of Urban Allotment Gardening: Improved Physical and Psychological Well-Being and Social Integration
2017Soga M., Cox D.T.C., Yamaura Y., Gaston K.J., Kurisu K., Hanaki K. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(1):71 · Japan
A questionnaire survey of 332 allotment gardeners and non-gardeners in Tokyo compared five self-reported outcomes: perceived general health, physical complaints, BMI, mental health and social cohesion. Allotment gardeners reported better general health, fewer complaints, better mental health and greater social cohesion, indicating that urban allotment gardening can improve residents' physical and mental health and community ties.
HealthCommunityWelfarePost-Disaster Food and Nutrition from Urban Agriculture: A Self-Sufficiency Analysis of Nerima Ward, Tokyo
2017Sioen G., Sekiyama M., Terada T., Yokohari M. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Tokyo, Japan
Quantifying vegetable output from urban farmland in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, the study finds a weight-based self-sufficiency rate of just 6.18% and an aggregate nutritional self-sufficiency of about 2.86%, showing urban agriculture covers only a tiny fraction of local food and nutrition needs.
PolicyWelfareカシニワ制度に基づくコミュニティガーデンにおける公共性の変化
2014Watanabe Y., Miyamoto M., Amemiya M., Terada T., Yokohari M. · ランドスケープ研究 77(5):713-718 · Japan
Taking the 'Jiyu Hiroba' community garden established under Kashiwa City's Kashiniwa program as a case study, the paper analyzes how the publicness of a community garden is generated and transformed, drawing on resident-drawn site plans, annual management reports, and interviews with neighborhood-association members.
CommunityWelfarePolicy「援農ボランティア」による都市農業の持続可能性 : 日野市と町田市の事例から
2013修一 舩戸 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Hino City)
This paper examined the sustainability of urban agriculture through volunteer farming initiatives in Hino City and Machida City, Tokyo. In Hino City, the "Hinojin Ennou no Kai" has provided free farming assistance since 2006, while in Machida City, the NPO "Tagayasu" has offered paid assistance since 2002. Based on these cases, the impact of collaboration between citizens and local farmers on the sustainability of urban agriculture was discussed.
CommunityWelfareEconomicsUrban–rural linkageThe Effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Stay-type Allotment Gardens and Some Issues of the Response to the Effects
2012Masao Makiyama, Mami Inoue · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan
This study investigated the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Fudouson and Hippo stay-type allotment gardens in Marumori Town, Miyagi Prefecture. Immediately after the earthquake, management entities confirmed user safety and conducted rescue operations. Post-earthquake, some users retired, but the gardens gained new users who were earthquake victims or reconstruction workers.
CommunityPolicyWelfare