Urban agriculture has become a growing trend worldwide. Although there is a continuing debate regarding the benefits of urban agriculture for urban residents, there has been no comprehensive study on the role of urban agriculture social mechanisms that can encourage and facilitate social interaction. Therefore, this study was intended to evaluate the relationship between urban agriculture social mechanisms and social interactions in residential complexes based on a causal model. The survey was conducted with 265 participants residing in Rezvan Residential Complex in Shiraz, Iran. The results of the data analysis showed that the model could be fitted well with the data of this study, such that social participation, social capital, security and social health could well predict social interactions directly. The model also confirmed the indirect impact of each of these dimensions, with the mediation of urban agriculture and other dimensions, on social interactions. Overall, these results indicate that not only each of these variables can predict social interactions alone, they can also predict social interactions as one of the constructive dimensions of urban agriculture.

Today, considerable interest in urban agriculture is being manifested by policy makers, government agencies and academics due to its contribution to food security and poverty alleviation in cities. Therefore, this research has evaluated the farmers’ viewpoints regarding peri-urban agriculture in Noorabad city with an emphasis on the dimensions of food security. The study population consisted of peri-urban farmers of Noorabad who had at least two hectares of cultivated land. Based on the sampling table of Bartlett and colleague, 123 people were selected and distributed randomly with proportional assignment. The findings showed that the studied farmers evaluated urban agriculture in improving the dimensions of effective food security, but the diversity of views was seen among them. Therefore, the studied farmers were classified into two groups (negative evaluator and positive evaluator) using cluster analysis. The findings also showed that these two groups have different attitudes toward urban agriculture. On the other hand, the results showed that there is a direct and significant relationship between the impact of urban agriculture on improving the dimensions of food security (availability, availability, utilization and stability) with the attitude towards urban agriculture.

Urban agriculture is a widely used sustainability strategy to improve the stability of a city.  One way to deal with urban problems is urban agriculture development. Urban agriculture can be a vital livelihood strategy for the urban poor in many developing countries resulting in benefits including enhanced food security and economic empowerment. In this regard, suitable conditions must be provided to use urban agricultural capacities. The aim of this study is to identify the driving factors of urban agriculture development. For this reason, driving factors to the development of urban agriculture are identified in the literature review, or by reviewing related researches, field observations and semi-structured interviews with 15 experts (urban planners, agriculture specialists and university faculty Members) in Tabriz city. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed with interpretive structural modeling technique and a MICMAC analysis. Findings show that research-development factor along with other factors such as; extension-education and financial-technical support is the main driving factor of UA development and must be considered and reviewed more than other factors.

With the rise in capital wealth and human populations, cities need more food input. This study assessed the impact of urban agriculture on improving food security in four town administrations of Gurage Zone. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected from 340 sampled adopters using interviews, focus group discussions, and observation. Chi-square and t-tests enabled comparisons among percentages and mean differences between adopters and non-adopters of urban agriculture. The propensity score matching (PSM) model enabled an assessment of the urban agricultural impact on food security. The statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant mean difference between adopters and non-adopters in job status, perception toward urban agriculture, and family size. The logit model showed that family size, ownership of living home, job status of HH head, perception toward urban agriculture, market demand, and training and support significantly determined the adoption of urban agriculture. The results of PSM indicated that adopting urban agriculture improved food security. Thus, the likelihood of being food secure would increase by a factor of 0.60, ceteris paribus. The study suggested that education, urban agriculture, and cooperative offices can teach urban dwellers via an integrated functional adult education program for training purposes and support them more in cooperative organization. The adoption of urban agriculture helps to win the battle against food insecurity.

Urban agriculture with major goals such as the preservation and optimal use of natural resources, the production of healthy and organic products, and the enrichment of leisure time, if implemented correctly, will be emerged as one of the strategies for sustainable urban development. This study first, describes the typology indices of urban agriculture including susceptible locations, potential executives and partners, educational needs, communication channels, and susceptible plants. It, then, analyzes the role of education in urban agriculture development and its influence on sustainable urban development using a causal-relational method. The present study was carried out by means of a survey method in Zanjan province. The target population of the study is about 367 experts of Zanjan Jihad-e-Agriculture Organization. The number of samples was determined using Krejcie and Morgan table. Sampling was done by cluster random sampling and from the total of eight counties, three counties were selected randomly, in addition to Provincial Headquarters of Zanjan Jihad-e-Agriculture Organization. The research tool was a questionnaire whose face, content, and convergent validity was evaluated and confirmed. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed using Cronbach's Alpha test and the combined reliability, with the value above 0.7. Data analysis was performed using SPSS24 and AMOS24 software. The research findings showed that education has a significant influence on urban agriculture development, and urban agriculture development plays a considerable role in sustainable urban development. Furthermore, education along with urban agriculture development explained 30% of variability in sustainable urban development.  Therefore, cultural development and education are suggested for urban agriculture development.

