Geospatial Evaluation for Urban Agriculture Land Inventory: Roanoke, Virginia USA

Urban agriculture is recently being recognized as a distinctive urban land use contributing to greenspaces and food security. The land inventory forms the critical first step in identifying sites for urban agriculture. The authors' analysis greatly expands on prior land inventory strategies, first analyzing land cover to identify all open areas available for siting urban agriculture. Then in GIS, the authors completed a land use suitability analysis, and finally a demographic analysis to assess potential sites for contribution to food security of lower income populations. Results show that Roanoke includes 2,312 hectares suitable for schoolyard gardens, urban farms, community gardens, orchards, and home gardens, of which 189.4 hectares are found in neighborhoods with extremely high rates of poverty. The authors' inventory strategy can be implemented elsewhere without special data or software. A detailed inventory offers opportunities for long-range planning, and broadening participation of stakeholders.