Even in densely developed cities like New York, small-scale
projects in urban agriculture have emerged, including community
gardens, school gardens, and green roofs.13,14 However,
there are serious hurdles to any growth in urban
agriculture in New York City, the densely developed core of
the New York metropolitan region with a population of 8.3
million accounting for 36% of the metropolitan area's population
on only two percent of the land.15 This very high density
is obvious on the island of Manhattan, a terrain of concrete
and asphalt with very little available open space which houses
only seven percent of the population on only 0.1% of the
land.15 Branded as ‘The Real Estate Capital of the World,’ the
availability of abundant investment capital has historically
driven the high price of land in the city, making less intensive
uses such as agriculture infeasible. However, much more land
is available in the four other boroughs that make up the City of
New York and there is even more in the sprawling suburbs of
the tri-state metropolitan region. In sum, the most likely place
for growing food is in the sprawling, lower density suburbs
where there is more open land and it costs less.