Equalizing urban agriculture access in Glasgow: A spatial optimization approach
We investigated the distribution of urban agriculture in Glasgow and found that the current configuration of urban agriculture projects is mostly located centrally in the city, covering 36 % of the total population (approximately 635,000) within 10-minute walking distance.
By Amy Russell, Ziqi Li, Mingshu Wang
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Volume 124, November 2023, 103525
Highlights
This study applied GIS methods to investigate unequal access to urban agriculture projects in the City of Glasgow, Scotland.
The benefits of urban agriculture to city residents are extensively discussed.
Maximal Covering Location Problem (MCLP) model was used to optimally situate new urban agriculture projects on vacant and derelict land to maximize the covered population.
A minimum of 15 new urban agriculture projects can increase the population coverage to 49% and equalize the access disparity to a statistically non-significant level.
Abstract
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, has long-term issues with inequalities in health and food security, as well as large areas of vacant and derelict land. Urban agriculture projects can increase access to fresh food, improve mental health and nutrition, and empower and bring communities together. We investigated the distribution of urban agriculture in Glasgow and found that the current configuration of urban agriculture projects is mostly located centrally in the city, covering 36 % of the total population (approximately 635,000) within 10-minute walking distance. We also found a positive correlation (r = 0.13, p = 0.0003) between the walking travel time to the nearest urban agriculture project and the food desert status. To increase urban agriculture access across the city, we used the Maximal Covering Location Problem (MCLP) model to optimally situate new urban agriculture projects on vacant and derelict land to maximize the covered population. We identified that a minimum of 15 new urban agriculture projects could increase the population coverage to 49 % and equalize the access disparity to a statistically non-significant level. This research shows that converting vacant and derelict land in Glasgow into urban agriculture projects could both help with the city’s problem of vacant and derelict land and bring many potential benefits to local communities.
