The topic of this article is planning cities to make room in space and policies for urban agriculture, because it has a range of social and environmental benefits. This research focuses on the planning strategies of two Pacific northwest cities: Portland and Vancouver. The research question is “How does each city’s use of land inventories in urban planning affect its success in realistically supporting urban agriculture?” In urban planning, land inventories basically mean that planners are taking into account what land is available for future development and what uses that land should have to accommodate the growth of the city. This involves general plans and specific policies on zoning. The data collected consisted of information on each city’s policies, projects, and committees that had anything to do with urban agriculture, which is a combination of organizational data from the cities, and reports of events regarding what actually happened in each city and at specific urban agriculture sites. Their analysis was of the cities both individually and compared to one another. Since there was no numerical data collected, the analysis was qualitative. They found that overall, Portland’s policies and practices were more effective, the most obvious difference being that Portland involved more institutions than just the city itself. Both cities, however, showed that public policy that takes natural resources, like soil components, into account with the goal of sustainability can accomplish a lot.

Reference: Mendes, W., Balmer, K., Kaethler, T., & Rhoads, A. (2008). Using Land Inventories to Plan for Urban Agriculture: Experiences From Portland and Vancouver. Journal of the American Planning Association, 74(4), 435-449. doi:10.1080/01944360802354923