Case studies from Cuba's Urban and Peri-Urban agriculture (UPA) revolution show that urban growing can fuel locally driven production of essential foods with minimal inputs, creating unprecedented opportunities for community food sovereignty. The fact that Cuba produces 60-70% of its vegetable needs on 25% of the land shows that the barriers that UPA faces are more sociopolitical than agronomic. As an agricultural hub with an abundance of rural land within close proximity of the city, the need for UPA in Burlington, VT may not be as readily apparent. When compared to nearby small vegetable growers through the lens of a typical agronomic analysis, UPA nearly always comes out at a disadvantage. Yet community gardens and urban growers are multiplying in the small city. Research suggests this boom is owed to numerous multi-functional benefits provided by community gardens, including the potential for UPA to allow communities who may otherwise have limited agency in food choice with an opportunity to access culturally preferenced produce. However, while extensive evidence identifies the social benefits of community gardens, these results remain disparate from the economic analyses that most often find their ways into the hands of decision makers. This research proposes a valuation metric called Crop Value Index (CVI), and uses it to evaluate which crops and management techniques best take advantage of limited urban space in Burlington community gardens. This tool ranks crops by their ability to save gardeners money or profit and by their perceived cultural value by the gardener, and combines the two to identify which crops are the most successful in producing overall value. Through demonstrating the high functionality of UPA in the production of certain crops, CVI contributes to findings that indicate that UPA may be better able to serve niche community food needs than commercial growers, while simultaneously providing urban growers with food security and creating food sovereignty and food justice.

The success and benefits of community gardens in cities has been documented in the literature. However, do positive aspects of community gardens translate to small towns? The merit of a community garden is in the building of relationships within a community and healthy interactions within the garden. This study looked at the successful elements community gardens offer for the users and the surrounding community in towns with populations of fewer than 50,000. A web-based survey was used to ask questions about community garden’s leadership, members, operation, and community context. Responses to the survey give a look into the setup and operation of gardens in small towns. Results indicate typical standards for a community garden including organizational structure, property ownership, and membership. Additional observations indicate the presence of community elements such as universities, farmers markets, and local agriculture are commonly found where community gardens exist.

Community gardens have been shown to have positive social, nutritional and educational benefits for their users, and improve the amenity, safety and patronage of the surrounding area. They also tie into wider themes of sustainability and food security. Despite these benefits, urban planners, as the keepers of land and determiners of land use, have had little to do with community gardens. This thesis will explain the benefits of community gardens, and detail planning policies throughout the world that support community gardens. Lastly, recommendations will be made on how the South Australian planning system can better support community gardens. / Honours Thesis

Background: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been recommended as an effective approach to engage communities in implementing research projects relevant to their needs and interests.  Following this approach, the Dan River Partnership for a Healthy Community was formed to address regional obesity concerns in the Dan River Region, a health disparate area located in south central Virginia and north central North Carolina.  Community gardens were identified as a priority, and the development and implementation of this study continues previous collaborative efforts in evaluating the effectiveness of community gardens within this region. Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to determine if applying the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to an adapted curriculum throughout a 10-week gardening and nutrition education intervention would increase youths' willingness to try fruits and vegetables (FV), self-efficacy for eating and asking for FV and gardening, knowledge of nutrition and gardening, and outcome expectations for FV.  Secondary aims were to determine if age groups or attendance rates would positively influence outcome measures and to qualitatively evaluate youths' perceptions about their experiences and opinions about the program. Methods: Utilizing a pre-post design, researchers delivered this program once weekly with 60 minutes of interactive nutrition or gardening education and 30 minutes of experiential gardening.  Questionnaires included validated and novel measures.  Repeated measure ANOVA analyses were used to determine changes in outcome measures.  Post-program interviews were conducted with youth and qualitative data was coded and analyzed. Results: Of the 43 enrolled youth, 42 were African American.  Although willing to try FV did not change significantly, there were significant improvements in self-efficacy for asking for FV from 1.70 (0.34) to 1.83 (0.29) (F=7.07; p=.013) and overall gardening knowledge from 14.53 (3.45) to 15.74 (3.90) (F=7.67; p=.01).  There were also significant improvements in some of the knowledge subcategories for gardening and nutrition, including plant parts and my plate (p<0.05).  Qualitative findings indicated the majority of the participants expressed positive perceptions of the program with the most liked components including food sampling, games and gardening experiences. Discussion and Implications: Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of developing and implementing an adapted theory-driven community gardening and nutrition education program for low socioeconomic youth in public housing.  It implicates the need for future research on youth community gardens using the CBPR approach.  Findings were shared with community partners and future efforts will expand this program. / Master of Science

No description available.

