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Urban agriculture has many social benefits, including improved health and wellbeing, economic opportunities, social cohesion, and education. The extent to which participants are motivated by or experience these benefits, however, has rarely been measured quantitatively, especially across the many different types of urban agriculture.
A new article by CUNY SPH Associate Professor Nevin Cohen and colleagues quantifies the relationships between wellbeing, nutritional health, socialization and economic benefits of urban agriculture and farm and garden types, based on analysis of survey data from farmers and gardeners at 74 urban agriculture sites in five countries.
The study identified significant differences in motivations and reported effects across different types of urban agriculture projects, different participant roles, the destination of the food grown, and the organizational structures of the farms and gardens. It illustrates a method of urban agriculture evaluation that planners and policymakers can use to tailor projects to address specific goals as they allocate municipal resources to support or scale up urban agriculture.
Dr. Cohen explained: “While urban agriculture is a beneficial land use, our research shows that different types of farms and gardens and project participants achieve significantly different social outcomes. By quantifying the effects by project type and by farmer and gardener characteristics, our study illustrates an evidence-based method for cities to plan the growth of urban agriculture based on specific community needs and goals.”
