Digital map of city areas suitable for urban agriculture

In order to illustrate potential areas for community-type urban gardens, a digital map was produced to support urban gardening initiatives and decision-making in Sofia. The map was designed by the municipal enterprise Sofiaplan (formerly named Sofproect), but the idea came from the CSO ‘Initiative for the Development of Urban Farming’ in Sofia, which participated actively in the process of data collection and validation of the terrains by the help of volunteers.
The map is seen as a crucial precondition for the launch and scale up of the community gardens in Sofia - a key mission of the ‘Initiative for the Development of Urban Farming.’ To date there was no systematic and public data on how many and which municipality-owned terrains could potentially be used for urban gardening. Hence, it was not possible to approach the municipality with a well-formulated and justified request for a long-term access (by rent or in other appropriate way) to these sites.
The map identifies, describes and evaluates the land plots that can be potentially used for urban gardening. This allows citizen groups and other organisations to address the relevant municipal services with inquiries to access these plots and use them to create urban gardens/farms.
Apart from citizens, the map also helps Sofia municipal authorities to streamline their urban development policies, especially in line with the municipal strategies for sustainable development – ‘Green Sofia and Vision for Sofia 2050.’