O crescimento da população urbana aumenta a demanda por recursos escassos e interdependentes como alimentos, e a agricultura urbana tem se mostrado uma alternativa a essa questão, atenuando a pressão sobre os ecossistemas. Esta pesquisa teve como principal objetivo analisar o potencial e as adequações de uma pesquisa-ação na implantação de uma horta em comunidade periférica, na perspectiva da construção de saberes colaborativos, empoderamento comunitário, estabelecimento de parcerias e busca de alternativas viáveis à sustentabilidade e à promoção da saúde. E para dar concretude à implantação da horta, objetivou-se produzir um livro colaborativo. O método utilizado foi a pesquisa-ação, voltada para a mobilização da comunidade do Novo Recreio, em Guarulhos - SP, por meio da aplicação de instrumentos como painel integrado, mapa-falante, livro comunitário (adaptado do jornal comunitário), reuniões e observação participante. Pode-se considerar que a partir do método da pesquisa-ação obteve-se sucesso na construção da horta, e apresentar-se-á algumas evidências de empoderamento e sustentabilidade da horta. Além da horta em si e da formação do grupo \"Germinando o futuro\", outro resultado foi o livro \"Horta na comunidade: participação social e técnicas de cultivo\"; e com isso, espera-se contribuir ao desenvolvimento de espaços públicos, incentivar práticas comunitárias de horta ou outros movimentos. / Urban population growth increases the demand for scarce and interdependent resources as food, and urban agriculture has been an alternative to this, mitigating the pressure on ecosystems. The main objective of this research was to analyze the potential and adequacy of an action research in the implementation of a garden in a peripheral community, with a view to building collaborative knowledge, community empowerment, establishing partnerships and seeking viable alternatives to sustainability and promotion of health. And in order to concretize the implantation of the garden, it was aimed to produce a collaborative book. The method used was the action research, aimed at mobilizing the community of Novo Recreio, in Guarulhos, SP, through the application of instruments such as integrated panel, talking map, community book (adapted from the community newspaper), meetings and participant observation. It can be considered that from the method of action research success was obtained in the construction of the garden, and some evidence of empowerment and sustainability of the garden will be presented. In addition to the garden itself and the formation of the group \"Germinando o futuro\", another result was the book \" Horta na comunidade: participação social e técnicas de cultivo\"; and with this, it is expected to contribute to the development of public spaces, encourage community gardening practices or other movements.

ABSTRACT A LESSON FROM THE URBAN GARDEN Jamie Hamblin Purpose: In 2008 the world’s urban population surpassed the rural population; furthermore, the United Nations estimates by 2025 the world’s urban population will increase by about one billion people. Given recent population shifts and the interconnectedness between food and health, this research examines the role of agriculture in addressing urban food insecurity by reviewing urban interventions with a goal of food production. Methods: Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, an adjusted theoretical framework was developed which accounted for negative implications of these interventions as well as sustainability. Ultimately, the framework generated a food security score respective of each project. Using this score, statistical tests were conducted to confirm characteristics of more effective projects. Results: Statistical analysis indicates food security score has a strong correlation with physical, future and social capital (0.72, 0.73 and 0.80 respectively). Food security score has a moderate correlation with duration of project and a strong correlation with number of project components (0.60 and 0.83). Furthermore, mean food security score of projects which used participatory methods was statistically different than mean food security score of projects which did not use participatory methods (p=0.01). Conclusions: Participatory methods prove an important aspect of an urban agricultural intervention. Statistical results affirm urban food insecurity should be addressed through an integrated strategy which considers long-term viability of the project. Food security score, developed for this research, can help identify valuable components of interventions; however, this system is fairly subjective with some limitations.

Thesis (M.U.R.P.L.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-68). Also available via the Internet.

Master of Urban and Regional Planning

[pt] Esta é uma dissertação de design de serviços para a inovação social e a sustentabilidade que tem como objetivo compreender e fortalecer as iniciativas coletivas produzidas por seis hortas comunitárias situadas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Para tanto, utiliza como metodologia uma revisão de literatura baseada no design e na inovação social, em práticas colaborativas de design e no design de serviços e, ainda, em atividades de campo como entrevistas, a observação participante e diários de pesquisa. Foram desenvolvidos dois exercícios de design de serviços: o primeiro partindo de um processo de design especialista e o segundo de um processo de codesign em uma horta comunitária no qual se utilizou o método Dragon Dreaming. Os resultados foram favoráveis para o desenvolvimento de processos colaborativos dentro das iniciativas das hortas, que já se sustentam de forma coletiva. O processo de codesign deu origem a dois projetos que podem ser desenvolvidos futuramente e ainda contribuiu para que mais encontros e processos coletivos sejam gerados dentro das hortas. O tempo foi um dos fatores limitantes para que a prática de codesign não fosse desenvolvida nesta pesquisa. O estudo comprovou que os processos colaborativos de design são o fio condutor dentro de práticas coletivas e que o codesign é uma prática que pode sustentar os processos para as atividades das hortas comunitárias. / [en] This is a designing services research for social innovation and sustainability and aims to understand and strengthen the collective initiatives produced from six community gardens. A literature review based on social design and innovation, collaborative design practices and service design was used as a methodology, and field activities such as interviews, participant observation and research journals were used as methodology. Two service design exercises were developed: the first part of an expert design process and a second from a codesign process in a community garden using the Dragon Dreaming method. The results were favorable for the development of collaborative processes within the garden initiatives that are already being supported collectively. The codesign process gave rise to two projects that can be developed in the future and also contributed to generate more meetings and collective processes within the gardens. The time was one of the limiting factors so that the practice of codesign was not developed in this research. The study proved that collaborative design processes are the guiding thread within collective practices and that codesign is the practice that can sustain processes for community garden activities.