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Open research questions in Urban Agriculture and Sustainability

37 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 970 Urban Agriculture and Sustainability papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • integrated into planning systems. Fernández Casal et al. (2025) examined the potential of Alternative Food Initiatives (AFIs) to transform food deserts into food oases across 11 European cities. The study spatially (2025) analyzed transitions.

    The Role of Urban Planning Decisions in the Formation of Food Deserts: From Structural Causes to Justice-Oriented Holistic Strategies · 2026 · DOI

  • infrastructure, transportation vulnerable population groups, and market on accessibility. It also proposed planningto related policy address rural access disparities. Karakaya Ayalp et al. (2023) analyzed spatial inequalities in access to healthy and equitable food in the Karşıyaka district by mapping the distribution of markets, marketplaces, producers, and direct sales points at the neighborhood level. The study identified significant spatial disparities in food access and delineated food desert areas. It also developed spatial planning strategies and local policy recommendations and proposed a comprehensive framework to promote food access and food justice at the city scale. Roggema et al. (2024) analyzed spatial inequalities in the transition to healthy and a multidimensional approach. The study evaluated the suitability of urban identified sociofarming areas and cultural and spatial barriers affecting food also proposed spatial planning strategies and policy recommendations, including urban farming incentives, infrastructure development, and support for culturally appropriate food practices. Avila et al. the relationship between urban agriculture and food access by considering food justice, community needs, planning policies, and public support. Using spatial analysis and qualitative data, the study identified the role of urban agriculture in improving equitable food also proposed policy access. be could recommendations integrated into planning systems. Fernández Casal et al. (2025) examined the potential of Alternative Food Initiatives (AFIs) to transform food deserts into food oases across 11 European cities. The study spatially (2025) analyzed transitions.

    The Role of Urban Planning Decisions in the Formation of Food Deserts: From Structural Causes to Justice-Oriented Holistic Strategies · 2026 · DOI

  • The strategies are centred on government policies because community urban farms, particularly among low earners in PPR communities, are insufficiently profitable for private entities to be involved.

    A SWOT Analysis of the Potential of Developing Urban Farming in Malaysia · 2026 · DOI

  • Weil, M. O. (1996). Community building: Building community practice. Social Work, 41(5), 481–499. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/41.5.481 de Zeeuw, H. (2011). Cities, climate change and urban agriculture. Urban Agriculture Magazine, 25, 39–42. https://www.slurc.org/ uploads/1/0/9/7/109761391/cities_climate_change_and_urban_agriculture.

    A SWOT Analysis of the Potential of Developing Urban Farming in Malaysia · 2026 · DOI

  • To advance this vision, we highlight the potential of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) as underexplored tools to enable adaptive crop management, site-specific decision support, and identify underserved communities for targeted interventions.

    Controlled environment agriculture as urban infrastructure: advancing a public agenda for spatial equity · 2026 · DOI

  • Consequently, the climate change adaptation role of the garden complex remains insufficiently quantified, weakly embedded in urban planning frameworks, and inconsistently translated into concrete policy measures, leaving a significant opportunity for more equitable and climate-resilient cities untapped.

    Naar het ontsluiten van het potentieel van particuliere tuinen voor klimaatadaptatie en -mitigatie in Vlaanderen, België · 2026

  • Group B accounts for (30%), highlighting growing interest in energy integration between agriculture and buildings, while Group A represents only (15%), showing that open-field urban agriculture remains underexplored in terms of temperature.

    Research trends and knowledge gaps in sustainable urban agriculture: a scientometric analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Although research has demonstrated the ecological, public health and food security benefits of community gardens, few studies have considered community gardens in relation to a broader social solidarity economy (SSE), that is, inter-community networks wherein people develop commitments to building just and equitable economic alternatives.

    Community gardens and the social solidarity economy · 2023 · DOI

  • The main findings not only reveal existing gaps in understanding how institutions and contexts interact in community-based irrigation governance, but also indicate potential pathways to theoretical construction in complex CPR systems by further exploring the relationships between institutions and the contexts in which they operate.

    Integrating Institutions with Local Contexts in Community-Based Irrigation Governance: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Variables, Combinations, and Effects · 2021 · DOI

  • In this societal context, although the public garden project that has been on the agenda of our cities since 2018 appears to be a positive attempt, considering the open and green space need in particularly large cities, this project has multiple aspects that should be examined thoroughly.

