A Bibliometric Analysis of Current Knowledge Structure and Research Progress Related to Urban Community Garden Systems

Hua Zheng, Min Guo, Qian Wang, Qinghai Zhang () and Noriko Akita ()
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Hua Zheng: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Min Guo: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Qian Wang: Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Matsudo 271-8510, Japan
Qinghai Zhang: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Noriko Akita: Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Matsudo 271-8510, Japan

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-34

Abstract: Community gardens offer broad research opportunities and analytical resources encompassing urban planning to environmental sustainability, food systems, and social capital. However, little is known about the knowledge structure and research development related to community gardens. This study presents an in-depth bibliometric performance analysis and visual scientific mapping analysis of the literature on community gardens by examining 487 published papers selected from the Web of Science database. The results indicated a considerable rise in research papers in this subject area from 2012 onwards, with most contributions from the United States. Studies from high-income countries accounted for 93.22%, and 38 countries have cooperated 167 times in this field. “Health” is the most frequent keyword, and the terms “ecosystem services” has been gaining popularity over the last five years. A combination of co-citation clustering and keyword co-occurrence clustering analysis identified three major research themes in the field of community gardens: “ecosystem services and disservices”, “multidimensional association”, and “sustainable garden systems”. The development of ecosystem value assessment frameworks, the establishment of region-wide soil monitoring databases, accounting for the cost-effectiveness of nature-based solutions, the integration of garden systems into smart cities, and the integration of water management into regulation will be important future research directions regarding community gardens. Overall, this study provides scholars with a systematic and quantitative understanding of community gardens.

Keywords: co-citation network analysis; ecosystem services; health; nature-based solutions; sustainability; urban food systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:1:p:143-:d:1021986

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