A first step to growing your own
A small attempt at self-sufficiency
Growing your own food, even a little, sparks a move toward self-sufficiency, autonomy and rethinking how we live. It is the most accessible practice — one that can start from a single planter.
176 related cases
Cases where this shows up
Ifeoluwa Adedayo Hydroponic Rooftop Farm, Lagos
NGLagos (Surulere), ナイジェリア
27-year-old graduate in Lagos (Surulere) built hydroponic rooftop farm using recycled plastic bottles, pipes, and small solar pump. Response to food inflation and supply disruptions in Nigeria. Grows lettuce, spinach, and basil.
guardian.ng
Oota From Your Thota / Garden City Farmers
INBengaluru, India
A Bengaluru organic terrace-gardening movement begun in 2011 that runs recurring events to spread rooftop food growing among urban dwellers. It brings seeds, saplings, compost, tools and know-how together in one place with demonstrations and consultations.
gardencityfarmers.org+2
RPTRA Kalijodo Urban Farming Garden
IDJakarta, Indonesia
Built on the regenerated former red-light district of Kalijodo, this Child-Friendly Integrated Public Space (RPTRA) hosts an urban-farming garden where children learn cultivation and conservation, serving as a space for resident food security and land-use education. Other RPTRA such as Taman Anggrek run similar urban farming.
barat.jakarta.go.id+1
Prinzessinnengärten
DEBerlin, Germany
A mobile community garden reviving a vacant lot in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Its DIY container growing and composting made it a flagship example of reusing idle urban land through citizen participation.
prinzessinnengarten.net
Chayamadai Danchi 'Hibikiau Danchi Life' (DIY, lemon cultivation, community gardening)
JPSakai, Osaka, Japan
At the public-corporation rental complex Chayamadai Danchi in Senboku New Town, Sakai, Osaka, the Osaka Prefectural Housing Supply Corporation runs the 'Hibikiau Danchi Life' regeneration project. In an aging complex with rising vacancies, it revives residents' lives and community through a DIY workshop, library, deli, mobile vegetable sales and lemon cultivation in vacant spaces.
danchi-renovation.com+2
Greening the Camps
JOAmman, Jordan
A rooftop-garden project aiming to create a green oasis in dense, concrete refugee camps and reconnect refugees with their agricultural heritage. It offers a low-tech response to food insecurity and fosters community self-reliance, expanding from a prototype on the Jadal rooftop in Amman to implementation in Jerash refugee camp.
jordantimes.com+2
Supporting research
A simplified non-greenhouse hydroponic system for small-scale soilless urban vegetable farming
A methods paper presenting a simplified, non-greenhouse hydroponic system built from low-cost, readily available materials using the Kratky method, with detailed step-by-step instructions. Requiring no specialised equipment or power, it offers a reproducible, self-buildable approach to soilless vegetable growing in confined urban spaces, supporting DIY and maker-style citizen food production.
Gumisiriza M.S., Ndakidemi P.A., Mbega E.R. · 2022 · MethodsX, 9:101882
Resilience with Mixed Agricultural and Urban Land Uses in Tokyo, Japan
Using GIS grid-cell analysis, the study quantified vegetable-weight and key-nutrient self-sufficiency for each land-use pattern in Tokyo, showing how mixed agricultural and urban land uses contribute to resilience. Tokyo's fruit-and-vegetable self-sufficiency was estimated at 4.27% currently with a potential of 11.73%.
Sioen G.B., Terada T., Sekiyama M. et al. · 2018 · Sustainability 10(2):435
El "Manifiesto Verde" de Leberecht Migge
A Spanish-language study of Migge's 1919 'Green Manifesto', examining his utopian call for self-sufficiency and self-governance through small, interconnected rural-urban groups he termed Stadtland or Landstadt.
de Cárdenas Maestre I. · 2009 · Cuaderno de Notas, no. 12, 119-134
Backyard and Community Gardening in the Urban Philippines: A Case Study from Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
This ethnographic case study examines Urdaneta City's backyard and community gardening program launched in 2009 to address food insecurity and household self-sufficiency in a provincial Philippine city. It analyzes the interplay between municipal government objectives and citizens' subsistence and economic needs.
Matejowsky T. · 2013 · Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies