Title: Urban Agriculture
Headings: Urban Agriculture
KnowledgeBase Collection
Urban Agriculture
APA Resources
Urban Agriculture
Planning for Urban Agriculture
Regulating Urban Agriculture
Background Resources
Farming Inside Cities: Entrepreneurial Urban Agriculture in the United States
Food Systems: Urban Agriculture Policy
Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities
Pigs in the Backyard or the Barnyard: Removing Zoning Impediments to Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture Impacts: Social, Health, and Economic: An Annotated Bibliography
Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe
Urban Agriculture in the United States: Baseline Findings of a Nationwide Survey
Urban Agriculture: A Sixteen City Survey of Urban Agriculture Practices Across the Country
Vacant Lots to Vibrant Plots: A Review of the Benefits and Limitations of Urban Agriculture
Reports
Best Practices in Urban Agriculture: A Background Report for the City of Kamloops to Support Development of an Urban Agricultural Strategy
Farming Inside Cities: Entrepreneurial Urban Agriculture in the United States
Flint Urban Agriculture Legal Framework: Background Report
Growing Food Where it is Needed
Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities
Halton, ON, Community Garden Policy Scan
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Articles
Creating a Legal Framework for Urban Agriculture: Lessons from Flint, Michigan
Pigs in the Backyard or the Barnyard: Removing Zoning Impediments to Urban Agriculture
Promoting Urban Agriculture as an Alternative Land Use for Vacant Properties in the City of Detroit: Benefits, Problems, and Proposals for a Regulatory Framework for Successful Land Use Integration
Urban Agriculture in a Post-Industrial Landscape: A Case for Community-Generated Urban Design
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Briefing Papers
Community Food Production: The Role of Local Governments in Increasing Community Food Production for Local Markets
Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable Neighborhoods
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Guides
Community Garden Policy Reference Guide
Community Gardening: Policy Reference Guide
Dig It! A Practical Toolkit: How Local Governments Can Support Community Gardens
Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities
Municipal Strategies to Support Local Food Systems: Including Local Food in Comprehensive Plans and Urban Agriculture Ordinance Toolkit
Municipal Zoning for Local Foods in Iowa: A Guidebook for Reducing Local Regulatory Barriers to Local Foods
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WEB PAGES
Chicago, IL, Developing a New Community Garden
Fort Collins, CO, Urban Agriculture
New York, NY, Green Thumb
San Francisco, CA, Community Gardens Program
Seattle, WA, P-Patch Community Gardening
Vancouver, BC, Growing Food
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Model Ordinances and Plan Language
Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens
Local Food Networks
Municipal Strategies to Support Local Food Systems: Including Local Food in Comprehensive Plans and Urban Agriculture Ordinance Toolkit
Municipal Zoning for Local Foods in Iowa: A Guidebook for Reducing Local Regulatory Barriers to Local Foods
Seeding the City: Land Use Policies to Promote Urban Agriculture
Urban Agricultural Series: Community Gardens Model Ordinance
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Standalone Policies
Chula Vista, CA, Community Gardens Policy
Delray Beach, FL, Community Gardens Policy
Minneapolis, MN, Community Garden, Market Garden and Urban Farm Policy
Minneapolis, MN, Real Estate Disposition Policy
Philadelphia, PA, Policies for the Sale and Reuse of City Owned Property
Saanich, BC, Community Gardens Policy
View all standalone policies
Comprehensive Plans
Berkeley, CA, General Plan
Detroit, MI, Master Plan of Policies
Fitchburg, WI, Comprehensive Plan
Madison, WI, Comprehensive Plan
New Orleans, LA, Master Plan
Richmond, CA, General Plan 2030
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Functional Plans
Alameda, CA, Urban Farm and Garden Plan
Kamloops, BC, Food and Urban Agriculture Plan
Minneapolis, MN, Urban Agriculture Policy Plan
Urban Agriculture and Food Policy Plan: Growing Good in Las Cruces, NM
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Regulations
Arvada, CO, Land Development Code
Austin, TX, City Code
Baltimore, MD, City Code
Boston, MA, Zoning Code
Burlington, VT, Code of Ordinances
Chattanooga, TN, Code of Ordinances
View all regulations
Related Collections
Food Systems
Tactical Urbanism
Urban Livestock

Content: Community gardens improve the environment, provide healthy food choices and activities to residents, strengthen local food systems, and can support economic development strategies and community empowerment. Fueled by the success of these small, nonprofit agricultural endeavors, many cities and urban agriculture supporters are now exploring the possibilities of using urban lands for small-scale, commercial urban farms to expand food production and economic development potential. Planning for Urban Agriculture
The ideal starting point for urban agriculture planning is a community engagement process through which planners identify how urban agriculture contributes to the social, economic, and environmental goals of a community. Local and regional governments play important roles in legitimizing urban agriculture as a recognized land use or community development strategy. By identifying existing community needs that urban agriculture can address, inventorying necessary local resources, and evaluating current policies and legislation, local governments can work to effectively integrate urban agriculture considerations into the plan-making process. Many local governments are beginning to see the connections among comprehensive planning, neighborhood development and revitalization, health, food policy, and sustainability. Urban agriculture is typically viewed as a strategy to achieve larger social or environmental goals, and it relates to many elements within the comprehensive planning process. Open-space goals and policies can encourage the conversion of vacant or abandoned land to urban agriculture and the preservation of existing urban agriculture. Economic development goals and policies can lead to new financing tools for urban agriculture development; tax incentives can encourage the location of urban agriculture in underserved neighborhoods on vacant property.