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Despite extensive literature on the socio-cultural services of urban open spaces, the role of food-producing spaces has not received sufficient attention. This hampers advocacy for preserving and growing urban agricultural activities, often dismissed on justifications that their contributions to overall food supply are negligible. To understand how the social benefits of urban agriculture have been measured, we conducted a systematic review of 272 peer-reviewed publications, which drew on insights from urban agriculture sites in 57 different countries. Through content analysis, we investigated socio-cultural benefits in four spheres: engaged and cohesive communities, health and well-being, economic opportunities, and education. The analysis revealed growth in research on the social impacts of gardens and farms, with most studies measuring the effects on community cohesion and engagement, followed by increased availability and consumption of fruits and vegetables associated with reduced food insecurity and better health. Fewer studies assessed the impact of urban farming on educational and economic outcomes. Quantifying the multiple ways in which urban agriculture provides benefits to people will empower planners and the private sector to justify future investments. These findings are also informative for research theorizing cities as socio-ecological systems and broader efforts to measure the benefits of urban agriculture, in its many forms.
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Rethinking walkability: Exploring the relationship between urban form and neighborhood social cohesion
Recent research has investigated the importance of both walkable urban design and social cohesion. Social cohesion has been shown to have broad social and health benefits, and scholars have hypothesized that walkable urban design can influence cohesion, though evidence remains limited. In this work, we leveraged a data-driven approach that broke down design factors related to walkable design and investigated their impact on cohesion. We used a US-wide open urban form dataset to characterize walkable urban design, and we used an open survey dataset that measured cohesion and demographics with a total sample size of 9670 in six US cities. We leveraged partial least squared structural equation modeling for statistical analysis. We found, controlling for demographics, that land use diversity had a significant positive impact on social cohesion. We also found that physical density, social density, and transit connectedness had significant negative impacts on cohesion, though this association is largely driven by the very dense neighborhoods in cities. These findings shed light on different theories of the built environment, offering insights for designers, engineers, and policymakers interested in the social effects of the built environment.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1943396
- PAR ID:
- 10527539
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainable Cities and Society
- Volume:
- 99
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 2210-6707
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 104903
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104903