This paper focuses on urban agriculture as one of the major components of CPUL (Continuous Productive Urban Landscape). CPUL CITY concept can make urban space more productive for the city and more desirable for its citizens and describes our vision for an urban future based on the planful physical, social and managerial introduction of continuous productive urban landscapes (CPUL) including urban agriculture into existing and emerging cities.. The goal is to improve qualities of life. The CPUL City concept proposes that urban agriculture can contribute to more sustainable and resilient food systems while also adding beneficially to the spatial quality of the urban realm. It is an environmental design strategy and provides a strategic framework for the theoretical and practical exploration of ways to implement such landscapes within contemporary urban design. Designing a CPUL means to create a qualitative urban landscape which, above all, thrieves to incorporate the growing of local and organic food. A systemic approach needs to be taken to integrate the physical CPUL / CPUL space into existing or new to establish local managerial systems, i.e. a stakeholder network and/or waste recycling and/or a water system. The CPUL City concept recognises that each city and each site will present a unique set of conditions and competing pressures informing the final shape and extent of its productive landscapes. Today, the CPUL City concept is complimented by other urban design concepts for integrating urban agriculture into contemporary Western cities. Often these start from an interest different to CPUL and result in a different set of proposals, but all have began to explore the design possibilities of growing food within the urban realm. Finally the paper concludes that, while urban agriculture is receiving a great deal of attention, the theory underpinning the design of productive landscapes and the rationale for developing policy to support its practice will require sophisticated cross-disciplinary work to articulate the full potential of concepts such as CPUL in making essential infrastructure within future sustainable cities. Concepts like Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) and CPUL City provide design strategies capable of giving spatial and organisational coherence to the infrastructural and qualitative aspects of urban agriculture. The paper documents the growing interest in productive landscape and the CPUL concept within the fields of architecture and urbanism. To translate this interest into practice will require further cross-disciplinary work. The design, planning, landscape, horticultural and retail professions will need to relearn old and develop new skills to support, in particular, the practice of urban agriculture. If urban agriculture is to be widely adopted, its functions, in addition to environmental sustainability, such as providing urban ornament, require articulation. If the economic and social infrastructure can be put in place to support it, we could build something far more abundant and significant than that envisaged by a romantic notion of “growing your own”. Urban agriculture might then answer the fundamental question about our urban future by offering more experience with less consumption.

The world today is facing the problems of population increase, urbanization, increasing need for food, decreasing water resources and environmental destruction. Urban agriculture, as a part of urban activities, is considered an opportunity to make positive changes in the world's food system and produce high-quality food. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of designing a model of the urban agricultural effect on food security in tehran metropolis. The statistical population of the research consists of all learners participating in the urban agriculture training courses organized by the General Department of Education of the 22 districts of Tehran in 2018 (N = 726). The sample size was determined by using Cochran's formula, 164 people, and stratified random method with proportional assignment (according to the areas where they work among the 22 areas of Tehran municipality) was used for sampling. Data analysis was done using Smart PLS3 software.  According to the calculated indicators, the reliability and validity of the model were confirmed. The results showed that based on the model of the effect of urban agriculture on food security in Tehran city, urban agriculture explains a total of 0.85 of the dependent variable changes in food security. Also, the results of the investigation of the components of the dimensions of urban agriculture and food security indicate that the dimension of urban agriculture is, in order, of economic (β=0.975), environmental (β=0.967), social (β=0.963) and psychomotor functions, respectively. (β=0.851), is affected. that the aforementioned functions are considered to be the explanations of urban agriculture in Tehran Metropolis and have a significant effect on this phenomenon. The components of food security include access (β=0.970), use (β=0.969), sustainability (β=0.952), availability (β=0.939), and safety (β=0.914), which have the greatest effect on food security in order of priority.

Increasing employment and reducing unemployment are considered as one of the indicators of the development of societies. Due to population growth of cities around the world and the increasing demand for food and jobs, urban agriculture can be one of the important strategies to respond these demands. The purpose of this study was investigating the role of urban agriculture in employment and entrepreneurship in different countries of the world. In-depth library study has been used in this study. Results showed that despite limited constraints and support, urban agricultural activities have significant share of employment and production of agricultural products in various countries around the world. According to the results, urban agriculture has a capacity that can provide a wide range of entrepreneurial employment opportunities in the agricultural production and services sector for young job seekers, especially agricultural graduates with new ideas. Also, providing safe food and earning a stable income with entrepreneurial motivations is one of the most important motivations for urban farmers in developing countries, including Iran. Therefore, urban agriculture in Iran, where youth unemployment is one of the main challenges, can be considered as a solution for employment of young people and agricultural graduates.

Today, the world is faced with main problems like increasing urban population, increasing demand for food, environmental degradation and destruction of natural landscapes due to human impacts. The solution of these problems lies in the cities. The urban agriculture as a part of urban activities can be developed along with ecosystem consideration, food provision and cultural services. In addition, farming activities in urban areas provide other multiple functions such as visual amenity, recreation facilities and hobby for urban dwellers, particularly children and old people. The purpose of this study is to explain the concept of urban agriculture and identifying its advantages and areas. This research has been conducted through a review of literature and documents. The results showed that urban agriculture is expanding and has a lot of quantitative and qualitative advantages for urban communities and these advantages can be found in economic, social and environmental dimensions that finally leading to sustainable urban development. Also, the studies show that the scope of urban agriculture continues to expand according to the new lifestyles, high compactness of cities and development of living in apartment, the domain of urban agriculture activities are developing and they appears in the new forms like vertical farms, green roofs, green walls. Factors such as further research, people participation, government supports and cooperation between experts of different sciences lead to systemic development of urban agriculture.