    Millet bahçelerinin çeşitli boyutları: Jane Jacobs bu projeye ne derdi? · 2021 · DOI

  • Seven overarching categories of barriers and challenges to the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services emerged from the reviewed papers, namely: (i) socio-cultural values, traditions and perceptions; (ii) lack of capacity; (iii) governance, urban planning and social inequality; (iv) lack of data and/or case studies; (v) ecosystem disservices; (vi) spatial trade-offs and conflicts; (vii) climate change.

    Urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa · 2018 · DOI

  • Furthermore, while economic variables are important predictors of participation for both groups, gender and social ties to the renter tend to increase local landlord involvement, but not absentee involvement These results have important implications for both federal programs and further research on land tenure and environmental stewardship.

    Landlord Involvement in Environmental Decision‐Making on Rented Missouri Cropland: Pesticide Use and Water Quality Issues<sup>1</sup> · 1996 · DOI

  • Whether the ecological and economic gains per- ceived by farmers in this study are sustained over longer time hori- zons, and whether they can be replicated across broader contexts, remains an open empirical question that future research should address. However, the study cannot quantify the extent of this diffusion effect, and further research is needed to assess whether and at what rate neighboring farmers adopt practices observed during demonstrations. Fourth, the seven-month intervention period was insufficient to capture the full trajectory of soil microbial recovery, pest-resistance dynamics, or long-term yield effects.

    Participatory agroecological practices: linking biodiversity, soil health, and farmer agency for sustainable crop protection in smallholder systems in Ghana · 2026 · DOI

  • While the method offers rapid forest establishment, increased biodiversity, and improved air quality, its applicability in varying climatic and urban conditions remains controversial.

    Evaluating the Miyawaki Afforestation Technique in Urban Landscapes: Opportunities and Challenges · 2025 · DOI

  • The analysis revealed that, although Poland has an extensive legal framework for protecting agricultural land, its effectiveness is limited by the liberalization of procedures, the low spatial coverage of zoning plans, and the prioritization of economic goals over environmental objectives.

    An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Legal Instruments for the Protection of Agricultural Land in Poland · 2025 · DOI

  • Swedish municipalities have embraced urbangardens as an important sustainability initiative, yet the implementation of these sustainabilitypolicies among urban gardeners remains understudied.

    From communal urban gardens to profitable businesses: green rationalization in Swedish local sustainability policy · 2025 · DOI

  • Sociodemographic factors such as market accessibility and household assets could be shaping the structure of these networks and impacting diversity, however formal evidence is scarce.

    Seed exchange networks as important processes for maize diversity conservation and seed access in a highland region of Mexico · 2023 · DOI

  • However, daily remuneration was insufficient to cover basic needs, and slightly more than half of the gardeners would prefer a different job, indicating the survivalist nature of the sector.

    Working in poverty: Informal employment of household gardeners in Eastern Cape towns, South Africa · 2021 · DOI

  • government institutions and non-governmental organisations) provide various forms of assistance to urban gardeners in the Cape Flats, access to this support is little known.

    Urban agriculture in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town: examining the linkages between urban gardeners and supporting actors · 2019 · DOI

  • It was also found, however, that the multi-level principle was limited by the lack of political muscle which is endemic to many disempowered poor citizens of developing economies.

    Sustainable livelihood principles and urban greening in informal settlements in practice: A case of Zandspruit informal settlement, South Africa · 2016 · DOI

  • This project is a first step towards filling the gap in the literature on home gardens and their potential role in greening communities burdened by historical pollution.

    Growing Together: Poverty Alleviation, Community Building, and Environmental Justice through Home Gardens in Pacoima, Los Angeles · 2015 · DOI

  • Potentially, community gardens and domestic backyard food production have an important role to play in this process, but while there now exists a sizeable body of research on the former, there is a serious lack of data on current productive practices in private domestic gardens.

    Domestic Residential Garden Food Production in Melbourne, Australia: a fine-grained analysis and pilot study · 2014 · DOI

  • Quantitative assessments of the nature and extent of such changes, their underlying causal factors or, indeed, their environmental and economic impacts are lacking.

    Fifty years of land use change in the Swartland, Western Cape, South Africa: characteristics, causes and consequences · 2013 · DOI

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37 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 970 Urban Agriculture and Sustainability papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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