Universal Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 12(2), pp. 211 - 224
DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2024.120201
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A Land Suitability Model of Urban Agriculture: The Case of Amman City in Jordan

Esra'a E. Al-Johari , Firas M. Sharaf ^*
Department of Architecture Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Jordan

ABSTRACT

This research addresses the impact of urban expansion on agricultural land-use changes. The urban spread on peripheral agricultural lands is rapidly growing in cities. The conversion of agricultural land to built-up area changes the ecosystems and strains natural resources. Solutions to this dilemma may help to advance useful and adequate agriculture approaches in the city and restore eco-balance. Urban agriculture may help sustainable exploitation of urban environments and make a significant contribution to city self-reliance of food. A case study in Amman city in Jordan is selected to address the impact of urban expansion on agricultural lands. Scaling up urban agriculture practices may not be sufficiently achieved by conventional methods. The Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques are deployed in this research to investigate alternative methods for site selection criteria of urban agricultural lands suitability in the context of the city of Amman. The GIS multi-criteria analysis is adapted to select the best sites for urban agriculture in the city. The results indicate that rapid urban expansion has reduced suitable land for agriculture to 16.76% in the city of Amman. The study proposes an urban agricultural model to enable appropriate planning of urban agricultural land in the city. It is concluded that integration of urban agriculture into city planning using tools, such as the GIS and RS can improve monitoring the loss of agricultural land and identifying suitable locations for agricultural uses.

KEYWORDS
Urban Agriculture, Urban Expansion, GIS, RS, Land Suitability

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Esra'a E. Al-Johari , Firas M. Sharaf , "A Land Suitability Model of Urban Agriculture: The Case of Amman City in Jordan," Universal Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 211 - 224, 2024. DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2024.120201.

(b). APA Format:
Esra'a E. Al-Johari , Firas M. Sharaf (2024). A Land Suitability Model of Urban Agriculture: The Case of Amman City in Jordan. Universal Journal of Agricultural Research, 12(2), 211 - 224. DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2024.120201.