Urban agriculture with the aim of completing urban food needs, providing ecosystem and environmental services has multidimensional effects on increasing cultural and social values and even increasing economic resilience in any society. Urban agriculture is one of the most important factors affecting the increase of social capital. The present study was conducted simultaneously with the implementation of an urban agriculture plan (green garden) and with the aim of investigating the effects of urban agriculture on the social capital of stakeholders at Razi University of Kermanshah applying survey method. The statistical population of the study was 150 stakeholders, 108 of whom were selected as the sample size according to Krejcie Morgan’s table. The questionnaire method was used for data collection and its validity was confirmed by expert choice. The results of the study demonstrated that the effects of urban agriculture implementation on social capital have been greater in people who participate with family on farm. The findings from the evaluation of structural equation model showed that all dimensions of social cohesion, social interaction, social awareness, social trust and social participation at the level of 99% confidence have a positive effect on people' social capital. Thus, "social participation" with a path coefficient of 0.825 had the most significant effect on the social capital of the people and social awareness (with a path coefficient of 0.599) had the least significant effect on the social capital of the people. Therefore, this will provide the conditions for strengthening social interaction and participation, as well as social trust, and will pave the way for culture-building commensurate with the development of urban agriculture and the results obtained from it can be used in the process of planning and macro-agricultural policies and creating new social capital in the country.Extended Abstract1-IntroductionWith the increasing population of cities and the decrease of rural population, the destruction of agricultural lands and appearing the severity of the effects of environmental degradation caused by the growth of cities, managers and urban planners seek new solutions to solve urban crises. Urban agriculture with the aim of meeting urban food needs, providing ecosystem and environmental services, increasing cultural and social values ​​and even increasing economic resilience, has multidimensional effects in any community. Social capital is one of the important effects that urban agriculture can have on.2- Materials and MethodsIn the present study, the green garden project was implemented as one of the urban agricultural projects with an area of ​​6000 square meters at Razi University of Kermanshah. Then, the study was conducted as a survey method with the aim of investigating the effects of urban agriculture on the social capital of stakeholders. The statistical population of this study was 150 stakeholders, 108 of whom were selected as the sample size based on Krejcie Morgan table. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire in which, five components of social interaction, social cohesion, social participation, social trust and social awareness were used to measure social capital and its content validity was confirmed using the opinions of experts. After collecting and categorizing the data, data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS21 software environment as well as structural equation modeling using Smart PLS3 software.3- Results and DiscussionThe results showed that 57.3% of the respondents were male and 42.7% were female, of which 71.9% were native to Kermanshah region. According to the findings of the study, 31.5% of the studied individuals were faculty members and 68.5% were non-faculty members. The results also showed that 88.8% of the respondents referred to the urban agricultural project as a family and 11.2% as an individual. The results of Friedman test to compare the dimensions of social capital among the individuals showed that the effects of urban agriculture on the dimensions of social capital are significantly different, so that the dimension of "social cohesion" with the highest average rank (3.89) and the dimension of "social awareness" with the lowest value of the average rank (1.76) were in the first and fifth place, respectively. The results of comparing the effects of urban agriculture on social capital based on the views of different groups revealed that the impact of urban agriculture on social capital with respect to "how to be present in agriculture" at the level of 99% confidence, had a significant difference with each other. In this regard, no significant differences were observed among the individuals with respect to "gender", "being native" and "occupation". The results for t-values ​​also proved this result. Therefore, the findings indicate that all dimensions of social cohesion, social interaction, social awareness, social trust and social participation had a positive effect on the social capital of stakeholders at 99% confidence level. Thus, the dimension of "social participation" with a path coefficient of 0.825 has the most significant impact on the social capital of the subjects and based on indigenous knowledge in strengthening the social network of users, increasing knowledge and awareness and the creation of trust within and outside the group has been effective, which has led to increased social interaction between stakeholders and their close participation and cooperation, has paved the way for solidarity and double cohesion among users. Within the dimensions of social capital, social participation had the greatest effect and social awareness had the least effect on the social capital of the subjects. In social participation, this can be due to the spirit of participation and interaction, and in social awareness, due to the lack of comprehensive and accurate information among stakeholders. Accordingly, the implementation of urban agriculture in the first place increases the spirit of solidarity and cooperation and then the existence of affectionate relationships among stakeholders, and on the other hand increases interaction between families, and reduces tensions between them.4- ConclusionThe present study provides the conditions for strengthening social interaction and participation as well as social trust and has paved the way for a culture-building commensurate with the development of urban agriculture. The obtained results could be utilized in the planning process and macro-agricultural policy makings and creating new social capital in the country. Finally, considering that mutual trust is one of the essential factors for the success of any project, it is recommended to implement the administration and service steps of urban agricultural plans and projects in each region in a regular and accurate manner to build up the trust of the stakeholders.