Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening: Databases of Articles and Reports
According to the United Nations (UN), half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. The UN projects the percentage of urbanites to jump to 60% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. The strain put on urban areas by absorbing a greater percentage of the total population will be compounded by the increase in global population, which the UN projects at 8.8 billion by 2030 and 9.2 billion by 2050. This increase in urban population coupled with the risks of a fossil fuel-constrained world makes urban agriculture an increasingly important aspect of a sustainable and secure food system.
Sustainability Officers interested in advancing urban agriculture and community gardening policies/programs that will benefit their region can review the information contained in the following databases:
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s The Agriculture & Public Health Gateway, which is a repository of reports and peer-reviewed journal articles on a wide range of topics such as the impact of community gardening on America, community and regional food planning policies, urban agriculture as a tool for sustainable municipal and economic development, and the health benefits of urban agriculture. The JHSPH website also contains links to relevant organizations and additional tools and resources.
- Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington, which is a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides consultation, research, and information services for Washington local governments, has an online portal that contains information on a variety of urban agriculture topics such as urban agriculture’s relationship to food security and healthy communities, school gardens, zoning and policy, resources for urban agriculture and community gardening, and farmers markets.
- Grist, an independent source of news and opinion about the environment, has a special series entitled “Feeding The City” that highlights alternative foods systems across the country, with city profiles and articles on innovative programs.
