Abstract Adequate access to healthy, affordable food remains a great challenge in many urban areas. Among a range of interventions, urban agriculture has been identified as an important strategy to help address urban healthy food access. While urban food production is growing in popularity, the use of potable water in traditional urban agricultural installations will exacerbate gaps in water demand and availability in water-stressed cities. This paper examines the sustainable capability of urban agriculture through an integration of alternative water resources, urban vacant land and local nutritional needs. A spatial optimization model is developed to best allocate limited resources for maximal food production to address urban food deserts. The new model is applied to test the capability of relocalized food production in Tucson, Arizona, a semi-arid region with the longest continuously farmed landscape in North America. Results highlight that urban areas with restricted water access can substantially enhance their local food production capacity in an ecologically responsible manner.

中文翻译：

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优化城市粮食生产，解决水资源受限地区的粮食荒漠问题

摘要 在许多城市地区，获得健康、负担得起的食物仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在一系列干预措施中，都市农业已被确定为帮助解决城市健康食品获取问题的重要战略。虽然城市粮食生产越来越受欢迎，但在传统城市农业设施中使用饮用水将加剧缺水城市的用水需求和可用性差距。本文通过整合替代水资源、城市空地和当地营养需求来检验都市农业的可持续能力。开发了一种空间优化模型，以最好地分配有限资源以实现最大的粮食生产，以解决城市粮食荒漠问题。新模型用于测试亚利桑那州图森市重新定位食品生产的能力，半干旱地区，拥有北美最长的连续耕作景观。结果强调，供水受限的城市地区可以以对生态负责的方式大幅提高当地的粮食生产能力。